Changeling (2008)

Changeling (2008)
Universal
October 31, 2008
Historical Drama, Mystery
DVD
C-

As with The Chamber, the performances make this film weaker than it could be, although the '20s period details are good.  Clint Eastwood directed.

The Chamber (1996)

The Chamber (1996)
Universal
October 11, 1996
Drama
DVD
C-

A young lawyer decides to defend his grandfather, who's on Death Row.  If the performances were better, I might've gone with a C or even C+.  Based on the John Grisham novel and directed by James Foley.

Certain Women

Certain Women
IFC Films
January 24, 2016
Drama
DVD
C-

This is based on three short stories by Maile Meloy, and I only watched part of the slow-moving tale of Laura Dern as a lawyer.  Kelly Reichardt wrote the screenplay and directed.

Ceremony

Ceremony
Magnolia Pictures
October 8, 2010
Comedy
DVD
C-

Two men who are socially awkward in different ways crash the wedding (or maybe it's just a beach party) of the ex of one of them, I think.  Oh well, at least the scenery's nice.  Max Winkler wrote and directed.

Central Intelligence

Central Intelligence
New Line/ Warner Bros./ etc.
June 10, 2016
Comedy
DVD
D

Tasteless comedy about two men (Hart and Johnson), who meet again twenty years after high school.  Rawson Marshall Thurber directed and co-wrote.

Cenizas del Paraiso AKA Ashes of Paradise

Cenizas del Paraiso AKA Ashes of Paradise
Studio Unknown
7 August 1997
Crime Drama
DVD
D-

I was mildly interested in the mystery, but I couldn't get past the gory opening of a suicide followed by a young man lugging a dead woman down the stairs.  Marcelo Piñeyro directed and co-wrote.

The Cell

The Cell
New Line
August 18, 2000
Sci-Fi
DVD
D-

Creepy yet boring JLo movie, directed by Tarsem Singh.

Family Attraction

Family Attraction
AFI
1998
Comedy
DVD
D+

Brian Hecker wrote and directed this unfunny seventeen-minute short about one of the last nuclear families in existence, although I kind of liked the visual style.  This is packaged on a Celebrating AFI collection.

Catwoman

Catwoman
Warner Bros.
July 23, 2004
Crime Drama, Fantasy, Romance
DVD
B

Not being a superhero fan (OK, I was a little until the age of about nine), I had no idea of the hatred that this sexy, stylish, and sweet movie, directed by Pitof, has inspired.  I thought Halle Berry was great, even moments (early on) when she has to do the modern romcom klutz thing or do bad "purr" puns.  Sharon Stone is a good match as the not-that-surprise villainess, and Benjamin Bratt plays a nicer version of his character in Miss Congeniality.  Yes, the script could've been better (I didn't even get the Midnight-the-cat-breathing-her-back-to-life thing until I watched the bonus features), but I liked the theme of duality and I'm a cat person, so, shrug.  Oh, and the soundtrack was good.  Maybe this is a superhero movie for people who don't like superhero movies and, yes, Catwoman is an anti-heroine.

Cats Don't Dance

Cats Don't Dance
Warner Bros.
March 26, 1997
Children's, Musical, Fantasy, Historical Comedy
DVD
D+

Like its feline hero (voiced by Bakula), this movie tries too hard and has little to show for it.  Mark Dindal directed and co-wrote.

Catlow

Catlow
MGM
October 1, 1971
Western
DVD
C-

I like the music and the touches of humor, as well as the odd casting, but not enough to stick with this.  The movie is based on the Louis L'Amour novel and directed by Sam Wanamaker,

The Catcher Was a Spy

The Catcher Was a Spy
IFC Films
June 22, 2018
War Drama, Sports Drama
DVD
C-

Rudd plays the title character, a Jewish baseball player who is sent to kill a Nazi, but first there are flashbacks, including to sex on a piano.  This is based on the Nicholas Dawidoff book and directed by Ben Lewin.

