Miracle Mile (1988)

I did not like this movie, despite the cast (Mare Winningham, Robert DoQui, Mykelti Williamson) and premise - a nuclear war/apocalyptic film set in the modern day (late 80s). At the film screening I watched it at, the programmer described this film as a movie that "put an exclamation point" on all cold-war era films, since this was pretty much the last movie that touched the subject of nuclear hysterics. The director only made a couple of other low-budget movies like this one, but this one has a number of effects and stunts that might normally be found in a slighter higher budget film.

I felt as if I was constantly being asked by this movie to suspend my disbelief, and I gave up about a quarter into the movie. The movie starts out as a cute John Hughes-esque romantic comedy (the director has admitted this) but about a quarter into the film, the main character Anthony Edwards learns about an coming nuclear attack and everyone around him panics, which spreads. I liked the scenes in the cafe/diner and was hoping the entire movie would take place there with just those characters and their lives we focus on.

That might have made for a good movie.

But instead, it becomes a horror/thriller/action film. The worst part is when Edwards runs into a gym at 5 AM and asks random people, "does anyone know how to fly a helicopter"? I suppose that could be funny, but come on. If the end of the world is nigh, wouldn't you try to call your family and friends? Maybe he didn't have any.

The Witch (2016) and The Crucible (2006)

Saw two films recently about witches; I saw them months apart but they would make a good double feature.

First, the Crucible starring Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield, Joan Allen, Bruce Davison. In the 1690s New England United States, there's fear was witchcraft and of witches, and the religious community comes against them and brings them to trial. Based on the play and it's a good drama with good performances.

Next--- The Witch, a smart, intelligent horror film directed by Robert Eggers; it's on par with The Conjuring (one of my favorite movies of the past 10 years).  I was also very curious about the subject matter and the period setting of the film.

In the film, set in the 1600s, a family is haunted by strange occurances, and the parents fear witchcraft. Some critics might say that the film is a slam on puritan paranoia. There's alot of creepy imagery and you get a sense that the parents' fear might be justified.

Kate Dickey (from Prometheus) plays the mom; her performance is good, but I felt very bad for what happens to her character at the end. The actor who plays the dad looks a little like the late Alan Rickman; Rickman may have been perfect for this role a few years ago.

I felt sympathy for the father, too, even though he could be interpreted as being too hysterical. When your children are threatened by evil spirits, I think any parent would go a little nuts.

I found the movie to be very thought-provoking, with many interesting concepts, but I feel I missed some important dialogue due to the heavy accents used by some of the actors (will need to watch it again on DVD at home with subtitles).

Additional articles about The Witch -

• Variety film review - here
  
• The Dispatch review, calls it "Puritan paranoia" - here
  
• The Vox article: Why satanists have given new horror movie The Witch their endorsement - here | review here 
  
• Complex - Satanic temple after party - here
  
• Slate review and profile of Robert Eggers - here
  
• RogerEbert.com review - here
  
• Wired interview with the director - here 

The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! (1966)

Zany comedy about a group of Russian sailors - led by Alan Arkin -  who find themselves stranded on a small, tight-knit New England island town. Not able to speak the language, they try to steal a boat to get off of the island hoping not to encounter any of the locals. Eventually rumors spread all over the island about invaders and everyone panics ("It's all over!" predicts one paranoid resident).

The Russians disguise themselves as as locals

There are some funny sight gags and comedic bits involving the paranoid townsfolk. One bit has Jonathan Winters at the kitchen table with his 8 little children prepping the family about a possible attack. There's a town drunk that's funny, and an old woman who gets tied to a chair while her near-sighted husband hardly notices.

But there are some softer moments, too, especially the scenes involving one of the Russians falling in love with a young woman.  Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint are the only two people who know why the Russians are there and try to explain it to everyone else. Another voice of reason is Brian Keith, who plays the police chief. Also starring Theodore Bikel.

It's an enjoyable satire about paranoia in the days before cable news, the internet, smart phones phones, and Twitter.

