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MOVIE GUIDE: M
M (1931, Fritz Lang)
Peter Lorre offers one of the great performances in cinema in this horrifying, modern, multifaceted, uncompromising thriller that stands as one of the first great sound films. Lorre is a compulsive child murderer haunting the streets of Berlin; a group of criminals band together to capture him. The film is a great challenge, offering a rebuttal to every prejudice (or rebuttal to prejudice) one might have. It remains a model of provocative storytelling, and despite its grim subject matter, a wild ride. (A+)
DVD review / LISTED: best DVDs of year / MENTIONED: unfinished silent films post / Happiness review / Birth of a Nation review / 1000th post / remakes / Once Upon a Time in America review
Macbeth (1948, Orson Welles)
Welles films this like it's the sexiest nightmare anyone's ever had. Shadows and delicately evil performances dominate this top-notch Shakespeare filmization. Great fun and a solid introduction to the director. Its current unavailability is a travesty. (A-)
MENTIONED: Throne of Blood review
Macbeth (1971, Roman Polanski)
One of the best Shakespeare films made to date, Polanski's bloody, horrific MACBETH is the opposite of Orson Welles' in a number of ways, save the fact that both are dazzling. The gruesome murder sequence is a highlight, as is the performance of the under-utilized Jon Finch. (A)
MENTIONED: Throne of Blood review
The Machinist (2004, Brad Anderson)
This quite intriguing followup to SESSION 9 about a man who cannot sleep includes fabulously realized atmosphere, brilliant performances by Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and a satisfying conclusion. But it's basically little more than an extended Twilight Zone episode ("You Drive"). (B-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: Lost in America review / Twilight Zone CG
Madhouse (1990, Tom Ropelewski)
John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley graciously remind us why they are now forgotten. (D-)
Mad Max (1979, George Miller)
Ex-cop Mel Gibson is out for revenge in yet another apocalyptic sci-fi action film. This is not without its Aussie charm, but Peter Weir could have done it better. And please, get another lead actor. (C-)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967, The Beatles)
Scary, funny sixty-minute thingamajig was a big flop (the Beatles' first) when it premiered on British TV, eventually gained a huge following as a midnight movie in the United States. Like so many surreal hat tricks, this displays novel imagination for the first twenty minutes or so then grows tired aside from some knockout music video-style performances by the band (who wrote and directed this curio themselves). For Beatles fans and druggies, this is essential; others needn't bother, as its '60s kitsch is imbued with too much dread to appeal to campaholics. (B-)
MENTIONED: Beatles stuff / Depeche Mode: Playing the Angel / academics
The Magic Christian (1969, Joseph McGrath)
Brilliant Terry Southern satire of humanity's thirst for money starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr is episodic, to say the least, but offers sharp humor and welcomely unpretentious weirdness for those so inclined. Obviously not for everybody, but an underrated gem. (A)
MENTIONED: Badfinger in wuzzon #7
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
Heartbreaking followup to CITIZEN KANE was obviously once a masterpiece, but RKO and editor Robert Wise got their hands on it in postproduction and cut it from 128 minutes to 80, shorting out much of the imagination in the process. You can sense the innovation and beauty in what remains (and at the very least, Anne Baxter manages to get a hell of a performance in there), but what's missing is the movie part. Unlike others, I can't look past the butchering to appreciate what's there. So proceed at your own risk. (B+)
LISTED: rated / RELATED: F for Fake review / MENTIONED: Sunset Blvd. review / They Shoot Pictures / Idiocracy review
Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Anderson's multi-character pastiche is not without its virtues. It's mildly interesting and offers an outstanding performance by -- ready for this? -- Tom Cruise. It's also clumsy, poorly written, and three fucking hours of directionless pap. If the director is as hyperemotional as this and PUNCH DRUNK LOVE suggest, I don't know how he gets out of bed. If he does. The musical interlude is either the best or worst moment in this confused film, as it is for INTERIORS. (C-)
MENTIONED: Ice Storm DVD review / Reds review / Broadcast News review / Happiness review / Eyes Wide Shut review / Nashville review / Crash review
Mallrats (1995, Kevin Smith)
Unfunny John Hughes-style teen epic suffers not from unwatchability -- Smith's work is, if nothing else, consistently likable -- but from lazy writing and awful performances, especially by Jason Lee. Someone could probably have made something of this, but Smith couldn't. (D+)
DVD review
The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)
Bogart upstages even the immortal Peter Lorre in one of his most human performances. The story isn't anything special, the direction certainly isn't, but the star makes it work and is truly a joy to watch. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: The Big Sleep review / year in movies
The Manchurian Candidate (1962, John Frankenheimer)
