A Christmas Tale

‘A Christmas Tale’ won’t get you in spirit

MATHIEU AMALRIC and Catherine Deneuve in "A Christmas Tale."

A little way into “Un Conte de Noel” (”A Christmas Tale”) I commented outloud, this isn’t any Griswold family Christmas story.
It does take place around Christmas and it does deal with a family.
But there’s nothing funny about it. It conveys no warmth of the season and it certainly lacks any humanity.
But it does have Catherine Deneuve, who at 66 definitely doesn’t look that old. No, she doesn’t look like the Catherine Deneuve of “Belle de Jour: or “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” but she looks pretty good.
In fact, the actor who plays her aging husband, Jean-Paul Roussillon, just doesn’t look like he would be married to someone who looks like Deneuve. Roussillon in reality is 12 years older anyway.
It’s the story of the Vuillard family. Deneuve’s character, Junon, and her husband, Abel, are hosting daughter Elizabeth ( Anne Consigny) and her son, Paull ( Emile Berling) ; another sibling, Henri (Mathieu Amalric) and his girlfriend and wife and sons and a cousin.
Six years before all of this, irresponsbile Henri purchased a theater to produce plays and it quickly went under.
Elizabeth bails him out under the condition they never see each other and have no communication and he cannot visit their parents again.
Oh yes, and another son died at a young age back in the 60s that still impacts everyone and Elizabeth has a son, Paul, 16, who has mental problems and attempted suicide.
So there you have the backdrop. Gives you a nice, warm, holiday feeling, right?
The story centers on Deneuve and a serious illness she acquires. She requires a bone marrow transplant or she will die within months. Paul and Henri are compatible donors.
Directed by Arnaud Desplechin, he makes it clear this is a dysfunctional family with lots of problems, both emotional as well as drugs and booze and everything else.
Only the husband,Roussillon, seems to be stable and have a brain in his head.
Everyone else has a grudge to bear or an addiction or harbors resentment.
There are lots of ugly scenes and selfish people.
And just why Henri is banished from the family for having acquired debts really isn’t made clear.
It is difficult to care about any of the people in this film. Christmas, in better pictures, is almost a character in itself. Not here.
This film really could have taken place at any time of the year.
All of this would have been more tolerable in a shorter film, but this thing is 2 1/2 hours long. Spending that much time with people you don’t like involved in situations you don’t care about means just one thing: You just want the movie to end.
And with no real conclusion to the dilema, the film credits start rolling and we can bid adieu to this mismatched family forever. The Vuillard family will not become a part of the Christmas season as have the Griswolds and Ralphie and his BB gun.

A CHRISTMAS TALE • Directed by Arnaud Desplechin • Story by Desplechin and Emmanuel Bourdieu • Runtime: 150 minutes • In French with subtitles • Not rated but with definite adult content • 11⁄2 stars out of 4

Gone With The Wind

‘GWTW’ Blu-ray set looks gorgeous

CLARK GABLE and Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind."

Video Viper for Dec. 11, 2009

Most of the time, this column reviews movies.

This week is a little different because the movie I’ve chosen is “Gone With the Wind.”

Even if I wanted to, how could I slam “GWTW?” I mean, it’s one of the top 5 films of all time.

I first experience the film as a student at Kent State University and was absolutely mesmerized by the scale and scope of the film.

When I ran a WEEKENDER contest a few years ago, asking people what their favorite movie of all-time was, “GWTW” won, no contest.

That’s not bad for a movie that was released 70 years ago. How many movies that are that old can people even name these days?

My reason for discussing this landmark film is the fact it was just released in Blu-ray in a beautiful 70th anniversary package.

The first disc contains the four-hour film and is breathtakingly beautiful. It is really a step up and being on Blu-ray, it has a higher capacity so the whole film fits on one disc without any compression. It also contains an historical commentary of the film.

Disc 2 has “The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind,” an really interesting look at the history of the film. You wonder how it ever got made in the first place. The documentary comes in at 123 minutes.

The disc also includes the 33-minute “Gone With the Wind: The Legend Lives On,” which tells about the film’s legacy.

Another documentary, at 68 minutes, describes what a great year 1939 was for movies.

There’s also a biography of Clark Gable. Another about Vivien Leigh. Reminiscing about the film by survivor Olivia de Havilland is another extra. She describes how Leigh and Gable played Battleship while waiting to do their scenes.

There’s yet another documentary about supporting players and another on film restoration.

There’s also a 97-minute television movie, “Movieola,” with Tony Curtis playing David O. Selznich.

There’s also trailers and other shorter films on the disc.

Disc 3 includes “When the Lion Roars,” a three-part, six-hour documentary hosted by Patrick Stewart about the history of MGM.

Then there’s a CD of Max Steiner’s unforgettable score.

The set includes a recreation of the program movie goers got as their entered the theater to see the film back in 1939-40 and another book of pictures and stories about the film.

A little “GWTW” video history. Back in the early 1980s, VCRs were primarily for adult entertainment, but the powers-that-be realized for the industry to survive, it must move more into mainstream movies.

Movies quickly were released on home video, but not “GWTW.” It was too big of a film to ever be released to the home audience.

The home video industry would not come of age without “GWTW.”

Somehow, a version was released on Japanese Laserdisc, but you had to order an expensive import and it had Japanese subtitles. Also, you needed a Laserdisc player, which few people had. (The format died with the advent of DVD, which was a smaller, more compact version of the same thing.)