Casualties of War

Casualties of War
Columbia
August 18, 1989
War Drama
DVD
D-

The Vietnam War, directed by De Palma, based on the book by David Rabe, with Fox as the only decent person among the soldiers.

Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky
Studio Ghibli
2 August 1986
Anime, Fantasy
DVD
C

Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed this story of a girl who falls out of the sky and into the life of a young miner (or I guess, minor miner).  I didn't like the character design and found the characters' personalities only moderately interesting.  There are some nice visuals, especially of nature, but I definitely wasn't dazzled like I'm supposed to be.

Carve Her Name with Pride

Carve Her Name with Pride
Rank Organisation
18 February 1958
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C

Quiet tale of a World War II romance between a Englishwoman and a Frenchman.  Based on the book by R.J. Minney and directed by Lewis Gilbert.

Carrie

Carrie
United Artists
November 3, 1976
Horror
DVD
D-

Hokey, leering, and hackneyed.  It would've been an F+ if not for the recognizable future stars (and I turned it off before Travolta).  This is of course based on the Stephen King novel and directed by Brian De Palma.

Carol

Carol
StudioCanal
17 May 2015 (Cannes)
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C-

Slow-moving tale of two women, one of them named Carol, who fall in love in '50s America.  This is based on the Patricia Highsmith novel and directed by Todd Haynes.

Carnage

Carnage
Sony Pictures Classics
1 September 2011
Dramedy
DVD
D+

Two unlikable couples talk and talk in New York City.  Roman Polanski directed and co-wrote.  This is the fourth Jodie Foster movie I've reviewed on this blog, although Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is the only one I actually liked.

Carmen Jones

Carmen Jones
20th Century Fox
October 28, 1954
Musical, Romance
DVD
C-

An African-American take on the Bizet opera that I know mostly through Gilligan's Island.  Otto Preminger directed.  Note that this earns Harry Belafonte (27 here) the Longevity Prize for now, since he has a cameo in BlacKKKlansman 64 years later!

The third hundred movies on this blog

Three hundred movies into this project, and the success rate remains at 12%, that is getting a C+ or higher.  Of those that definitely didn't make the cut, the F+s went from five to six, the D-s from 17 to 22, the D's from 29 to 40, and the D+s from 40 to 61.  The C-s again almost doubled, from 53 to 90, while the C's just went from 30 to 41.

Of the ones that passed, both C+s and B-s increased to twelve, from nine and six respectively.  The B's more modestly went from eight to ten, while B+s doubled, albeit from one to two.

The 1920s held steady at two, but the '30s went from six to nine.  The '40s again more than doubled, this time from five to eleven.  The '50s increased from 17 to 25, while the '60s went from nine to fourteen.  The '70s nearly tripled, from seven to eighteen.  The '80s more modestly rose from 21 to 29, while the '90s grew from 31 to 44.  The 2000s still reign supreme, with 81 now instead of 57, while the 2010s increased from 45 to 67.

Warner Brothers remains the lead studio with 35, although the split between production and distribution continues to muddy the issue with modern movies.  Movies based on books actually went beyond the one-fifth ration, now 73, so almost one-fourth.

I don't really have any predictions for the next one hundred movies, other than we'll get deeper into and perhaps complete the C's, and there will probably be more of the same, with surprises along the way.

Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
British Lion Films
10 March 1959
Comedy
DVD
C

Terry-Thomas plays the title character, from the British Foreign Office, in this mild satire about colonialism.  Roy Boulting and Jeffrey Dell co-directed and co-wrote.

Captains Courageous

Captains Courageous
MGM
June 25, 1937
Drama
DVD
C

This adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling novel isn't bad but it was hard to get past the bratty, manipulative main character of a rich boy, even if he's supposed to be redeemed later.  Victor Fleming directed.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
DreamWorks
June 2, 2017
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy
DVD
D+

This is one of the few movies I've walked out on in the theater, coincidentally at the quarter-hour mark, where the movie "ends" but nothing has actually happened.  And I like the Dav Pilkey books, but they're a lot faster-moving than this, which gets bogged down in too much set-up.  David Soren directed and contributed to the script.

