8 1/2 (1963)

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Federico Fellini makes one of the most personal films a director could ever make, giving his audience a look at what made the master tick. The film is easy to sum up in a few lines, but a plot summary does not do the visuals credit.

Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) is a film maker relaxing at a spa and trying to find the inspiration to get going on his next picture. He has a giant spaceship set built, has been filming screen tests, but his heart is not in the project. People from his life, especially the women, begin pressuring him to begin the film. His married mistress Carla (Sandra Milo) arrives to see him, but this does not trigger anything. He invites his bitter wife Luisa (Anouk Aimee) down, and she brings her mystical friend Rossella (Rossella Falk). Rossella senses things may not be going well for Guido, who slips in and out of dreams and fantasies about the people in his life. Eventually, the actress Claudia (Claudia Cardinale) arrives and for a second Guido perks up before committing his final directorial flourish.

This is not a perfect film. There are scenes here that move at a snail's pace and may have you checking your watch. However, everyone should watch this film just to see Fellini at work. Different characters in the film comment on Guido's script as if they were commenting on the very film you are watching as well. It is full of imagery, but not about anything. Fellini goes into Guido's head and gives us some breathtaking fantasy and dream sequences. One childhood memory has the local village character Saraghina (Eddra Gale) dancing a rhumba on a beach. The most famous fantasy sequence has all of Guido's women gathered into a harem and catering to his every need before they decide to revolt and he must quell the riot with a bullwhip. There are some laugh out loud scenes, but Guido's melancholia is so real you may feel guilty for smiling. Fellini addresses Catholic guilt, as well. This is not a purely Italian issue, in this day and age of terrorism and OnlyFans. The stark black and white totally works, as Fellini comes up with lovely shadowed shots and interesting camera placement. The film's music is made up mostly of standards, interesting when you remember that not many of us have an original motion picture soundtrack playing in our head when something notable happens in our lives unless you are a musician. The acting is above par, the performers are never pushed away by the camerawork. Mastroianni is perfect as Guido. Anouk Aimee is more than a typical wronged wife. Sandra Milo is a very sexy mistress who wants Guido to see her as more than a mistress, but not too much more. And of course, the glorious Claudia Cardinale, who has so few scenes but is impossible not to watch. When she fails to enliven Guido, you know things may not end well. There is a hilarious scene at a press conference, Guido is literally dragged to it, that is so real, it could have been shot yesterday. The reporters question Guido about everything from the film to nuclear weapons; it's funny to watch how much "entertainment journalism" hasn't changed.

"8 1/2" is a buffet for the eyes, you can see where Kubrick gathered much of his inspiration. Sometimes slow, the film is infinitely rewarding, a product of great acting, genius directing, and good timing.

Stats:
(1963) 138 min. (* * * * 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by Federico Fellini
-Screenplay by Federico Fellini & Tullio Pinelli & Ennio Flaiano & Brunello Rondi, Story by Federico Fellini & Ennio Flaiano
-Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, Madeleine Lebeau, Caterina Boratto, Eddra Gale, Guido Alberti
(Not Rated)
*Academy Awards*
-Best Director- Federico Fellini (lost to Tony Richardson "Tom Jones")
-Best Original Story and Screenplay (lost to "How the West Was Won")
-Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (lost to "America America")
-Best Costume Design- Black & White (won)
-Best Foreign Language Film (won)
*BAFTA Award*
-Best Film from Any Source (lost to "Tom Jones")

Cast Away (2000)

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**SPOILERS THROUGHOUT REVIEW** Yes, yes, yes, Tom Hanks lost forty pounds to play a man marooned on an island for four years. It is too bad director Robert Zemeckis did not put that much effort into making a better movie. This is one of those films that you like when the end credits roll, then wake up in the middle of the night and wonder why you suddenly think less of it. I'm skipping the plot and going right into the complaining.

Why does Zemeckis insist on using special effects for the most mundane scenes? I thought the Oscar winning effects for "Forrest Gump" were lousy. The scene I am talking about is an obvious CGI fish swimming in the water before getting speared by Hanks, who is dramatically thin after four years. Why the effect? A fake fish on string would have been more realistic. What I disliked most about this film was the missed opportunities. Where was the scene where Hanks gets on the boat and explains his appearance? His reaction to loud noises after being on a tropical island alone? His reaction to getting back on a plane after going down in a plane at the beginning of the film? His inability to drive a car after four years of not being able to? I also would have liked to see Hanks gradually get used to island life. Instead, he stumbles around like Gilligan, then we jump forward four years later where he looks like a caveman, and is an old pro at island life. Couldn't we see how he adjusts? We know he is going to be rescued, so we are left with muddled scenes regarding his reunification with love of his life Helen Hunt, who is better in this than "What Women Want." Where is the emotional reuniting of the pair, instead of the strained meeting when he goes to their house? She still has all of his stuff from the unsuccessful search, and his car, and yet he must go to her. I really did not like the ambiguous ending. Normally, ambiguous endings are the result of the film makers deciding to do something different than the Hollywood norm. Here, it just seems that no one knew how to end this. Sure, he is at a crossroads emotionally as well as physically, but the film makers try to be mysterious by leaving him there. Do not take me through two and a half hours with this guy, then leave the both of us hanging on a dirt road in Texas. Closure, darn it!

