One Small Hitch

Childhood friends Molly Mahoney (Dollar) and Josh Shiffman (McRae) are heading back to Chicago for Molly's mother Doreen's (Faraci) wedding.  Both are newly single, after dumping their respective dates.  Before their flight takes off, Josh learns his father Max (Travanti) is dying of cancer, and his dying regret is that he'll never meet the woman Josh will marry.  In a moment of panic Josh tells his parents that he and Molly are engaged.

That innocent lie spirals out of control when they are greeted at the airport by their parents, Max and Frida (Brooks) and Doreen and Art Burke (Dean), who are overjoyed by the news.  Soon everyone in their lives knows about their engagement and has opinions about why they are together.  They tell Josh's best friend Sean (Belushi), who is also Molly's brother, and his wife Carla (Spence), Molly's best friend, the truth, but keep up the facade for everyone else.  The Shiffman's offer them an apartment and ask them to stay longer.  Can they maintain the ruse, especially when Giselle Brousard (Johanningmeier) sets her sights on Josh?


It's wedding season, and I am knee deep in cupcakes for a wedding this weekend.  With that in mind I decided to check out a wedding film.

I loved this film.  Yes, it is the typical romantic comedy setup and it is obvious that Shane McRae and Aubrey Dollar's characters are going to end up together (and saying that isn't a spoiler).  It was surprisingly funny and sweet.  Nothing earth shattering, but it was still entertaining.

I was unfamiliar with the director and cast, but they did a decent job on the film.  Director John Burgess is a Chicago native, and most of the main cast are well-known faces in Chicago acting community.  Daniel Travanti is a Golden Globe and Emmy award winning actor and the is the biggest name within the cast.  Robert Belushi, the son of actor Jim Belushi, is well-known within Second City and Improv Olympic.  And Rebecca Spence and Heidi Johanningmeier are also local actresses.

An enjoyable, but cliche rom com.

One Small Hitch (2013) 105 minutes
Director: John Burgess
Starring: Shane McRae as Josh Shiffman
Aubrey Dollar as Molly Mahoney
Daniel J. Travanti as Max Shiffman
Janet Ulrich Brooks as Frida Shiffman
Mary Jo Faraci as Doreen Mahoney
Ron Dean as Art Burke
Robert Belushi as Sean Mahoney
Rebecca Spence as Carla Mahoney
Heidi Johanningmeier as Giselle Brousard

Leon: The Professional

"Is life always this hard, or is it just when you're a kid?"

"Always like this."

Leon (Reno) is a professional hitman.  He lives alone and interacts with few people.  He occasionally interacts with Mathilda (Portman) his 12 year old neighbor, who he catches smoking in the hallway.  Mathilda's father (Michael Badalucco) is holding drugs for unhinged DEA Agent Stansfield (Oldman).  Stansfield noticed a discrepancy in the drugs and holds Mathilda's father responsible.  The next day the DEA arrive at the apartment and murder Mathilda's family, including her 4 year old brother (Carl J. Matusovich).  Mathilda is buying groceries and hides in Leon's apartment until the police leave.

Mathilda is devastated by the loss of her brother and vows revenge.  Leon and Mathilda strike up a unique arrangement: he will teach her to be a cleaner like him, and she will do the cleaning / shopping.  With Stansfield and his men looking for Mathilda, can Leon keep her alive long enough to avenge her brother?

I discovered this film after a friend mentioned enjoying it.  It is the film debut of Natalie Portman, who was 11 during filming.  Even at such a young age she commands the screen and makes you believe this character is capable of the things she is doing.  She shares most scenes with French actor Jean Reno, who played a similar character in director Luc Besson's previous film La Femme Nikita.  Reno has a strong screen presence and minimal dialog.  His quiet performance is in stark contrast to Gary Oldman as the unhinged villain.  Oldman plays to the rafters and nails another iconic villain role:

Oldman's Stanfill has a series of unique ticks and unsettling soliloquies.  Apparently some of these characteristics were not rehearsed and the reactions of the other actors are genuine, as they did not know what he was going to do / say.

This film was the American debut of director Besson.  I am not overly familiar with his filmography, having only seen a handle of films that he wrote and directed (The Fifth Element and Lucy), but I enjoyed all of those films.  It is a good action flick with enough carnage (but not an abundance of gore) to appease most audience members.

Leon: The Professional (1994) 110 minutes
Rating: R for scenes of strong graphic violence, and for language
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean Reno as Leon
Gary Oldman as Stansfield
Natalie Portman as Mathilda
Danny Aiello as Tony
Peter Appel as Malky

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

"Mind your language in front of the boy!"

