Body Heat

Body Heat
Warner Bros.
August 28, 1981
Crime Drama
DVD
C-

I couldn't get into this '80s film noir, partly although not entirely due to William Hurt's mustache.  It felt like a symbol of how the movie wasn't what it thought it was, in this case, sexy or suspenseful, at least in the first quarter-hour.  Still, there's some curiosity value and it does have a pre-Cheers Ted Danson in glasses.  Lawrence Kasdan wrote and directed.

Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
September 19, 1986
Mystery
DVD
D+

The alleged "genius" Lynch does things like go from the word "scissors" to a cut with scissors (ha ha, visual pun) and do a lingering closeup of the love interest's photo a few minutes before she appears out of the shadows.  I've been avoiding this movie for years because of its disturbing content, but the worst we get in the first quarter-hour is an ear that I expected the detective to suspect was from a joke shop.  I didn't find this as enjoyably campy as Twin Peaks (https://reviewingsometvshowsidontown.blogspot.com/2019/06/twin-peaks-episode-11.html), but it wasn't as unbearable as I expected.

Blue Streak

Blue Streak
Columbia
September 17, 1999
Action, Comedy
DVD
D+

A jewel heist goes awry.  I've never liked Martin Lawrence's comedy (going back to his '90s sitcom), and I didn't appreciate the fat jokes against the wonderful Octavia Spencer, but at least the music was pretty good.  Les Mayfield directed.

The Blue Max

The Blue Max
20th Century Fox
June 21, 1966
War Drama
DVD
D

George Peppard makes no attempt to seem German in World War I.  This was based on the Jack D. Hunter novel and directed by John Guillermin.

Blue Crush 2

Blue Crush 2
Universal
June 7, 2011 (direct-to-DVD)
Sports Drama
DVD
C-

I've never seen the original Blue Crush, so I have no idea what relation it is to this (I'm guessing it's about female surfers, too), but this wasn't terrible, except for the wandering accent of the heroine, who's sometimes South-African like her mother and other times a California girl.  At least the waves and the girls are pretty.  Mike Elliott directed.

Blue Car

Blue Car

Miramax

May 2, 2003

Drama

DVD
D+

Karen Moncrieff wrote and directed this story of a teenage poet whose kid sister cuts herself because their mom is a neglectful bitch and their father abandoned them, so the English teacher decides to mentor the poet, possibly with ulterior motives.  I considered going lower with the grade, but, shrug, it's Christmas, and at least nobody was shot in the first quarter-hour.

Blow

Blow
New Line Cinema
April 6, 2001
Historical Drama
DVD
C-

Depp stars as a drug-dealer looking back at his life.  It was kind of fun to see Reubens as a hip gay salon-owner, but I didn't care about the other characters.  Ted Demme directed.

Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday
Paramount
25 January 2002
Historical Drama
DVD
C

A day-in-the-life for many people who live in Derry, North Ireland on 30 January 1972.  Paul Greengrass directed and wrote the screenplay based on Don Mullan's book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday.

Blood Simple

Blood Simple
Circle Films
January 18, 1985
Crime Drama
DVD
B-

On the one hand, I enjoyed this Coen Brothers premiere more than I expected, since it's not one of my usual genres.  On the other hand, I felt like there were maybe too many plot twists and possibly plot holes.  (Is Marty actually dead?)  The film is well shot and the small cast works well as individuals and as a group, and I did like the quirky sense of humor, like with the "Employees must wash their hands" sign.  I can see why the film got such acclaim, then and later, but it just didn't quite do it for me, and it was, well, bloody.

Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond
Warner Bros.
December 8, 2006
Action
DVD
D-

DiCaprio's bad Rhodesian accent (which sounds like a bad Australian accent) brought this cardboard story of civil war in Sierra Leone down from a D.  Edward Zwick directed.

Blood Alley

Blood Alley
Warner Bros.
October 1, 1955
Drama
DVD
D

Wayne talks and talks in the first quarter-hour, especially when he monologues.  Bacall isn't given much to do, and Mazurki (who a few years later would get a plum of a role in Some Like It Hot) of course doesn't seem the slightest bit Chinese.  A.S. Fleischman adapted his novel and William A. Wellman directed, with the Duke according to IMDB.

Blockers

By the time it hit DVD, the "cock" symbol was dropped, but I
 think that fits because it's a sex comedy that's not just about sex.