Stats:
(2000) 143 min. (* * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Robert Zemeckis
-Written by William Broyles Jr.
-Cast: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Chris Noth, Lari White, Peter von Berg, Jay Acovone, Vince Martin, Viveka Davis, Geoffrey Blake, Leonid Citer, Michael Forest
(PG-13)
*Academy Awards*
-Best Actor- Tom Hanks (lost to Russell Crowe- "Gladiator")
-Best Sound (lost to "Gladiator")
*BAFTA Award*
-Best Actor in a Leading Role- Tom Hanks (lost to Jamie Bell- "Billy Elliot")

Carrington (1995)

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A young female artist falls in love with a known homosexual and the two spend their remaining years in each other's lives. No, this is not a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts, but "Carrington" is an emotional drama that is a triumph for Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, and one of the most Britishy British casts ever assembled, but less than perfect for writer/director Christopher Hampton.

Taking place between 1914 and 1932 in England, Thompson is Dora Carrington, a troubled artist who falls for homosexual writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce). Strachey is a bit of a dramatic, suffering from "old age" and other infirmities, although he would be considered a young man. He is first attracted to Carrington, thinking she is a young man thanks to her pageboy haircut and lack of makeup. The two fall in love the only way they can- unphysically. Virgin Carrington and Strachey share a bed, but have no sexual relationship and pursue physical love with others. Carrington (she insisted on being referred to with her surname) brings home uptight army soldier Ralph (Steven Waddington), a man's man who does not understand all these Bohemian artists and conscientious World War I objectors. He beds Carrington and, the film implies, Strachey. Ralph and Carrington marry, and Ralph brings home friend Gerald (Samuel West) for Strachey to "get to know," but Gerald falls for Carrington instead. Strachey finds his own younger man, Roger (Sebastian Harcombe), but eventually Strachey and Carrington end up back together in their strange living arrangement, and both meet their sad fates.

Thompson and Pryce are so good here it hurts. The main problem I had was with Hampton's choice of subject matter. He based the film on a massive biography of Strachey, titled the film after Carrington, and there is a lack of focus as to who was the film's main subject. Hampton also writes Strachey like he is a poor man's Oscar Wilde, quipping pithy sayings in between heartbreaks. Carrington comes across as flighty and confused, but we do not see how disturbed she was until after Strachey's death, and Hampton could have elaborated on that a little more. More scenes about Carrington and Strachey's work might have helped as well. The two hour movie feels like compressed scenes from a long running soap opera. Why should the viewer care so much about these characters? Hampton the director is wonderful. In one scene, Carrington sits on a stump and, through a giant bank of windows, watches her husband and his live-in mistress, Carrington's own new lover, and Strachey and Roger, all getting ready for bed. Hampton keeps the scene sad without becoming salaciously voyeuristic, as Carrington seems to be silently questioning all these men who have brought her to this place in time. I would recommend "Carrington," but with the reservations about the script. I definitely would recommend it on the performances alone, if nothing else.

Stats:
(1995) 121 min. (* * * 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by Christopher Hampton
-Written by Christopher Hampton based on the book by Michael Holroyd
-Cast: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steve Waddington, Samuel West, Rufus Sewell, Penelope Wilton, Janet McTeer, Peter Blyth, Jeremy Northam, Alex Kingston
(R)
*BAFTA Award*
-Best British Film (lost to "The Madness of King George")
-Best Actor in a Leading Role- Jonathan Pryce (lost to Nigel Hawthorne- "The Madness of King George")

All About Eve (1950)

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It's infamous now, the classic film with the classic line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night," but this 1950 look at an aging actress and the people who surround her is just as fresh and fun as the day it was released.

