Easy Living (1937)

Written by the comic genius Preston Sturges, this is one of those classic screwball comedies that somehow keeps its freshness.  A millionaire, J.B. Ball, in a fit of rage tosses one of his wife's fur coats out the window.  It lands on a girl named Mary Smith , Jean Arthur, who tries to return it.   But Mr. Ball refuses and lets her keep it.  Hence a series of misunderstandings about this coat arise causing hilarious havoc for all involved.  Ray Milland and Jean Arthur are wonderful together and as with most Sturges comedies the side characters get the most laughs.  If you like Sturges or classic romantic comedies you can't miss this delightful film.  Grade: A-.

Afterlife (2005)

This BBC series is the more horrific version of the US television show Medium.  Dark and nasty at times it explores the psychic character in a masterful and complex way.  Lesley Sharp is the crowning jewel of this series.  Her Alison Mundy is crazy, beautiful and tragic.  Diving deep into her psyche must have been exhausting and the result is a spellbinding performance.  Andrew Lincoln, the skeptic of the show, is brilliant as well and seeing his struggle is ripe with tension.  Mostly what I loved about this series is how cruel it could be.  Many of the episodes play out like great horror stories.  If you are interested in a Medium like show without the touchy-feely-ness watch this series.  It's glorious.  Grade: A-

Cowboys And Aliens (2011)

The premise is in the title.  What if aliens invaded our world during the Old West?   When I heard of this film, based on a comic, I became excited especially hearing who would direct it (Jon Favreau) and star in it (Bond and Indiana Jones).   The first trailer was fantastic.  It's too bad the film didn't quite live up to the trailer (damn I hate trailers).  This is not a bad film though.  It has many wonderful entertaining elements.  Too bad the suspension of disbelief toward the end is really a stretch.  I mean come on, the aliens are so advanced, do we really think a bunch of cowboys with bullets can out fight them?   Harrison Ford is fun as the hard-as-nails rancher looking for revenge and Daniel Craig is so roughed and tough it's hard to hate him.  Grade: B.

Sucker Punch (2011)

A mess of a movie that's entertaining if you like watching video games.  You pretty much have to degrade your IQ and sensibilities to that of a teenage boy to get anything out of this concoction of violence, young girls in sexy costumes and bad melodrama.  There is a story in there, somewhere, of a young girl committed to an insane asylum by her stepfather to get her dead mother's fortune.  Once there we go into her head where the asylum becomes a dance club and the patients become dancers.  Then she can go on adventures further inside her head, bringing her girl friends along on missions that will supposedly, piece by piece, lead them to their freedom.  This clever mind-bending concept isn't the problem.  It's the fact that none of the girls are developed enough to care about and when they go on adventures the action lacks any kind of suspense or danger.   They march into an army of WWI zombies but we know the outcome, who will live and who will die.  If you're looking for excellent special effects and set pieces all for eye-candy then check it out.   If you want any kind of real storytelling, skip it. Grade: C.

The Pillow Book (1997)

Peter Greenaway's film is about a woman obsessed with inking Japanese calligraphy on her body and/or the bodies of others.  This is some kind of art form and she is able to use it for revenge on a family enemy.   I didn't care for this film.   It was slow and the story was as interesting as watching ink dry.  Maybe it's a cultural gap but I think it's because Greenaway focused so much on how to film this movie, technically, then on how to make these characters likable enough to care.  Grade: C+.

I want to make it clear that the nudity in this film did not bother me.  I can imagine some might think it is excessive.  If you don't like lots of nudity in your movies, including male nudity, then skip this film.  If you consider nakedness natural and unoffensive then still skip this anyway because of the bad story.

Down By Law (1986)

Jim Jarmusch is a king in Independent film circles.  He has such a unique style.  One of his bests, here he films two prisoners who are complete opposites and the Italian foreigner who befriends them and brings them together. Shot on black and white and starring Roberto Benigni in his first American movie, this is a solid work of storytelling that's more like a parable than a realistic drama.  Tom Waits and John Lurie are excellent together and I loved seeing their characters clash while at the same time maturing.  Grade: A-.

Case 39 (2009)

You can see the mid-point twist a million miles away but this is still a fun little horror film.  Renee Zellweger plays a social worker assigned to check on a little girl whose parents lock her up.  Able to free her from her parents she takes custody only to learn there's more to this family's story.  Zellweger is just fine as the terrorized but strong heroine and I loved the small role that Ian McShane plays as a police detective.  Grade: B.