Quarterly Cinema Scan - Volume XXX

In 1963 Universal Pictures released a movie featuring an actor and actress considered two of the most charming, elegant, chic, suave and attractive stars ever to have graced the silver screen, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  The movie was Charade, a cleverly written combo comedic/romantic mystery set mostly in Paris.  The script offered several opportunities for both stars to display those assets for which they were best known.  For Grant, that included bright wit, calmness in the face of danger, a cosmopolitan aura and a countenance that belied his age (59).  For Hepburn, sheer femininity, grace, sophistication and beauty.  

Sadly for those of us who love the movies, Charade was the only film which paired those two lovable English actors, although Grant was famously quoted later to proclaim, "All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn."  It was not to be.  Perhaps their twenty-five year age difference accounted for some of it.  In fact, that age span was of such concern to Grant that he insisted some romantic aspects of the script be modified, changing his character from pursuer to the pursued (by Hepburn); less of a creepiness factor that way.

Hepburn plays a woman, Regina Lambert, whose husband is murdered -- thrown off a rapidly moving train in the opening shot.  Of course she is upset, even though she confided to a friend that she was contemplating divorce.  But what really rankles Reggie is that her Paris apartment has been ransacked.  (Note: This does not prevent her from wearing Givenchy clothes to die for in virtually every scene thereafter!)  Things get very peculiar at the funeral when a trio of bad guys shows up to make sure the husband is really dead, going so far as jabbing a sharp object in the decedent's side and sticking a mirror under his nostrils.  They even verbally threaten the widow, demanding to know where she has stashed the loot her dead husband has stolen from them.

The rationale for that trio's "concern" is explained but, in this kind of story, unimportant.  What really matters is that Grant's character, Peter Joshua, shows up at just the right times to come to her aid.  The title of the film hints of and points to many twisting developments, the true identity of Joshua being among them.

The supporting cast is star-studded with many well-known names such as Walter Matheau, James Coburn and George Kennedy.  It is hard to think of a character who is not harboring a secret.  Add to this a memorable score and theme song by Henry Mancini and one of the best closing lines ever uttered in a movie, and what you've got is one hundred thirteen minutes of sheer entertainment.

Charade has many of the hallmarks of an Alfred Hitchcock film: Cary Grant (who appeared in four Hitch films), a beautiful leading lady, clever dialogue, suspense, romance, smart villains, an international setting, and a surprise ending.  There's even a cameo appearance by the director, a la Hitchcock.  But, alas, Charade is not a Hitchcock film; the director was Stanley Donen, who is best known for dance musicals such as 1952's Singin' In The Rain.  Nevertheless, Charade has sometimes been referred to as "the best movie Hitchcock never made."

***

Here are the movies I viewed during the last quarter of 2017 in the cozy comfort of the Quentin Estates:      

1. Blazing Saddles (1974 western spoof; State Attorney General Harvey Korman's plans to take over the little town of Rock Ridge backfires when the black sheriff he installs, Cleavon Little, surprisingly becomes a local hero to the all-white townsfolk.) B+

2. Charade (1963 dramedy; Audrey Hepburn, a recent widower, is in the line of danger due to her late husband's nefarious associates, but Cary Grant, a man with a mysterious past, is there to hold her hand.) A- 

3. The Dirty Dozen (1967 war drama; Lee Marvin leads a group of hardened military prisoners in a do-or-die mission to take out a French chateau being used by German officers.) A-

4. 89 Blocks (2017 football documentary covering the East St. Louis High football team's 2016 season.) B-

5. The Hero (2017 drama; Sam Elliott, having just been handed a terminal cancer diagnosis, tries to reconcile with his estranged adult daughter and falls for a much younger stand-up comic, Laura Prepon.) B-

6. Monterey Pop (1968 music documentary covering the May 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, with many excellent performances, including those by Otis Redding and Janis Joplin backed by Big Brother & The Holding Company.)
A-

7. Room At The Top (1959 drama; government office worker Laurence Harvey falls in love with an older woman, Simone Signoret, but can't avoid dreaming of having an easier life with Heather Sears, the young adult daughter of the city's tycoon.) B

8. Rope (1948 drama; John Dall and Farley Granger strangle a former classmate in their apartment and hide the body in a living room chest shortly before hosting a formal party to which they have invited several guests, including their former prep school house master, Jimmy Stewart.) A-

9. Table 19  (2017 comedy; Anna Kendrick, recently dumped by the bride's brother and consequently replaced as maid of honor, is relegated to sitting at the least desirable reception table along with other random guests, including Lisa Kudrow and June Squibb, all of whom the bride felt would be bad fits with the folks at the eighteen more desirable tables.)  B

Movie Review: "Lady Bird"

"Lady Bird": B+.  In our circle of friends there are many who attend movies on a regular basis.  We usually compare notes when we get together.  More than any other film of recent vintage, Lady Bird not only has been seen by many of these folks, but has drawn universal acclaim.  I can appreciate their point of view, and don't try to talk them out of it.  But my take is that it is one of those films for which the whole is a little less than the sum of its parts; still, a very good movie.

Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is a senior in a Catholic high school who is not afraid to (sometimes) unilaterally change things about her life she doesn't like.  Examples.  She wants to be known as Lady Bird, which she calls her given name because "I gave it to myself."  She hates her home town, Sacramento, and does not want to be relegated to attending nearby UC-Davis for college.  No culture there, she claims. Instead, she applies only to East Coast schools even though her parents are experiencing financial distress.  When her audition for the school play fails, she writes in her own name on the bulletin board list of those students who passed.  In order to impress popular classmate Jenna (Odeya Rush), she tells Jenna a beautiful house in the swanky part of town is hers, when in fact it belongs to her ex-boyfriend's grandmother.  In reality, the McPhersons' modest house is literally on the wrong side of the tracks.  She also stretches the truth about the coziness of her relationship with a drifty boy band member, Kyle (Timothee Chalet).

The film takes us through, and a little past, Lady Bird's senior year.  Writer-director Greta Gerwig populates the story with several interesting characters who interact with the protagonist.  The two male contemporaries in her life, first love Danny (Lucas Hodges) and the aforementioned Kyle, impact her emotionally.  Her father, Larry (Tracy Letts), is a rock, the strongest support in Lady Bird's life, notwithstanding mental health issues tied to his employment situation.  Of course every coming-of-age movie's leading person needs a "bestie," someone whose friendship is often taken for granted but who nevertheless comes through when the chips are down.  That role, Julie, is ably filled by Beanie Feldstein.

