Desperately Seeking Susan

Director: Susan Seidelman
Cast: Rosanna Arquette, Aiden Quinn, Madonna, Mark Blum, Robert Joy, Laurie Metcalf
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama 1985
Running time: 104 mins. 
Rating:★★★★

If you know what to look for, you can find almost anythingin the personal ads...including the love of your life! Bored New Jersey housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) fills her days by reading the personal ads and following an ongoing romance between Jim (Robert Joy) and Susan (Madonna), a mysterious drifter who appears to lead the kind of free-spirited life about which Roberta can only dream. And dream she does, until the day she actually shows up at the couple's pre-arranged rendezvous in New York City...and after a bump on the head, a bout of amnesia turns Roberta into Susan and opens the door to intrigue, laughter, and love!

One of my all time favorite films! At one time or another, one feels trapped and helpless in the current situation, which leads one to dream of a better life. At times, we envy others for having the life that we seem to want. And though its a bit of a stretch that Roberta would hit her head, get amnesia, and start leading a more free life, similar to her alter-ego, Susan. But it doesn't matter for its a delightfully hilarious film thats full of lust, danger, and adventure. Madonna, now in days, is a bit of a washout, but hear she is in her prime, back when she was cool. Organically beautiful! There is no over-the-top themes that are hitting you over the head because it thinks you're not with-it.

Wonderful cinematography, dialogue, performances, and soundtrack. And when Roberta regains her memory, she realizes that all the answers that she wanted to know and the life she wants lead is not as hard as she had thought. Even with the strange turn of events, life has a way of working itself out.

Next Stop Greenwich Villiage

Director: Paul Mazursky
Cast: Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Christopher Walken
Genre: Comedy/Drama 1976
Running time: 111 mins.
Rating:★★★★

A Coming-of-age story set in 1953. Aspiring to an acting career, young Larry Lapinsky (Lenny Baker) removes himself from his clingy Brooklyn mother (Shelley Winters) and escapes to bohemian, sexually liberated Greenwich Villiage. There he meets a new cast of characters, including a wildly pretentious actor (Jeff Goldblum), an oversexed poet (Christopher Walken) and a troubled girl (Lois Smith). Through it all, Larry may just make peace with his past and find a promising new future...in California!

The freedom of leaving home and the dangers of carelessness that is part of the journey that leads to adulthood. How much of what defines adulthood comes from society or parents? Or is it just enough that comes from within themselves. How much can one pretend that they know it all before they realize that they still have more to learn?

Wonderful to see an array of accomplished actors, most at the early stages of their career! Hilarious and provocative! It illustrates beautiful the struggles of growing up and finding oneself beyond one's parents.

Night Shift

Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long
Genre: Comedy 1982
Running time: 106 mins. 
Rating:★★★

Chuck Lumley is a nice, unassuming man. His fear of life is the primary reason he took a job as a morgue attendant rather than stay in his previous high stress job on Wall Street, despite having a natural aptitude in finance and business. He is dismayed to learn that he has been reassigned to the night shift at the morgue, if only because it will take away time available to spend with his straight-laced but neurotic fiancée, Charlotte Koogle. He is even more dismayed when he meets his new night shift colleague, William Blazejowski - who calls himself Billy Blaze - a manic, non-stop talking man, who is always trying to come up with get rich quick schemes, which are mostly hair-brained ideas. After Chuck befriends his neighbor, a good-natured hooker named Belinda Keaton, he learns that Belinda's former pimp was murdered, leaving her and many of her hooker friends pimp-less and thus unprotected by the unpredictability of their johns. From this knowledge, Billy sprouts the latest germ of a scheme: that he and Chuck, in their unsupervised state, should act as pimps - or what Billy calls love brokers - for Belinda and her friends during their night shift at the morgue. Chuck eventually agrees, if only because of his affection for Belinda, but he expands on that idea into a full-fledged pseudo-legitimate business for all their collective benefit. The questions become if this business is sustainable in light of the fact of everything about it being against Chuck's general nature, and if he will be able to balance his growing feelings for Belinda against having a personal relationship with a hooker.

With a director like Ron Howard, you know the movie is going to well-thought out, brilliantly casted, and fantastic! Its the eighties, so you know Michael Keaton was still in his prime and comedically balances Henry Winkler's straight man character beautifully. Shelley Long is surprisingly un-annoying in this film. And how Keaton's character convinces Winkler's character is hysterical! 

Royal Deceit

Director: Gabriel Axel
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Tom Wilkinson, Brian Cox, Kate Beckinsale
Genre: Action/ Drama 1994
Running time: 85 mins.
Rating:★

A young prince, Amled (Christian Bale), after discovering that his father has been murdered, vows to avenge the death and regain the crown. Plotting his revenge...he cleverly bides his time...waiting and watching...and hoping for the precise moment to execute the deadly plan! A retelling of Hamlet goes back to the original Danish source material.

