Here are the movies I've watched at The Quentin Estates during the final quarter of this calendar year. Even though Christmas is over, I must still be in the spirit of giving. How else can I explain awarding a B- to one of the most poorly acted movies I've ever witnessed, Miracle On 34th Street? Yes, Edmund Gwenn won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Kris Kringle, but the rest of the cast (Maureen O' Hara, John Payne and little Natalie Wood) is embarrassingly bad. On the flip side, I had the pleasure of watching Diner for the fourth time, and The Ox-Bow Incident is one of my five (or so) favorite westerns, notwithstanding its brief seventy-five minute running time.
On a housekeeping note, I have decided to break with tradition and postpone putting together my annual Movie Ratings Recap so that I can include movies I'll see in the theater in January. I addressed the timing issue in my January 12 and 15 posts, and after a consultation with my son Michael (who once told me he didn't read many of my reviews) I think the wait makes more sense. In that way, I can catch more movies which are released late in the year and include them in the Ratings Recap with other films from that same year. As you know, many of the film studios save what they anticipate will be their smash hits until the holiday season. Look for my Ratings Recap for 2012 in approximately thirty days.
1. A Christmas Carol (1984 Christmas story; George C. Scott is the curmudgeon who wants to treat Christmas the same as any other day, until he is enlightened by a series of ghosts) B+
2. Diner (1982 dramedy; Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon and their close buddies hang out at a diner in 1959 Baltimore, and try to solve each other's problems by applying philosophy and street smarts) A
3. Jules And Jim (1962 dramedy; German Oskar Werner is married to Frenchwoman Jeanne Moreau, and neither of them can live without their good friend, Frenchman Henri Serre) B+
4. Miracle On 34th Street (1947 Christmas story; Maureen O'Hara hires white-bearded Edmund Gwenn to play Santa Clause for Macy's Department Store, but the old guy really claims to be Kris Kringle) B-
5. The Moon Is Blue (1953 comedy; Bachelor architect William Holden invites sweet and virtuous Maggie McNamara up to his NYC apartment, where his playboy neighbor David Niven flirts with Maggie and chides William) B+
6. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943 western; Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn are accused by a posse of cattle rustling and murder, and the posse turns into a sham make-shift jury) A-
7. The Seven Year Itch (1955 comedy; Tom Ewell, whose wife is out of town for the summer, lets his imagination get carried away when blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe moves into his apartment building) C+
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