MGM relented and released a two-disc specialty version of the film on both VHS and Beta at $89..95 in 1989, complete with certificate of authenticity and no discount.

Years later, a scaled-down, two-tape version was released on VHS for $19.95.

The first DVD version was a two-sided disc with no extras and quality not much better than the VHS.

A few years later a feature-filled DVD set was released, but it sort of floats in the middle of the screen of today’s 16:9 ratio high definition televisions.

That’s why I was happy to see the Blu-ray version released.

How many copies of the film have I collected over the years? First off, I recorded off of CBS when it aired it over two nights, cutting the commercials out and fitting the whole thing on one Beta VCR tape in the 80s. Quality: Adequate for its time.

I upgraded to the Beta box set with certificate of authenticity when a wholesale Beta catalog store discounted the set from $89.95 to $7.99. How can you pass that up?

Then I got the two-disc VHS set, followed by the plain vanilla DVD (what was I thinking when I bought that?) to the original DVD set and finally the beautiful Blu-Ray box set.

The set is also available on standard DVD, but last I looked, deepdiscount.com offered Blu-ray for $1.50 LESS than standard definition. Discounted to $45, it is a much better bargain than the original videotape version at $89.

Maybe the next version will be in 3D or super high definition?

Whatever it is, I’ll probably be there with my wallet out.

For tomorrow is another day.

GONE WITH THE WIND

• Directed by Victor Fleming and others

• Written by Margaret Mitchell (novel) and Sidney Howard

• Runtime: 238 minutes

• Rated G for all audiences

• 5 stars out of 5

In Cold Blood

A good time to revisit ‘In Cold Blood’

VIDEO VIPER for Dec. 4, 2009

ROBERT BLAKE (left), John Forsythe and Scott Wilson in "In Cold Blood."

I read the book “In Cold Blood” back in junior high school.

I’ve seen the original 1967 film many times, the most recent being last month.

I was surprised three days later to see an Associated Press story noting it has been 50 years since the shooting of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kan.

“In Cold Blood,” by Truman Capote, is the novelization of the story of the well respected, Christian-based farm family.

Herbert Clutter (played by John McLiam) was the family patriarch. His infirmed wife, Bonnie, was played by Ruth Storey. Daughter Nancy is played by Brenda Currin. Paul Hough played Kenyon Clutter. Currin and Hough were University of Kansas theater department students

This was truly the all-American 1950s family. Daughter’s boyfriend comes over to watch the grainy, reception-challenged black and white television on Saturday night. Plans are made for church the next morning.

The son is experimenting with smoking, despite Dad’s objections.

It’s actually the mundane things families do, but it proves pretty compelling because we already know this is their last night alive.

A parallel story involves two ex-convicts, Perry Smith, played by Robert Black, and Richard Hickock, played by Scott Wilson.

Both appear to be man children. Perry talks about pulling a heist to make enough money to go to Mexico and buy a boat and look for buried treasure.

Richard hears stories from a convict still in prison about a rich farmer named Clutter and the fact he keeps $10,000 in a safe in his house. Easy pickings.

So there are the two stories, Perry and Richard hooking up again and the Clutters spending their last night at home.

Director Richard Brooks does an excellent job of building suspense.

But suddenly the plot shifts. It is the next morning and friends arrive to take daughter to church and are knocking on the door. When nobody answers, they walk in and stumble upon the grisly seen.

Detective Alvin Dewey, played by John Forsythe, is the lead detective.

There are two breaks in the case. One involves a bloody shoe print. The other the prisoner who told Hickock about the Clutters who hears about their massacre and realizes who did it.

The movie was made in 1967, a time when most pictures were filmed in color. The chlling horror that was these two misfits works much nicer in black and white.

It’s almost like we are seeing the world through their distorted eyes.

We learn the details of the murders through Perry’s flashbacks. He tells a detective, “I thought Mr. Cutter was a very nice man. He was a real gentleman. I though so up to the moment I cut his throat.”

The film pulls no punches and you aren’t looking forward to the murder scenes, even though there is little blood and it is black and white.

We follow the two murderers right up until their executions by hanging.

The movie, just like the book did, leaves the viewer grieving for this innocent family. Their sin, they didn’t have a safe full of money.

The movie is so real, so authentic. Blake, an actor dating to childhood as a member of Our Gang, had psychological problems after playing the part.

He was accused in 2001 of murdering his wife but was later acquitted.

This is a tremendous crime movie, well acted, well directed. It is almost like a documentary. If you haven’t seen it for awhile, it’s worth another look.

And by the way, my most recent screening of the film comes from Netflix movie streaming. Netflix has been providing Internet streaming of movies for a few years now, but a big breakthrough came last month with Sony’s Play Station 3 in the picture.

If you have a Netflix subscription, even if just the minimum, you can order a special disc you insert in the player. The first time you do this you get a code you type into your Netflix account on your computer. Suddenly, all movies in your que that are available for streaming are listed and you can watch as many as you have time for. You can pause, you can rewind. It is a real plus The only question is: How long before Netflix charges extra?

Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains

‘Stranded’ looks at survival, death
ACTUAL SURVIVORS in 1972 of the crash which became the documentar, "Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains."

VIDEO VIPER IN WEEKENDER for Nov. 27, 2009

The tagline to this film is: Could you eat human flesh to survive?

Surprisingly, this isn’t a horror move. Under the cumbersome name title “Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains,” it’s a documentary about those who survived the 1972 Andes plane crash.

The film was put together by Gonzalo Arijon, a neighbor and friend of some of the survivors.

