What’s Up, Doc

After deciding to power watch Doc Martin on Netflix Instant Play and getting a few episodes into season two, the series, except for season one, abruptly disappeared without the usual week or two warning, causing lots of angry comments to be posted. So, I’ve added it to my library queue and have started watching Foyle’s War on Instant Play. The rest of what I have been watching is about half documentaries, and that’s the better half of a pretty unremarkable group.

I have finished entering all my Netflix movie ratings to my account at the IMDb and also added a few hundred more of the older Netflix ratings to my own movie database. At the end of the year, or maybe sooner, I plan to update the movie lists linked in the sidebar of this blog. When that happens, there will be a posting about the update. Going through the ratings and seeing all the old movies that I really liked, I am tempted to start watching some of them again to see if they still seem that great. They sure should be a lot better than most of the movies I have been watching over the last couple years.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

  

Doc Martin (Season One) – 2004 (3.2). After watching bits of episodes of this BBC series the last few years, I decided to start from the beginning. The Doc (Martin Clunes) leaves a London surgical practice to become GP for a scenic fishing village in Cornwall, where he finds a close knit community of somewhat eccentric locals. His aunt still lives there, but he has not seen her since childhood. There is an attractive school teacher for a possible love interest. He takes over the neglected office of the last GP, who died a while back, and is unfortunately saddled with his defiantly incompetent receptionist. Episodes move forward the story of his personal life as he engages with the locals and treats some illnesses which often turn out to be different from what they first seemed.

Woody Allen: A Documentary – 2011 (2.9). The American Masters TV version that I watched is twice as long as the theatrical version. The first part deals with Woody’s childhood and start in show business, phasing into movie making. The last part covers his movies through the years and some of his personal life. Lots of film clips, interviews with Woody and his sister and actors and film critics provide plenty of information on Woody, but nothing particularly new, though he does come across as much less eccentric than the media sometimes has portrayed him.

Guilty Pleasures – 2010 (2.9). Three women who read romance novels, a young Japanese wife and mother who is a ballroom dance competitor, an older remarried woman in England, and a young woman in India who is estranged from her romantic partner are followed in this documentary, as are two American men, a model who poses for pictures used on the covers of these books, an an older man who writes these novels under a pseudonym. I don’t know that I learned much about anything in particular from this movie, but I did enjoy the gentle approach of the young woman filmmaker and found the cutting back and forth between stories of the people to be excellent, whereas such editing is too often disruptive and confusing.

The President’s Photographer - 2010 (2.9). This National Geographic hour long documentary follows the official photographer for President Obama as he captures images of the President for posterity, offering an inside look at Presidential endeavors. The movie also interviews some past Presidents and their photographers. LBJ started this photographic practice and all Presidents since have embraced it, except Nixon who restricted it during his time in office. The thousands of photos these photographers take all become part of the National Archives.

Up Heartbreak Hill – 2011 (2.8). This documentary about the college aspirations of two high school senior track athletes (a boy and a girl) on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico was straightforward in covering the kids, their families and some of the school teachers, coaches and administrators, but it did not explore issues in much depth. We don’t see many movies about young people like these, so while the choice of subject adds to the rating, it could have been better covered.

Crude – 2009 (2.8). For decades, Chevron/Texaco drilled oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon region and then when the government of Ecuador refused to extend the right to drill, an Ecuadorian government sponsored company took over and Texaco conducted a superficial cleanup as part of a deal to hand over its facilities and get a complete release from any liability. Thousands of indigenous people have been involved for almost 20 years in class action litigation against the American company for the environmental, cultural and health calamity it created. This documentary follows a few years of the litigation, led by a young Ecuadorian lawyer aided by an American and funded by an American law firm. The movie includes some denial interviews with Chevron spokespeople, and scenes of the lawyers coming to the US for meetings seeking publicity and support, but most of the footage is of the jungle and village areas and people showing the damage that persists. The film does not explain any of the laws and rules involved in the dispute, nor is the litigation decided by the time the film ends.

Breaking the Maya Code – 2008 (2.8). This documentary is produced and directed very well and tells a fascinating story of the centuries long effort to decipher the abundant Mayan glyphs sculpted into the numerous structures which have been reclaimed from the Central American jungles. Narration, archival footage and some reconstructions combine with numerous interviews with experts to tell how scholars of all levels have contributed through the years to finally being able to understand the writings and learn the written history of the Mayan world. The Maya had significant libraries which were totally destroyed by the Spanish conquerors, except for three or four books that survived. This movie is so thorough in explaining the intricacies of the Mayan glyphs and the details of each step in the scientific quest that it comes across as a little too scholarly for general audiences.