Where Gerwig's script crafting really shines is in the several scenes shared by Lady Bird and her mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf).  Two moments especially stand out, one during a car ride and the other in a clothing store where Lady Bird is trying on prom dresses.  In both instances the two talented actresses segue from cordial dialogue to comical bitter arguments in the blink of an eye.  This is a tremendous mixture of expert writing, directing and acting.  If I were watching this on a TV, I would rewind both segments ad infinitum and admire their collective work.

There are many other humorous moments interspersed throughout, including Lady Bird and Julie snacking on unconsecrated communion wafers, a college advisor who can't control her laughter when Lady Bird, an average student, informs her that her dream school is the Ivy League's Columbia University, and a substitute drama coach who, due to his background as the football coach, diagrams the stage positioning of his student actors as if they were on the gridiron.  We also are treated to Lady Bird's lethargic brother Miguel (Jordan Rodrigues) and his multi-pierced live-in girlfriend Shelly (Marielle Scott).

One pleasant surprise is the way Gerwig uses the Catholic school setting, which comes into play a handful of times.  Too many writers, especially comedic ones, make fun of "anything Catholic" as a source of cheap laughs.  To them the Church and its traditions are low hanging fruit.  In Lady Bird I did not find this to be the case.  In fact, two of the most hip adults who come into Lady Bird's life are school principal Sister Sarah Joan (Lois Smith) and regular drama coach Father Leviatch (Stephen McKinley Henderson).

The two weakest parts of the story are those involving Prom Night -- too cliche -- and the very last scene -- too pat an ending.  It is hard for me to give a grade above a B+ to a movie with a pat ending, so B+ it is; to borrow a phrase from Billboard Magazine, maybe "with a bullet."

Movie Review: "Darkest Hour"

"Darkest Hour": A-.  One of the first things to know about Darkest Hour is that, ironically, it does a much better job of explaining the "Dunkirk predicament" of England during the very early stages of World War II than did the movie Dunkirk (reviewed here August 4, 2017; C).  In May, 1940, the German army had already invaded Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Czechoslovakia.  As the enemy moved southwest into France, the British continental army contingent of 300,000 soldiers was being squeezed against the Normandy coast near Dunkirk, hoping that their fellow countrymen could rescue them before annihilation by the Jerrys.  The only British brigades within striking distance of Dunkirk were located down the coast in Calais.  To call upon those men to rescue their marooned colleagues in Dunkirk would probably be a suicide mission.  

That is the crisis of the hour when Winston Churchill is handed the reins of the office of prime minister by the British Parliament, with the reluctant blessing of King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn).  The selection of Churchill is, at first blush, odd, yet practically unavoidable. His immediate predecessor, Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup), was forced to resign due to his alleged weak leadership.  The members of Parliament turn to Churchill only when their first choice, Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane), turns them down.  Churchill is regarded as a compromise candidate, an imperfect leader who has failed in his last important role as First Lord Of The Admiralty.  He is saltier and more ill-tempered than your typical politician, and drinks hard liquor at all hours, often in his pajamas.

Gary Oldman, with the aid of pounds of prosthetics and makeup which took hours each day to apply, plays Churchill.  A better verb might be that he becomes Churchill.  The veteran actor is convincingly authentic in a wide range of scenes, from the cigar-chomping leader rallying members of a divided Parliament, to several tete-a-tetes with his wise wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), to a (probably) apocryphal spur-of-the-moment ride with the commoners on the Tube, ostensibly to get their valued opinion on whether England should enter the war or capitulate to German conditions for peace.  Churchill's demeanor toward his dutiful and kind young secretary, Elizabeth Layton (the graceful Lily James), improves from crotchety to respectful, and he convinces the king over time that he's up for the job of being a war time prime minister. 

Director Joe Wright, using a script by Anthony McCarten, smartly keeps things moving with a run time a shade over two hours.  This is not a Churchill biopic. Rather, it concentrates on the incomparable statesman during his initial month in office.    

The story is a well-crafted mixture of history and politics.  Churchill's hawkish stance toward the Third Reich is looked upon as absurdly risky and unrealistic.  The Germans are clearly in control of Europe's fate.  Churchill's position as famously stated in a historic speech -- "We shall fight on the beaches" -- seems foolish, especially coming from someone who has been blamed for many poor military decisions years ago.  

He cleverly places his political foes, including Halifax, on his war cabinet so he can keep an eye on them.  The cabinet meetings are mostly for show, as the prime minister often disregards their advice if it is't consistent with the route he wishes to take.  In one memorable scene, Churchill sneaks into a private water closet for a trans-Atlantic phone call with U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The purpose of the off-the-record conversation is to ask the American ally for help in the imminent war with Germany.  The prime minister does not get the exact response from FDR he was hoping for, but the president does propose an off-the-wall alternative which, if historically true, is almost comical.

Gary Oldman's acting career started in the early 80's, with his filmography including over sixty movies.  In all that time he has only once been nominated for an Academy Award: 2012's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, losing in the Best Actor category.  That is about to change, as he is almost a lock to receive at least a nomination for Darkest Hour.  If he does win the award, it would be a mistake to think it was a "sympathy vote" or a kind of lifetime achievement recognition.  No, if he wins it will be due to his outstanding performance as one of the most important figures of the twentieth century.

Movie Review: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri": B+.  About an hour into Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri I realized that Frances McDormand's lines reminded me of one of the first "dirty jokes" I'd heard as a kid.  (I would admit to telling the joke myself, but I don't want to be disqualified from someday holding public office.)  The joke was about a first grade teacher asking her students to give an example of a word starting with a particular letter of the alphabet.  She avoided calling on Johnny for an "A" word because she knew he would say "ass," or something worse.  And so it went with the teacher ignoring Johnny's raised hand as she proceeded along the alphabet.  No matter the letter, he was likely to come up with a nasty example.   In Three Billboards we are treated to the "N" word, the "C" word, the "F" word, the "M" word, and many more.  Mildred Hayes, McDormand's character, spews just about all the words that Johnny would have said, regardless of her recipient, be it her teenage son, a neighbor, or even her parish priest.  In short, Mildred Hayes is blue both figuratively and verbally.