"Jesus Christ!"

"That includes blasphemy as well!"

Eddy (Moran), Tom (Flemyng), Soap (Fletcher) and Bacon (Statham) are petty criminals with a big plan.  They gather £100,000 so that Eddy, the card shark, can join a high stakes poker game with "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale (Moriarty).  The game is rigged and they owe a sizable sum to Lonsdale.  His muscle, Barry "the Baptist" (McLean), gives them a deadline and leaves them incentive to meet it.

Meanwhile, Barry hires two bumbling thieves (Jake Abraham and Victor McGuire) to acquire a set of antique rifles.  And debt collector Big Chris (Jones) is sent to apply the right pressure.  Eddy overhears his neighbor Diamond Dog (Harper) and his goons planning a robbery.  Can Eddy and his friends repay Lonsdale in time, or will they lose everything?


I watched this film based on a recommendation from a friend.  I was pleasantly surprised.  This is director Guy Ritchie's film debut.  Prior to this film he directed music videos and commercials.  In 1995 he wrote and directed The Hard Case, a short film, which got the attention of Trudie Styler and Matthew Vaughn who agreed to produce the film.  Ritchie and Vaughn collaborated a few more times before Vaughn began writing and directing his own films (and both like to collaborate with actors from this film).

This is an impressive debut for Ritchie... and ambitious.  There is a large cast and several story lines that all intersect.  Even little throw away moments are further explained in ways that connect to other parts of the story.  At first it is difficult to keep track of everyone, but Alan Ford provides voice-over narration that introduces the main characters.  It is a dark and violent film, but it also has a healthy does of dry humor.  The film launched the careers of Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones (who was a professional athlete prior to this film).  Lenny McLean was a famous bare knuckle boxer, turned actor.  He died a month before the film's release, and the film is dedicated to him.

This film has been compared to Quentin Tarantino's style, specifically his Reservoir Dogs which premiered in 1992.  I can understand the comparison, but it isn't fair to either Tarantino or Ritchie.  Yes, both made violent films with quick dialogue, highly stylized, and inappropriate humor, but that is where the comparisons end.  This film has a body count of 16, which seems low based on the violence, but the deaths aren't as gruesome / bloody as Tarantino's (which has a body count of around 17, which again seems low).

This film launched Ritchie's film career and introduced most of the cast to American audiences.  It also holds an important place in popular culture, and has been parodied / referenced in numerous films and TV shows since it premiered.

I enjoyed the film and look forward to diving further into Ritchie's filmography.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) 107 minutes
Rating: R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality and drug content
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Nick Moran as Eddy
Jason Flemyng as Tom
Dexter Fletcher as Soap
Jason Statham as Bacon
Steven Mackintosh as Winston
Vinnie Jones as Big Chris
Nicholas Rowe as J
Nick Marco as Charles
Charles Forbes as Willie
Lenny McLean as Barry "the Baptist"
Peter McNicholl as Little Chris
P.H. Moriarty as "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale
Frank Harper as Diamond Dog
Steve Sweeney as Plank
Stephen Marcus as Nick "the Greek"
Alan Ford as Alan / Narrator

The Reluctant Dragon

"Robert, I have a wonderful idea. We'll sell this book to Walt Disney."

"Well, you can't. It belongs to your nephew. [Looks at toy rifle] So does this, too. I wonder what he'd take for it."

"I mean the idea, for a movie. I'm sure if you went to his studio and suggested it to him, he'd jump at it."

Robert Benchley is relaxing by the pool when his wife (Bryant) suggests going to Walt Disney to pitch the children's book "The Reluctant Dragon" for his next film.  Benchley reluctantly agrees and she leaves him at Disney Studios to meet with Disney.

He is assigned Humphrey (Pepper) as a tour guide, but continually escapes to investigate different areas of the studio.  As he avoids Humphrey he learns all about the animation process, along with the other technical aspects of bringing animation to the big screen.  Will he be able to convince Disney to make the movie?


In 1941 the animators at Disney went on strike.  The strike happened while they were working on Dumbo.  The studio signed a contract with the Screen Cartoonists' Guild and led to a strained relationship between Walt Disney (who felt betrayed) and his animators.  This film was released in the midst of the strike and theaters that showed the film were picketed by the striking animators.

The reluctant dragon short was released as part of the Walt Disney Mini Classics in 1987.  In 2002, Disney released the DVD of the entire film.  In 2007 and 2009 the short was released as part of an animated collection.  In 2014 the entire film was a bonus feature on the DVD for The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Fun and Fancy Free.