Blockers
Universal
April 6, 2018
Comedy
DVD
B-

As with other Apatovian-but-not-Apatow comedies, this could've gone quite wrong, and certainly the gross-out humor doesn't really add anything for me.  But I found this surprisingly funny at times, with a solid cast and of course the obligatory heart-warming moments.*  I also would've expected the movie to focus more on the teens, a la Porky's, American Pie, and the rest of that losing-virginity subgenre of comedy, and less on their Gen-X parents, the Blockers of the title, but the balance mostly works.  (That Miles Robbins, son of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, looks like a young Donny Osmond in a man-bun was just an extra layer of amusement for me.)  I also like that one of the three teens is a closeted lesbian, and her friends and father are supportive of her.

I'm not sure who in the cast to tag besides the three people I actually recognized, but I'll throw John Cena in there just in case.  This was Kay Cannon's directorial debut, but I'll tag her, too, since this blog project will take awhile and we may see her again.


*Maybe it's that I'm concurrently doing a Laverne & Shirley blog now, but I do have to wonder how much the Garry Marshall legacy of outrageous humor alternating with sentiment continues four or five decades on, although now we get jokes about butt-chugging rather than more innocent slapstick.

The Blob (1958)

The Blob (1958)
Paramount
September 10, 1958
Sci-Fi
DVD
C

A far from youthful-looking 28-year-old Steve McQueen has his date with "Janie Girl" interrupted by an old guy who's attacked by the title character.  The best thing here is the title song, but the movie is a decent time capsule of the late '50s, at least of late '50s movies, although I didn't need more than a quarter-hour of it.  (And technically, I did use to own this movie, taped off cable onto videocassette but lost at some point in the last 25 years.  For a review of the '72 "sequel, click here: https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/06/son-of-blob.html.)

Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr., and Russell S. Doughten, Jr., are both listed as directors at IMDB.

Blindspotting

Blindspotting
Lionsgate
July 27, 2018
Crime Drama, Comedy
DVD
C-

Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs wrote and co-star in this story of two friends in trouble with the law in Oakland.  Carlos López Estrada directed.

Blast (2004)

Blast (2004)*
DEJ Productions
July 19, 2005 (DVD premiere)
Action, Comedy
DVD
D+

The first quarter-hour of this straight-to-DVD movie is actually a Christmas movie, an action comedy with no action and lewd jokes that the "hero" (Griffin) tells to his coworkers and adopted son of about eight.  At least the music wasn't bad.  Anthony Hickox directed.

*Apparently there's another Blast movie about terrorists, but from '97 and starring Rutger Hauer.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner
Warner Bros.
June 25, 1982
Sci-Fi
DVD
C-

Well, I didn't loathe this like I did at a revival theater with blaring sound in '94 and I could somewhat appreciate the world-building-- for November 2019!-- this time, but I still wasn't drawn in by the characters or story.  Ridley Scott directed and it's certainly better than Alien Covenant and Black Hawk Down.

Blade

Blade
New Line Cinema
August 21, 1998
Action, Sci-Fi
DVD
F+

Gory adaptation of the Marvel Comics, where even relationship talk is interrupted by random acts of violence.  Directed by Stephen Norrington.

BlacKkKlansman

BlacKkKlansman
Focus Features
August 10, 2018
Historical Drama, Historical Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

Spike Lee directed and co-wrote this film based on the memoir by Ron Stallworth, although some details were changed from the book, including the setting of '79 to '72.  I saw the movie in the theater and it still packs a wallop on the home screen, but I am well aware it is at times heavy-handed propaganda.  That's not to say it doesn't make its points and it's not thought-provoking or entertaining, but it is manipulative, albeit skillfully. 

Deciding on genre tags was tough, because it is historical-- and about history itself, linking 1972 to 1916 and 2017-- but it is definitely a drama, and, yes, a romance, and for one glorious scene, as a group of young Afro-Americans sing and dance in a club to "Too Late to Turn Back Now," a musical.  Lee manages the tonal shifts, sometimes even simultaneously, so that we can, for instance, be both amused and horrified by the cruel stupidity of the Klan.  When Ron's coworkers gather around the phone to hear him punk the white supremacists, we are with them, trying not to giggle but also amazed at Ron's daring.

Washington, the then 33-year-old son of Denzel, plays Ron with a certain naivete and youth, while Adam Driver (just a few months older) is the relatively more experienced cop who finds himself letting "the rookie" lead this crazy case.  The movie plays with philosophy and identity, especially for "the white Ron Stallworth" (a non-observant Jew here, a still unknown man in real life), acknowledging the heavier questions but always aware of the absurdity.  We get moments of triumph and glee, but the ending is ambiguous, and deliberately shot like one of the blacksploitation movies that Ron and his black-radical girlfriend Patrice debate.  The movie is partly about their courtship, but there is no Happily Ever After for them or Colorado Springs.

