MOVIE OF THE WEEK: MICHAEL CLAYTON

Michael Clayton (Rated R)

2007

119 Minutes

Widescreen: 2.35:1

What I like about “Michael Clayton” is that it can make a scene look completely meaningless at first and when you least expect it, make it dutifully important to the plot. It’s like having David Copperfield write a script, only better. The acting is a standout in this film with colorful characters all around. The script is smart and the music tight. It’s a great movie for night viewing.

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an attorney who works as a fixer for hard cases in the corporate chain. The movie begins with him looking very worried and driving through the countryside. After a few minutes, he stops in the middle of nowhere to gaze at some horses. Outside, while his back is turned, a bomb strikes inside his car and blows it to bits. He’s okay, but the scene ends quickly. Like I said, it may sound pointless at first, but it’s there for a reason.

The film picks up four days earlier as Michael hears some bad news about an attorney friend of his named Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). Arthur has been working on an important case, for a company named U-North, for nearly a decade and it seems to be going nowhere. It’s driving him crazy and he skips a day’s worth of medication. He then has a breakdown during a conference and in a fit of rage, strips naked and runs outside.

Michael is called to Milwaukee to take care of the imprisoned Arthur. But the next day, before Michael can take him back to New York City for medical attention, Arthur escapes and leaves the hotel himself. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), an official at U-North, is worried that Arthur may ruin their case, so she sends a couple of goons to spy on him. Soon, she finds out that Arthur know more about the company than anyone thought. Is he crazy or does he actually have information? And what would U-North be willing to do to keep him quiet?

In the meantime, Michael has problems of his own, including cleaning up the messes caused by his loser brother. It seems like he’s always helping others and getting nothing in return, which is the same bone Arthur is picking. How does this all tie together? And what does the other storyline with Michael’s brother have to do with the movie? Watch and find out. For like I said, it may seem unimportant at the time, but it could mean everything later.

Grade: A-

And that's why "Michael Clayton" is the Movie of the Week.

P.S. Here's the film's trailer.

FREE MOVIE OF THE MONTH: THE GREAT DICTATOR

Ever wonder what might happen if the Little Tramp got mixed up with Adolf Hitler? Apparently, Charlie Chaplin did as I have this fine and hilarious movie to prove it. Enjoy!

Click here to view film.

OPENING THIS WEEKEND

Be Kind, Rewind

Funny premise, Jack Black, and video tapes. It’s got a 68% approval on Rottentomatoes.com. What could go wrong?



Charlie Bartlett

Rent “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” instead.



Vantage Point

Looks like a neat thriller, but I’ve heard otherwise.



Witless Protection

Let’s just pretend this was never released.

MOVIE NEWS FOR ALL YOU GLUTTONS

Rats, Pregnancy, and LOTS of Blood

Ah, once again, the Academy Awards have arrived. I can remember back when these shows were an event, instead of being comparable to a corporate awards meeting. You know the kind I’m talking about. Still, it’s always half entertaining to watch. They throw in songs, montages, and monologues just to keep you awake. But anyways, here are my predictions of who will take home the little, golden, naked guys this year.

Note: These are not all the awards, just those I feel are most important.

BEST PICTURE

I believe “No Country For Old Men” has this show wrapped around it’s finger. The other nominations are fine films, but the latter has stood out the most.

BEST ACTOR

Johnny Depp had a good chance of winning this year with his title role in “Sweeney Todd.” But before he could grab the statuette and leave the arena, Daniel Day Lewis showed up with “There Will Be Blood.” For his powerful performance, there’s no doubt Lewis will add a second scrap of gold to his collection. As for Mr. Depp, there’s always next year. He’s been nominated 3 times since 2003 for his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film. A role in which he more than deserved the award.