Witness for the Prosecution – 1957 (2.8). Based on an Agatha Christie play, this movie directed by Billy Wilder has a clever script and crisp direction, but the acting and staging is too theatrical. This one is all about the story, which is clever enough to justify the “request from the theater management” during the closing credits not to reveal the outcome of the movie.

My Darling Clementine – 1946 (2.8). Director John Ford returned from the War and turned to his favorite genre for this film, the second time Wyatt Earp appears in the movies. Like most Earp stories, this one is about half true and it has all the classic hallmarks of Ford’s style, plus it mingles a romantic triangle with the expected OK Corral shootout. Henry Fonda is appropriately subtle as Wyatt and Walter Brennan is an effective villain as Old Man Clanton.

Warrior – 2011 (2.7). This movie about two brothers who became estranged when they each went with a different parent when the family split, shows the attention that was paid to getting the details right for the mixed martial arts fight scenes as the two men compete in an elite MMA tournament, with the alcoholic father training one son while desperately trying to make emotional connection with both of them. More attention should have been paid to the script though, which wanders a little aimlessly at first and never goes too far from the tension between wallowing in the past and stepping into the future. The contrast between the viciousness of MMA and the humanity of the fighters is shown, but not adequately explored.

The First Grader – 2010 (2.7). This BBC movie from National Geographic Entertainment about an 84 year old former Mau Mau freedom fighter in Kenya who wants to go to school to learn to read should have been better than it is. The script is the problem, starting slow and using too many flashbacks to tell of the tortures and abuse the man and his family endured in the fight against British colonial rule. The locations and children are authentic as is the story, but the conflict between the people from the different tribes and the fact that some fought for freedom while others served as British lackeys, and which differences were supposed to have been left behind after independence are not developed in a satisfactory way by the script even though they underlie the entire story.

Throw Down Your Heart – 2008 (2.7). The American banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck takes the instrument back to its native Africa in this documentary, travelling to a handful of nations to meet and play music with African musicians. The musical groups offer an interesting variety of sounds and characters, while the charming Fleck manages to blend in quite well, but overall the movie comes across as unorganized and not particularly informative.

The Cutting Edge – 1992 (2.7). A female figure skater is too temperamental to be satisfied with the various skating partners she has tried through the years, and then is matched up with a star college hockey player whose eye injury has ended his hockey career. Predictably, they clash and then develop togetherness. Formulaic, but good chemistry between Moira Kelly and D. B. Sweeney make it worth watching.

Nibbling at the Queue

Three unspectacularly rated [2.9, 2.8 and 2.6] movies from the library are on this list, along with eleven from my Netflix instant queue, so returning to the library has prompted me to also make inroads on my queue. Whatever works to try to find some enjoyable movies.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

Together – 2000 (3.2). This refreshingly watchable Swedish movie about a commune in the 1970s is not a comedy, but rather a drama with humor and heart. People openly explore their sexuality, argue politics and try to mend old relationships and start new ones, and as we watch them we are touched, with a couple exceptions, by their honest humanity. Community overcomes loneliness.

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 – 2008 (2.9). Even for a football fan, a documentary about a 1968 game interspersed with current interviews of the players sounds like a bit of a stretch, but this movie is quite watchable. Both teams were undefeated as they came into this last game of the year and Yale was dominating as expected as the game wound down, but then the game changed and it was a very exciting finish. The interview excerpts are well integrated into the game and it is interesting to see how the men have aged, how their memories have fared and how the game affected their lives at the time and in subsequent years.

Trumbo – 2007 (2.9). The blacklisted writer was an interesting man who was wonderful with words, and this documentary, based on work by his son, captures the man quite well with documentary footage and interviews with his children and some others who knew him and with readings by actors from a variety of his letters. Particularly revealing is the information given on the economic toll Trumbo paid for refusing to co-operate with the 1950s witch hunt; though he did manage to make some money by using other writers as fronts, the ostracism was financially devastating.