Seven months have passed since Mildred's daughter, Angela, was brutally raped and murdered along a country road within sight of Mildred's front porch.  The local police, under the leadership of Sheriff Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), have been unable to even identify, let alone arrest, any suspect.  How many more important things could be on their plate, Mildred wonders, in a village the size of Ebbing?  Her exasperation leads her to rent the three billboards of the title, questioning the dedication and competency of Willoughby and his staff.  The erection of the signs causes as much uproar in the town as the murder itself.  Willoughby may not be loved like Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry fame, but he does have more admirers in town than does Mildred.

The scene which has stuck with me is when Willoughby pays Mildred a visit after she has erected the controversial billboards.  The sheriff attempts in vain to explain why his department has been unsuccessful finding Angela's killer: no witnesses, no material evidence left at the crime scene, no worthwhile leads, etc.  Willoughby feels Mildred is being unfair and unreasonable, yet his approach with her is calm and measured.  He gets nowhere, finally reluctantly resorting to telling her that he is dying from incurable cancer.  The look on actor Harrelson's face when Mildred brushes him off with a cold-hearted shrug is heart-rending.

The story is more about the varied assortment of interesting characters who reside in Ebbing than it is a murder mystery.  Willoughby's top deputy, Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell), is more indignant over the billboards than is his boss.  He aims to take it out on Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones), the young business owner who rented the billboards to Mildred.  Mildred's ex-husband, Charlie (John Hawkes), the dead girl's father, is running around town with a nineteen year old, Penelope (Samara Weaving), yet he is embarrassed by Mildred's actions.  There's even a dwarf, James (Peter Dinklage), who has an awkward dinner date with Mildred after he provides her with a false alibi following an arson committed at the police station.

Although it is not a Coen Brothers movie, it has the intangible feel of one: quirky people forced to interact with one another by virtue of a bizarre catalyst, which in this case is the billboard controversy.  In real life, McDormand is married to Joel Coen and has appeared in some of his films, so perhaps my perceived feel is not an illusion.

McDormand is a fine actress, but I am unable to hop on the band wagon of those predicting an Oscar.  Maybe I was too sensitive to the barrage of swearing, but I grew tired of it after awhile.  Her tone and persona remain dour throughout, another detraction against her Oscar chances.  I do, however, like the chances of Sam Rockwell for a supporting role award.  He starts out in the periphery, then builds Deputy Dixon into an important presence.  I also admired the work of Caleb Landry Jones.  As the billboard advertising owner, Welby, he is not as dumb or as soft as he first appears.

Even those who have heaped praise on this movie have to admit it has one major flaw.  The person who becomes the chief suspect -- really, the only suspect -- in the murder case is someone who just drops in out of the blue, with no previous on-screen connection, tangentially or otherwise, to anyone we've seen.  What is even more disappointing to those of us who appreciate a tight, well-written script, is that the circumstances under which that person becomes the chief suspect (an overheard conversation in a barroom booth) is totally, incredibly random and could only have survived a sharp editor's cut in the interest of keeping the movie's run time in check. 

Second Annual Columbus Day Movie Guide

The astute readers among you -- no doubt 100% -- will quickly notice the disconnect between the title of this post and the publication date.  You got me!  Columbus Day was October 12, not November 26.  But this year I had a very good excuse for not being able to publish this second installment of my Movie Guide on Columbus Day:  Momma Cuandito and I were in Croatia.  Since I could not meet that desired publication date, I decided to wait until today, another date bearing huge personal significance although not quite a national holiday.  Today is the sixth anniversary of the birth of The Quentin Chronicle.

My expressed goal as stated in last year's first installment of my Movie Guide, which actually was published on Columbus Day 2016, was to have a comprehensive list of all the movies I'd viewed since my retirement in September 2007.  The first installment included only the 179 films I watched between my retirement date and the start of this blog.  In this second installment I am supplementing that original list of 179 films with an additional 148 films which I included in one of the sixteen Quarterly Cinema Scans I posted covering the first four full calendar years of The Quentin Chronicle, 2012-2015.  My hope is that next year's third installment will bring the list up to date by adding (i) films listed on all Quarterly Cinema Scans starting with the fifth full calendar year of this blog, 2016, plus (ii) all the films for which I have written a full review on this blog.

On the list below I have indicated each film's title, usually one actor, the genre, and one of the following:

1. For the 121 movies which I saw in a theater and then reviewed in pre-blog e-mails to my kids, a capital E followed by the date of the e-mail. Unless indicated to the contrary, the year of each movie's release matches the year of the e-mail. 

2. For movies which I saw somewhere other than a theater (e.g., at the Quentin Estates or on an airplane) and then capsulized in a Quarterly Cinema Scan, a capital CS with the number of the Cinema Scan, and the year of the film's release.  Note: Any CS prior to CS-VII was pre-blog. 

3. For the four "bonus" movies I added to my pre-blog Movie Ratings Recap from January 13, 2009, a capital RR and the year of the film's release.

I have organized the films by my letter grade rating instead of alphabetically.  I have also placed an asterisk in front of those films which I have added to the Movie Guide via this second installment. 

***

Movies Graded A:

Bagdad Cafe, Marianne Sagebrecht, dramedy, CS-VI, 1988

* Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke, drama, CS-XII, 1995

* Body Heat, Kathleen Turner, drama, CS-XV, 1981

* Bonnie & Clyde, Faye Dunaway, drama, CS-IX, 1967

* Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Paul Newman, western, CS-XVII, 1969

* Colorado Territory, Joel McCrea, western, CS-XX, 1949
Dial M For Murder, Ray Milland, crime drama, CS-I, 1954

* Diner, Steve Guttenberg, dramedy, CS-X, 1982 

* The Fugitive, Harrison Ford, drama, CS-VII, 1993
* The Hanging Tree, Gary Cooper, western, CS-XXI, 1959

* Hannah And Her Sisters, Mia Farrow, dramedy, CS-XXI, 1986

* A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles, musical comedy, CS-XIX, 1964

* Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, Robert Mitchum, war drama, CS-XV, 1947