Captain Kidd

Captain Kidd
United Artists
November 22, 1945
Historical Drama
DVD
C-

Laughton stars as the title character, a pirate who tricks the king.  Rowland V. Lee directed this a year after The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

Captain Fantastic

Captain Fantastic
Bleecker Street
July 8, 2016
Dramedy
DVD
C-

A father (Mortensen) raises his six kids in the woods, but it's the modern era.  Matt Ross wrote and directed.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger
Paramount
July 22, 2011
Action, Fantasy, Historical Drama
DVD
D+

I found this first modern Capt. America movie (two sequels) boring, although the look wasn't bad.  Joe Johnston directed.

The Captain AKA Der Hauptmann

The Captain AKA Der Hauptmann
Studio Unknown
15 March 2018
Historical Drama
DVD
C-

A German deserter steals an officer's uniform during World War II.  Robert Schwentke wrote and directed, and I do like some of the shots, all in black & white.

Capricorn One

Gotta love a movie poster with a typo in the title

Capricorn One
Warner Bros.
June 2, 1978
Action
DVD
B

Peter Hyams wrote and directed this "paranoid but happy-ended" thriller that I enjoyed far more than I expected.  To begin with, although I'd heard the title for years (maybe since the time), I had no idea what the movie was about and would've guessed it was about astronauts in flight, which would've been Snoozeville for me.  But when David Huddleston started insulting the vice-president (perfectly cast nondescript actor James Karen, who feels like someone you've seen in something, in my case in M*A*S*H's final season) to his face and behind his back, I knew that this was not going to be a simple case of hero worship.*  There are heroes in the film, the main astronaut and the crusading reporter (played, as Hyams notes in his commentary, by Barbra Streisand's husbands), but there's also an offbeat sense of humor, where lots of characters are smart-asses.  I was most surprised that I genuinely enjoyed the action: car chases, plane chases, vandalizing a Coke machine, etc.  The basic premise is ridiculous (to pick just one example, the spacesuits do not look like they'd stand up to a Martian climate), and to be honest, I was inadvertently re-impressed with how Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and even more Big Bus parody the tropes of this era, and yet this is such a fun ride that a B feels right.


*I can't tag either actor since I'd exceed my character limit.

Capernaum

Capernaum
Sony Pictures Classics
20 September 2018
Drama
DVD
C-

Nadine Labaki directed and co-wrote this well-acted but depressing story of a 12-year-old boy growing up in the slums with very neglectful parents.

Cape Fear (1962)

Cape Fear (1962)
Universal
April 12, 1962
Drama
DVD
C-

While the acting was good of course, I didn't really want to watch Robert Mitchum stalk Gregory Peck and Peck's family.  This is based on the book by John D. MacDonald and directed by J. Lee Thompson.

The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost
MGM
July 28, 1944
Fantasy
DVD
C-

This is based on the Oscar Wilde short story and begins in the 1600s and then moves into present-day World War II Britain.  I wasn't really grabbed by either era.  Jules Dassin directed.

Candy (2006)

Candy (2006)
Renaissance Films
25 May 2006
Drama
DVD
D+

Story of young drug addicts in love, beautifully shot.  (And, yes, Ledger died of a drug overdose less than two years after this was released.)  Luke Davies co-wrote the screenplay based on his own novel, while Neil Armfield directed.

Candleshoe

Candleshoe
Walt Disney
December 16, 1977
Dramedy
DVD
C-

Although this came out the same year as Foster's Freaky Friday, and I suppose I've seen it once or twice, it definitely doesn't hold the same place in my heart as FF (reviewed here https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/07/freaky-friday.html).  Watching it today, I can see why.  Jodie here plays a self-described delinquent who is essentially kidnapped, without initial explanation, and then cheerfully agrees to a swindle, as long as she gets her cut.  I tuned out soon after she found out about an old pirate's will, so, yes, well before David Niven and Helen Hayes show up.

Like Freaky, this is based on a book, in this case written by Michael Innes.  Norman Tokar directed.