This film tells in fairly graphic detail what it was like to live for months in the cold, with minimal food and the dead and dying all about them.

My only complaint is the film goes on too long, more than two hours.

The filmmaker had his challenges. About the only real media he had to work with was one photograph taken on the plane in flight, another of the rear of the crashed aircraft, bleak and frozen.

The rest is recreations of events using actors, as well as footage of the survivors today.

Still, he is able to paint a white-knuckled story of death and survival.

They were young, sports-minded Uruguayan rugby players who climbed on a plane, laughing, throwing a ball about, having a good time. They were 19 and naive.

But a terrible storm over the Andes changed all of that. It crashed with 45 aboard, breaking in two.

Survivors talk about the dead bodies surrounding them and the soon-to-be dead. They talk about people dying in their arms.

They talked about search planes overhead that looked in vain for the wreckage. The plane was situated in such a way, it was impossible to spot.

The fact that anyone survived at all is a miracle. What helped them to survive became sensationalistic, but is treated with subtlety and decorum.

Arijon spent hours interviewing each survive, asking probing questions.

The days drifted by. Hunger subsided. Going outside took a great deal of effort.

It seemed whatever they did brought new adversities, from setting off to find help to eating the flesh of those who died.

And the survivors do go into some detail. They discussed the possibility of eating the dead. They knew they needed sustenance to live, to attempt to find help.

First, they made certain they didn’t know which of the deceased they were consuming. They talked of retching when they took a bit of flesh.

We hear about how they sat around and gave each other permission to consume their flesh to sustain life if some survivors should die.

The eating of the flesh was done with respect and reverence, almost a spiritual or communion act, which became sensationalized when they were rescued.

This real-life experience was made into a fictional film “Alive”

You respect the survivors who matured so much during their months in isolation. You understand why they did what they did.

You put yourself in their position and wonder how and what you would do. Nature was very unkind to this group, putting up roadblock after roadblock.

But somehow, after months of deprivation and cold, two were able to move out and rescue themselves. Those who saw them initially said, “They smelled of the grave.”

You wonder how much pain there was reliving their plight more than 30 years later.

STRANDED: I’VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS

• Written and directed by Gonzalon Arijon

• In Spanish with subtitles

• Runtime: 130 minutes

• 2 1/2 stars out of 4

The Uninvited

EMILY BROWNING (left) and Arielle Kebbel in "The Uninvited."


‘Uninvited’ great thriller, great ending
VIDEO VIPER IN WEEKENDER for Nov. 13, 2009

Halloween is over but that doesn’t mean you have to put off seeing the thriller “The Univited” for another year.

The movie opens with young Anna, played by up-and-coming actress Emily Browning, who has been in a mental institution and is prone to having graphic and disturbing dreams.

She is released to the custody of her dad, played by David Strathaim. Mother died in an explosion in the cottage by the lake, that had been converted into a sickroom..

Anna doesn’t appear to be cured of her mental problems, but her analyst, played Dean Paul Gibson, says she has conquered her demons and can go home.

On the way home, she learns her mother’s all-too accommodating nurse, played by the alluring Elizabeth Banks, has become Dad’s new companion.

The Banks character just wants to be friends and have a warm, loving family. Ah, but Anna is immediately suspicious and when she decides to go for a swim, meets up with her older sister, played by Arielle Kebbel.

They catch up on what’s going on, they swim, they laugh. When Sister asks Anna why she didn’t respond to her letters, Anna says she didn’t get any.

Did Dad stop the letters. Did Nurse?

Dad is oblivious to the dark side of the Banks character and won’t hear criticism. Banks invites Anna to go shopping, have lunch.

But Anna knows better. The sisters go snooping and come up with some startling information.

Much of this well-crafted, suspenseful film keeps your adrenalin going. You enjoy the horror and supernatural aspect so much, you just wonder how it is all going to end.

One reason Anna knows there is something wrong with the nurse is she gets a vision from her dead mother.

Before the plot has a chance of slowing, Anna has another dream or vision that has you rivited to your TV screen.

Who is the Banks character really? What are her designs? What dark secrets does she have and what happens when she is confronted?

And then, what happened at the boathouse? What caused the explosion?

We see snippets through Anna’s nightmares, but we really aren’t certain the details.

Often movie directors and screenplay writers work to set the mood, make sure there are exciting scenes from the previews but run out of steam for the ending.

Whoa! I doubt if you will see this ending coming. At least I didn’t. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Kudos also goes to Strathairn, who plays the concerned father who stays in control and tries to mediate the situation and not be critical. You might remember him being very real as Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night and Good Luck.”

And Browning, the 20-year-old Australian actress, well, I would see a movie just because she’s in it. She doesn’t play the part as a screaming, annoying kid.

Her work is subtle and believable.

It is a horror film and some of it is disturbing, but it’s a great movie to watch, whether it is Halloween or not.

THE UNINVITED

• Directed by Charles and Thomas Guard

• Screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Doug Miro

• Rated PG-13 for violent and disburting images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking

• Runtime: 87 minutes

• 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Civic Duty

Peter Krause, Kari Matchett in "Civic Duty."

