Secret Window

Secret Window

Columbia etc.

March 12, 2004

Drama

DVD
D+

Bumped up a notch for the scenery.  Director David Koepp adapted the Stephen King novel.

Miracle at St. Anna

Miracle at St. Anna

Disney etc.

September 26, 2008

Crime Drama, Historical Drama

DVD
D+

This felt hokey, so I wasn't surprised when I found out that it's based on a novel, by James McBride.  Spike Lee directed, and this is far inferior to BlacKKKlansman, his historical dramedy a decade later.

Desperately Seeking Susan

Desperately Seeking Susan
Orion
April 12, 1985
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B-

I of course heard about this movie at the time (how could a 17-year-old not?), but I was always somewhere in the middle on the "You either love her or you hate her" Madonna scale.  Watching it today I found it a bit slow and quiet, especially for the mid-'80s.  It's really more Arquette's movie, although it is "about Madonna."  And Metcalf is of course a scene-stealer as Arquette's sister-in-law (with proto-Jackie-Harris lines).  Oddly enough, it casts more light on the flop Who's That Girl (reviewed here https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/12/whos-that-girl.html), with Madonna as a rule-breaker who causes others to stray.  I'm not calling this a "musical" (and it is a comedy and a romance but not a romcom) but there are a lot of hits in the background, including a well-used "Into the Groove." 

Susan Seidelman directed this four years before Cookie, which I think was trying to recapture the magic of this movie, with its mix of '80s fashion, snark, and crime.