The Helen Morgan Story

The Helen Morgan Story (1957) starring Ann Blyth, Paul Newman, Richard Carlson, Gene Evans, Alan King. Directed by Michael Curtiz. There really was a Helen Morgan, and she was a big star during the 1920s and '30s. This largely fictionalized movie focuses on Morgan's (Blyth) romances and alcoholism. Although she performs a number of songs, her career as a torch singer seems to be in the background in this film. Newman plays a cheap hood who she falls in love with early on and can never stop loving -- in contrast to her real life, where she was married three times. This film is billed as a Paul Newman movie, but it's one he'd probably rather forget. (English subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available on the disc.) Grade: B- 

Hitchcock

Hitchcock (2012) starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette, Danny Huston. Hopkins portrays legendary movie director Alfred Hitchcock, and Mirren plays his wife, Alma. This film is about their relationship, while at the same time showing glimpses into the making of Hitchcock's movie Psycho, which was released in 1960. As portrayed here, Hitch and Alma had a symbiotic relationship, and Alma played an equal-partner role in the making of his films. Meanwhile, it's fun to see Johansson's take on Janet Leigh, which it seems to me she did a pretty good job of portraying. This is not a great movie, but it's an entertaining diversion for an evening. I got the Blu-Ray copy from my library, and the Extras are copious. (English subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+  

Lust for Life

Lust for Life (1956) starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown. Vincent van Gogh (Douglas) struggles to develop his now-famous painting style, while at the same time struggling to make a sale. Quinn won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Van Gogh's friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin. Surprisingly, van Gogh did not cut his ear off over a woman, but after an argument with Gaugin. Donald turns in a solid supporting performance as van Gogh's brother Theo, who kept van Gogh afloat with donations of canvases, paints and cash. Douglas may be accused of overacting a little bit, but it can't be easy to portray someone who is steadily losing his mind. Van Gogh's life ended in suicide, but of course today his paintings are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The movie is amply illustrated with pictures of van Gogh's actual paintings. (The disc supplies English subtitles for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B  

Walk the Line

Walk the Line (2005) starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick. Phoenix plays country star Johnny Cash in this biopic, and does a pretty good job of singing Cash's hit songs. Witherspoon won an Oscar for her sparkling portrayal of June Carter, Cash's eventual true love and wife. A movie like this is a tough sell, because Cash is so recognizable and it's just about impossible for an actor to look like the person he's portraying. Phoenix gives it his best shot, but he falls short. Also, the film puts a little too much emphasis on the soapy aspects of the story, namely Cash's long and arduous effort to get Carter to agree to marry him (it wasn't that hard in real life, according to a recent biography of Cash written by Robert Hilburn). Ultimately, for me, the question is, did the film draw you in and make you forget that you were watching an actor portray an icon? The answer, for me, was no. (The film has English subtitles for the hard of hearing, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B- 

An Angel at My Table

An Angel at My Table (1990) starring Kerry Fox. Directed by Jane Campion. The life of New Zealand's most celebrated and prolific author, Janet Frame, is told in this biopic based on her autobiography. Frame, who appears to have suffered from social anxiety disorder, was falsely diagnosed as schizophrenic as a young woman; she was confined to a lunatic asylum for eight years and subjected to 200 electroshock treatments during this time. She also lost two sisters to drowning in separate incidents and had a brother who was epileptic. Somehow, through all this, she managed to write a book of short stories which was published while she was in the asylum, and which saved her from undergoing a lobotomy. After her book was published, she traveled to London, Paris and Spain, all the while continuing to write. In Spain she at last fell in love -- with an American who left her at the end of the summer to return to his teaching job. The movie, though a bit long at two and a half hours, tells her story with sympathy and not too much pity. Frame's stature as an author, especially in her native New Zealand, can scarcely be exaggerated. She became a towering literary figure, despite the hardships she endured. This is an amazing story about triumph over adversity. (Subtitles in English are available, although they are a bit hard to find.) Grade: B+   

The Buddy Holly Story

The Buddy Holly Story (1978) starring Gary Busey, Charles Martin Smith, Don Stroud, Maria Richwine. Starting in Lubbock, Texas in 1956, this movie tells the story of the meteoric rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly (Busey). Busey, Smith and Stroud perform the songs of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and those performances are the high point of the movie. It's great fun, for the most part, and Busey was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the role of Holly. Not a typical Hollywood biopic, this film captures the excitement of the early days of rock 'n' roll, and any viewer who grew up with this music will find much to like. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are included on the disc.) Grade: A-  