Frank Sinatra begins to remember a few disturbing details about his time in the Korean War that could have a bearing on the country's future. I refuse to say anything else. This brilliantly paced, written, and performed hybrid of political satire and suspense thriller is one of the finest movies ever to come out of Hollywood. Former live TV director Frankenheimer enlivens the bold, daring story with a sense of urgency clearly derived from Hitchcock in one of the few innovative films that can be said to belong in the tradition of the Master. And the love story, ordinarily tacked-on in thrillers, is one of the most subtly moving in memory. An orgasmic film; you must, must see it. (A+)
DVD review / short review / LISTED: rated / 12 best of year / MENTIONED: Dressed to Kill DVD review / top ten of the week / Nashville review / 1000th post / new AFI list
Manderlay (2006, Lars Von Trier)
This sequel to DOGVILLE, one of the best movies of the current decade, falls considerably short of its origins. It follows Grace (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who is phenomenal) as she attempts to bring a group of blacks who've been living as slaves seventy years after the Civil War into Normal Life. Von Trier's script is somewhat stilted; it makes good points but clouds them up beyond recognition. In the meantime, the stunning Howard finds a way to wring infectious, miraculous depth and eroticism out of this clinical, discomforting film. (B)
REVIEW / Ebert review / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: upcoming movies / Crash review / most anticipated of year
Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen)
Woody toys with his persona, his audience, and his city in this almost unbearably beautiful comedy-drama that marks his first foray into hyperrealism (and his last until HANNAH AND HER SISTERS). In a relationship with a much younger woman, our hero finds himself attracted to a pretentious bohemian (Diane Keaton, who deserved more acclaim for this than for ANNIE HALL) with whom his best friend has been having an affair. More than any of Woody's other movies, this film is about his unusual take on the everyman whose pretensions and hangups are all somehow bound to his sentimentality and domesticity. The harder he fights, the more trapped he becomes (THE GRADUATE, THE CHOCOLATE WAR). It's not Woody, it's the Woody persona, and it's more than that, it's everybody. And the city that dominates this outstanding, breathtaking movie -- in beautiful black & white Cinemascope -- is just one of those hangups, just one man's rock. And you know, another man's rock might be this movie. (Having said that, as glorious as the many skyline shots are, the most beautiful scene in the film takes place indoors, in a planetarium.) The final scene, inspired by CITY LIGHTS, is up there with the all-time greatest. (A+)
REVIEW / RELATED: I love Woody Allen / Hannah and Her Sisters IMDB comments / Hannah and Her Sisters review / Crimes & Misdemeanors review / Interiors review / Stardust Memories review / Deconstructing Harry review / Match Point review / Melinda & Melinda review / Hannah and Her Sisters DVD / Radio Days review / MENTIONED: cutting board in sink / La Strada review / Lady from Shanghai review / Mike Nelson's Cracked article / Shopgirl review / Solondz DVDs
Mannequin (1987, Michael Gottlieb)
Rod Serling's "The After Hours" stretched to obscenity. (D)
Man of the House (1995, James Orr)
Why, you ask? My friend wanted to go. Only I know the true horror, you see. A slur on everyone who's seen it, this cursed tripe from the Disney studio shows how much people in the industry are bound and destroyed by their misunderstanding or hatred of children. (D-)
Manon of the Spring (1986, Claude Berri)
The brilliant second part of JEAN DE FLORETTE wraps everything up deliciously. To say more would be obscene. But you have to see them both. The first half is better, but this half is more fun. (A)
DVD review / MENTIONED: top ten / Oldboy review
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966, Harold P. Warren)
Now-classic Z-movie made by a fertilizer salesman in Texas, made famous in 1993 by the MST3K team. But the amateurish, horribly executed film is genuinely fascinating, and haunting in a weird sort of way. Yeah, it's a bad movie, but it is scary, unlike most horror films, and for whatever reason, I love it and I treasure my un-MSTed copy. And the music, by any standard, is superb. (B+)
REVIEW / unedited DVD release! / article about little girl in / RELATED: various DVDs / MENTIONED: B.S. I Love You review / Giant review
Mansfield Park (1999, Patricia Rozema)
I thought women were supposed to be the ones who understood Jane Austen... (D+)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934, Alfred Hitchcock)
Fuck THE JAZZ SINGER. This is the film that changed everything forever. After attempting other genres for four years, Hitchcock moved over to Gaumont to choose his own projects and began a run of thrillers that made the '30s a powerhouse decade for the British film industry. His six-film stretch beginning here is one of the great runs in cinematic history. This film quickly displays why Hitchcock has never been matched; his command of all the tools at his disposal is incredibly proficient, most clearly here in the form of his characterization. Leslie Banks and Edna Best, the married couple whose daughter is kidnapped when they accidentally discover plans for an assassination, feel like a real couple; the villain, portrayed with elegant menace by Peter Lorre, is a charming bastard who makes your skin crawl. And the tension is breathless, the climax an explosion of joy. This is pure greatness, and there was plenty more to come. (A)
