REVIEW: San Andreas

 

Directed by Brad Peyton
2015 Action Drama
1 hour 54 minutes
From Village Roadshow
and New Line Cinema

Starring
Dwayne Johnson
Carla Gugino
Alexandra Daddario
Hugo Johnstone-Burt
Art Parkinson
Archie Panjabi
Ioan Gruffudd
Paul Giamatti

REVIEW: Aloha

Directed by Cameron Crowe
2015 Romance Drama
1 hour 45 minutes
From Columbia Pictures

Starring
Bradley Cooper
Emma Stone
Rachel McAdams
Bill Murray
John Krasinski
Alec Baldwin

Irene Papas

To tell you the truth, I don't know all that much about her.  In terms of movie-making I don't know much about Greece either but perhaps that's for another posting.  Irene Papas first came into my consciousness in 1956 in a western called Tribute to a Bad Man.  It was supposed to topline Spencer Tracy but ended up starring James Cagney and Papas was his wife.  It was not very good.

Good 60s Films: The Night of the Iguana

1964 Drama
From Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Directed by John Huston

Starring
Richard Burton
Ava Gardner
Deborah Kerr
Sue Lyon
Grayson Hall
Cyril Delevanti
James (Skip) Ward

Geraldine Page

She had been an Oscar trivia question: what actress has been nominated for seven Oscars without a win?  It was all to change at the 1986 Academy Awards when F. Murray Abraham, the previous year's best actor winner, opened the envelope and declared... ah, I consider this woman the greatest actor in the English language.  The winner is Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful.  Meryl Streep, a nominee for her superb performance in Out of Africa, jumped out of her seat and led the long standing ovation.  Hollywood had finally acknowledged Gerry.  It was long overdue.

The Directors: Robert Mulligan

Best known for his sensitive directing of one of the most acclaimed films of all time, 1962s To Kill a Mockingbird, Robert Mulligan was one of a number of directors to emerge from the heyday of live television.  His movie career, I suppose, was rather erratic although I pretty much liked everything he did.  He alternated between hits and misses and also between commercial films and films that simply appealed to him, knowing they may go nowhere.  They say he had no truly identifiable style but I found him to be uniquely good at directing adolescents in some worthy coming-of-age stories.

Good 60s Films: Toys in the Attic

1963 Drama
From United Artists
Directed by George Roy Hill

Starring
Dean Martin
Geraldine Page
Yvette Mimieux
Wendy Hiller
Gene Tierney
Frank Silvera
Nan Martin
Larry Gates

Good 60s Films: Home from the Hill

1960 Drama
From Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Directed by Vincente Minnelli

Starring
Robert Mitchum
Eleanor Parker
George Peppard
George Hamilton
Luana Patten
Everett Sloane
Constance Ford
Anne Seymour
Ken Renard
Ray Teal
Denver Pyle

Too Bad She Turned Sexy

Carroll Baker was a fixture in American films for 10 years or so, from the mid-50s to the mid-60s.  Her first three starring films were as different as they could be.  Two resulted in huge box office receipts and in the third she had the controversial title role that would shoot her to international fame.  But some things happened and she fled to Italy for a few years to nurse her wounds.  She's been back for many years now making films most of us have never seen nor heard of.  What happened to Carroll Baker?

Natalie Wood: Her Films of the 60s

As a little girl she had a number of charming roles.  In 1947 alone she had a small part as Gene Tierney's daughter in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and a larger role as Maureen O'Hara's daughter in the classic, Miracle on 34th Street.  The following decade, as a teenager, she appeared in two classics, a large role in 1955s Rebel Without a Cause and a small but central role in 1956s John Ford western, The Searchers.  Despite the classic nature of these films and all the others she made in those decades, it was the 1960s that brought Natalie Wood into full blossom as a beautiful and talented actress.  Let's take a look at those films.