Krause nicely unbalanced in ‘Civic Duty’

Peter Krause, best known as Nate Fisher on HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” plays a chillingly unbalanced laid-off accountant in “Civic Duty.”
Krause plays Terry Allen, who faces his own problems after his company downsizes. He’s a boring, dorky kind of guy. When an annoying, overenthusiastic bank clerk reminds him he could use the “ATM machine” in the lobby, he gives her a lecture about how ATM stands for automatic teller machine, so she is telling him he can use the automatic teller machine machine.
Kari Matchett plays his wife, Marla, who goes off to work while he stays home and broods. He becomes mesmerized by a 24-hour news channel and its post 9-11 reports of terrorists and paranoia.
At the same time, Terry gets a new neighbor. He is Gabe Hassan, played by Khaled Abol Naga, a Middle Eastern student obtaining his masters degree, sponsored by an Islamic organization at an American university.
The new neighbor has little furniture. He keeps getting odd-sized packages. He looks suspcious at the trash Dumpster early in the morning.
Terry’s suspicions grow and grow. Wife becomes concerned about her husband’s mental health.
Terry sees President Bush on TV churn the waters, describing how there are thousands of terrorists and many are wealthy and educated.
The Krause character becomes more and more paranoid. He contacts the FBI with his suspicions.
The agent, played by Richard Schiff of “West Wing” fame, is underwhelmed by Krause’s suspicisons.
Terry breaks into the student’s home, looking for evidence. He thinks the man has broken into his home as well. He finds odd-sized bottles and test tubes. Records show the Middle Easterner is getting an awful lot of money to go to school.
And nobody, not his wife, not the FBI, agrees with his suspicions.
He becomes so crazed, he starts taking things into his own hands.
Jeff Renfroe is a novice director but does a nice job building the suspense as the Krause character continues to lose it.
The story premise is different and timely, mixing the aftermath on the attacks on the United States with the downsizing of the U.S. job market.
Matchett is effective as the wife who tries to bring her husband back to reality, knowing she is doomed to failure.
Krause keeps his character in check and methodical until he falls over the edge. It’s effective but I can’t help thinking how a younger Jack Nicholson could have played the role.
It’s a different kind of story line and for the most part it works. I especially enjoyed the climax and epilogue to the story.
The film will remind you some of “Disturbia,” about the boy with the broken foot who spies on his neighbors, and, of course, the Hitchcock classic, “Rear Window.”
So pull you head in from the window, stop spying on your neighbors and give “Civic Duty” a look.

Published in the Star Beacon Nov. 6, 2009.

Battle in Seattle

PEOPLE PROTEST the World Trade Organization in "Battle in Seattle."


‘Battle in Seattle’ avoids movie cliches

“Battle in Seattle,” which uses the backdrop of the World Trade Organization summit of 1999, could have been a cliché-ridden effort painting demonstrators as the victims and the cops as villains.

But the nice thing about this documentary-like drama is it doesn't categorize anyone. You can see the various points of view. You wonder how you would handle the situation, as an official in Seattle, knowing the world was watching, or as a demonstrator, wondering just how far you should go.

The film opens with a hardly complimentary look at the WTO, damage it has done to Third World countries and why demonstrators are trying to shut down the conference.

Ray Liotta (does anyone else automatically think “Goodfellas” when they see this guy?) is open-minded Mayor Tobin. He agrees demonstrating is an American right and plays the liberal role, telling WTO opponents they are welcome to make their point. He's not going to alienate anyone and wants to look cool for the world to see, right?

Except these demonstrators aren't just expressing lip service. They literally lock arms around the building where the WTO is to meet, not letting anyone in.

Martin Henderson plays Jay, the thoughtful leader of the demonstrators, who knows what he wants to do and has a gameplan set. But he must contend with more radical elements who are for busting windows and throwing paint. He also wrestles (figuratively) with a fellow demonstrator, played by Michelle Rodgriquez, the token love interest.

Then there's Woody Harrelson, the cop, and his pregnant, happy wife, played by Charlize Theron. In a pretty unbelievable role is Connie Nielsen, who plays a TV newswoman who gets caught up with the protesters.

The Theron character, after having a doctor's visit, returns to her job at a downtown department store. When things get ugly, hubby phones her and tells her to go home. That's when a demonstrator smashes a window at the store. But with Seattle looking more like Beirut, she can't leave.

Cops, who've been told to take it easy and make no arrests, are frustrated. Reluctantly, the mayor OKs using some force and the dam falls. In a sickening scene, the Theron character, standing on a street corner, trying to figure out what to do, is clubbed in the stomach by a cop as he zips buy.

The story is a fictitious backdrop to a real event and it works for the most part. Harrelson's character especially is interesting and unpredictable.

Unfortunately a few elements don't ring true, like the discussions amongst demonstrators and the obligatory romance.

But there's enough here to recommend “Battle in Seattle.”

BATTLE IN SEATTLE

• Directed and written by Stuart Townshend

• Rated R for language and violence

• Runtime: 98 minutes in the U.S.

• 2 1⁄2 stars out of 4

Towelhead

SUMMER BISHIL and Eugene Jones in "Towelhead."