REVIEW (short) / RELATED: Sabotage review / The Wrong Man review / Jamaica Inn review / Lifeboat DVD review / MENTIONED: The Thin Man review / Ghost & Mrs. Muir review / Scenes from a Marriage review / Ninotchka + Intermezzo reviews
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956, Alfred Hitchcock)
It may be a bit unfair to try and put this side by side with the original, but Hitchcock's one and only remake undeniably falls a bit short of the excitement in the older film. Still, it's a great ride, with both Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day delivering fine performances. Many great scenes exhibit Hitchcock at his tirelessly thrilling best. But the characters are not as interesting, nor are the situations as poignant. On its own, however, it's a top-quality (if overlong, 120 minutes up from 75) slick thriller done with the kind of panache no one else could expend. (A-)
scene anatomy / RELATED: Sabotage review / Man Who Knew Too Much '34 review / Topaz review / Paradine Case review / MENTIONED: Anatomy of a Murder DVD
The Man with One Red Shoe (1985, Stan Dragoti)
Dull NORTH BY NORTHWEST ripoff. (D+)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974, Guy Hamilton)
Jubilant candyfloss, this is the usual shit. Rejuvenating a franchise with Roger Moore is not the best road to health. (C-)
The Man with Two Brains (1983, Carl Reiner)
Agreeable Steve Martin goofiness starts out well but is not as enjoyable as the other Reiner/Martin collaborations. (B)
MENTIONED: Pink Panther rant
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977, John Lounsberry)
This film is actually just the three '60s Disney Milne shorts strung together. The characters are fun and there are a few fine sequences, but this is by and large kids' stuff, if admirably made. (B+)
The Manxman (1929, Alfred Hitchcock)
She was going to marry one guy, but he's dead, so now she's with another guy, but uh-oh! Guy #1 shows up, and uh-oh! She's pregnant! Overlong melodrama (Hitchcock's last silent film) has its moments, especially at the end. (B-)
note / RELATED: Paradine Case DVD review / Champagne DVD review / MENTIONED: Barry Lyndon review
Marie Antoinette (1938, W.S. Van Dyke)
Tyrone Power is a statue, but this lightweight MGM biopic is otherwise interesting. Norma Shearer is surpisingly convincing as Antoinette; the finale is highly effective. (B)
Marie Antoinette (2006, Sofia Coppola)
Probably LOST IN TRANSLATION is a better movie than this, but ANTOINETTE is considerably more promising for Coppola's career as a director. She seems capable of anything; her Malickisms are more Malick than Malick. The movie is almost obsessively detailed, gorgeously designed, utterly unique. Strangely, the rock music and hot pink and American accents only aid the illusion. (A-)
REVIEW / trailer / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: most anticipated of year / fall movie preview / year in review
The Mark of Zorro (1920, Fred Niblo)
Excellent early take on the Zorro legend is a blast, and for younger film buffs, one of the best introductions to silent films. (B+)
Marnie (1964, Alfred Hitchcock)
Sean Connery tries to creep inside the mind of compulsive crook Tippi Hedren, who lives in the shadow of her vibrant and unsteady mother, a woman who no longer seems to care for her. Hedren is much, much better than in THE BIRDS in this dreamlike wonder, a "sex mystery" that unfortunately flopped at the time due to its lack of clear-cut genre. The script by Jay Presson Allen is great (but unapologetically pessimistic), and the movie is visually gorgeous. The director's fans will delight in investigating the subtext here, featuring everything from lesbianism to incest to pedophilia. In its way, a masterpiece. (A)
RELATED: The Wrong Man review / Sabotage analysis / Jay Presson Allen obit / MENTIONED: The Ring review / Blackboard Jungle review / Match Point review / 1941 DVD review / Straw Dogs review
Marooned (1969, John Sturges)
Tired old space effects picture is often defended but really just doesn't play well today at all. (C-)
Married to the Mob (1988, Jonathan Demme)
Demme's annoying attempt to fashion a fun comedy out of a Mafia story is just as obnoxious as Mob and gangster flicks tend to be, except perhaps more so because it tries so desperately to be funny. (C-)
Mars Attacks! (1996, Tim Burton)
Dead-on, widely misunderstood satire of 1950s science fiction (and, accidentally, INDEPENDENCE DAY) features giggles aplenty and lots of wonderfully hammy performances. Sylvia Sidney and Jack Nicholson are standouts. Relentlessly violent and ridiculous, this brilliant movie features comedy that's so cutting and dry that a few critics mistook it for a serious pie-in-the-sky film! One of the director's best. (A-)
finding in bargain bin / RELATED: Charlie & the Chocolate Factory pre-release rant / Charlie & the Chocolate Factory review / MENTIONED: Sylvia Sidney comment / work
Martin (1977, George A. Romero)
Beautiful, tragic film is the story of a teenage vampire wandering through an unfulfilling life for two hundred years, yearning for companionship but unable to stop drinking blood. Yet again, Romero proves himself incapable of creating a simple horror film, instead crafting a moving and sad character piece. Brilliant work until its disappointing final moments. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / best of year / RELATED: Dawn of the Dead DVD review / Dracula DVD review
Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)
I had a kindergarten teacher who looked exactly like Julie Andrews in this movie. Andrews' performance, indeed, is almost creepily believable in this classic Disney musical. The film is a bit too long and disjointed, but nearly every one of its segments is masterful, the final effect one of strangely consuming sadness. Walt Disney's longtime pet project remains a winner. (A)
REVIEW / DVD review / MENTIONED: Twilight Zone season 3 / Alfred Hitchcock Presents / Victor/Victoria DVD review
MASH (1970, Robert Altman)
Some say this has a boldness and firepower the later TV series lacks, but its gains in this area are compensated by a comparative lack of decent characterization, in favor of Altman's trademark haphazardly structured lunacy. Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould may be engaging enough, but they don't live in these parts. An amusing movie all the way until its lumbering finale. (B+)
REVIEW / reaction / LISTED: rated
The Mask (1994, Charles Russell)
Jim Carrey is as annoying as ever in this half-assed "comedy." The brilliance of the special effects has been greatly overstated; there's nothing in here that Chuck Jones didn't do half a century prior, and better. (D+)
Match Point (2005, Woody Allen)
This wickedly ironic return to form for Allen marks his first straight thriller (though CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS comes close) as well as his first film made in Britain. The well-spun tale is of a man whose cushy, aristocratic existence is threatened by his affair with the woman who almost became his sister-in-law. Scarlett Johansson exhibits impressive virtuosity in a movie that grows more and more intense until, in its last half-hour, it becomes damn near maddening. For once, a film often labeled "Hitchcockian" that actually is. (A)
REVIEW / DVD review / reaction / top ten of the year / LISTED: rated / best of year + movies seen in 2006 / RELATED: Shadows & Fog review / Melinda & Melinda review / Scoop review / MENTIONED: upcoming movies / year in movies / not getting yet / Oscar noms / corrosion of theatrical releasing / nearly all hope gone / opening in Wilmington finally! / Oscar rant / Million Dollar Baby review / Mona Lisa review / summer movie preview / notes on 2006 top 10 / Children of Men reaction / Solondz DVDs
Matilda (1996, Danny Devito)
The mere casting of Mara Wilson in the title role would have been enough to wreck this well-intentioned sludge, but even outside of that, what Devito did to Roald Dahl's humanistic, joyous masterwork -- turning it into condescending kiddie garbage -- is inexcusable. (D-)
MENTIONED: Charlie & the Chocolate Factory pre-release rant / Charlie rant #2
Matinee (1993, Joe Dante)
Dante goes all the way with an idea for once and even manages to give the fine John Goodman a good role in the process. Goodman plays a consummate showman, a horror film producer taking his latest invention -- a flick equipped with such gimmicks as seats that shock and a guy in a rubber fly suit to come out and torment the crowd -- to Key West during the month of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film is disturbing, hilarious, perceptive, and occasionally brilliant. (A-)
The Matrix (1999, The Wachowski Brothers)
Dude! You should write this shit down, man. Hey, ya want another hit? (C+)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: H2G2 review / V for Vendetta upcoming / Donnie Darko review / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon review
Melinda and Melinda (2005, Woody Allen)
Melinda and Melinda are Radha Mitchell, a fucked up misery chick whose life goes through chaos in comedy and tragedy as defined by two men at a dinner table debating the space between the two extremes. Far from the low-key material like MIGHTY APHRODITE, this is excellent work from Woody, stylish and mature and, at various times not necessarily exclusive to either half, very very funny and very very moving. (A-)
REVIEW / top ten of the week / LISTED: rated / best of year / RELATED: Scoop review / MENTIONED: opened in europe / 2005 movie preview / trailer / fall movie preview
Melvin and Howard (1980, Jonathan Demme)
Howard Hughes crashes his motorcycle Lawrence of Arabia-style and is helped back into town by an all-American loser, one Melvin Dummar. The film investigates Dummar's life -- finding, as Demme often does, the glorious in the ordinary -- and what happens when the motorcycle incident unexpectedly pays off. Very little plot, but great Americana with many fine scenes. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / best of year / MENTIONED: Radio Days review
Memento (2001, Christopher Nolan)
Remarkable thriller about a man with short-term memory loss on the trail of his wife's murderer is admirably open-ended and very well acted by Guy Pearce. If you can handle a movie that unfolds backwards, you don't want to miss this. (A-)
RELATED: Batman Begins review / MENTIONED: art vs. creativity / The Machinist review / Oldboy review
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992, John Carpenter)
Carpenter's stab at mainstream filmmaking is a bust; neither the script nor the lead actor (Chevy Chase, of all people) is remotely convincing. (D+)
Memphis Belle (1990, Michael Caton-Jones)
Hazy WWII pap about said aircraft and its crew feels like the sort of movie that was made during the war to provoke nationalism. Garish and offensive. (C-)
Men in Black (1997, Barry Sonnenfeld)