BEST ACTRESS

Julie Christie. No doubt in my mind. As an Alzheimer patient in “Away From Her,” she gives this role her all, and I have a feeling it’s enough to beat Ellen Page and her imaginary baby.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

If they had only waited for 2008 before releasing “Into the Wild,” Hal Holbrook might’ve ended up clutching an Oscar next February. Holbrook is 83 years old and this looks like this year’s Best Supporting Actor could be his one and only nomination. But Javier Bardem is going to win for “No Country For Old Men,” and that’s okay with me.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Although I’m curious as to what boob nominated Cate Blanchett for Best Actress in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” it’s likely that she will win Best Supporting for her role as Bob Dylan. But should that count as Supporting Actress or Actor?

BEST DIRECTOR

It’s a tough call, but I think Joel and Ethan Coen for “No Country For Old Men” will be bringing home the gold.

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

“Ratatouille” has nibbled into the hearts of billions of viewers, including Academy Award voters. Plus, it’s a Pixar. You can’t go wrong with that.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Juno” has to win for something, and Diablo Cody’s quirky script is just what the doctor ordered.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“No Country For Old Men.” Creativity, thy name is Coen.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Imagine. CGI that actually looks half realistic.

BEST SCORE

Either “Ratatouille” for its dashiness or “3:10 to Yuma” for its thrillerness. Don’t look these words up in the dictionary.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

I have a feeling it’ll be something from “Enchanted,” considering it’s been nominated three times in the same category. But, the same thing happened to “Dream Girls” last year and it lost to (believe it or not) “An Inconvenient Truth.”

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: CASABLANCA

Casablanca (Not Rated)

1942

102 Minutes

Fullscreen: 1.33:1

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a café owner in the Moroccan town of Casablanca. The club is packed with refugees, soldiers, gamblers, and more. Some are trying to escape Europe, while others are simply having a good time in the jazzy atmosphere. Although surrounded much misfortune, Rick will stick his neck out for no one. He remains resentful and although nobody knows why, most are afraid to ask.

One night, a man named Ugarte (Peter Lorre) comes into the bar with two valuable letters of transit. With one of these magic envelopes, a person can travel all around Europe with no questions asked by the Nazis. Ugarte killed two Germans to get the priceless passes and his plan is to auction them off at the club to a couple of people who have yet to arrive. But before he can sell, he’s arrested by the double-dealing Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) of the Vichy officials in charge of the local police. None of them realize, however, that Ugarte handed the letters to Rick for safekeeping.

As the letter purchasers arrive at the club later, Rick’s past comes back to haunt him. Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) was Rick’s former girlfriend from Paris. They loved each other and as the war started, she was to meet him at a train station to evacuate. But she didn’t and she left him a “Dear John” letter. Ever since, he’s lived his days sullenly at the club. But now that she’s back, Rick learns the truth. Ilsa had a husband when they met, but she thought he’d been murdered at a concentration camp. Before she could leave Paris with Rick, she discovered that he was alive and they left quietly for fear Rick might blow their escape.

Ilsa and her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), had been in the Czech Resistance as they are now and they desperately need the letters to continue their fight. But what should Rick do? With Ilsa here, he could continue his life with her, send Laszlo over, and use the letters to get them both out of Casablanca. Or should he do the honorable thing and give them the passes?

Hidden Valley, the salad dressing company, has a slogan that reads “It’s the way ranch is supposed to taste.” It can also be said that “Casablanca” is the way movies are supposed to be. That’s right. I just made a segue from salad dressing to one of the greatest movies of all time. So sue me. But anyways, “Casablanca” has earned its #3 position on the AFI Top 100 List for a reason. With its superb acting, crackling dialogue, memorable characters, and excellent score by Max Steiner, it just has a classic feel. But before it won Best Picture in 1943, it went through several production problems.

Murray Burnett is the genius behind it all. While visiting Vienna in the late 1930s to help their Jewish family, he and his wife discovered the carnage and depression created by the Nazis. Afterwards, they went to a small town in France with a nightclub inhabited by French citizens, Nazis, and refugees. While the previous environment had been horrible, this place was happy and a black man was playing jazz for everyone. Burnett decided to write a play based on it, but none of the New York theaters were interested. So he, and his writing partner Joan Alison, sold their script, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s,” to Warner Brothers.