‘Towelhead’ coming of age film about young girl

“Towelhead,” also known as “Nothing is Private,” is the story of a young girl whose mother is Caucasian and father is Lebanese-born and how she copes with the males in her life and her sexual awakening.
The film is powerful and thought-provoking, but not always easy to watch.
Summer Bishil plays Jasira, a beautiful 13-year-old who isn't mature enough to know when to say “no.”
In a way, in a movie world with so many teens acting like they are 30, this is refreshing.
But sometimes you want to reach through the screen of this troubled girl and say, “Watch it.”
The film begins in Syracuse, with her mother's boyfriend helping her shave her bikini line.
Her self-absorbed mother, played Maria Bello, sends her to Texas to live with her strict father, played effectively by grim-faced Peter Macdisi. The stage is set when he yells at her because her plane is late. When she apologizes, he questions her on why she apologizes for something she has no control over.
The next morning, when she comes to breakfast in shorts and a top, he screams at her to make herself decent for the breakfast table. Realizing her overreacted, the best he can say is, “I forgive you.”
Bishil certainly attracts the men, from mom's boyfriend early on to the military reservist next door, played by Aaron Eckhart, best known as Harvey Dent from the “Batman” franchise.
Eckhart's character, his loopy wife (Carrie Preston) and son (Chase Ellison) meet the new family and soon Jashira is babysitting their son, three years her junior. There she discovers her neighbor takes nude photographs of women for a living and becomes mesmerized by the photos in a men's magazine. She has a sexual awakening that Eckhart's character takes advantage of in a moment of passion, but is immediately apologetic, for awhile.
Meanwhile, dad gets a French girlfriend and Jasira, while taunted by many at school, gets herself a boyfriend, played by Eugene Jones.
She agrees to what boyfriend and adult neighbor have planned and doesn't seem to mind when Eckhart's character says he is being deployed to the Gulf War (the 1991 version) and anything can happen, but then doesn't go.
Father becomes enraged when he discovers one of the magazines in his house (although he doesn't seem to mind if daughter sees he and new girlfriend prancing around the breakfast table) and hits her. Jashira takes refuge at the home of a kind, more stable couple, played by Toni Collette and Matt Letscher. Collette is pregnant but quickly befriends the girl, worried about the sex-hungry neighbor and the way her father treats her.
You feel for the girl and Bishil does an excellent job playing the part as a confused young teen. In reality, she was about 20 when she played had the role.
Some of the scenes aren't easy to watch. The characters are full and interesting. From the beginning, you watch and wonder if the horny neighbor will control himself. He isn't a monster, he only acts like one.
And Father wants to be a real American. He flies his flag properly. He becomes a Christian. But he can't shake his core beliefs about women and his racist attitudes.
All of this converges on a not-so-satisfying ending.
Yet “Towelhead” is worth the ride, if you don't mind getting a little squeamish during some of the rough spots.

TOWELHEAD
• Written by directed by Alan Ball
• From a novel by Alicia Erian
• Rated R for strong disturbing sexual content and abuse involving a young teen, and for language
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• 4 stars out of 5

The Forgotten

Columbia Pictures

JULIANNE MOORE and Dominic West in "The Forgotten."

‘The Forgotten’ compelling until the end

It's a cold, rainy night, actually 2 a.m., and on the Viper’s DVD player is the thriller: “The Forgotten.”

Conversely, I had “forgotten” to watch this paranoid thriller from five years ago starring Julianne Moore as the mother who can't forget the death of her son in a plane crash.

She tells her therapist, played by Gary Sinise, how much time each day she looks at his pictures, reviews clippings of the news stories, gazes at the picture of herself, the boy (Christopher Kovaleski) and her husband, played by Anthony Edwards.

And of course there are the home videos of the boy romping in the playground.

Moore is Telly Paretta in the film and she just can't let go and stop grieving.

Then, in a chapter out of “The Lady Vanishes,” all traces the boy ever live disappear. The videotape is blank. No pictures exist of the child. The family photo has only her and her husband. Hubby and shrink inform her the boy never existed. Years before, she had a stillborn child and manufactured the boy in her mind, complete with memories, they tell her.

Everything seems to point to that fact. She goes to the library but finds no information on a plane crash. Her neighbor and friend doesn't remember she had a son. She meets an alcoholic former hockey player, played by Dominic West, who supposedly had a daughter on the plane, too. But he suddenly has no memory of a daughter.

So the Moore character must be crazy, right? Julianne crazy? Are you nuts?

Soon we are submerged in a deep, "Ex-Files" type of mystery, sans David Duchovny.

The West character, after repeating his daughter's name, suddenly remembers her. Moore and West's characters take off searching for answers, while being chased by mysterious national security personnel.

The tension builds as the pair follow clues, including checking out the bankrupt airlines that supposedly took the children to their deaths.

Who is the “they” who follow the pair through endless chases, especially if they are only crazy people who think they had children they never really had?

Alfre Woodard, always a plus in the movies, plays a police detective who slowly believes the pair may not be as whacko as everyone says.

There's some heart-thumping moments, startling special effects and a not totally satisfying ending. The DVD includes an alternate ending that isn’t so alternate.

THE FORGOTTEN

• Directed by Joseph Rubin, screenplay by Gerald DiPego

• Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language

• Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes

• 3 stars out of 4

Sex Drive

As a raunchy film, ‘Sex Drive’ works

VIDEO VIPER with Robert Lebzelter for Oct. 9, 2009
CLARK DUKE, Josh Zuckerman and Amanda Crew in "Sex Drive."