* In The Heat Of The Night, Sidney Poitier, drama, CS-VIII, 1967
The Kids Are All Right, Annette Bening, drama, E 8-12-10
Kramer vs. Kramer, Dustin Hoffman, drama, CS-I, 1979

* LA Confidential, Guy Pierce, drama, CS-XX, 1997

* Last Days In Viet Nam, war documentary, CS-XX, 2014

* The Last Picture Show, Timothy Bottoms, drama, CS-VIII, 1971
The Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart, detective noir, CS-VI, 1941

Michael Clayton, George Clooney, drama, E 11-8-07

The Miracle, Carroll Baker, drama, CS-V, 1959

* North By Northwest, Cary Grant, drama, CS-XX, 1959

* On The Waterfront, Marlon Brando, drama, CS-XI, 1954

* The Sting, Paul Newman, drama, CS-IX, 1973

* To Kill A Mockingbird, Gregory Peck, drama, CS-XIX, 1962
True Grit, Jeff Bridges, western, E 3-11-11

* Witness For The Prosecution, Charles Laughton, courtroom drama, CS-XVI, 1957
You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks, rom-com, CS-II, 1998

Movies Graded A-:

* Anatomy Of A Murder, Jimmy Stewart, courtroom drama, CS-XXI, 1959

* Before Sunset, Julie Delpy, drama, CS-XII, 2004

Bridge On The River Kwai, Alec Guinness, war drama, CS-I, 1957

* The Cincinnati Kid, Steve McQueen, drama, CS-VIII, 1965
Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges, musical drama, E 2-1-10

* The Days Of Wine And Roses, Jack Lemmon, drama, CS-IX, 1962

* The Deer Hunter, Robert DeNiro, war drama, CS-XXII, 1978
Doubt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 2-26-09
Drive, Ryan Gosling, drama, E 10-28-11

* Driving Miss Daisy, Morgan Freeman, drama, CS-XII, 1989 

Eastern Promises, Naiomi Watts, drama, E 12-11-07

* Fail Safe, Henry Fonda, drama, CS-VII, 1964
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Michael Nyqvist, drama, E 8-12-10

* Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins, drama, CS-XII, 2012
Inglorious Basterds, Brad Pitt, war drama, E 11-12-09
Inside Job, financial documentary, E 10-29-10
Juno, Ellen Page, drama, E 1-17-08
The King's Speech, Colin Firth, biopic, E 1-30-11
The Kite Runner, Khalid Abdalla, drama, E 1-3-08
Moneyball, Brad Pitt, biopic, E 10-28-11

* My Fair Lady, Audrey Hepburn, musical, CS-XXI, 1964

* The Ox-Bow Incident, Dana Andrews, western, CS-X, 1943
Paris, Je T'aime, Juliette Binoche, dramedy, RR, 2006

* Patton, George C. Scott, war biopic, CS-XIX, 1970

* The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, Maggie Smith, drama, CS-XIII, 1969

* Psycho, Janet Leigh, horror, CS-XVIII, 1960

* Rififi, Jean Servais, drama, CS-XI, 1955

* Rio Bravo, John Wayne, western, CS-XIV, 1959
Roman de Gare, Audrey Dana, drama, E 7-16-08
Ship Of Fools, Oskar Werner, drama, CS-VI, 1965
A Shot In The Dark, Peter Sellers, comedy, CS-II, 1964
Shutter Island, Leonardo Di Caprio, drama, E 3-28-10

* A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando, drama, CS-XI, 1951
Superbad, Michael Cera, comedy, E 12-24-07

* The Thin Man, William Powell, detective drama, CS-XXII, 1934

* To Have And Have Not, Humphrey Bogart, drama, CS-IX, 1944

* Three Days Of The Condor, Robert Redford, drama, CS-XVII, 1975
Under The Same Moon, Kate del Castillo, drama, E 6-16-08

* Walk, Don't Run, Cary Grant, CS-XVIII, 1966

* The Way, Martin Sheen, drama, CS-XI, 2010

* White, Zbigniew Zamachowski, dramedy, CS-XVII, 1994
Win Win, Paul Giamotti, drama, E 4-14-11
The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke, drama, E 1-31-09

Movies Graded B+:

* Airport, Burt Lancaster, drama, CS-XIX, 1970

Appaloosa, Ed Harris, western, E 10-15-08 

* Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Quvenzhane Wallis, drama, CS-XI, 2012

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 11-30-07
The Big Heat, Glenn Ford, crime drama, CS-V, 1953
The Black Swan, Natalie Portman, drama, E 2-27-11

* Blue, Juliette, Binoche, drama, CS-XVII, 1993

* The Breakfast Club, Molly Ringwald, dramedy, CS-XVII, 1985
Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig, comedy, E 6-13-11
Brute Force, Burt Lancaster, drama, CS-V, 1947
Burn After Reading, George Clooney, dramedy, E 9-14-08

* The Caine Mutiny, Humphrey Bogart, drama, CS-VIII, 1954

* Carnal Knowledge, Jack Nicholson, drama, CS-XVIII, 1971

* Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Paul Newman, drama, CS-XIX, 1958
Charlie Wilson's War, Tom Hanks, drama, E 1-17-08
Chloe, Julianne Moore, drama, CS-I, 2010 

* A Christmas Carol, George C. Scott, Christmas story, CS-X, 1984

* A Country Wedding, Autumn Reeser, romance, CS-XX, 2015
Crazy Stupid Love, Steve Carell, comedy, E 9-14-11
Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams, drama, CS-VI, 1989
Definitely Maybe, Ryan Reynolds, rom-com, E 3-12-08

* The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio, cop drama, CS-XV, 2006

* Doctor Zhivago, Omar Sharif, drama, CS-VII, 1965
Easy Virtue, Jessica Biel, comedy, E 6-30-09

* The Fault In Our Stars, Shailene Woodley, romance, CS-XVII, 2014
500 Days Of Summer, Joseph Gordon Levitt, romantic dramedy, E 8-31-09