Canadian Bacon

Canadian Bacon
MGM
September 22, 1995
Satire
DVD
C+

Michael Moore directed, produced, wrote, and Hitchcock-cameos as Redneck Guy #2 in this dizzyingly dated and sporadically funny non-documentary.  Remember, this is pre-Wag the Dog and pre-"Blame Canada" (in the South Park movie), and it is very much pre-9/11, so that the president (Alda)'s search for someone new to have a "cold war" with is, well, chilling.  As an over-the-top comedy, sort of Dr. Strangelove with (more obvious) dick jokes, it sometimes works, even if I was mostly amused by relatively benign stereotypes like Canadians being overly polite.  And it was of course fun to see what familiar faces popped up in what felt like a low-budget film.  (It cost $11 million and made $178,104!)

Some in the cast are so typecast that I thought things like "Oh, look, he's Alan-Aldaing" (and I like Alda), but then you get the delicious irony of making one of America's favorite Canadian actors (the dead-before-this-movie-could-be-released John Candy) as a simple-minded but oddly good-hearted (and romantic) American sheriff.  I actually thought there would be more of the Perlman & Candy relationship, but her character being "held hostage" obviously prevents that.  Unless a lot was edited out for final release, I swear I didn't notice Wallace Shawn until the Where Are They Nows at the end, but I'm tagging him anyway because of the reverse-casting of a Canadian prime minister played by someone so famously New York and New Yorker.

Call Me by Your Name

Call Me by Your Name
Sony Pictures Classics
January 22, 2017
Romance
DVD
C-

Two young American men meet in Italy when the older (played by Hammer) is hired as a summer assistant to the professor father of the younger.  And I guess they fall in love at some point after the first quarter hour.  James Ivory based this on the novel by André Aciman.  Luca Guadagnino directed.

Calendar Girls

Calendar Girls
Touchstone
2 September 2003
Dramedy
DVD
C-

Neither the comedy nor the drama drew me into this story, and I didn't even get up to the main plot of middle-aged women doing a nude calendar to raise money.  Nigel Cole directed.

Caged (1950)

Caged (1950)
Warner Bros.
May 19, 1950
Crime Drama
DVD
D+

A women-in-prison flick, presumably shocking in its day, with "frank" discussion of pregnancy, drugs, and other matters.  As always, it's interesting to see Ellen Corby (here at 38) well before she was Grandma Walton.  John Cromwell directed.

La Cage aux Folles

La Cage aux Folles
United Artists
25 October 1978
Comedy
DVD
D+

I didn't find this funny, especially the domestic abuse (a punch in the face), but I guess it was sort of interesting, as a time capsule of European '70s gay stereotypes.  Édouard Molinaro directed.

Caddyshack

Caddyshack
Warner Bros.
July 25, 1980
Sports Comedy
DVD
C

I thought Chevy Chase was kind of funny, but despite the cast and director (Ramis, who co-wrote), this didn't really grab me.

The Cable Guy

The Cable Guy
Columbia
June 14, 1996
Comedy
DVD
C-

I have a low tolerance for Jim Carrey, The Truman Show aside, but I didn't hate this (well, the first quarter hour), and it's certainly a time capsule, with "the information highway" of cable when the Internet was still in its infancy as a major cultural force.  Ben Stiller directed and appears as the Sweet twins.

Byzantium

Byzantium
IFC Films
22 February 2013
Horror
DVD
D-

I was leaning towards an F+ because the opening minutes were so sleazy and disgusting (from lap-dancing to of course vampirism, and, no, neither of those automatically grosses me out), but it did lighten up a bit and I didn't find this as hard to sit through as IFC's Afterschool.  Still, it's the first movie I've disliked Saoirse Ronan in, so yeah, a D- at best.  Neil Jordan directed.