The movie draws obvious parallels to then and now, and to David Duke (played wonderfully by Grace, his '70s boy next door past as Eric Forman putting a spin on Duke's seeming normality) and to Donald Trump.  Specific lines, like about "America First" and "Making America Great Again" are deliberate, as is I believe the casting of Trump-impersonator Baldwin in the opening cameo as a '50s bigot.  It may sound funny to say this about a movie that premiered at Cannes only a year and a half ago, but this film is definitely a relic of the Trump era, specifically the first half of Trump's first (?) term.  Watching the Charlottesville footage in the "now" section, including Trump's "both sides" comment, felt rawer the summer after than it does in the safety of my own home, but that's not to say that it is not still a painful epilogue.  And running Prince's then unreleased version of "Mary, Don't You Weep" over the closing credits is just as poignant now.

Note that Michael Buscemi looks distractingly like his brother Steve.

The Black Stallion

The Black Stallion
United Artists
October 17, 1979
Historical Drama, Children's
DVD
C-

Based on the Walter Farley novel and directed by Carroll Ballard, this starts out on a ship, where a little boy sees an imprisoned horse and watches his father gamble.  Then the ship sinks and I tune out.

Black Mask

Black Mask AKA Hak Hap
China Star Entertainment Group
9 November 1996
Action Comedy
DVD
D

Based on the manhua of the same name, this has an odd feel to it, one minute gory action (or medical drama!), the next goofy workplace (library) comedy.  I thought about a D+, since the music was kind of cool, but ultimately this is your basic D.  Daniel Lee directed.

The Black Hole

The Black Hole
Walt Disney
December 21, 1979
Sci-Fi
DVD
C-

This is a bit dull but there are some nice visuals.  Gary Nelson directed.

Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down
Columbia
December 28, 2001
War Drama
DVD
D

U.S. forces in Mogadishu in 1993.  Based on the book by Mark Bowden, and directed by Ridley Scott.

The second one hundred movies on this blog

So another hundred movies in and the success rate is slightly higher now, with 12% rather than 11% meeting with my approval enough for me to watch them until the end and give a C+ or higher.  As for what I rejected, the F+s went from four to five, the D-s from nine to 17, the D's from 14 to 29, and the D+s and C-s also sort of doubling, from 19 to 40 and from 27 to 53 respectively.  The C's, which sit on that border of almost making it (sometimes after a half hour or more of viewing), exactly doubled, from 15 to 30.

Of the ones that passed, there are now nine C+s instead of four, six B-s instead of four, and a relatively impressive eight B's instead of three.  There's even a B+ now.

As for the decade breakdown, I did double the output from the 1920s, from one to two, while there were no additional movies from the '30s (still at six).  The '40s more than doubled, going from two to five.  The '50s continued to outdo the previous decades, but not as dramatically, rising from 11 to 17.  The '60s more than doubled, from four to nine, while the '70s more than tripled, from two to seven.  The '80s and '90s both nearly doubled, from 11 to 21 and from 16 to 31 respectively.  The 2000 more than doubled, from 27 to 57.  The 2010s rose from 20 to 45.  I'm surprised things were this consistent, but I think the proportions will still skew over time.

Action movies weren't quite as dominant, now 23 rather than 17.  There are now 37 comedies rather than 17, and 39 dramas rather than 25, not counting "dramedy," etc., like the 38 "historical dramas."

Warner Brothers remains the dominant studio, with 24 contributions, although as I said before, it's harder to classify in the modern era.  The number of movies based on books is another stat that has roughly doubled, from 19 to 41, so still about one-fifth of the total.

I don't have any predictions for the next hundred, other than I don't know if I'll get past the letter B.  Probably, but not too far.

Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite
ARS Nova
October 16, 2009
Parody, Action
DVD
C

This blaxploitation send-up has the look and feel of something from the '70s (not much exaggerated), but unfortunately I didn't find it that funny, other than that everyone, including BD's aunt and his teenage self, refers to him as "Black Dynamite" in one-on-one conversations.  (Or one-on-three in the case of the orgy scene.)  I recall both I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and Undercover Brother as funnier, but it's been a long while, especially for the former.  Scott Sanders directed this and co-wrote with Byron Minns, who plays Bullhorn, and Michael Jai White, who's BLACK DYNAMITE.