A few weeks ago I panned a recent raunchy sex comedy, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.”
The story was predictable, the jokes fell flat, the same sad punchlines were recycled continually and enough with the gay jokes already. Aren’t they out of style yet?
So why in the world would I order the film “Sex Drive” from Netflix, which visits much of the same territory? Maybe because both films were placed on my “infinite playlist” months ago.
It’s a familiar plot: A young, wimpy virgin plans to travel several states away for the promise of sex with a beautiful blonde. We have seen this plot many times, especially in the superior “The Sure Thing.”
Josh Zuckerman plays Ian, who bulks himself up via Photoshop to impress a girl he has met and traded flirtations with online.
His primary antagonist is his brother, played by James Marsden, who reminds me of Seann William Scott’s character Stiffler in “American Pie.”
Katrina Bowden is the sexy love interest, Ms. Tasty. (In “The Sure Thing,” the girl was Nicollette Sheridan, later of “Desperate Housewives” fame.)
You won’t mistake “Sex Drive” for “Citizen Kane,” even if it was in black and white. The characters aren’t that well developed. The plot doesn’t take any new and different roads. There are still duplicative gay jokes.
I’ve decided the main difference is situations in this film are set up well and there are actual payoffs. Funny stuff happens. There are reasons to laugh.
Ian is pretty much a loser. How big of a loser? The girl he wouldn’t mind getting to know better at his job at the mall doughnut shop is taken by his 14-year-old brother!
Clark Duke plays his best friend and while chubby and not particularly good looking and is shallow, he still captures all of the babes Ian can’t.
Also going with them is the fetching Amanda Crew, who is just a friend.
Do you see where this is going? She’s just a friend, right? But do you think it could possibly blossom into more than just friendship? It would never cross the character’s minds. But we the move watchers know, don’t we?
So they steal homophobic big brother’s vintage 1969 Pontiac GTO and head cross country. In the meantime, they have some pretty funny adventures.
The Duke character romances a clerk at a service station who just split up with a boyfriend. They all end up in a rundown trailer where Ian and Crew’s Felicia cool their heels while Duke and the clerk have particularly discusting sex. Ian and Felicia make small talk with the clueless elderly parents of the clerk. The parents watch TV while drinking cheap grape soda. Dad wears shorts that are, well, too short if you get my meaning.
When the boyfriend returns for reconciliation and discovers what his girlfriend is doing, the results would make a great R-rated Three Stooges sequence.
When their car breaks down, they attempt to use urine in place of water in the radiator. It doesn’t sound like it would work that well but the writers actually come up with a funny payoff to the sequence.
Seth Green is almost unrecognizable as the Amish guy who volunteers to fix their car for free, well, sort of. His dialogue is actually somewhat subtle and very funny. He is a highpoint of the film.
The gang ends up at a festival, gets thrown in jail and in other ways have their share of bad luck.
Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. But the different between this and “Nick and Norah” is in “Sex Drive,” more of it works than doesn’t. In “Nick and Norah,” none of it works.
The Blu-Ray disc includes an unrated version which isn’t particularly good but the premise is pretty funny. It is the same film except people seemingly walk into the picture naked, smile and walk away. The scene with the clueless father in the trailer? The camera stays on the old guy’s too-short shorts the whole time. You will probably want to avert your eyes.
I couldn’t sit through the whole film a second time just for these “extras.” But I watched enough to get the idea.
If you are easily offended, this movie isn’t for you. If you like raunchy, in-bad-taste comedies that work, you might want to give this one a look.

SEX DRIVE
• Directed by Sean Anders • Written by Anders and John Morris • Runtime: 109 minutes • Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, language, some drug and alcohol use - all involving teens • 7.5 stars out of 10

Burke's Law

‘Burke’s Law’ stylized mystery series
GENE BARRY (left) is Amos Burke with Gary Conway at Detective Tim Tilson in "Burke's Law."

VIDEO VIPER for Oct. 2, 2009

Awhile back, I put the first season of the old mystery series "Burke's Law" on my Netflix account.
Surprising, there was a long wait. Either Netflix miscalculated how many people were interested in the campy series, or it had a cult following.
I remembered it from early childhood days and decided to relive some memories. As I suspected, it proved to be a hoot.
Gene Barry played handsome, millionaire Capt. Amos Burke, chief of homicide. Two years earlier, the dashing Barry ended a three-year run as “Bat Masterson.”
The basic story was the same each week and followed a premise set earlier by”Perry Mason” and copied later by “Ellery Queen,” “Murder She Wrote” and others. Someone would be murdered and the show's star would discover the murderer before the hour (including commercials) was up.
"Burke's Law" was a highly stylized version. The show would open with a random scene in America. One time, we see workers crunching debris at a dumpsite. On another, a friendly worker, complete with bowtie, pulls a switch so lots of screaming kids can enjoy a merry-go-round ride.
But inevitably, somebody yells and screams, because a body has been found.
Switch to Burke, who is a millionaire thanks to his daddy. So he enjoys the fruits and females of those efforts while working in homicide.
An early Aaron Spelling effort, other regulars included the boyish Gary Conway as Detective Tim Wilson, the scruffy Regis Toomey as Detective Les Hart and Leon Lontoc as Asian chauffeur Henry.
The series under this structure lasted from 1963 to 1965. Then cold-war secret agent programs because the craze, thanks to “The Man from UNCLE,” so Burke became a secret agent, the rest of the cast was dispatched and the series died a quick death.
Each episode for the first two years was called “Who Killed (fill in name)”?
Once the body was discovered, the point of view switched to the Burke character, usually in a tuxedo, hosting a party and adoring women, or enjoying a champagne-steeped interlude with one shapely female, but still clothed in a tuxedo.
He would get a phone call and signal to Henry to chauffeur him to the latest crime scene. There he would examine the crime scene, get updated on what happen and meet a series of lovely suspects, all willing to get to know Burke better.
One of the biggest draws of the series is the who's who of stars at the time who appeared, from William (”Life of Riley”) Bendix to Paul Lynde to both Gabor sisters in separate episodes (Zsa Zsa and Eva) to Elizabeth Montgomery, Juliet Prowst, Jay C. Flippen, Jim Backus and former silent screen star Gloria Swanson.
Some of the plots were pretty ingenius but there was always an air of comedy and fun.
The “law” part comes from witty sayings tossed about by Burke during the show.
He would say, “Beauties make the best suspects.” Then he’d smile and add, “Burke's Law.” Or “Murder is the only game you can never win.”
The first discs include vintage commercials. Lots of cigarette commercials. Also a comparison between the old and digitally remastered versions.
“Burke's Law” was revived for 13 episodes in 1994 with Barry still playing Amos Burke and Peter Barton as his son. I can't comment because I never saw it, but understand some episodes were recycled.
The original “Burke's Law” is a fun bit of nostalgia and camp. But then, all of you renting this series and kept me from getting the discs from Netflix until now, already know that.