Unoriginal but amusing distraction features the story of secret protectors of the galaxy, snuffing out evil aliens and other nuisances. Vapid indeed, but fun. (B+)
MENTIONED: Radiohead: OK Computer
Mermaids (1990, Richard Benjamin)
Winona Ryder and Bob Hoskins both come off quite well in a film in which they are unfortunately forced to be supporting players for Cher, who brings the production down. (C+)
Metropolis (1926, Fritz Lang)
All-time greatest silent film, a beautiful German science fiction masterpiece that feels incredibly prescient today. Workers living underground begin to revolt against the cold perfection of The System, led by an ideological young man from above. Astounding visuals are everywhere, and the tale is more moving today than ever. A triumph in every way. (A+)
DVD review / MENTIONED: City Lights short review / unfinished post to silent films community / Fantasia review / Nosferatu review / documentary about / Birth of a Nation review / Modern Times review / Kids in the Hall / 1000th post
Midnight Cowboy (1969, John Schlesinger)
Jon Voight is brilliant as a male prostitute who befriends an aimless young badass (played a bit less convincingly by Dustin Hoffman). The film, unfortunately, is equally aimless; it has its highlights, such as an outstanding scene with Bob Balaban, but is pointlessly "gritty" and adds up to very little, especially given its wasteful conclusion. (C+)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / disappointments / MENTIONED: The Last Detail review / Martin review
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997, Clint Eastwood)
Eastwood adapts yet another New York Times Bestseller List mainstay; this time, the results are extraordinary. John Berendt's nonfiction book becomes a sublime portrait of the South, with a fine lead performance from John Cusack and an effectively sustained mood. Kevin Spacey also stands out in this richly entertaining film. (A-)
Million Dollar Baby review / Unforgiven review / MENTIONED: Reds review / fall movie preview
Midway (1976, Jack Smight)
Well-acted but meandering war film. (C)
Mighty Aphrodite (1995, Woody Allen)
The remarkable Mira Sorvino amps up this light Allen comedy about a man's search for the mother of his adopted child. Helena Bonham-Carter is also excellent. The material -- despite its debt to Greek tragedy -- is less sophisticated than Woody's films usually are, but there's a certain delight in watching him handle a different kind of movie. (A-)
LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: Quiz Show review
A Mighty Wind (2003, Christopher Guest)
A group of folk singers unite for a farewell concert in memory of a recently deceased friend. Guest's biggest triumph in the mockumentary field to date is a film so realistic as to be believable, so believable it's funny, so funny it feels honest, so honest it's ultimately even moving, a great accomplishment for light satire. Masterful stuff. (A)
REVIEW / LISTED: best DVDs of year / RELATED: Best in Show review / MENTIONED: For Your Consideration review / Shattered Glass reaction / 2006 movie preview
Milk Money (1994, Richard Benjamin)
It's amazing what you get subjected to as a child. (D)
Million Dollar Baby (2004, Clint Eastwood)
Eastwood gives himself a plum role in this dismally pessimistic and sometimes cornball boxing-movie about incomprehensible people doing incomprehensible things. Wasted lives in the modern world. Maybe there's some truth in it, but nothing expressive or cinematic. (C+)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / RELATED: Unforgiven review / MENTIONED: seeing movies at the theater / Brief Encounters / Oscar buzz / post-Oscar buzz / The Godfather review / Cars review / 1000th post / Crash review
Minority Report (2002, Steven Spielberg)
Harsh, thrilling sci-fi masterpiece, amping up the old Hitchcock "wrong man" theme, marred only by the performance of Tom Cruise and a few curious visual choices. This Phillip K. Dick adaptation is dark, frenzied, and fascinating, Spielberg's most exciting film in years. (A)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / RELATED: Catch Me If You Can review / War of the Worlds review / MENTIONED: Batman Begins review / movie summaries
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944, Preston Sturges)
Stagy, silly comedy was considered bold in its day but comes off now as a bit tired. Sturges' heroine, played by Betty Hutton, has a night of wild sex then must endure the consequences. Well-written but just not fully functional as a film. (B-)
LISTED: rated / RELATED: Sullivan's Travels review / Unfaithfully Yours review / The Lady Eve review
Miracle on 34th Street (1947, George Seaton)
Priceless Christmas fantasy is highlighted by the wonderful Edmund Gwenn as a store Santa who convinces a young girl that he's the real deal. Sentimental but sharp, this is ideal seasonal entertainment, even better than IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. (A)
Miracle on 34th Street (1994, Les Mayfield)
John Hughes' exhaustingly stupid slapstick remake of the classic has nothing whatsoever to recommend. (D-)
MENTIONED: my Dane story, part 2
The Miracle Worker (1962, Arthur Penn)
Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are both exquisite in this film about Helen Keller and her teacher; if you laugh at the part with Duke getting caught in the laundry, don't feel bad. I did too, and was yelled at for it. But this is a delicate, wonderful movie about two fascinating women. (A-)
RELATED: Bonnie & Clyde review
Misery (1990, Rob Reiner)