The movie was filmed during 1942 at a time when the studios were cranking out a new film every week. Nobody expected it to be anything special, but the finest detail went into the production of the screenplay. The title was changed to the more manageable “Casablanca” and the screenwriters shifted the script around so much that it was still unfinished during production. Changes were also applied to simple lines such as “here’s looking at you kid.” It was originally “here’s good luck to you.”

Casting is amazing in this film. Humphrey Bogart, who was just starting his career on the A list, plays a leading man you love to watch. Ingrid Bergman is a sweet and salty heroine. But Claude Rains is the stand out as the corrupt Louis Renault whose rules are more guidelines than anything else.

But after everything was finished, a masterpiece was amazingly born. And it will remain loved and celebrated no matter what the future brings, as time goes by.

Grade: A

And that's why "Casablanca" is the Movie of the Week.

P.S. Here's the film's trailer.

OPENING THIS WEEKEND

The Spiderwick Chronicles



It’s another fantasy movie and I’m getting awfully bored with this genre.

Definitely, Maybe



The commercials have called it the next “Annie Hall.” Although I haven’t seen it, I can honestly say that is not true, but it doesn’t look half bad. Good Valentine tripe for the weekend.

Step Up 2 the Streets



Those who saw the first “Step Up” will probably enjoy it. Those who didn’t, including me, would probably prefer dunking their heads into buckets of water and inhaling deeply nine times.

Jumper



Directed by Doug Liman who was in charge of “The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” This movie has an interesting premise, but I think it will disappoint a lot of people. The plot doesn’t look strong enough and it’s got Hayden Christensen in it. Rubber plus wood equals thin movie.

Diary of the Dead



Will George Romero ever stop?

MOVIE NEWS FOR ALL YOU GLUTTONS

Cue up the John Williams music

Indiana Jones is back in case you haven’t heard. But more importantly, the teaser trailer has been released, giving us a first look at this action-packed, yet old fashioned thriller.

To see it, click here.

Weekend Well Spent



Roy Scheider, star of “Jaws,” “The French Connection,” and “All That Jazz,” has died. He was 75. Mourn as much as you like, but remember the good times, and take some advice: Watch a few Scheider movies this weekend. Start with the ones I mentioned above. It’ll be time well spent.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: PSYCHO

Psycho (Not Rated)

1960

109 Minutes

Widescreen: 1.85:1

The first time I ever watched “Psycho” was on a vacation with my Dad. We were at a nice hotel with a TV in the room big enough for a small family to eat dinner on. A DVD player was hooked up and ready to go, so after dinner we stopped by the video rental and picked up some flicks. That year I’d been trying to see as many movies as I could from the AFI’s Top 100 Films List, so I was hungry for some horror when I saw the 1960 classic sitting on the shelf. As soon as we got back to the room, I popped that baby in. At 10 o’clock. At night. In the dark. In a big room. With thick shades across the windows.

As a Hitchcock fan, I knew all I could about the movie already, so the first 45 minutes went by as expected. You know, the affair, the money, the motel, and the shower. But after that, I was in no man’s land, and three scenes scared the ever-living crap out of me. I shouldn’t really say “scare,” because I don’t get scared at the movies, but let’s just say I was very paranoid through the night.

Movies like this are ageless, but I think what keeps “Psycho” alive is the reputation it has. The shower scene has been mimicked hundreds of times, Bernard Herrman’s music is like ice picks on a treble clef, and Anthony Perkins is the quintessential creep. Judging from that and more, it’s been called the most frightening of films by the AFI. But I think some viewers will be disappointed by it. There are four scary scenes, and most people are going to expect non-stop chills. But that’s why it’s so great. It’s not scary throughout, it’s suspenseful. Hitchcock knew how to get the audience’s attention and it wasn’t by having something jump at you every twenty seconds. It was having you wait when you knew something scary was about to happen. And unlike today’s horror, “Psycho” has a brain.

The film starts in Phoenix in a hotel room on a warm day in December (it’s hot over there). Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin) have had some afternoon fun and now they’re going home. She’s tired of sneaking around and is ready to get married, but lots of things are keeping that from happening – mostly money. So, later at work, she steals an envelope full of $40,000 from a weasely rich guy who “buys happiness.” Then she hightails it out of town to find Sam and get married.