The first 20 minutes of the film are in black and white.  Once Robert Benchley arrives in the camera room it transitions to color, which he remarks upon.  The rest of the film is in color.  There are 4 short animated shorts ("Casey Junior" from Dumbo, Baby Weems, Goofy's How to Ride a Horse, and The Reluctant Dragon) within the film as a whole, each is intended to illustrate a different part of the studio.  Most of the animators shown on screen are actors, due to the animator strike.

It is interesting to see the different pieces that go into animated films.  So often we overlook animated films, or relegate them to simple children's movies, but it takes months of work by dedicated animators and sound technicians, etc to bring all of the pieces together and look effortless.

I would have preferred more time with The Reluctant Dragon short... or at least to watch the process featuring that short.  But it was still an enjoyable film.

The Reluctant Dragon (1941) minutes
Director: Alfred Werker (live action), Hamilton Luske (animation), Jack Cutting, Ub Iwerks, Jack Kinney
Starring: Robert Benchley as Robert BenchleyFrances Gifford as Doris
Buddy Pepper as Humphrey
Nana Bryant as Mrs. Benchley
Claud Allister as Sir Giles (voice)
Barnett Parker as Dragon (voice)
Billy Lee as Boy (voice)
Florence Gill as self / Clara Cow
Clarence Nash as self / Donald Duck

White House Down

"I lost the rocket launcher."

"You lost... How do you lose a rocket launcher?"

John Cale (Tatum) is a Capitol Police Officer who is assigned to protect Secretary of State Eli Raphelson (Jenkins).  Cale has a fractured relationship with his daughter Emily (King), who is fascinated by politics.  He gets a interview for the President's Secret Service detail and brings his daughter to visit the White House.  President James Sawyer (Foxx) is preparing for a major peace treaty, which is a major source of controversy.

Cale is interviewed by Agent Carol Finnerty (Gyllenhaal), an old acquaintance, who refuses to hire him for the job.  To avoid telling Emily that he did not get the job, they go on a tour of the White House.  During their tour, a group of men led by Emil Stenz (Clarke) attack the White House and Cale and Emily are separated.  Can Cale find his daughter and save the day?


2013 saw the release of 2 films with the same basic premise: criminals taking over the White House and holding the President hostage.  In both case, the President's only hope is a disgraced agent and the threat is from within his staff.  This film was received better, but the other film, Olympus Has Fallen, is getting a sequel (London Has Fallen, to be released in 2016).  The only similarity between the films is their overall premise...they even had different ratings and different tones.

Director Roland Emmerich is known for disaster films.  He previously destroyed the White House in 1996's Independence Day (which he wrote and directed).  The other films that he has served as both writer and director are also disaster films that have impressive body counts / destruction, etc: Godzilla in 1998, The Day After Tomorrow in 2004, 10,000 B.C. in 2008, and 2012 in 2009.  The script for this film was written by James Vanderbilt, who is best known for writing action films (he is set to collaborate with Emmerich again in 2016's Independence Day: Resurgence, which is a direct sequel to Emmerich's Independence Day.

The film as a whole is ok.  The action and stunt work is impressive.  The script has moments of humor interspersed throughout...even though it is an intense situation there are still funny moments.  Most of the humor comes from Nicholas Wright's Donnie the tour guide... he even gets a line that references Emmerich's Independence Day.  Jamie Foxx also gets some funny moments, although his role is mostly serious.  Channing Tatum is a bankable action star and has the most physical role in the film, along with Jason Clarke's Emil Stenz.  James Woods is great as usual.

Decent, but not great.

White House Down (2013) 131 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for prolonged sequences of action and violence including intense gunfire and explosions, some language and a brief sexual image
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum as John Cale
Jamie Foxx as President James Sawyer
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Carol Finnerty
Jason Clarke as Emil Stenz
Richard Jenkins as Eli Raphelson
Joey King as Emily Cale
James Woods as Martin Walker
Nicholas Wright as Donnie
Jimmi Simpson as Skip Tyler

People Will Talk (1951)

"The dog is frightened and unhappy."
"He has that in common with most of humanity."

Dr. Noah Praetorius (Grant) is a successful and controversial doctor.  He runs a medical clinic that focuses on the patient and treating whatever is wrong with them, even if that just means talking to them or making them laugh.  He also teaches at a medical school and shares her perspective on medicine with the students, which infuriates his old school colleague Professor Rodney Elwell (Cronyn).  Elwell is repulsed by Dr. Praetorious' approach to medicine and hires a private investigator to look into his life and his mysterious friend Mr. Shunderson (Currie).