Although one is completely and unrelentingly drawn in to this superbly directed thriller about a bestselling author kidnapped and tortured by his "#1 fan," it doesn't do nearly as much with its tantalizing premise as one would hope, despite a fantastic peformance by Kathy Bates. (B+)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: 1000th post
Mission: Impossible (1996, Brian De Palma)
Completely confusing and dull hyperactive revision of the popular '60s TV show has one solid suspense sequence, is otherwise a lost cause. (D+)
RELATED: failure of M:I-3 / MENTIONED: franchise
Mississippi Burning (1988, Alan Parker)
This is a riveting, well-acted civil rights drama, but it is also one so by-the-numbers and rife with Hollywood cliché (Gene Hackman gets into a physical scuffle with the KKK husband of the girl he digs) that by the time it closes with the saccharine gospel song, you don't put stock in anything it bothers with. (B)
MENTIONED: All the President's Men review / Inherit the Wind review / Amistad review
Modern Romance (1981, Albert Brooks)
Stunning satirical masterpiece takes on relationships and jealousy with cruel, cynical finesse. Brooks is a lost soul after ending his affair with Kathryn Harrold... then finds himself unable to escape the evil clutches of love. Often hauntingly truthful, always insanely funny, and one of the great movies about movies to boot: the hero is a film editor, and Brooks twice stops the narrative to study how impressions are created, where the "truth" comes from. One of the most brilliant comedies ever made. (A+)
REVIEW / DVD review / LISTED: rated / 12 best of year / RELATED: The Muse review / Lost in America review / Albert Brooks in the news / Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World review / Real Life review / MENTIONED: Starting Over review / top ten of the week / Eyes Wide Shut review / Fanny & Alexander debate / former most wanted DVDs / 1000th post
Modern Times (1936, Charles Chaplin)
A third of this film is a weepy drama, which is saccharine but nevertheless often effective. Another third is a commentary on the Depression, which is enormously moving. But the first third is a physical comedy of the Tramp's battle with modern technology, and it is here (and in the final seconds) that MODERN TIMES goes somewhere incredible. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / best of year / RELATED: The Gold Rush review / MENTIONED: new AFI list
Mom and Dad Save the World (1992, Greg Beeman)
While you watch this, I'll go clean out the toilet. (D-)
Mona Lisa (1986, Neil Jordan)
London comes alive in this sumptuous and enveloping noirish thriller about an ex-con who helps a prostitute find a long-lost friend and finds himself embroiled in intrigue. Toward the end, this becomes a bit overwrought, but it's quite a thrill along the way nevertheless. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated
Money for Nothing (1993, Ramon Menendez)
The guy who wrote this killed himself right before the movie came out. It's really depressing. (C-)
The Money Pit (1986, Richard Benjamin)
Wonderful comedy about Tom Hanks' disastrous move to a new home is wild slapstick. Nothing new, but still a blast. (A-)
MENTIONED: Purple Rose of Cairo review / Saving Private Ryan review / The Green Mile review
Monsters, Inc. (2001, Pete Docter)
A brilliant CG film about an alternate universe filled with monsters devoted to scaring children, one of whom somehow finds her way into this world and creates pandemonium. With some portions that echo classic Looney Tunes, many others that display an astonishing ability to unexpectedly move, this is entertainment that's massive in all senses. (A)
short review / RELATED: Cars review / MENTIONED: Sideways review / Joe Grant obit / Chicken Little comments / Simpsons movie / summer movie preview / 1000th post
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones)
As usual, if you're a Python buff, you will adore this. If you are not, you will be confused and perhaps disturbed. (C)
RELATED: Life of Brian review
Moonraker (1979, Lewis Gilbert)
The most ridiculous James Bond film ever, this nonsense throws him into space; despite that he still manages to get lots of pussy, even though he is Roger Moore. (D+)
Mortal Thoughts (1991, Alan Rudolph)
Pointless, slick thriller about the bloody aftermath of a rape is uninvolving and eventually ludicrous. (D+)
Moscow on the Hudson (1984, Paul Mazursky)
Robert Williams is thoroughly unconvincing as a Russian wandering around New York in this brainless, overwrought "comedy." (D)
Moulin Rouge (2001, Baz Luhrmann)
Luhrmann certainly knows what he's doing, with an undeniable command of his form, but his movies are still overwhelming and annoying. This numbing cacophony of sound and image will either endear itself to you immediately or make you sick to your stomach. It does get better as it goes along, but it never does anything terribly wonderful. (C-)
The Mouse That Roared (1959, Jack Arnold)
The movie that made Peter Sellers a superstar, this masterpiece about a war against the U.S.A. is endlessly surprising and hilarious. Finally given the chance to sparkle, Sellers is simply unforgettable. (A)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941, Alfred Hitchcock)
