Really good movie.
It holds up.
Good attention to detail.
Good story.
Good acting.
Well done.
-PD
Author Archives: paulydeathwish
Uncle Buck [1989)
Good one.
John Hughes.
It really started with National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Writer.
Chase.
Ramis was at the stick.
Egon from Ghostbusters.
Hughes really took off with Sixteen Candles.
He directed.
And that’s the first I saw of the big trilogy.
Those ’80s movies which transcend decade and genre:
Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink.
The middle one is the best.
Hughes needed a dry run with Sixteen Candles.
The Breakfast Club was the home run.
The grand slam.
Which leaves some holes.
European Vaction [writer].
Weird Science [hasn’t aged well…unless you’re a horny boy].
By Pretty in Pink, Hughes had relinquished direction to Howard Deutch.
Bueller [director] hasn’t aged that well.
WarGames [piece on #QAnon in the works] is much, much better.
Some Kind of Wonderful is another Deutch-directed hole.
Crosses paths with Back to the Future [Lea Thompson].
All of which is to say that Uncle Buck pales in comparison the the true Candy/Hughes masterpiece: Planes, Trains and Automobiles [sic].
No Oxford comma.
Holes.
She’s Having a Baby [director].
PTA [director] was his second great auteurist masterpiece after The Breakfast Club.
But in Hughes, auteur once again becomes AUTHOR [in the sense of writing].
Hughes was no caméra–stylo savant–no Orson Welles or Hitchcock of angle and mise-en-scène.
It’s the story that matters.
And yet…Judd Nelson’s neorealist performance in The Breakfast Club must have made Hughes the Rossellini of the ’80s…if for only a moment.
[and Nelson its James Dean…briefly]
The Great Outdoors [writer] is worse than even Uncle Buck.
Which is to say, Uncle Buck is WAY better than The Great Outdoors.
But both pale in comparison to Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Christmas Vacation was a comeback.
Jeremiah S. Chechik owes his career to Hughes [writer] and Randy Quaid [genius].
Hughes only directed once more after Uncle Buck.
Curly Sue.
Sad.
And his writing went strictly downhill after the rollercoaster pinnacle of Home Alone.
Money isn’t everything.
-PD
Ghostbusters [1984)
Good movie.
Maybe great.
Worth watching.
Very entertaining.
Moving.
Bill Murray is excellent.
Aykroyd is awesome.
It stands up.
-PD
Cinderfella [1960)
Here is a masterpiece.
I was wrong to dismiss it so suddenly.
On first viewing.
The fairy godfather and the schmaltzy song by the pool I couldn’t stomach.
But I tried again.
Because the juicer is so good!
AND THE KITCHEN DANCE (!)
So it’s true.
Jerry Lewis made AT LEAST TWO perfect films.
This one and The Nutty Professor.
And it gives me hope with which to plumb the depths of his full oeuvre.
The little mattress on the big set of springs.
The one cheap sheet hiding this dismal arrangement.
AND THE DINNER!
Holy crap!!
That is my life!!!
Forever catering to the whims of dickheads.
Forever going back and forth…for sugar cubes.
And to pour the wine.
And to light a cigarette.
[but mainly to sugar caffeinated beverages]
Out of breath…
Jerry Lewis.
Overworked.
Mucho trabajo, poco dinero.
Pablito!
This film celebrates us nerds!!!
Revenge.
Sure…
But really it’s a much sweeter, more pure vindication.
Nothing nasty about it.
Jerry combing his hair in the toaster’s reflection.
And a little touch-up in the reflection of the Rolls’s front grill.
And that haircut!
Buzz cut.
Except for the little shock of normality above the forehead.
Anna Maria Alberghetti is fantastic as Princess Charming!
So light.
So airy.
So sweet.
But it all goes back to the kitchen dance.
Post- puffs on a ciggy.
Dropped in the sink.
To mimic the entire Basie band.
Rahsaan would have been proud.
To feel it.
The touch notes on the piano.
The little Basie accents.
So lazy.
So classy.
And the air drums.
Brushes.
Buh-da-loop da loop.
Buh-ruh-rump!!!
And that sax, man!
Bari!!!
Blowin’ out the cheeks like Dizzy ( )
Duck walking.
Chuck Berry kicks.
A whole sax section in one mouth.