Butterfly and Sword

Butterfly and Sword AKA Xin liu xing hu die jian 
Regal Films Distribution
16 January 1993
Action
DVD
D+

Odd martial arts movie, e.g. the "old maid" sister making fun of her grown brother's penis, and the crime lords being eunuchs.  John Chong wrote the screenplay based on the novel Liuxing Hudie Jian by Lung Ku.  Michael Mak directed.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Bromance 101

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
20th Century Fox
September 24, 1969
Western
DVD
C-

While I liked the cinematography, both sepia and color, in the first quarter hour, I wasn't drawn into the story.  I feel like I've watched at least part of the movie before but it may be that it's such a part of the American culture.  (I definitely have watched The Sting though.)  William Goldman wrote the screenplay and George Roy Hill directed.

Bulworth

Bulworth
20th Century Fox
May 22, 1998
Dramedy
DVD
C-

Beatty directed, co-wrote, and stars as the title character, a Senator up for reelection.  After a quarter hour, I felt like I was still waiting for the movie to start.

Bullets or Ballots

Bullets or Ballots
Warner Bros.
June 6, 1936
Crime Drama
DVD
B-

Not surprisingly, a fourth-billed-but-on-the-rise Bogie is the best thing about this movie, although it is interesting to see him set up as Robinson's rival onscreen.  The script is pretty sharp, although I felt like, despite the Warner Bros. fast pace, it could've actually been tighter, with too much time setting up phone calls and meetings and the like.  (The 1939 radio version, which is included on the DVD, eliminates much of this of course, although I prefer Blondell's version of Lee to Mary Astor's.)  Besides the proto-noirish feel of not knowing who to trust or believe, this movie is notable for actually managing to casually show four African-American performers onscreen together, including of course scene-stealer Louise Beavers.

William Keighley directed this movie a couple years before The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Bulletproof Monk

Bulletproof Monk
MGM
April 16, 2003
Action, Comedy
DVD
C-

I do not have a high-tech TV and I will probably only buy a Blu-ray player (or later technology) if they stop making DVD players and I need to replace mine.  I do not watch movies, including action movies, for the special effects.  Therefore, when I say that two minutes into this I was scoffing at the sub-par special effects, you know they sucked.  That this is a C- is mostly attributable to the So Bad It's Almost Good factor, and having the story team up Chow Yun-Fat as the ageless monk of the title with Stifler as a pickpocket with a heart of gold was almost enough to keep me watching past the first quarter hour.  But not really.

Paul Hunter directed.

Falling Hare

No victory here

Falling Hare
Warner Bros.
October 30, 1943
War Comedy, Fantasy, Animation
DVD
C

Robert Clampett directed this very much wartime short where not only doesn't Bugs triumph over a mischievous gremlin, but the ending is a cop-out.  Still, it's mildly amusing, and a reminder that when this aired on television in the 1970s, we Gen-X kids (and of course our Baby Boom predecessors) were expected to get jokes that were well before our time, like "It ain't Vendell Villkie!"

(This is on a collection of eight cartoons, alphabetized under "Bugs" of course.)

Buffalo Rider (2015)

Buffalo Rider (2015)
Studio Unknown
31 July 2015
Drama
DVD
C-

A Thai-American girl has stopped speaking, so her Anglo father sends her to stay with her grandmother in Thailand.  Joel Soisson directed.

The Bucket List

The Bucket List
Warner Bros.
December 25, 2007
Dramedy
DVD
C-

Two seriously ill men (Nicholson and Freeman) meet in a hospital room and hilarity ensues.  I assume, since I tuned out after fifteen minutes, glad to, yes, cross seeing this movie off my bucket list.  (And that was only because of Easy A.)  Still, it's always nice to get Freeman narration.  Rob Reiner directed.

Buchanan Rides Alone

Buchanan Rides Alone
Columbia
August 6, 1958
Western
DVD
C-

Randolph Scott has the lead in this more humorous than most Western, based on the book The Name's Buchanan.  I was leaning towards a C but there's too much of what I'd call peripheral sexism, where, sort of off to the side of the main action, characters (admittedly villains) abuse women (hitting and pinching) and we're supposed to find that funny, too.  Bud Boetticher directed.