thomasherlihy

This is a solid Hitchcock film. It delves into the feeling of how mesmerizing it can be sitting next to an upper floor apartment window in the inner city and watching the neighbors. If you've never lived in an apartment like that you won't understand what I mean. The main plot involves a murder (obviously) but there's also a nice side plot showing the character development of Grace Kelly. She appears shallow at first and Stewart thinks she is out of his league. However, as she helps him with the investigation Stewart gains more respect and admiration for her.

That was the good part of the movie. The bad part is that the movie felt too contrived. The dangerous and suspenseful situations they got them into seemed unnecessary. Why didn't Stewart call the police when he knew that Raymond Burr was coming up to his apartment? In general, the movie just wasn't as scary or suspenseful as many other Hitchcock movies. It was a good Hitchcock movie, but not one of the best.

This James Stewart movie is often overlooked and dismissed but it is actually quite good. The story is engaging, it has an appealing theme tune, and Vera Miles is absolutely beautiful. Often you see the flaws of movies the second or third time you watch them but this is not the case for this movie. I've watched this about 5 times and it still hasn't gotten old.

Even for a 1950's movie, this Sci Fi was pretty creepy. What makes it so scary is that you are dealing with the unseen rather than the visible. You never see the aliens. Rather, they are invisible and harvest themselves in people, taking over their bodies much like a virus. Plus, the themes of submitting and giving oneself over to the invaders brings to mind the evil of Communism and brainwashing.

This is a pretty entertaining Shirley Temple movie. Basically, Shirley singlehandedly ends of the Great Depression. Sure, it's unrealistic, but does anyone really expect a Shirley Temple movie to be a display of stark realism? Shirley was still cute, there were good musical numbers, and a good deal of funny scenes (aka run-ins with Mr. Waters). It's not a serious movie; it's just plain fun.

The movie does have an unrealistic way of resolving problems that would not be so easily solved in real life. Yet, Cary Grant compensates for these downsides by his likeable character. He comes across as a very good yet a very human person. His occasional frustrations are sympathetic and at the end of the day you know that he is never selfish but he only wants to do what is prudent for his family. Of all Cary Grant's movies, he is most the likeable as the character he played in this movie.

The Train Robbers is a solid John Wayne movie. It was colorful, it had sufficient action, a good cast, and even a good plot twist. John Wayne didn't really have any badass moments, but the movie was still really enjoyable.

Family Honeymoon is one of those comedy movies where you're supposed to laugh at people's misfortunes. Bad things kept happening to the people in the movie, one after the other. These misfortunes were supposed to be funny but they were really just too sad to be that funny.

There's a bit of everything in Father Goose. Cary Grant's dry sense of humor makes the movie funny. Leslie Caron is radiant and there is a wonderful romance between her and Cary. There's a bit of adventure and even some action. Overall, this is a really enjoyable movie.

John Wayne fits well into this role. The theme of the movie is that John Wayne has to balance being a U.S. marshal with being a father. It's basically a combination of his role as a dad in Big Jake and as a U.S. marshal in True Grit. Since John Wayne was already seasoned in playing these roles, he naturally performed well in this movie.

Tom Cruise's talent is wasted in this movie. Cruise is an action hero. He beats up bad guys. He doesn't run away from them. He looks danger straight in the face and confronts it head on. But in this movie, Cruise spends the most of the movie running and hiding from danger. He does fight back a little at the end, but when it's that late in the movie, you kind of don't really even care anymore. For most of the movie Cruise seems depressed and hopeless and this makes the movie too depressing and not much fun.

This movie is a disappointment. The characters are terrible. Spencer Tracy's accent is ridiculous. Was he supposed to be a Mexican? Whatever he was trying to portray, he comes across very silly. The only likable character is Frank Morgan who plays the humble hermit. Everyone else is selfish and looking out for themselves. Spencer Tracy is a con man, always trying to take advantage of people. John Garfield is another story. First, he's in and out of jail. That's not a good sign. He is very selfish too. He goes to the girl's house and is very rude to another guest and tells him to leave. Then he very disrespectfully kisses the girl and hold her against her wishes like a creep. Then she gets mad and he goes crazy and starts beating people for no good reason. But for some reason everyone keeps saying how Garfield is such a good person! What are they talking about!! As for Hedy Lamarr, she is just a nut. She threatens John Garfield with a kitchen knife and tells him to get out and says she hates him. Next minute she loves him. Then she hates him again. It goes back and forth like this the whole movie! Overall, this is a cheap and boring movie.

This was a strange movie. James Cagney is so mean to Bette Davis. He kidnaps her, constantly lies to her, and withholds food from her while he munches away at a sandwich, just for money! Yet, by the end of the movie she falls in love with him?! Did Bette Davis have the Stockholm Syndrome? The plot was so ridiculous.