Its a shame that with such an all-star cast, this film is nothing more that a TV movie. In both narration, performance, cinematography, soundtrack, and script. If I want a nostalgic throwback to shows like Hercules and Xena, I would watch them instead of this crap. This film is maybe a step or two classier than a porno with all its nudity. How could you go wrong, when you have Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Brian Cox signed on do this film? Seriously now! If this was a stage performance, then that would be an entirely different story, but its not, therefore its shit! However, it comes to no surprise that the only real strong and brilliant performance comes from Brian Cox.

Sweet Revenge

Director: Malcom Mowbray
Cast: Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristen Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Martin Clunes, Steve Coogan, and John Wood
Genre: Comedy 1998
Running time: 90 mins.
Rating:★★★★

Quite by chance, downcast businessman Henry Bell (Sam Neill) and quirky aristocrat Karen Knightly (Helena Bonham Carter) save each other's life just as they were both attempting to leap from London's Tower Bridge! Then, Karen quickly invents a plot of devilish retaliation against those who drove them to the edge! She will punish the man who stole Henry's job and he will destroy the life of the woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) who broke up Karen's love affair!

A wonderful throwback to Romantic-Comedies of the 1940's and '50's, especially with the confession in a church by a guy to introduce what really happened to Henry Bell, which therefore transition into the plot of the film. Its also stylistically references those cinematic eras with the way Bonham Carter's and Neill's characters first meet. The two characters, who seem totally different from one another and probably under different circumstances would never travel in the same circles of people, are thrown together in a slightly morbid, quirky, and delightfully witty situation.

A perfectly casted group of actors. A film where the unexpected is expected!

Red Lights

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen, Toby Jones, Joely Richardson, and Robert De Niro
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller 2012
Running time: 113 mins.
Rating:★★½

Veteran paranormal researchers Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) debunk fraudulent claims of ghost whispering, faith healing, and other psychic phenomena by detecting what Matheson calls "red lights," the subtle tricks behind every staged supernatural occurrence. But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) comes out of retirement after 30 years, his once-fearless adversary Matheson warns Buckley to back off, fearing reprisal from the powerful Silver. Determined to discredit Silver, Buckley and his star student (Elizabeth Olsen) use every tool at their disposal to uncover the truth behind the charismatic, spoon-bending, mind reader. But Buckley is forced to reexamine his own core beliefs as his quest builds to a mind-blowing conclusion in this taut psychological thriller.

With an all-star cast, you would think nothing could go wrong and with a modern film noir opening credits, one would think this is going to be great. Yet with the introduction of De Niro's character, where it ends with him taking off his glasses and then putting them back on, was a bit over the top and too theatrical. Yes, his character is blind, but it isn't necessary to hit the audience over the head with it? There are more subtle ways of giving that personal character detail.

However, that little detail allows the audience to question with what is real and what is staged or a desire to debunk the claims along with the main characters. A brilliant decoy that leads to a dangerous and compelling journey.

Love the use of blue and green undertones along with the dark contrast. Great cinematic compositions from the close-ups to the panoramics. Alfred Hitchcock influenced suspense.

Private Benjamin

Director: Howard Zieff
Cast: Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante, Robert Webber, Albert Brooks, Craig T. Nelson
Genre: Comedy/War 1980
Running time: 109 mins.
Rating:★★★

Devastated when her brand-new husband (Albert Brooks) drops dead on their wedding night, Jewish American princess Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is receptive to the pitch delivered by a duplicitous recruiter for the Women's Army Corps. Quickly adivsed by topkick Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) that she should not look forward to the private room, fancy clothes and sauna bath that she'd been promised, Judy is forced to go through basic training like any other "grunt". This turns out to be a realgrowth experience for the pampered Private Benjamin, who for the first time in her life has to work for her privileges. A brief misadventure with a lascivious paratroop officer (Robert Webber) nearly sours Judy on army life, but she turns out to be a darned good soldier-and a woman with a highly developed sense of self-esteem, which enables her to weather a further disappointing romantic fling with French phsycian Henri Tremont (Armand Assante).

One of the greatest comedic actress in cinematic history! Goldie Hawn has a knack for playing the snooty rich girl that transforms into a hard-working powerhouse of a woman. She has such a presence on the screen that is both comedic and captivating. Even when her character isn't speaking, Hawn brings all the emotions and thoughts of her character through her facial expressions that it's absolutely magical. 

Regardless of the fact that this movie is a comedy, it raise a lot of questions and interesting points. How much are the things we want really come from within or society? How much are we willing to sacrifice and alter to achieve those things? Are they really worth it in the long run? Lastly, what weird turn of events will present themselves to make way for who we really want to be?

Overall, an infectiously hilarious movie!