Biutiful

Biutiful
Roadside Attractions
16 October 2010
Drama
DVD
D+

I couldn't really follow this movie, which is set in both Spain and Mexico, but the cinematography was nice at times, like the shots of the wintry forest.  Oddly enough, alphabetically speaking, Iñárritu would direct Birdman four years later.  (And win a bunch of awards for that, while this one was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.)

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Fox Searchlight
October 7, 2016
Historical Drama
DVD
D+

I would've gone with a C- for this biopic about Nat Turner (nothing to do with the racist but influential D.W. Griffith silent from a century earlier), but Penelope Ann Miller's acting as his "owner" was pretty bad.  Nate Parker directed, co-wrote, and stars as Nat Turner.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Fox Searchlight
November 14, 2014
Dramedy
DVD
C

A washed-up actor (played by Keaton) has telekinesis.  Alejandro G. Iñárritu directed seemingly in one long, tracking shot, or at least the first quarter-hour anyway.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage AKA L'uccello dalle piume di 
Titanus
19 February 1970
Horror
DVD
C-

Artsy (with lots of white and red) Italian horror movie about an American man who's framed for a murder attempt he helplessly watches through glass like a movie.  This was based on the novel The Screaming Mimi and adapted and directed by Dario Argento.

Bird (1988)

Bird (1988)
Warner Bros.
September 30, 1988
Historical Drama
DVD
D-

A talented musician is an asshole, drunk or sober.  And some of the acting is subpar.  Eastwood, as everyone knows, directed.

Biloxi Blues

Biloxi Blues
Universal
March 25, 1988
Historical Comedy, Historical Drama
DVD
B

This movie surprised me in that I think I was expecting something more on the sitcom or even cartoony side, but there are serious and even philosophical moments, and even a dark-humored horror feel to the scene where Walken's character threatens Broderick's with a gun.  I'm not sure how well it all hangs together, and despite the tag line that "Daisy gave him basic training," Eugene's first love is dealt with in a cursory manner that makes less impact than the surprisingly sweet and funny scene where he loses his virginity to a hooker (played by Park Overall, who I couldn't place, but it turns out she was Laverne Todd for seven seasons of Empty Nest).  The ensemble cast works well together, and I like that the characters end up having more to them, good and bad, than the stock characters I expected and apparently were all that Roger Ebert could see three decades ago.

I should note that the subject of homosexuality is brought up and handled with tolerance and yet ambiguity, and in the Where Are They Now? voiceover at the end, I did not catch what happened to Hennessy.

Bigger: The Joe Weider Story

Bigger: The Joe Weider Story
Bee Holder Productions
October 12, 2018
Historical Drama
DVD
D

In the '30s, a Canadian boy gets beat up by his mother and the neighbors, so he grows up to be a body-builder.  I might've gone with a D+, but the accents didn't even match up within the Weider family.

Big Wednesday

It's 1962, honest!

Big Wednesday
Warner Bros.
May 26, 1978
Sports Drama
DVD
D+

Dull surfing movie set in the 1960s but with '70s hair.  Bumped up from a D for the B- and C-list star-spotting.  John Milius directed and co-wrote.

Big Trouble in Little China

Big Trouble in Little China
20th Century Fox
July 2, 1986
Action, Comedy
DVD
C

Although this isn't really my genre, I can see why it's a cult classic and I did like it better than Kurt Russell's The Best of Times from that same year.  Director Carpenter has a certain panache, but I just didn't care about the story or the characters.

The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski
Working Title Films
March 6, 1998
Comedy
DVD
C

I gave this Coen Brothers movie a half hour because I just honestly didn't know how I felt about it.  I'd heard about it for years but I think that's part of why I hesitated to watch it, that it wouldn't live up to the the cult status.  I can see why people like it, and certainly I had high hopes with this cast.  The opening narration by Sam Elliott was fun, but I just couldn't connect with this particular form of quirkiness.  Note that it's technically a historical comedy, being set around the time of the Gulf War I, but that was also the '90s, so I'm tagging it as just comedy.

Big Fish

Big Fish
Columbia
January 4, 2004
Fantasy, Historical Drama
DVD
D+

This is another Tim Burton movie I saw at the time, but with more mixed feelings than with Big Eyes a decade later.  Some of the acting is pretty bad, especially Crudup as the son, and there weren't even any stunning visuals in the first quarter hour.  (The first shot of a San Francisco street in Big Eyes was more colorful and interesting.)  Based on the Daniel Wallace novel.