Screwball film about a couple that finds out they aren't legally married. (Didn't this happen on The Dick Van Dyke Show once?) All right, BRINGING UP BABY it ain't, but Hitchcock's only straight American comedy brings one great comic situation after another. It may not add up to anything life-changing, but the setpieces are wonderful. The only problem is that Lombard and Montgomery have great chemistry but we barely get to see it! (B)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / RELATED: Suspicion review / Hitchcock's name as ad gimmick / MENTIONED: Mallrats DVD review / 2005 movie preview / 2005 film is not remake / Crimes & Misdemeanors review / Barry Lyndon review / Starting Over review / The Terminal review / Twentieth Century review
Mr. Destiny (1990, James Orr)
Michael Caine and James Belushi figure in a valiant attempt to bring Capra to the '90s; Belushi wishes for a bigger house and a hotter wife, and gets it. And then, predictably, he realizes Success Isn't What It's Cracked Up to Be. Dumbass. (D+)
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995, Stephen Herek)
Obnoxious, namby-pamby trash about "inspiring" music teacher who hates his deaf son, loves the Beatles. Maybe people this simplistic do exist in real life, but if they do, that's no reason to write about them. If only John Lennon were alive to see this and throw up... (D+)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993, Chris Columbus)
Someone puts Robin Williams in an old-lady suit and sets his tits on fire. I've long dreamed of doing this, but unfortunately the assassin is Chris Columbus, the most evil hateful director of them all, who does it because he thinks it's funny. Guess what? (And you don't even want to know what this gruesome twosome finds "touching.") (D)
MENTIONED: endings
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939, Frank Capra)
Sharp, cynical drama about wide-eyed Eagle Scout Jimmy Stewart becoming a senator, learning the truth about corruption and evil at the highest levels of government. Splendid, smart, moving film is patriotic without being mawkish, incredibly uncompromising in its vision of power misused. Stewart and Jean Arthur are both unforgettable. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / best of year / MENTIONED: Anatomy of a Murder DVD
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994, Alan Rudolph)
Jennifer Jason Leigh is flat-out stunning as the great Dorothy Parker in this enjoyable biopic that chronicles the Algonquin Round Table in studiously polite fashion. Much of the blood it draws comes thanks solely to Leigh, but the film is fine entertainment regardless. (B+)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993, Kenneth Branagh)
Branagh's casting of Keanu Reeves is just one questionable decision in this busy Shakespeare movie that entertains for a time but comes off in the end as just a lot of fluff. (B-)
Multiplicity (1996, Harold Ramis)
One Michael Keaton is generally more than enough for me; this plotless comedy would be a bore even if Bruce Willis were the one being cloned. (C-)
Munich (2005, Steven Spielberg)
Spielberg's DAY OF THE JACKAL with morals: A staggering chronicle of the aftermath of the 1972 Olympic massacre. We follow the excellent Eric Bana as he works with a group of assassins to enact revenge on the plotters of the killings. As in AMISTAD, everything is questioned in this brilliant, savagely daring film displaying the director at his best. (A-)
REVIEW / DVD review / top ten of the week / LISTED: rated / best of year + movies seen in 2006 / MENTIONED: upcoming movies / Oscar noms / theatrical experience / Oscar comments / 1941 DVD review / top ten of the week / digipack rant
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, Brian Henson)
Henson does his best to match his father's wit and whimsy, but despite a few fair gags, this is just a tired retread of a story that has been told many, many times by people with deeper knowledge of how to tell it. (B-)
The Muppet Movie (1979, James Frawley)
Harmless feature film starring Jim Henson's delightful creatures has moments of enormous comic brilliance, though its attempts at plot are quite ridiculous; at least the movie admits that much in the final musical number, urging people to write the ending themselves. (B+)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984, Frank Oz)
The only Muppet feature that completely works, this serves as both an excellent family movie and a tremendously fascinating snapshot of NYC in the early '80s. Oz captures time and place with great skill that enhances the film considerably, despite its predictable conclusion. (A-)
Muppet Treasure Island (1996, Brian Henson)
While there is the usual charm in this Muppet flick, and one cannot overstate the fun of seeing Tim Curry as Long John Silver, Henson doesn't really know what to do with these characters, who never really served features that well to begin with. (C)
Murder! (1930, Alfred Hitchcock)
An innocent woman gets the death penalty for killing her friend. Like Fritz Lang's "M," Hitchcock's only contribution to the "whodunit" genre is incredibly modern for a film from the first year of widespread sound. Creepy atmosphere and great characterizations even with a fairly basic plot. (A-)
REVIEW / RELATED: Champagne DVD review / MENTIONED: old Criterion laserdiscs / desire to see German version [Mary]
Murder by Death (1976, Robert Moore)
All-time classic mystery-comedy -- with every great detective invited to Truman Capote's house to solve a crime -- features incredible cast and set design, is virtually flawless. Easily Neil Simon's best work. (A)
Murphy's Romance (1985, Martin Ritt)
Warm, perceptive comedy has Garner as the classic second husband who woos a divorcée in a small town. Often very funny, though of course a bit too idyllic for its own good. The scenes with the equally classic first dummy are utterly priceless. (A-)