American Splendor

American Splendor (2003) starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis. The story of Harvey Pekar, comic-book writer and publisher, who has appeared a number of times on the Letterman talk show. The movie takes a dark turn when Pekar is diagnosed with testicular cancer, but he gets through the treatment and gets the all-clear from his doctor. The film is presented in a kind of quasi-comic book style, and is the more entertaining for it. Giamatti is good in the role of Pekar, and Davis is also very good as Pekar's girlfriend and later wife. It's a low-budget but well produced movie, and I enjoyed it. (Subtitles are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B+ 

Amelia

Amelia (2009) starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor. The story of famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart (Swank) is told, using her around-the-world attempt as a framing device. You already know the basic outline of the story, and there are not a lot of surprises here, but I found the movie to be an interesting telling of a classic American tale. Swank is fine in the title role, and Gere is not bad as her business associate and later husband. Not an earth-shaking film, but a good evening's entertainment. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are available.) Grade: B 

Young Mr. Lincoln

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) starring Henry Fonda, Alice Brady. Directed by John Ford. Surprisingly effective look at a few days in the life of a young Abe Lincoln. Most of the film is taken up with a jury trial, in which Lincoln defends two brothers who are accused of killing a man. Fonda does a good job of portraying Lincoln during the days before he even dreamed of running for president. (The disc includes subtitles in English, which is a good thing because it doesn't have closed captions.) Grade: B+  

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston. Cagney won an Oscar for his portrayal of George M. Cohan, the hyper-patriotic king of Broadway from the early 20th century. Many singing and dancing numbers are featured, and Cagney shows a surprising ability as a hoofer. (Subtitles are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B 

The Glenn Miller Story

The Glenn Miller Story (1954) starring James Stewart, June Allyson, Henry Morgan, Charles Drake, George Tobias. The music is the real star of this biopic about popular big-band leader Miller (Stewart), whose music was a smash in the early '40s. Some of the hits re-created for the movie include "In the Mood," "String of Pearls" and "Moonlight Serenade." Stewart is good as Miller, although his life is mostly fictionalized for this film. Allyson does a good job as his wife, Helen, in this sentimental movie. The film ends with Miller's death as he flies across the English Channel in 1944. He is officially listed as Missing in Action. (Subtitles for the hearing-impaired are included, although closed captions are not.) Grade: B+  

The Lady

The Lady (2011) starring Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis. This movie tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi (Yeoh), the woman who is a powerful political force in Burma and was only recently (in 2010) released from house arrest after 15 years. Daughter of Burmese founding father Aung San, she was married to a British professor (Thewlis) and had to choose between her country, Burma, and the professor when he fell ill while she was staying in Burma. She chose to stay in Burma, fearing correctly that the military rulers would not ever let her back in if she left to be by her husband's side. She also won the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in Burma. This movie dramatizes her story, and it's a pretty good film, although it doesn't add anything new. It's just a straightforward telling of the events of her life, and the script is uninspired. The subtitles, when someone speaks in Burmese, are very hard to read. Grade: B

Seraphine

Seraphine (2008) starring Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur. Seraphine (Moreau) is a menial housekeeper by day, but by night she paints -- and German art critic Wilhelm Uhde (Tukur) sees her work and immediately sees that it is the painting of a genius. He is all set to give her career a big boost when World War I breaks out, and he must flee. The scene skips to 1927. Uhde has returned, but he assumes that Seraphine must be dead by now. Then he goes to a local exhibition and sees her work on display there. He seeks her out and begins selling her work. Briefly, Seraphine prospers; then comes the Market Crash of 1929 and the financial distress that follows. In the end, Seraphine goes mad and is confined to an asylum, where she eventually dies. But that doesn't detract from the quality of her painting, and she is still an honored 20th-century painter, known as Seraphine de Senlis. Nor does it detract from the powerful appeal of this movie, which tells her factual story in an engaging fashion and holds our interest until the end. (In French, with English subtitles.) Grade: B+ 