Ace in the Hole (1951) - Starring Kirk Douglas

As Roger Ebert puts in in a recent review, this film is "a portrait of rotten journalism and the public's insatiable appetite for it". "Ace in the Hole" blew me away when I first saw it and I couldn't stop thinking and talking about it for days afterward. Fresh off his "stop-at-nothing-to-get-to-the-top" performance in "Champion", Kirk Douglas plays another cocky, competitive character, this time newspaper reporter Charles Tatum, who capitalizes on a mine disaster in a small New Mexico town (and churns out such wisecracks as "I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.") At the start of the film, his car breaks down in Albuquerque, and we learn that he had been fired from numerous New York paper jobs for boozing and womanizing. He lands a boring gig in a claustrophobic newspaper office and he hates it, as he longs for the noise of New York again. In on scene, Tatum asks a co-worker "What do you know about Yogi Berra?" She replies, "Yogi? That's sort of a religion isn't it?" Tatum: "You bet it is: Belief in the New York Yankees!" One day a story breaks out: In a nearby small town, a man named Leo Minoso is trapped in a mine after a cave-in; his legs are stuck and no one can get close to him without drilling through. This is Kirk's big break, he reasons, and proceeds to take possession of the story. After his story is printed on the front page, the newspaper's sales go through the roof and he's suddenly back in demand. His ruthless thirst for fame and wealth increases as the days pass. Meanwhile, an entire media circus forms around the cave. It's a fascinating story with many themes: loyalty, greed, competition. Lots of build-up to the return and rescue--- there's a chance Leo might not make it out of the cave alive....Will He or Won't He? It's an incredibly emotional film experience and Kirk Douglas as the heartless Tatum is brilliant. Plus great scenery of the desert and mountains. Wilder used thousands of extras and built a huge set - complete with a gigantic ferris wheel and carnival rides, and a pop music stage where a hit tribute song about the rescue of Leo is performed and sheet music is sold for 25 cents. Jan Sterling plays Leo's troubled wife. The commentary on the DVD is brilliant and so is the film. I agree with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times who wrote, "Although the film is 56 years old, I found while watching it again that it still has all its power. It hasn't aged because Wilder and his co-writers, Walter Newman and Lesser Samuels, were so lean and mean [with their dialogue] . . . [Kirk Douglas'] focus and energy . . . is almost scary. There is nothing dated about [his] performance. It's as right-now as a sharpened knife....When the film was released, the press complained about its portrait of news practices and standards, even though the story was inspired by a real media circus when a man named Floyd Collins was trapped in a Kentucky cave. Today, it is hard to imagine some segments of the press not recognizing their hunger for sensation. "

Read more reviews of this picture from other bloggers at Out of the Past and Goodfellas Movie Blog.
Read another review from Confessions of a Film Philistine

Hard-boiled Cinema: Exploring Communism in American films of the 1950s

In the Spring of 2004, I enrolled in Facets Film School's 6-week appreciation series that dealt with the subject of blacklisted and/or propagandized American films from the 1950s, during the Cold War era.

Our instructor was Robert Keser. I learned alot from this course about communism and the impact the cold war had on the society and in films. We discussed the blacklisting of filmmakers/actors and how communism, socialism, activist movements, and public/government attitudes were was portrayed on the screen during this time.

Each week we watched a feature film from the 1950s during the McCarthy years. After each film, we discussed and analyzed the messages in the films. My notes are summarized below.

Week 1 (5/6/2004)
Christ in Concrete / Give Us This Day
Starring actor Sam Wanamaker. British audiences did not like the fact that the film had "Christ" in the title, so the title was changed in the UK to "Give Us This Day". In some other parts of the world it was called "Salt of the Devil".

Week 2 (5/14/2004)
I Can Get It For You Wholesale (951)

In 1947, there was the Taft Hartley act, which forced people to renounce communist ties if they are in unions. There was the Hollywood 19, who were all subpoenaed. In 1951 we had the Hollywood 10. Almost all were writers. One of these who were called in was actor Larry Parks.

We also discussed the following films:

• The Iron Curtain, the first movie to discuss the communist scare.
• Red Scare (1949), one of the most famous movies about communism, from New Republic Films.
• Joan of Ozark (1942) starring Judy Canova, made by Republic Films. Not about communism but about Nazi spys.

Week 3 (5/21/2004)
My Son John (1952)
A very interesting movie on so many levels. Stars Ms. Helen Hayes, Oscar-winning actress and stage veteran. Directed by 3-time Oscar winning director, Leo McCarey.  Before the film started, our instructor warned the class by calling the film "A Very bad film".

As the movie began, I was eager to see what was so bad about it. I was surprised; the film was not really as bad as our teacher made it seem, at least in my opinion. In fact, I found the film to be very memorable, especially the final scene which I can't give away just yet.

Week 4 (5/29/2004)
Pickup on South Street (1953) Starring Richard Widmark, Thelma Ritter, Jean Peters. Directed by Samuel Fuller

Week 5

Salt of the Earth (1954 - Dir: Herbert Biberman).