REVIEW: Magic Mike

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Drama
1 hour 50 minutes
From Warner Bros.

Starring
Channing Tatum
Alex Pettyfer
Cody Horn
Matt Bomer
Joe Manganiello
Adam Rodriquez
Kevin Nash
Matthew McConaughey

REVIEW: Hysteria

Directed by Tanya Wexler
Period Comedy Drama
1 hour 35 minutes
From Sony Pictures

Starring
Hugh Dancy
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Jonathan Pryce
Felicity Jones
Rupert Everett

Leave Her to Heaven: Favorite Movie #35

1945 Drama
From 20th Century Fox
Directed by John Stahl

Starring
Gene Tierney
Cornel Wilde
Jeanne Crain
Vincent Price
Mary Philips
Ray Collins
Darryl Hickman
Chill Wills

Under-rated Movies

Here are five films which, for one or more reasons, were not as highly regarded as those who made them would have hoped and certainly aren't held as highly as I regard them.  I am pointing more toward the critics' reactions rather than the public but in some cases that might include the public as well.  Three of them are dramas and two are comedies.  It has not escaped me that the comedies failed, in part, because the lead actors in each are not only dramatic actors but one might call them highly dramatic.  There are those who think less of the work for such actors when they make a stab at comedy.  Too bad.  Let's see what you think.

Crying at the Movies

I don't cry much outside of the movies and I have always wondered, therefore, why I am such a big crybaby in a darkened theater?  For this piece my brain immediately came up with four films which had me blubbering but the past week or so I have come up with more.  It seemed that most everyday I would remember another film that set off some tears.  I know, however, that there are hundreds upon hundreds of films that have at least made me teary-eyed.  Maybe the tears didn't spill down my cheeks, but it was hard to see.  There are those films that made me shed some big ones and since a great many films leave that super sad scene until the end, I have often waited for the theater to clear (or close to) so I can walk out without appearing to have wilted. 

Sweet Dreams: Favorite Movie #36

1985 Musical Biography
From HBO Pictures/Tri Star
Directed by Karel Reisz

Starring
Jessica Lange
Ed Harris
Ann Wedgeworth
David Clennon

Gene Hackman

This is in part a tribute to an ex-neighbor of mine, Trudy, who was over the moon about Gene Hackman.  She even had a couple of framed pictures of him in her bathroom.  I always wondered how Gene felt watching me like that in so private a moment.  Trudy thought he was very handsome.  She would correct that and say manly and then say, well, he is both.  I know I never confused him with a trio of his costars, Beatty, Redford and Newman, but I had to agree with Trudy when she said that Hackman was one of the best actors around.  He has made some 80+ movies, most of which were quite good.  Of course there were a few stinkers in there but he's entitled.

REVIEW: Peace, Love & Misunderstanding

Directed by Bruce Beresford
Comedy Drama
1 hour 36 minutes
From BCDF Pictures

Starring
Jane Fonda
Catherine Keener
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Elizabeth Olsen
Nat Wolff
Chace Crawford

Ryan

My son's name is Ryan.  I obviously like the name. This could be about him.  But you know it's not.  It could be about Ryan O'Neal but it's not.  It's not only about someone named Ryan but  about three actors named Ryan.  I have been thinking about them for days because a friend phoned and got my brain whirring on these three.  Our chat started with her saying she thought she knew which one was married to Reese Witherspoon.  (She guessed wrong.)  She thought Reese's ex was "the one in that Sandra Bullock movie, you know the one with Betty White."  (Ooops, afraid not.) 

Savage Grace: Favorite Movie #37

2007 Drama
From The Weinstein Company
Directed by Tom Kalin

Starring
Julianne Moore
Eddie Redmayne
Stephen Dillane
Elena Anaya
Hugh Dancy
Unax Ugalde
Barney Clark