Fucking genius!
In truth, there are a lot of plot parallels between Cinderfella and The Nutty Professor.
We almost sense Buddy Love in the staircase scene.
But Jerry comes out verbally bumbling.
And humble.
AND HE DANCES LIKE JULIUS KELP IN THE PROM WHITE SUIT!!!
Manic, man…
Bloody jaw-dropping.
-PD
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken [1966)
Good movie.
Charming movie.
Not a masterpiece (by any stretch of the imagination).
But Don Knotts is always solid.
This might be a little scary for young ones, but is suitable as a family picture for teens and parents.
Well done!
-PD
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [1963)
Greed.
Not sure where to file this one.
It starts good, but it ends up a bit of a shambles.
Even so, it merits mention for several of the actors involved.
Milton Berle is pretty great.
His comedy is of another era.
It’s refreshing!
Buddy Hackett is pretty fantastic.
This crosseyed fat boy was a genuine talent.
And speaking of the rotund, Jonathan Winters is pretty awesome as the redneck furniture mover.
Jerry Lewis is on screen for about 5 seconds (really).
And Don Knotts has about one minute of contribution.
Spencer Tracy does a nice job.
His acting is a sort of “slow burn” here.
But like so many of these “cast of thousands” movies, the whole thing collapses (literally, in this case) under its own weight.
Stanley Kramer’s direction is good, but this hulking behemoth is mighty flawed.
There is not much mystery to this film.
Which is to say, there are no hidden levels to be revealed upon repeated viewings.
See it once and you’ll never want to bother with it again.
-PD
Mars Attacks! [1996)
This one starts out pretty good.
But it kinda implodes under its own weight.
The cast is too big.
The story is too watery.
At least the “Ack ack”s are funny 🙂
-PD
Pretty in Pink [1986)
Here’s another great movie.
Yes, Harry Dean Stanton is reading Finnegans Wake.
And Stanton is great herein.
But the real star is Jon Cryer.
Yeah, you heard me right.
Yes.
Molly Ringwald is a good supporting actress to Cryer’s amazing performance.
But really, it’s the clothing which rules this movie.
Cryer and Ringwald have excellent outfits.
It’s a cute film.
But let’s delve.
Duckie (Cryer) really does a great job here.
Annie Potts is pretty awesome as Iona.
AND ANDREW “DICE” CLAY IS IN THIS!!!
What?!?
Yes, the Dice knows how to light a cigarette.
That’s about the end of his screen time.
The lamest part is Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy ending up together.
It’s about as bad as Ally Sheedy’s transformation in The Breakfast Club and Emilio Estevez’s sudden fealty.
But other than that one slight detail, I highly recommend Pretty in Pink.
Put it together with The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles and you have John Hughes’ trio of teen masterpieces.
For although Hughes did not direct Pretty in Pink, he did write it.
Alternately, Hughes both wrote AND directed The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles.
If I had to pick just one, I would say The Breakfast Club is the standout gem.
But all three films are excellent and deserve further study.
They are true masterpieces whose value has not yet been fully recognized.
-PD
The Breakfast Club [1985)
Essential films.
As film accrues decades.
Perhaps another century.
Even Godard hired Molly Ringwald.
Likely because these films touched him in some sort of Rebel Without a Cause way.
Either that, or the producer forced her on him.
But this film is really special.
Emilio Estevez is a dead ringer for Michael Flynn.
Which brings us back again:
Is #QAnon real?
We are drip-dropping back to war mode.
Full-on, shit-slinging war mode.
Slowly.
Fear us.
But for cinematic purposes, it is most direct to point out the two essential personages in this film:
Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson.
And, boiled down, Judd Nelson.
Sheedy is attractive.
Mysterious.
Bat-shit crazy.
The Sheedy makeover is kinda lame.
The Estevez swoon mostly hollow.
But Judd Nelson is solid to the end.
This is a powerful film.
John Hughes created and directed the reality of John Bender (Nelson) onto the screen.
That’s would have been enough verismo for an entire career.
-PD
The Ambushers [1967)
Here we get flying saucers…which can only be piloted by women.
And Mexican beer.
Ostensibly in Acapulco.
And a guy in a fez with wraparound shades.
These films are kinda cute.
And positively boring.
-PDfl
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