Panic Room is a psychological drama rather than an action movie. Although it takes place in basically one setting, this is a very intense movie with plenty of violence. It isn't the most edifying movie, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Sergeants 3 had the potential to be very funny but it instead came out flat. It had too many filler scenes that were intended to be funny but never really triggered any belly laughs. Nevertheless, a good cast made it lightly enjoyable.

Red Eye is an underrated thriller that is well worth watching. What makes this movie so good is that the tension builds up for the first 3/4 of the movie until it finally erupts into an action pack fourth quarter. Without giving away any details, the movie has a very satisfying ending on multiple levels.

Vertigo is a movie like none other. James Stewart plays a character like none other. Instead of playing the usual good guy, Stewart plays a very complex character who becomes obsessed with one woman. But everything is not all that it seems. To say anything more about the plot would be a crime. Kim Novak is stunningly beautiful and Barbara Bel Geddes is good in a supporting role in this truly remarkable movie.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was one of two Rathbone/Bruce movies produced by 20th Century Fox and it is of a noticeably higher caliber than all the other movies, which were made by Universal. For one thing, Watson isn't portrayed as bumbling as he is in the other movies. This version of the Hound of the Baskervilles stands as a good movie by itself, whereas the Universal movies are more low budget entries in a film series. This version of the Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the best of the Rathbone/Bruce movies.

There really isn't anything to criticize about this movie. The plot was interesting and well handled; the cast was good. This is a solid movie and well worth watching.

Shooter looked like a good action movie. Its corrupt government officials frame good guy and good guy has to clear his name formula works well in many other action movies. However, in good action movies the main character doesn't kill people unless he has to, e.g. in self defense. This was not the case in Shooter. Mark Wahlberg went on a killing spree. There were too many scenes where he kills 50 guys (and viciously kills them) just to get to one guy. Clearly, throughout the movie he pushed the limits of justifiable killing. But the last killing scene of the movie tipped the scale. Since Mark Wahlberg's name was already cleared, this killing was motivated by revenge rather than self defense. Mark Wahlberg's character was unheroic and this made the movie unlikable.

Inside Edition is ok. It covers a lot of human interest stories that are interesting in themselves, but they are meaningless with respect to the country at large. These stories tend to be overly alarmist and the reporters do a lot of "naughty, naughty" finger waving. Lisa Guerrero does this a lot and she comes across as really snippy and obnoxious. Sometimes it gives short segments on current news stories. These short summaries are good if you don't have time to delve more deeply into the news. If you like human interest stories for your entertainment, Inside Edition is passable. On the other hand, if you want to learn about the important news going on in the world, watch some other news outlet.

The plot of Top o' the Morning seemed like it had potential to be a good movie, but it just wasn't that fun. Bing Crosby had a few songs, but even those were forgettable. It wasn't funny, it didn't have much action, it wasn't a serious drama. An enjoyable movie should have at least one of those criteria, but this movie had none of them.

This was a low budget, grade B movie, but enjoyable nonetheless. Although silly at times, it kept your interest since it showed how decent citizens beat corrupt politicians at the own game. There are elements of this in many small towns. The movie was almost a satire on small town corruption.

This movie had it's downsides. First, that whole business about the wife's project to help the monkey seemed kind of ridiculous and superficial. They could have picked a more inspiring cause. Think about it. Second, it was a little too melodramatic. They could have done without David wailing on the floor, or Grace wailing down the street on her bicycle. Those scenes could have been made sympathetically tragic and moving, but instead they were just cringe moments in the movie. Another thing is why does David's friend give Grace a goodbye kiss when it seemed like he just met her? That would be immensely inappropriate in real life.

That said, there are great aspects of the movie. First, the plot was excellent. The story was original, unusual, and charming. Second, the movie had great characters. There was excellent chemistry between Grace and David, and the men in the restaurant were delightful. One funny scene was when the men are out in the garden, and one of them pretends he's Marlon Brando playing with the children and then collapsing from a heart attack! While the movie had some weak points, it was energized by these positive aspects.

Mister 880 portrays two morals, each of which is summed up by a quotation in the movie. The first moral is demonstrated when Dorothy McGuire says "A task left undone creates a void that no amount of achievement can fill." Through Burt Lancaster's character, this movie showed the importance of not giving up, but having patience and perseverance. The second moral is portrayed when Burt Lancaster repeats the quote "justice is too often administered by fixed rules without regard for the feelings of the human mind or the charity of the human heart." Without giving out any spoilers, I'll just say that the movie did a good job illustrating this point.

I think this movie was intended to be a screwball comedy, but it just never got that funny. The movie had no memorable scenes. It was just a running show of ridiculousness. This became hard to take. Also, while Errol Flynn usually plays a dashing hero, in this movie he plays a con-man and a phony the whole movie. Seeing him playing a role like this diminished the quality of the movie.