Goodbye Mr. Chips

Mr. Chips’ great, old-fashioned film
Video Viper for Sept. 25,2009
ROBERT DONET plays Charles E. Chipping in "Goodbye Mr. Chips."

“Goodbye Mr. Chips” is one of those old-fashioned films that has a lot going for it.

It was the first of the dedicated teacher movies which plots life from young, inexperienced instructor to stooped-over, graying relic who is loved and respected by his peers.

The film has been remade and the plot has been reused, but this is the best version.

Also, the film came out in 1939, which automatically makes it a pure classic. Virtually everything that came out that year, from “ The Hunchback of Notre Dame” to “Stagecoach” to Wizard of Oz” to “Gone With the Wind” is an unquestionable artistic and popular success.

Mind you, I'm not judging Chips” by the year it was released only. And yes, if you had to guess the ending, it wouldn't be difficult. In fact, I will give you the ending right now. SPOILER ALERT: Chips dies.

Also, there are times you must suspend belief. First off, his real name is Charles Chipping. Funny in itself. But it takes years before anyone gives him the nickname “Chips.” Come on. In the real world, he would have been dubbed with that moniker on Day 1.

Played effectively by Robert Donat, Chips’ first experience in the classroom isn't good. He can't discipline the children and is told by the headmaster of the ancient and venerable boys school Brookfield he must control his class or be fired.

So he becomes overly strict and won't let the kids out of class on the day of the big cricket match. When Brookfield loses the match, he learns as valuable a lesson as the children.

The film quickly progresses to middle years and Donat is given an extra layer of makeup. He believes he will become head of one of the dormitories but is passed over despite his seniority. We come to realize after many years, Chips isn't a particularly good teacher.

His friend and German master Max Staefel, played by Paul Henreid of “Casablanca” fame, invites him on a walking tour of Austria as a different kind of vacation. While climbing the Alps, Chips meets a beautiful, independent woman, played by Greer Garson, who after must awkwardness, becomes his wife.

One of the best scenes is when Chips brings his new wife to visit the faculty and his fellow teachers believe she will be dour and frumpy, but she's beautiful and charming.

She teaches Chips to loosen up, joke with the kids, make school educational and fun. Sadly, she dies in childbirth, but the lessons she teaches Chips make him a better teacher and person.

There are so many poignant scenes. When Chips learns his wife and son are both dead, he insists on teaching his class anyway and the unknowing students try to pull an unfunny April Fool's joke on him.

When World War I erupts, many of the students and faculty we have come to know during the picture die in battle.

In this sense, “Chips” would make a pretty good double feature with the 1930 version of “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

love the atmosphere of the film, its sense of worth and purpose. We can feel the school's rich history, even though it was probably filmed on a back lot.

There are many unforgettable scenes in the film, one being when Chips realizes he is engaged and runs after the train carrying the Garson character.

It's old fashioned, the acting may be a bit broad for some and you might spend more time than you should looking at Donat's wrinkle-necked makeup.

But “GoodbBye Mr. Chips” is a treasure of a picture, one you will want to own and get it out and enjoy on cold, rainy nights.

GOODBYE MR. CHIPS

• Directed by Sam Wood

• Written by R.C. Sheriff and Claudine West

• Runtime: 114 minutes

• Suitable for the entire family

• 4 1/2 stars out of 5

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

‘Nick and Norah’ infinitely too long, terrible
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."

Video Viper for Sept. 18, 2009

I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for as bad as “Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist” was.

It's supposed to be a teen romance comedy, but these supposed teens look and act more like people in their 20s, there's little romance or chemistry among the actors and nothing funny about it.

Michael Cera, who the year before was in the infinitely better “Juno,” plays the similar quiet, nerdy kid who happens to be in a rock band and is breaking up with his girlfriend.

Now the girlfriend, played by Alexis Dziena, goes to a Catholic girls school where they all wear the little Catholic uniforms. Among them is friend Norah (Kat Dennings).

The girls end up at a concert in which Cera’s band plays. The whole film takes place in one night, following the cast around. These types of movies have worked well in the past. Remember “Adventures in Babysitting?”

Now there's a movie where hilarious, interesting and compelling stuff happened to the characters. You won't find that in “Infinite Boredom.” (I hated the movie, I get to rename it.)

Maybe I should just describe what constitutes humor in this film. For instance, Cera drives a battered Yugo. So there are lots of scenes of the Yugo. The camera focuses on the Yugo nameplate as he is backing up so you remember it is a Yugo. The Yugo barely starts, It has a difficult time going forward. Somebody thinks it is a taxi. Do I have you rolling on the floor? Actually, this is probably the funniest thing in the film.

Now Nick's band includes two others who are gay. So people refer to it as “that gay band.” Are tears rolling down your eyes from laughing so hard?