Meanwhile, Dr. Praetorius meets and befriends a young medical student Deborah Higgins (Crain).  After she faints during a lecture, she learns that she is pregnant.  She is unmarried and the father is no longer in her life.  She is overwhelmed by the information and what it will do to her beloved father Arthur (Blackmer) and takes drastic action.  When Elwell calls for a misconduct hearing, will Dr. Praetorius emerge unscathed?

As I mentioned before, I love Cary Grant movies.  He was a wonderful actor that could convincingly do drama or comedy and make it look easy; it is easy to see why he had such a successful career.  I discovered this film while browsing the instant streaming videos on Netflix and decided to give a try.

Based on the plot description and the trailers I was expecting a serious film... but I was pleasantly surprised.  It isn't a typical comedy, no slapstick, but it is very funny.  Grant is funny and charismatic as Dr. Praetorius.  He is well matched with Walter Slezak as his closest friend Professor Barker.  Their scenes are fun and feel very natural.  The funniest scene comes towards the end of the film when Praetorius, Barker, and Arthur argue about trains.  Jeanne Crain holds her own with her costars and even gets the upper-hand in a conversation with Hume Cronyn's Professor Elwell.  Cronyn is a strong presence without being completely unlikeable.  Finlay Currie is strong and mysterious as Shunderson.

The story is based on the 1934 play "Dr. Praetorius" written by Curt Goetz.  The play was adapted to film in 1950 in Germany, Frauenarzt Dr. Prätorius.  Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz also served as the screenwriter for this film.

It is a decent Grant film, not my favorite but still enjoyable.

People Will Talk (1951) 110 minutes
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring: Cary Grant as Dr. Noah Praetorius
Jeanne Crain as Deborah Higgins
Finlay Currie as Shunderson
Hume Cronyn as Professor Rodney Elwell
Walter Slezak as Professor Barker
Sidney Blackmer as Arthur Higgins
Basil Ruysdael as Dean Lyman Brockwell

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

"I don't like it when you smile at me."

"You don't like my smile?"

"I don't like what's behind it!"

In 1939 noted scientists are disappearing without a trace.  Reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) is investigating the disappearances and is contacted by renowned scientist Dr. Jennings (Trevor Baxter).  Dr. Jennings claims to know who will disappear next (him) and who is behind the disappearances (Dr. Totenkopf).  Their meeting is broken up by an air raid and the arrival of giant robots.  The police are unable to stop the robots, so they call on Sky Captain (Law).  Sky Captain is an alias for Joe Sullivan is the leader of a legion of flying mercenaries, and he able to drive off the robots.

Polly believes the missing scientists and the robots are linked and teams up with Joe to get answers.  Joe's best friend / tech expert Dex (Ribisi) has been investigating the robots for months and thinks he can track their signal to the source.  When the robots attack the legions headquarters they are able to find the source.  Can Joe and Polly rescue the scientists and save the world?


This film has been on my radar for years.  It is one of the movies mentioned in one of my favorite movie books.  I finally sat down and watched it, and it was not what I was expecting (I thought Angelina Jolie was the villain).

Visually the film is fascinating.  It is highly stylized with a muted color palette.  Everything was shot against a blue screen and everything was computer generated.  The was written and directed by Kerry Conran, an animator in his directorial debut (and his only film at this time).  The technology allowed them to complete filming withing 29 days, while still sending the characters to different locations.  It also gave them the chance to cast Laurence Olivier as the villain, despite the fact that Olivier had been dead for 13 years.  They manipulated archival footage of Olivier to capture his performance.

The story is all over the place.  It is interesting, but too ambitious.  It would be better if they cut back on some of the locations and develop the characters more.  The cast is ok, but don't do much to elevate the material.  Giovania Ribisi is the highlight as Dex.  He is endearing and funny and the best part of the film.  Gwyneth Paltrow's performance is bland and uninspired, and most of the film she is just annoying.  Jude Law is ok, but this is definitely not his best performance.  Angelina Jolie is good in a small role, I wish she was in more of the film.

Worth watching for the visuals, but it could have been much better.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) 106 minutes
Director: Kerry Conran
Starring: Jude Law as Sky Captain
Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly Perkins
Angelina Jolie as Commander Franky Cook
Giovanni Ribisi as Dex
Michael Gambon as Editor Paley
Omid Djalili as Kaji
Bai Ling as The Mysterious Woman
Laurence Olivier as Dr. Totenkopf