* Gallipoli, Mel Gibson, war drama, CS-XVII, 1981

* Georgy Girl, Lynn Redgrave, comedy, CS-XIII, 1966
The Ghost Writer, Ewan McGregor, drama, E 4-29-10
God's Little Acre, Robert Ryan, drama, CS-III, 1958
The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfuss, rom-com, CS-III, 1977
Good Neighbor Sam, Jack Lemmon, rom-com, CS-IV, 1964
Hereafter, Matt Damon, drama, E 10-29-10
The Ides Of March, George Clooney, drama, E 10-28-11
Into Temptation, Jeremy Sisto, drama, E 9-13-09
Jane Eyre, Mia Wasikowska, romantic drama, E 3-31-11
J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio, biopic, E 11-14-11

* Jules And Jim, Oskar Werner, dramedy, CS-X, 1962

* Key Largo, Edward G. Robinson, drama, CS-XVI, 1948
The Killers, Burt Lancaster, drama, CS-I, 1946

* Last Summer, Barbara Hershey, drama, CS-VIII, 1969

* A Man For All Seasons, Paul Scofield, historical drama, CS-XVI, 1966

* Marty, Ernest Borgnine, drama, CS-XV, 1955
Michael Jackson's This Is It, documentary, E 11-12-09
Midnight In Paris, Owen Wilson, dramedy, E 6-29-11
Milk, Sean Penn, biopic, E 12-30-08

* The Moon Is Blue, William Holden, comedy, CS-X, 1953

* Mrs. Miniver, Greer Garson, drama, CS-VIII, 1942
The Music Man, Robert Preston, musical, CS-VI, 1962
My Week With Marilyn, Eddie Redmayne, biopic, E 12-14-11

* Nevada Smith, Steve McQueen, western, CS-XIX, 1966
No Country For Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones, drama, E 12-11-07
Ocean's Eleven, Frank Sinatra, crime drama, CS-I, 1960

* Our Man In Havana, Alec Guinness, comedy, CS-XVII, 1959

* Out Of The Past, Robert Mitchum, drama, CS-XVIII, 1947
Page 1: Inside The New York Times, documentary, E 7-15-11

* The Pit & The Pendulum, Vincent Price, horror, CS-XIV, 1961
Pride And Glory, Jon Voight, police drama, E 11-13-08

* Random Harvest, Greer Garson, romance, CS-XVII, 1942

* Ride The High Country, Joel McCrea, western, CS-XIII, 1962
Robin Hood, Russell Crowe, adventure, E 5-29-10
The Savages, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 2-1-08
The Secret In Their Eyes, Ricardo Darin, drama, E 5-13-10
Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey, Jr., detective drama, E 3-28-10
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Jude Law, E 1-1-12

* Shine A Light, The Rolling Stones, documentary, CS-XVII, 2008

* Shoot The Piano Player, Charles Aznavour, drama, CS-XIII, 1960
Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel, drama, E 11-29-08

* Snow Falling On Cedars, Ethan Hawke, drama, CS-VII, 1999
The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg, biopic, E 10-14-10
Some Came Running, Frank Sinatra, drama, CS-III, 1958

* Stagecoach, John Wayne, western, CS-XVI, 1939

* Stand By Me, River Phoenix, drama, CS-XXII, 1986
Stop-Loss, Ryan Phillippe, war drama, E 4-30-08
Sugar, Algenis Soto, baseball drama, E 5-19-09

* The Sundowners, Robert Mitchum, Australian western, CS-XX, 1960

* The Third Man, Joseph Cotton, drama, CS-VIII, 1949

* The Thomas Crown Affair, Steve McQueen, drama, CS-IX, 1968
The Town, Ben Affleck, drama, E 9-30-10

* The Train, Burt Lancaster, war drama, CS-VII, 1965
Transsiberian, Woody Harrelson, drama, E 9-14-08
Unstoppable, Denzel Washington, drama, E 12-14-10
Up, voice of Ed Asner, animated comedy, E 7-28-09

* The Verdict, Paul Newman, courtroom drama, CS-XIX, 1982
Water For Elephants, Robert Patterson, romantic drama, E 4-28-11

* You Can't Take It With You, Lionel Barrymore, comedy, CS-VIII, 1938

Movies Graded B:

All The President's Men, Dustin Hoffman, biopic, CS-I, 1976 
Amelie, Audrey Tautou, comedy, RR, 2001

* Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell, comedy, CS-XIV, 2004 

* And God Created Woman, Bridgette Bardot, drama, CS-XVII, 1956
Avatar, animated drama, E 2-14-10

* The Basketball Diaries, Leonardo DiCaprio, drama, CS-XVI, 1995

* Beautiful Girls, Timothy Hutton, drama, CS-XIV, 1996
The Big Sleep, Humphrey Bogart, detective noir, CS-VI, 1946

* Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, drama, CS-IX, 1941 
Contagion, Matt Damon, drama, E 10-28-11

* Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman, drama, CS-XI, 1967

* Dallas Buyers' Club, Matthew McConaughey, drama, CS-XV, 2013

The Descendants, George Clooney, drama, E 11-29-11
* The Detective, Frank Sinatra, cop drama, CS-XXII, 1968

* Dog Day Afternoon, Al Pacino, drama, CS-VIII, 1975
Elegy, Ben Kingsley, drama, E 9-29-08
Fair Game, Naomi Watts, drama, E 11-13-10
Father Of The Bride, Spencer Tracy, comedy, CS-I, 1950 
The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg, drama, E 1-30-11

* The First Time, Dylan O'Brien, dramedy, CS-XIV, 2012
Five Easy Pieces, Jack Nicholson, drama, CS-I, 1970 
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel, rom-com, E 4-30-08

* 42, Chadwick Boseman, sports bio, CS-XIII, 2012

* Frankenstein, Boris Karloff, horror, CS-XXI, 1931
Friends With Benefits, Justin Timberlake, rom-com, E 7-29-11 
Frost/Nixon, Frank Langella, biopic, E 12-17-08 
Get Smart, Steve Carell, comedy, E 7-1-08
Going My Way, Bing Crosby, drama, CS-I, 1944 
Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood, drama, E 1-14-09

* The Great Escape, Steve McQueen, war drama, CS-IX, 1963
High Sierra, Humphrey Bogart, drama, CS-VI, 1941

* The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Charles Laughton, drama, CS-XII, 1939 
The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner, war drama, E 2-27-10 
In Bruges, Colin Farrell, drama, E 7-30-08