The Longest Day – 1962 (2.9). D-Day is shown from the point of view of the Allies, the French underground and the Nazis in this classic epic drama, with the proverbial all-star cast. A few of the characters are iconic to the point of being hokey, but the overall magnitude of the invasion, the anticipation of the excitement and danger by the allies and underground and the confusion of the Nazis are dramatically captured. The movie holds its age well, particularly when we remember this was made long before the CGI enhancements so common in movies today.

Meet John Doe – 1941 (2.9). Frank Capra again celebrates the common man in this movie about a fabricated newspaper story of a desperate out of work man who plans to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. The cynicism behind the story is overwhelmed by public support for the man hired to pretend to be the man, but then there are complications, all with a begging to be realized romance. Very watchable “Capracorn” which holds its age, but this does not rise to the upper tier of his films.

Chosin – 2010 (2.8). In December 1950, 15,000 Marines  at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea were surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops. Fighting for days in the bitter cold, the Marines managed to extricate themselves, but with great numbers of dead, wounded and frostbite victims losing portions of hands and feet. This documentary uses interviews with several survivors, some personal photos and footage from a Hollywood movie to relate the horror of the experience and how it still is with the men 60 years later, even as they relate the pride they feel for saving South Korea from the Communists.

The Music Never Stopped – 2010 (2.8). Based on a true story, this independent drama tells the story of a young man who became estranged from his parents in the mid-1960s as he moved away to pursue his rock music career, and then came back into their lives 20 years later, suffering from a brain tumor which left him with a memory limited only to the early years of the separation, grounded largely in the music of the time. Working with a professor who uses music as a memory bridge, they try to make connection, especially between the father and son. After an efficient start, the script slows down a little while the musical bridge theories are being employed, but then delivers some emotional connection as we sympathize with the limits the young man must live under and the loss those who love him will experience for the rest of their lives. The father works diligently to make connection with the music his son loves and thereby is able to share in his son’s feelings and understand better what led to the estrangement.

Afghan Star – 2009 (2.8). Pop TV in Afghanistan has an American Idol type competition which grabs the attention of the nation and is the subject of this documentary which follows two men and two women contestants. It is encouraging to see the people joyously embrace the program and celebrate the competitors, but very discouraging to see the backwards male chauvinism and religious chastising theat one of the women is subjected to when she pops a few simple dance moves on camera.

Private Fears in Public Places – 2006 (2.8) Even in his eighties, Alain Resnais still directs a stylish film, this French movie being interweaving vignettes of people struggling with relationships and loneliness. Very watchable with interesting characters, it ultimately ends a little flat with nothing new having been said, but leaving one feeling like it was still worth the time.

The Courage to Love – 2000 (2.8). This made for TV Canadian bio-pic about Henriette DeLille, the educated Creole woman who devoted her life to taking care of the poor and sick in ante-bellum New Orleans was better than I expected. Vanessa Williams did a pretty good job of portraying, without any attempt at an accent, this venerated (officially on the way to possible Sainthood) founder of a small order of nuns still active today. I know there are people who dedicate their lives to serving causes, often based on a belief they are called to do so by God, and this movie managed to credibly portray how Henriette  maintained her dedication even while dealing with the prejudices and politics of the time, family troubles and romantic proposals.

Love in the Afternoon – 1972 (2.8). This French movie is Rohmer’s sixth moral tale, about a happily married man with young children who plays along with a free spirited woman who tries to take their friendship to the next level. He resists even as he enjoys the afternoons he spends with her, and he tries to understand just what it is that he feels and what he will or will not do about it. Typically talkative Rohmer that you either can relate to and appreciate or else be bored stiff.

Top Hat – 1935 (2.6). This Astaire and Rogers vehicle was way too heavy on the lame mistaken identity plot and too short on the dance numbers for my taste, bBut that was the formula the audiences wanted at the time. Fred was the choreographer and primary star, so Ginger did not get her frirst dance number until well into the movie. The DVD has some an interesting documentary film about the movie, as well as good commentary by Fred’s daughter and a film historian.

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill, etc. – 1995 (2.2). A one trick script, weak acting and clumsy direction make this movie about a Welsh village in 1917, in danger of the local mountain being demoted to hill status by English cartographers, a loser. The only reason to watch is for the picturesque countryside.

The Golden Bowl – 2000 (DNF). Merchant and Ivory have made some wonderful movies, but this rendering of the Henry James novel is not one of them. Predictions of low mediocrity proved more than accurate and after 20 minutes of a muddled script of miscast actors in boring roles, rejection was the only reasonable option.