Big Eyes

Big Eyes
Tim Burton Productions
December 25, 2014
Historical Drama
DVD
B

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski co-wrote and Tim Burton directed this biopic about the artist behind the kitschy but haunting Keane paintings, Margaret Keane, although her husband Walter insisted on taking credit.  I saw this movie at the time and was especially impressed with Adams's portrayal of Margaret, although this time I also "liked" Waltz as the charming but controlling Walter.  There are times that the movie feels like a horror movie, although Walter is not physically abusive, more psychologically.  Although I wasn't alive during most of the period that this film covers (roughly '58 to '68) the period details felt accurate from what I've seen in movies from that era.  I don't have any particular criticism of the movie, any explanation for why it's not higher than a B, other than it's a bit slow-moving at times, and a bit over the top at others.

Big Daddy

The infamous poster

Big Daddy
Columbia
June 25, 1999
Comedy
DVD
C-

I saw this movie at the time but didn't remember much about it, unlike the previous year's The Wedding Singer, which I quite enjoyed (and now own), yes, including Sandler (who co-wrote this but not that), while here he's easily the least likable character in the first quarter hour.  Still, I have seen worse comedies, including from him. 

Dennis Dugan directed.  Note that the Sprouse twins, who play the five-year-old kid, were almost seven at the time and already acting vets, although still a year away from Friends.

The Big City AKA Mahanagar

The Big City AKA Mahanagar
R.D. Banshal & Co.
27 September 1963
Drama
DVD
C-

A slow-moving drama about a struggling Indian family, written and directed by Satyajit Ray.

Big Bully

Big Bully
Warner Bros.
January 26, 1996
Comedy
DVD
C+

Well, this is better than you might expect-- it was a box office bomb and earned Tom Arnold a Razzie Award for Worst Actor*-- which is not to say it's good, but I found it mildly entertaining.  There are a bunch of plot holes (like why does a tiny little town have such a huge middle school?), and certainly Carol Kane could've been used more effectively.  (Don Knotts's age of 71 is used to good effect though.)  But the movie held my interest throughout and I did want to see what would happen next, despite the odd twists and turns.  And that's more than I can say about most of the movies on this blog.

Steve Miner directed.


*I may be wrong, but I think that Tom Arnold is the first performer to appear in four movies on this blog, not counting people who have a collection devoted to them, like Alec Guinness.

Beyond the Clouds

Beyond the Clouds
Zee Studios
20 November 2017
Crime Drama
DVD
C

I didn't have any strong feelings about this movie one way or the other, but it did feel odd to me that there was an onscreen "SMOKING" warning every moment that a cigarette appeared onscreen, and meanwhile there's a brothel and drug deals.  I guess this can be chalked up to cultural differences.  Majid Majidi also wrote and directed Baran, sixteen years earlier.

Bewitched

Bewitched
Columbia
June 24, 2005
Fantasy, Romcom
DVD
D

Nora Ephron directed and co-wrote this mess with her sister Delia.  I saw it at the time and mostly remembered that the concept-- the movie isn't a remake of the classic TV show but a movie about a remake of the classic TV show-- was convoluted, and Will Ferrell was annoying.  Both still true, but I probably would've given the movie a C- or a pity C back in '05, and I did watch until the end.  This time, I was irritated with Kidman before Ferrell showed up, although he did bring it down from a D+.

Better Luck Tomorrow

Better Luck Tomorrow
MTV Films
April 25, 2003
Crime Drama
DVD
C-

Two allegedly smart teens are petty thieves.  John Cho plays the boyfriend of the girl that the narrating teen has a crush on.  Justin Lin directed and co-wrote.

The Best of Times (1986)

The Best of Times (1986)
Universal
January 31, 1986
Sports Comedy
DVD
C-

I wanted to like this movie, because I read the very positive Pauline Kael review ages ago (not quite at the time, but a few years later), and I like Kurt Russell and sometimes love Robin Williams.  Unfortunately, I disliked Williams's character, who is the protagonist, as he's a whiner and a cheater and just not funny.  Too bad.  It would be nice to like a sports comedy for a change.

Roger Spottiswoode directed.

The Best of Me

The Best of Me
Relativity Media
October 17, 2014
Drama, Romance
DVD
D+

Boring people are connected in confusing ways, and then we go into an extended flashback.  Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.