* Life Of Pi, Suraj Sharma, drama, CS-XII, 2012
Like Crazy, Felicity Jones, romance, E 11-29-11

* Lilies Of The Field, Sidney Poitier, comedy, CS-XV, 1963 
Love And Other Drugs, Jake Gyllenhaal, rom-com, E 12-31-10 
The Lovely Bones, Saoirse Ronan, drama, E 2-11-10

* The Magnificent Seven, Yul Brenner, western, CS-IX, 1960
Morning Glory, Rachel McAdams, comedy, E 11-13-10
My Dog Skip, Diane Lane, drama, CS-1, 1999
North To Alaska, John Wayne, western, CS-IV, 1960
One Day, Anne Hathaway, romance, E 10-28-11
Please Don't Eat The Daisies, Doris Day, comedy, CS-VI, 1960

* Red, Irene Jacob, drama, CS-XVII, 1994 
Revolutionary Road, Leonardo DiCaprio, drama, E 1-31-09
Secret Life Of Bees, Dakota Fanning, drama, E 1-31-09
Seraphine, Yolande Moreau, biopic, E 8-31-09
Seven Days In May, Kirk Douglas, drama, CS-V, 1964

* She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne, western, CS-XI, 1949

* Strangers On A Train, Farley Granger, drama, CS-VII, 1951

* Summer Of '42, Gary Grimes, drama, CS-XXII, 1971 
Sweet Land, Elizabeth Reaser, drama, CS-II, 2005
The Tender Trap, Debbie Reynolds, comedy, CS-VI, 1955 
The Trip, Steve Coogan, comedy, E 7-15-11

* The Twelve Chairs, Ron Moody, comedy, CS-XIII, 1970 
Twenty-seven Dresses, Catherine Heigl, rom-com, E 3-3-08
Two For The Seesaw, Robert Mitchum, drama, CS-V, 1962 
Valley Of The Dolls, Barbara Parkins, drama, CS-IV, 1967

* The White Cliffs Of Dover, Irene Dunne, drama, CS-IX, 1944

* Winchester '73, Jimmy Stewart, western, CS-XVI, 1950

Movies Graded B-:

The American, George Clooney, drama, E 9-14-10
The Band's Visit, Sasson Gabai, drama, CS-IV, 2007
The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock, football drama, E 3-28-10
Bright Star, Abbie Cornish, dramatic romance, E 9-29-09
* Cake, Jennifer Aniston, drama, CS-XXII, 2014
Cedar Rapids, Ed Helms, dramedy, E 3-11-11
Changeling, Angelina Jolie, drama, E 11-29-08
The Class, Francois Begaudeau, drama, E 2-13-09
* Crossing Delancey, Amy Irving, rom-com, CS-XXII, 1988 

Dan In Real Life, Steve Carell, rom-com, E 11-8-07
The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart, drama, E 7-30-08
* Dark Passage, Humphrey Bogart, drama, CS-IX, 1947
Date Night, Steve Carell, dramedy, E 5-13-10
The Defiant Ones, Tony Curtis, drama, CS-III, 1958
The Double Hour, Kseniya Rappoport, drama, E 6-13-11
* Duck Soup, Groucho Marx, comedy, CS-VII, 1933
An Education, Carey Mulligan, drama, E 3-14-10
The Extra Man, Kevin Kline, drama, CS-II, 2010
Flash Of Genius, Greg Kinnear, biopic, CS-III, 2008
Get Low, Robert Duvall, dramedy, E 11-30-10
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Noomi Rapace, drama, E 8-12-10
* Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Robert Donant, drama, CS-VIII, 1939
The Group, Joanna Pettet, drama, CS-VI 1966
* Her, Joaquin Phoenix, drama, CS-XVII, 2013
Knight And Day, Tom Cruise, adventure, E 8-30-10
Knute Rockne All American, Pat O'Brien, biopic, CS-VI, 1940
* Lolita, James Mason, drama, CS-IX, 1962 

Lust, Caution, Tang Wei, spy/war, E 11-8-07

Mamma Mia!, Meryl Streep, musical, E 9-14-08
Miracle At St. Anna, Derek Luke, war drama, E 11-29-08
* Miracle On 34th Street, Edmund Gwenn, Christmas story, CS-X, 1947
The Mouse That Roared, Peter Sellers, comedy, CS-IV, 1959
* Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Gary Cooper, drama, CS-VIII, 1936
* Night Of The Comet, Kelli Maroney, sci-fi, CS-XII, 1984
* Notorious, Ingrid Bergman, drama, CS-XI, 1946
Nowhere Boy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, biopic, CS-I, 2009
The Outlaw Josie Wales, Clint Eastwood, western, CS-II, 1976
Pearl Harbor, Ben Affleck, war romance, CS-VI, 2001
* A Place In The Sun, Montgomery Clift, drama, CS-XX, 1951
Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway, drama, E 10-31-08
Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn, romance, CS-III, 1953
* Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Howard Keel, musical, CS-VIII, 1954
* The Shop Around The Corner, Jimmy Stewart, drama, CS-VII, 1940
Slap Shot, Paul Newman, comedy, CS-II, 1977
* Summertime, Katharine Hepburn, drama, CS-VIII, 1955
Up In The Air, George Clooney, drama, E 1-12-10
Valkyrie, Tom Cruise, war drama, E 1-14-09
Vincere, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, wartime biopic, E 4-29-10
Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence, drama, E 7-30-10