Vincent & Theo

Vincent & Theo (1990) starring Tim Roth, Paul Rhys. Directed by Robert Altman. The relationship between painter Vincent van Gogh (Roth) and his brother Theo (Rhys) is at the center of this biopic. Vincent can't sell any of his paintings (he only sold one during his lifetime), and Theo (who works in an art gallery) can't sell any of Vincent's paintings either. The two brothers both have problems in their relationships with women, and neither is prosperous (Vincent depends on an allowance from Theo for his living). The movie tries to breath life into their relationship, but never quite achieves its aim. They have a symbiotic relationship, that much is clear. But why do they care so much about one another? The film never really shows us what they like about each other, besides the fact that they are brothers. Still, Vincent's art, the greatness we know will be his after his death, makes the movie inherently interesting. (Subtitles for hearing-impaired are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B

Young Goethe in Love

Young Goethe in Love (2010) starring Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein. Young Goethe (Fehling) is a failure at literature, and at law school, so his father sends him away to the boondocks to serve an apprenticeship as a lawyer. While there, Goethe falls in love with Charlotte (Stein) and has an ardent romance with her. But her father promises her to another man, because the family needs the money the other can provide. In the end, Goethe produces his first, immensely popular novel but loses the girl. The movie, as it turns out, is largely fictional -- not a true biopic at all. It takes it till the halfway point to get interesting, and even then it is only marginally involving for American tastes. It's a German film, after all, and it is in Germany that Goethe has a literary reputation second only to Shakespeare. To me, the movie seemed rather stiff and Germanic. It's in German, with English subtitles. Grade: B-

The Iron Lady

The Iron Lady (2011) starring Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent. This film makes the unfortunate choice to start with Maggie Thatcher in her dotage and show her life in too-brief flashbacks. We spend more time with her in her senility than in the rest off her life combined. Although Streep won an Oscar for her portrayal of the British Prime Minister, I wasn't entirely convinced by her performance. To top it off, I don't like Thatcher's politics. (The disc offers English subtitles, but not closed captions.) Grade: B-

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) starring Paul Newman, Pier Angeli. From common criminal to Army deserter to middleweight champion, Rocky Graziano (Newman) defied the odds. But then, after he settled down and got married to Norma (Angeli), his past came back to haunt him. This movie, based on Graziano's autobiography, is well mounted. Newman delivers a solid performance, and at the end I was really rooting for Graziano to win. The film ends in 1947, when Graziano won the middleweight championship, and his subsequent life (he died in 1990) is left to the viewer to research if he or she wants to know more. This disc has English subtitles, as well as the more extensive closed captions. Grade: A-

Shine

Shine (1996) starring Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, Lynn Redgrave. Young Australian piano prodigy David Helfgott (Taylor) wins scholarships to study in America and later London, but his possessive, abusive father (Mueller-Stahl) forbids him to go. He goes to London anyway and is disowned. As a dysfunctional adult, David (Rush) ends up institutionalized, but later returns to his music and even finds love (Redgrave). Rush won an Oscar for his performance as the adult David. This is a good film, the music is certainly enjoyable; my only pick is that Rush's manner of speaking is so rapid and hard to follow. But that may be because of my poor hearing as much as his rapid talking. The disc includes English subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B+

Sergeant York

Sergeant York (1941) starring Gary Cooper. Directed by Howard Hawks. Cooper was 40 years old when this movie was released, making his performance as a young Alvin York even more remarkable. He won an Oscar for his portrayal of a conscientious objector who was drafted to fight in World War I. The movie received 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Director. Everything about the film is memorable, from the back-hills beginnings in rural Tennessee to the battlefield scenes set in France in 1918. All in all, it's just a really good movie. An American classic. Subtitles in English are offered on the disc, as well as closed captions, which I find easier to read. Grade: A

The King's Speech

The King's Speech (2010) starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter. The Duke of York (Firth), later King George VI of England, suffers from a stammer. The advent of radio (he becomes king in 1936) means that he will have to make speeches to the whole kingdom. At his wife's (Bonham Carter) behest, he goes to a speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Rush). Logue's techniques are unconventional, but he gets results. He's also a bit cheeky, which works out in his favor, as he and the king become friends. The fact that it's a true story gives it all the more emotional impact. The acting all through the film is very good. This movie won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Firth, and Best Director. The DVD includes subtitles for the hearing-impaired, which are very good. Grade: A