And band members keep wanting to change the name of the band to another crude expression. What fun!

Then there's friend Caroline, played by Ari Graynor, who gets drunk and repulsive. The running joke is she keeps chewing her gum no matter what. So she goes into a dirty, public restroom and we get to see her vomit. Then she puts her hand in the vomit-filled toilet and fishes out the gum and puts it back in her mouth.

OK. If you had any desire to see this film, please reread this past paragraph.

Now in true romantic movie fashion, Nick and Norah must become a couple. But romance movie plot dictates Nick must first try to get back with original girlfriend, played by Dziena. Keep in mind there is no chemistry among any of these people. Nick must realize at some point he loves Norah, and leaves old girlfriend to find her.

All I'm thinking is let this thing end.

The “Infinite Playlist” refers to Nick's interest in music and making mixed CDs. Yet there is nothing to hint in this film why he or any other characters are interested in music.

All I can say is once you have met Nick and Norah, you never want to see them again.

NICK and NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST

• Directed (sort of) by Peter Sollett

• Written by Lorene Scafaria (screenplay), Rachel Cohn (novel)

• Runtime: 90 minutes, it just seems longer

• Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including teen drinking, sexuality, language and crude behavior

• 1/2 star out of 4 (only for the Yugo)

Studio One

Step back to early TV with ‘Studio One’

BETTY FURNESS shows off a 1950s Westinghouse refrigerator on "Studio One."
Star Beacon for Sept. 11, 2009

OK, bear with me for a short history lesson, then a review.

The industrial revolution of 100 years ago resulted in fewer people working on farms. It meant a bit more leisure time. Unfortunately, technology hadn't gotten caught up yet. During evening hours, you could play games, read, but there was no TV, no radio and movies were still pretty much a novelty. They would show them on the wall at night in the drug store after it closed.

As a result, there were many traveling shows, operas, lectures, plays that would travel from city to city. Even small cities.

Once radio entertainment, which included comedies and dramas, became mainstream in the late 1920s, traveling shows became less in demand. Also, you had movie theaters opening, sometimes large and ornate with huge pipe organs to produce the soundtrack to silent films.

Ah, but after World War II, a new novelty was produced, which again brought us programs, operas and plays, right in our own homes.

It came on a tiny, fuzzy, 10-inch display and they called it television.

Imagine sitting at home in 1949 and watching a play with professional actors right in your own home. It must have been an unbelievable experience.

“Studio One,” sponsored by Westinghouse, was one such experience. It aired from 1948 to 1958 and was produced live. A huge studio included many obvious cardboard backdrops and everything was live.

“Studio One” episodes are available on DVD and if you have Netflix, proves to be an interesting history lesson on early television.

Television may have been technically pretty crude back then, but it was much more highbrow. The latest plays, the classics, would come into your living room, including “Wuthering Heights,” “Julius Caesar” and newer stuff, like “Twelve Angry Men.” This latter play, by the way, was thought to be lost but was discovered by a researcher for The History Channel in 2003.

The only way to preserve these programs back then was to point a film camera at a TV monitor as the live broadcast went out and record the proceedings. Even then, narrow-thinking individuals later ordered some of this film destroyed because they were taking up too much room.

Big movie stars of the time couldn't be seen on TV, so it was up to largely unknowns to play the parts. You may have heard of some of them: Jack Lemmon, William Shatner, Ed Asner, James Dean, Warren Oates, Charleton Heston, Lee Remick and so many more.

Shatner, in one of the extras, describes the huge cameras used with the silent, whirring fans needed to keep them cool.

What the people involved did was pretty extraordinary. There was no stopping, no retakes. If you made a mistake, you went on. In “The Remarkable Incident at Carson Corners,” children in a classroom invite their parents one evening for what inevitably shocks them, a mock trial in which they charge a janitor with contributing to the death of a child from a faulty fire escape.

The play is interesting, not outstanding. In one scene, a boy who looked maybe 10 is on the stand and is asked to describe an incident leading to the death. There is a flashback.

In a movie, the flashback scene may be filmed days or weeks later or before the courtroom and repeated as necessary until perfect.

This is live television. This boy had to jump from the chair and run to another set, change clothes and be in the flashback scene.

And remember, there is a minefield of wires and cords about the stage.

In one of the extras, actor Johnathan Harris describes how he was in one scene and when it switched to the next scene, was in that one too. There were no breaks. He was in a different shirt and tie. Harris, best known as the ornery Dr. Smith in “Lost in Space,” was there, but admits, “I don't know how they did it.”

Sometimes the technology of the day made you concentrate on the plot less. When a woman was working in a prop kitchen, I wondered if she could get water from the faucet. At one point, she indeed did.

Maybe the highlight of the whole process was the Westinghouse commercials. They are a hoot.

Betty Furness, who was an actress in a “Studio One” episode, filled in on a commercial when the regular person failed to show. She did such a good job, she was hired as the permanent Westinghouse spokeswoman.

We see her discuss the marvels of Westinghouse frost-free refrigerators, stoves with sensors that would make certain nothing on the stove boiled over (what happened to those?), clothes washers she called “Laundromats” and fancy, 21-inch televisions that required only one dial to tune stations. Plus, if color TV ever becomes available, a black-and-white Westinghouse could be converted (that never happened.)

And “Studio One” had great writers, including Rod Serling, later of “Twilight Zone” fame.

You can tell cast and staff strived for excellence within the means of its time when producing “Studio One.”

It is worth a nostalgic look back.