The Muse (1999, Albert Brooks)
In yet another stunningly cynical satire of the movie business, screenwriter Brooks and his wife are taken in by Sharon Stone in an excellent performance as an all-purpose "muse" who supposedly helps writers deliver top-quality scripts. Brooks' ending is a bit too subtle, but the rest of the movie is a scream, deceptively low-key and full of quietly devastating acid. (A-)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / best of year / RELATED: Albert Brooks in the news / Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World review / Real Life review
The Music Man (1962, Morton Da Costa)
Intolerably trite, fake "Americana" idiocy about a con artist who invades a small town, or rather, the Hollywood/Broadway vision of what small towns are like. At least Leave It to Beaver didn't have a bunch of shitty songs. (D)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935, Frank Lloyd)
High Hollywood art. Irving Thalberg's dubiously honest telling of the story -- the first of many -- is dominated by Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh, and yet there's barely enough of him. Film is riveting for a time but dull by the end. Anyway, unmissable for the two lead performances, Laughton's lunatic and Clark Gable as his straight man. (B+)
REVIEW / LISTED: rated / MENTIONED: still need to see / typeface discussion / Cool Hand Luke review
My Blue Heaven (1990, Herbert Ross)
Steve Martin is overbearing, Rick Moranis wonderful -- quite a role-reversal -- in harmless but boring comedy about supposedly reformed Mob man being relocated to a quiet neighborhood, soon returning to his old ways. It's a fish out of water movie, and you know how long fishes survive out of water. (C-)
REVIEW
My Bodyguard (1980, Tony Bill)
Sweet, captivating portrait of teenaged wimp gets across some of the unmitigated horror of attending high school in the United States. You know it's a movie because the geek befriends a tough, sensitive James Deanish outcast who rescues him, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a lot of fun. Just don't forget: This never happens. In real life, the Baldwin character would be spending all of this time 69ing with some poor, curious female. (A-)
MENTIONED: Kramer vs. Kramer review
My Fair Lady (1964, George Cukor)
Audrey, how could you? The Great Woman's Director crafts a film that should be offensive not only to women but to everyone of every race, color, creed, sex, and intellect level. To begin with, George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" is bullshit. To turn it into a musical probably constitues a hate crime. Conform, everybody! Then Rex Harrison will like you, and win his bet, and you'll get to sing lousy songs! This is the kind of movie that makes you want to claw your way through the walls and run screaming into the night. (F)
MENTIONED: Ninotchka review / new AFI list
My Girl (1991, Howard Zieff)
Chris Columbus, amazingly, did not make this movie, but it has all his trademarks: aggressively maudlin story, precocious child, Macaulay Culkin, horribly out of touch "well-meaning" parents, various attempts at moral weight, and a finale so sugary it could induce wretching in a nun. They knew it was a bad movie when they made it, but they figured the kids wouldn't care. Fuck that shit. (D-)
My Science Project (1985, Jonathan Beteul)
Quickly thrown together teen comedy, one of the early non-family Disney movies, is an embarrassment on every level. (D-)
My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988, Richard Benjamin)
Dan Aykroyd is a bore, Kim Basinger a statue in this miserable comedy explained as well as can be hoped by its title. My stepmother got her visa through marriage; big deal. (D-)
Mysterious Island (1961, Cy Endfield)
Mysterious only if you've never seen a movie with Harryhausen effects before. Still, great score. (C-)
Mystery Men (1999, Kinka Usher)
It was under miserable circumstances that I saw this film. And it was a chicken-or-egg situation, if you get my drift. (D-)
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996, Jim Mallon)
The best TV show of the '90s makes a reasonably smooth transition to the silver screen; the jokes are more generalized and the movie (THIS ISLAND EARTH) is more famous, but the concept is the same. As an episode of the show, it's a bit mediocre (and short), but as a movie, it's splendid. And the host segments on film are a great thrill. (B+)
LISTED: most wanted on DVD / MENTIONED: collectibility of MST3K DVDs
Mystic River (2003, Clint Eastwood)
Shoddy attempt at "moral ambiguity" is all for nought in this shockingly bad mystery about three men, one of whom was abused as a child, and their involvement in the murder of a sexy sexy teenager. Eastwood's storytelling is confused and nonsensical; his conclusion is infuriatingly lazy. One of those truly wasteful films. (D)
LISTED: rated / 10 worst of year / RELATED: Million Dollar Baby review / Unforgiven review / MENTIONED: Oscar buzz / Reds review / The Woodsman review / School of Rock review / Ebert
The Myth of Fingerprints (1997, Bart Freundlich)
Yet another young writer-director's lame attempt to take on The Corruption of the American Family. Angst-ridden losers deal with life's disappointments in tired, poorly acted holy terror of a movie. Astonishingly amateurish at times, with little to no insight or perception. (D+)
MENTIONED: summer movie preview
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