Margo Channing (Bette Davis) has passed forty years of age. She is THE star of a Broadway play, and her every need is catered to by Birdie (the acidic and always excellent Thelma Ritter). She has an on-again/off-again romantic relationship with her play's director, Bill (Gary Merrill), and is best friends with the playwright Lloyd (Hugh Marlowe) and especially his wife Karen (Celeste Holm). On the periphery is the theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), who has made himself a part of the theater community despite what he writes about it. But the title is "All About Eve," and Anne Baxter's Eve is very important. She is a naive homeless waif from Wisconsin who watches Margo onstage every night. She is brought backstage to meet her idol, by Karen, and everyone's lives change. The film opens with Eve receiving a grand theatrical award, so right away we know she not only succeeds in becoming an actress, but we watch as her presence upsets the star routine Margo and her circle of friends have become accustomed to.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz has written a flawless screenplay. The film is so full of memorable quotes and double entendres, you can barely keep up. Hollywood, television, and even other well-known actors and actresses are hung out to dry by these theater people. His direction is great. Mankiewicz opens up what could have been a dry and stagy film, and his final shot of an actress standing in front of a bunch of mirrors gave me the chills. I kept hearing strains of "Gone With the Wind" in Alfred Newman's musical score, but other than that, and a badly shot sidewalk scene, the technical side is first-rate. What can I say about the cast that has not already been said? Of the twenty acting Academy Award nominations for the year 1950, this film had five performers nominated (Baxter, Davis, Holm, Ritter, and the Supporting Actor win to Sanders). The film's fourteen Oscar nominations is still a record as of this writing, shared with two other films. Anne Baxter can change from a pie-eyed, starstruck fan into a scheming ingenue, and back again, at the drop of a hat. Marlowe and Merrill are also excellent in two very ignored performances. Holm is wonderful, she has a scene in a broken-down car with Davis that is incredible. I wished Ritter was in this more, she always brings a comforting shot to a role. Marilyn Monroe, in a small role here, is fantastic. Funny, sexy, you can tell she was going to be a star. Actors and directors alike should study the belated-birthday-party-for-Bill scene. Davis delivers her most famous line here, but the entire sequence is an exercise in how to act in a film. Not one bad performance or line to be seen or heard. Judy Holliday beat out Bette Davis for the Oscar that year, but more people remember Davis' performance today. It is flawless. Since I was going through the same middle age issues Channing was going through when I first viewed this, maybe Davis' lines and expressions meant more to me. She is excellent- catty, fragile, human; as Holm remarks in the film, I'm going to run out of adjectives.

Theater people will especially get a kick out of "All About Eve," and the backstage drama behind the onstage drama. There are still people like this around today, in theaters and real life. This isn't a slam against theater, it's a factual statement. Another factual statement is that this film is one of the best of the 1950's, featuring perhaps the best female film performance of all-time by Davis.

Stats:
(1950) 138 min. (* * * * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
-Written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz based on "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr
-Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Ratoff, Barbara Bates, Walter Hampden
(Not Rated)
*Academy Awards*
-Best Picture (won)
-Best Actress- Anne Baxter (lost to Judy Holliday "Born Yesterday")
-Best Actress- Bette Davis (lost to Judy Holliday "Born Yesterday")
-Best Supporting Actor- George Sanders (won)
-Best Supporting Actress- Celeste Holm (lost to Josephine Hull "Harvey")
-Best Supporting Actress- Thelma Ritter (lost to Josephine Hull "Harvey")
-Best Director- Joseph Mankiewicz (won)
-Best Writing- Screenplay (won)
-Best Cinematography- Black & White (lost to "The Third Man")
-Best Art Direction/Set Decoration- Black & White (lost to "Sunset Boulevard")
-Best Costume Design- Black & White (won)
-Best Film Editing (lost to "King Solomon's Mines")
-Best Music Score- Dramatic or Comedy (lost to "Sunset Boulevard")
-Best Sound Recording (won)
*BAFTA Award*
-Best Film from Any Source (won)

Book Review: "The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts" by Burke Davis

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Despite the title, these strange and fascinating facts may interest Civil War buffs, and not many others.

Burke Davis, the author of several history books, takes the little stories and factoids he has collected in research and puts them all here in small anecdotes. To appreciate the value of these stories, the reader should have more than a passing knowledge of the Civil War. Many names, dates, and battles are tossed around by an author who knows his subject, and requires his readers to know some, too.

The stories here are very entertaining, covering various subjects. The Civil War was full of "Firsts," First: successful submarine, hospital ships, tobacco and cigarette taxes, and U.S. presidential assassination. The book also mentions Confederate States president Jefferson Davis more than Abraham Lincoln, possibly because Davis is barely a footnote in high school history books today. Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses Grant, and Robert E. Lee are also profiled. One entertaining chapter debunks many myths surrounding Grant's drunken war behavior. Davis also gets serious, writing about widespread venereal disease, and atrocities committed on civilians by both sides.