Movies Graded C+:
Atonement, Keira Knightley, drama, E 12-24-07
Certified Copy, Juliette Binoche, drama, E 4-28-11
* Cry Of Battle, James MacArthur, war drama, CS-XXII, 1963
Dr. No, Sean Connery, adventure, RR, 1962  
Footloose, Julianne Hough, rom-com, E 11-14-11
* Foreign Correspondent, Joel McCrea, spy drama, CS-XIV, 1940
Fort Apache, Henry Fonda, western, CS-V, 1948 
The Girl From Monaco, Fabrice Luchini, dramedy, E 7-28-09 
Gone Baby Gone, Michelle Monaghan, police drama, E 1-3-08
* Hotel, Rod Taylor, drama, CS-XVIII, 1967
* King Of Kings, Jeffrey Hunter, biblical drama, CS-XII, 1961
Last Chance Harvey, Emma Thompson, rom-com, E 1-31-09
Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst, apocalyptic drama, E 1-1-12
* Middle Of The Night, Fredrick March, drama, CS-XIII, 1959
* The Night Heaven Fell, Bridgette Bardot, drama, CS-XVIII, 1958 
Nights In Rodanthe, Diane Lane, drama, E 10-15-08
Ondine, Colin Farrell, romantic drama, CS-I, 2010
* Peyton Place, Lana Turner, drama, CS-VIII, 1957
* The Pink Panther, Peter Sellers, comedy, CS-XV, 1963
The Postman Always Rings Twice, John Garfield, drama, CS-IV, 1946
The Searchers, John Wayne, western, CS-VI, 1956
* The Seven Year Itch, Tom Ewell, comedy, CS-X, 1955
Suspicion, Irene Dunn, drama, CS-VI, 1941
* Three Coins In A Fountain, Dorothy McGuire, drama, CS-IX, 1954
* Town Without Pity, Kirk Douglas, drama, CS-XIII, 1961
* A Walk To Remember, Shane West, drama, CS-XIV, 2002
What Happens In Vegas, Cameron Diaz, rom-com, E 5-15-08

Movies Graded C:

Australia, Hugh Jackson, drama, E 12-17-08

* The Birds, Tippi Hedren, horror, CS-XVIII, 1963
Clash Of The Titans, Sam Worthington, mythological adventure, E 6-16-10

* Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, drama, CS-XI, 1969
* Elevator Girl, Lacey Chabert, rom-com, CS-XXI, 2010

* A Farewell To Arms, Gary Cooper, war romance, CS-XVII, 1932
* First Love, William Klatt, drama, CS-XXI, 1977
A Fistful Of Dollars, Clint Eastwood, western, RR, 1964

* Harper, Paul Newman, cop drama, CS-XVII, 1966

* How To Mary A Millionaire, Marilyn Monroe, comedy, CS-XX, 1953
Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, drama, E 7-30-10

* The Lovers, Jeanne Moreau, romance, CS-XVII, 1958

* Mean Streets, harvey Keitel, drama, CS-XX, 1973

* The Misfits, Clark Gable, drama, CS-XVI, 1961 

The Mist, Marcia Gay Harden, horror, E 11-30-07

Mister Roberts, Henry Fonda, war drama, CS-III, 1955
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Jimmy Stewart, drama, CS-IV, 1939
Public Enemies, Johnny Depp, drama, E 8-31-09
Nick And Norah's Infinite Play List, Kat Dennings, teen romance, E 10-31-08

* Spencer's Mountain, James MacArthur, drama, CS-XVII, 1963
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, Bette Davis, drama, CS-VI, 1962
The White Ribbon, Christian Friedel, drama, E 2-1-10

Movies Graded C-:
* Foxcatcher, Steve Carell, drama, CS-XIX, 2014
* Masque Of The Red Death, Vincent Price, horror, CS-XIV, 1964
* My Dinner With Andre, Wallace Shawn, dialogue, CS-XVI, 1981
* One Sunday Afternoon, Gary Cooper, drama, CS-XXI, 1933
The Reader, Kate Winslet, drama, E 1-14-09
* The Wrong Man, Henry Fonda, drama, CS-XXII, 1956 

Movies Graded D:
* A Summer Place, Troy Donahue, drama, CS-XXII, 1959
Vantage Point, Matthew Fox, drama, E 3-12-08

Movies Graded D-: 
Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past, Matthew McConaughey, rom-com, E 5-19-09

Movies Graded F:
None

Movie Review: "Murder On The Orient Express"

"Murder On The Orient Express": C+.  Agatha Christie suspense novels often follow a particular structure for which the celebrated writer is most famous.  A crime is committed and, due to an unusual setting, the reader knows that the perpetrator is one of a finite number of characters who has already been introduced.  Most importantly, the perp, whoever it may turn out to be, has no feasible means of escape. Christie's most famous story, And Then There Were None, places the characters on a mysterious inescapable island where a series of homicides occurs.  In many ways the premise of that thriller resembles the blueprint for the author's Murder On The Orient Express, published four years prior to And Then There Were None.  In Orient Express, all of the characters are passengers on or employees aboard the famous, luxurious train.  When one of them is killed in his private compartment, it is up to a fellow passenger, the self-proclaimed "world's greatest detective," Hercule Poirot, to figure out whodunit.  He can take his time because an avalanche caused by a blizzard has derailed the train a million miles from nowhere.

Kenneth Branagh, an Irishman whose fame was established mostly on stage portraying Shakespearean larger-than-life characters, wears three hats in Orient Express, functioning as co-producer, director and protagonist Poirot.  For the benefit of viewers not familiar with the Belgian mastermind, director Branagh films a long introductory scene at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall to show how Poirot, using what seems to be the scantiest of clues, solves a crime involving the theft of a precious artifact from a church.  Part of the fun with any of the thirty-three Christie novels featuring Poirot is admiring his talent for accurately sizing up individuals based on his first impressions.  He has the uncanny ability to notice things that most other sleuths either would not see or else would disregard: the mispronunciation of an Italian city, a small insignia embroidered on a woman's silk scarf, a furtive glance between two people which they thought went undetected, an intentionally missed shot by a military marksman, a not-quite-right accent.  Poirot in many ways is the Belgian equivalent to England's Sherlock Holmes, only without a wing man like Doctor Watson.

It is my unfortunate duty to advise you that the best two features of this movie are the cinematography and the costumes.  Where did this production get derailed?  (Pardon the pun, but I could not resist.)  After much consideration I have come up with one word that synopsizes the heart of the answer: staging.  Rather than let the story unfold with natural segues and continuous flow of the action, director Branagh has chosen to tell this story mostly in a series of one-on-one dialogues which, after awhile, become amalgamated in the short-term memory bank.  There are twelve suspects on board, and the detail-driven detective leaves no stone unturned as he interviews almost all of them individually.  Thus, despite the relatively large ensemble cast, most of the scenes include only two persons at a time, Poirot and his interviewee.  Consequently we tend to forget what any one of them had to say, what alibi they offered or what lie they told -- and there were plenty of them  -- as we and Poirot go down the line.  The movie chugs along --there I go again -- and never picks up speed.