On the way, the weather gets so bad she has to stop at a little motel run by Norman Bates (Perkins). It’s kind of hidden from the rest of the world and he seems very strange. Just the kind of place you want to stop at late at night. There’s also a tall family house next to the cabins where Norman’s mother rocks in the window all the time, watching things. He brings Marion some dinner and she can hear mother yelling at him from across the yard. When they sit down to eat in the office, they have a conversation which unfortunately leads to the topic of the old bag in the windowsill.

Norman looks upset by the fussing and Marion suggests he put her in a home. He doesn’t take that very well but keeps his composure. But in the next scene, somebody breaks into the bathroom and murders Marion. I won’t say who or who it looked like. Rent it and find out for yourself, then watch the rest of the movie and relish the surprise as I did at my first viewing. The villain has a purpose for his killing, and a strange one at that.

Hitchcock knew how to start a movie and then turn the storyline into something else. He called it a MacGuffin and the shower scene is his most famous. But watch carefully before Marion gets to the motel. Miniature Macguffins are made with the use of a cop, a used car dealership, and more. It’s just another way to keep you on the edge of your seat and it’s been working for 48 years.

Grade: A

And that's why "Psycho" is the Movie of the Week.

P.S. As always, here's the film's trailer:

OPENING THIS WEEKEND

This week, the flicks are looking pale, but the money’s looking green for the studios. Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey star in “Fool’s Gold,” another romantic comedy gravy train but with a twisted background. It’s about hidden treasure and a divorce, so at least they’re trying to make something a little different. Still, my advice is to stay away from this film. Judging from the trailer, it looks like pirate booty that could stay buried.



Every year, movies like “Codename: The Cleaner” and “King’s Ransom” hit the theater, and we never forget about them, though we wish we could. “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” could be this year’s addition to the genre. Once again, judging by the trailer, Martin Lawrence looks unfunny as usual. But what the heck is James Earl Jones doing in this? You’d think after “Star Wars” he’d have enough money to be able to rise above this sort of drivel.



In conclusion, stand clear from the new releases this weekend and go have some fun at an Oscar nominated movie. There’s plenty to choose from or you can stay home and rent “Ratatouille” or “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Whatever you want to do, here’s the link to the Academy Award nominations. Enjoy and have a good week with the movies!

MOVIE NEWS FOR ALL YOU GLUTTONS

Cartoons, Gangsters, and Aliens Together at Last

The American Film Institute (AFI) has made lists of everything. It started with a TV special counting down a top 100 list of the greatest movies of all time and from that ten more specials have emerged. My question is can those batty folks at the AFI come up with any more countdown ideas? The answer? Yes! A peek at their website reveals nominations for a new list of ten various top ten genre films such as westerns, sci-fi, epics, etc.
Here’s the link to the nominations.

Anybody know where Osama is?

Morgan Spurlock, the director of the funny and fascinating documentary “Super Size Me,” has a new movie coming soon. In it, he goes to the Middle East, looking for Osama Bin Laden. I’m serious and it looks hilarious. From what the trailer shows, he’s basically going about asking people if they know where Bin Laden is and there’s plenty of tomfoolery. By the way, the title is “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?”
Check out the trailer here.

Sweet Tea, Shaken, Not Stirred




In case you haven’t heard, the newest James Bond film has received its official title. “Quantum of Solace” joins the league of over 20 other movies, and to tell the truth, I think it sounds a little sissy. Still, Bond portrayer, Daniel Craig, says the title fits into the plot. All of the movies have a certain ring to their name like “From Russia with Love” or “Diamonds Are Forever.” But “Quantum of Solace?” It sounds more Jane Austen than James Bond.

31 DAYS OF OSCAR

I'm all geared up for the 31 Days of Oscar on Turner Classic Movies. And by geared up, I mean I haven't left the TV screen since 6AM yesterday. Anyways, here's a couple of clips you may enjoy. And don't forget to watch TCM all February long.