Davis' book was published in 1960, and the publishers decided to reprint the book many times without updating it. Davis mentions the upcoming centennial of the war, and descendants of the major figures of the war and what they are doing today, or at least today many decades ago. Another drawback is the lack of an index, leaving a serious researcher to have to skim the book looking for useful information. The author mentions prices for Civil War memorabilia at current auction prices- again from many decades ago. Davis writes that more people lost their lives in the Civil War than in all the wars from the Revolution to our most current conflict- Korea. I will recommend this book as a cursory page turner. As a displaced Texan who descends from Confederate (and one Yankee) soldiers, I appreciated Davis' balanced view of both sides of the conflict. Too often today we lose sight of the fact that over 600,000 people lost their lives in this war, and still not many people know much about it.

Book Review: "Famous Movie Stars and Directors" by Joseph Stewart

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I had reviewed the nightmarish book from Santa Monica Press entitled Guide to Home Video and Movies by someone named Ryan Reed. That self-proclaimed ultimate video guide was full of misspellings and absent films, and an embarrassment to all the better video guides out there. At the same thrift store where I picked up that tome, I found Famous Movie Stars and Directors by Joseph Stewart. Also from Santa Monica Press, also exactly 128 pages, this sad book did not have as many misspellings, but the factual errors alone make it an awful choice for anyone out there writing a film studies paper, interested in movies, or just looking for a brief read.

This book is a collection of one and a half page profiles of well-known performers and directors- at least well-known when this was published in 1993. I decided to bring up some of the glaring errors from the Actor section only because if I corrected everything here, I would have enough material for a book of my own. I will mention that Faye Dunaway has been rechristened Faye "Dunawaye" every time she is written about, including the table of contents and her own profile.

From Dustin Hoffman's entry: "Hoffman has been nominated for four Academy Awards, for his performances as Ben Braddock in The Graduate (1967), Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy (1969), Lenny Bruce in Lenny (1974), and Raymond in Rain Man (1988). He finally won for this last film..." Good for Dustin, except he won his first Oscar for 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer", and was also nominated for "Tootsie". Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone each get just one page for their entries. The longest entry is Bette Davis, who gets a whopping two and a half pages. Burt Reynolds' page and a half has only one of his films mentioned- "Deliverance." After naming James Stewart's films "Bell, Book, and Candle" and "Anatomy of a Murder," author Stewart writes "Arguably, he has not had a significant role since these films..." Pardon me while I get arguable, but did our author simply forget about "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "How the West Was Won," "Shenandoah," "The Flight of the Phoenix," "The Shootist," and "Airport '77," or did he not possess the simplest film reference book?

Finally, he gets John Wayne, one of my favorite actors, all wrong. Back to the work: "Throughout the 1940's, he appeared in several uninspired movies, mostly Westerns and war films." While most of Wayne's output in the 1940's was Westerns and war films, see if you recognize some of these "uninspired" flicks: "Flying Tigers," "They Were Expendable," "Angel and the Badman," "Fort Apache," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," and his uninspired Oscar-nominated role in the uninspired "Sands of Iwo Jima." Whether a Wayne fan or not, you have to agree that Joseph Stewart has no idea what he is talking about, and Leonard Maltin, master of the film guide, had nothing to worry about.

So what did I do with these horrible reads? I donated them to the local library in my former hometown for their annual book sale. This was decades ago, but I'm willing to bet the quarter each I paid for these that they never sold.

Book Review: "The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime" by Eija Summer, illustrated by Nici Gregory

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This charming book was a perfect fit for my two daughters, ages 6 and 4, who make it their nightly campaign to not go to bed.

An unnamed "good" little mermaid gets ready for bed. She thinks of herself as a predator who doesn't have time for such niceties as tidying up her room and brushing her (razor sharp) teeth. She's too busy striking fear into other marine life...while yawning...and will only go to sleep on her terms.

My daughters were enraptured throughout the book, even my sometimes distracted four year old. My six year old is obsessed with mermaids (she recently suggested the name "the Mermaids" for her soccer team), and this was a perfect fit. Gregory's illustrations are bold and splashy (sorry), with a lot of blues and greens. The book is large, and the illustrations pop off the page. This was a fun book to read, as well. I used a nice, calm voice to read the story about the good little mermaid getting ready for bed, and then a funny voice when the mermaid complains why she can't get ready. As the good little mermaid, I yawned at one point in the story and my six year old did, too.

The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime is a delightful book perfect for the three to seven year old in your life. I see myself reading this a lot in the next few years.