Given the fact that the Orient Express included only three Pullman sleeper cars plus a dining car, the story seems better suited to a stage rather than a film.  For variety's sake, Branagh even has Poirot interview one suspect while seated outdoors in the snow while they await the railroad crew's attempts to get the train back on the tracks.  The staging of that conference struck me as silly and gimmicky.  Plus, some long-range camera shots show the train stuck on an extremely high bridge, so where was the ground where the interview in question took place?

The plot relies too heavily on Poirot's uncanny ability to recall with great precision all of the events, pertinent people and facts surrounding a famous kidnapping case, referred to as "the Armstrong Case," years ago which resulted not only in the death of an infant but in the prosecution and execution of a suspect whom most rational beings would have known to be innocent.  There is no mistaking the notion that Christie, the author, was thinking of the real life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby in March 1932, a mere eighteen months before she published Orient Express.  Director Branagh's use of black and white flashbacks to show snippets of the Armstrong kidnapping and its aftermath is creepy yet effective.

The denouement, where Detective Poirot not only solves the case but explains how he reached his conclusion, is, again, remindful of Sherlock Holmes.  Branagh sets up this scene inside a nearby tunnel, where all of the characters -- except, of course, for the decedent -- are sitting at a long table as if they were attempting to replicate the Last Supper.  Another example of a poor staging decision.  The soliloquy here by Michelle Pfeiffer's character is so over the top that, were it rendered during an audition, most directors would not have offered her a call-back.

My guess is that most viewers will figure out whodunit no later than the three-quarters of the way through the film.  It would not take the efforts of "the world's greatest detective" to do so.  In the last shot Poirot appears to be on his way to Egypt.  I don't suppose this is intended to set us up for Death On The Nile, another Christie mystery starring Hercule Poirot.  

Movie Review: "American Made"

"American Made": A.  As Tom Cruise proved in 1986's Top Gun, put his character in a high speed jet on a secret mission and you are well on the way to an exciting story with as many twists and turns as the flight path.  In American Made, Cruise plays Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who forsakes a high salaried job and comfortable life with his All American family for the chance to make millions in a shady and extremely dangerous new career.  The story is mostly told via flashback videos recorded by Seal approximately eight years after the initial action.  To assist the viewers, the videos are designated with on-screen labels showing place and year, e.g., "Panama 1978."

Appearing in several scenes is one Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who most likely is working for the CIA but, with a twinkle in his eye, never quite expressly admits to it.  When Schafer first approaches Seal, it's disclosed that Schafer and his employer, whoever that may be, already have a thick dossier on Seal, including his background, his family and his strengths and weaknesses.  The major strength would be Seal's elite skill in the cockpit, while the negative characteristic of his penchant for risk-taking makes for an ironic pairing.  Schafer does not need to sell the opportunity to Seal on the basis of patriotism, i.e., helping his government.  The biggest motivation for Seal is money.

We viewers are told that American Made is based on a true story.  Those of us familiar with the seventies recall that the United States, despite public statements and press releases to the contrary, supported various dictatorships around the globe, particularly in Central and South America.  The fear was that a democratically elected government would open the door to a rise in anti-Americanism, resulting in a central government leaning toward communism.  In the midst of the Cold War, it was important for the US to support pro-western leaders such as Panama's Manuel Noriega.  The most vital method of support was furnishing guns and ammo.  Secretly transporting that arsenal from the States to Panama was the mission which Schafer presented to Seal. There was little doubt in Schafer's mind that Seal, a natural-born daredevil, would say yes.

Seal goes into this arrangement with the CIA with eyes wide open.  He is cognizant of the dangers, knowing that his own government will disavow any connection to either himself or the gun running operation should Seal stumble into trouble. Seal chooses not to tell his wife, Lucy (Sarah Wright), what his new occupation is.  She believes he is and always will be a pilot for TWA, a job which affords their family a very comfortable lifestyle in New Orleans. He'd be crazy to even consider another position.

Once Seal has taken on the high risk quasi-sorties for the U.S. government, his appetite for excitement is whetted further.  A Columbian drug cartel run by three hombres, including Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejia), needs to get its contraband goods into the United States. Seal seems to them the ideal candidate. No sense flying an empty plane back home from nearby Panama, they point out.  When they mention $1000 per kilo (about two pounds), Seal's eyes light up; his plane can probably carry 1500 pounds! Of course he'll be their guy. What's to lose, except maybe his freedom, his family and his life?

The story gets more complex, with head-scratching decisions made by Seal at every turn. Well, maybe not so head-scratching when you consider that he can't find room on his property or in the local banks' -- yes, plural -- vaults for all his cash. If only his line or work did not have to be on a cash-only basis!

As is true with many stories involving clandestine operations, the plot takes us to a variety of unfamiliar locations such as: Nicaragua, home of the Sandinistas who were opposed by the US-supported Contras with the help of Seal; the swamps and bayous of Louisiana, Seal's preferred location for dropping off the Columbian cartel's inventory; and Mena, a western Arkansas hamlet chosen by the CIA when it moved Seal and his astonished wife out of New Orleans for security purposes.

At age fifty-five, Cruise continues to accept roles which actors half his age might find too strenuous.  Wright, playing his on-screen wife, is twenty-one years younger, yet the age difference is not at all apparent.  Playing Seal had to be a challenge.  In one scene he's confidently playing cat-and mouse above the Gulf with Border Patrol planes; in another he is staring down the barrels of automatic weapons held by a band of itchy-fingered revolutionaries in the jungle; in yet another sequence he is trying to soothe his seething wife after the family has been uprooted from New Orleans.  No matter his predicament, we are pulling for him at every stage.

Finally, a word about the ending.  It has long been my belief that movies which tell a story mostly via flashback have a self-imposed hurdle to ascend because, arguably, the dramatic potential of the last act is jeopardized.  We know that, no matter what leads up to that point, we will eventually reach that very point in the story arc.  But American Made's ending totally sideswiped me; I did not see it coming.  As I was watching the movie I realized that it easily qualified for a grade of A-, which is reserved for the very best movies I have seen in a given year.  But because of the masterful ending I have decided to raise my original ranking by one notch up to an A.