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jgallanis
Reviews
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
Low Budget but Extremely Watchable Baseball Movie
Lord, Lord, young Ruby Dee was beautiful beyond belief! This is clearly a low budget production which canonizes Branch Rickey to an absurd extent, still worth your time if you're a fan of the most courageous player in baseball history. I have doubts about the film's contention that Rickey DIDN'T violate Negro League contracts when signing Robinson, Campanella, and Newcombe. In any event, in the universe of baseball movies, this is well above average, despite some stilted dialogue and obviously period-imposed distortions. Side note: odd that a feature film would be made a mere two years into Robinson's career.
Baseball: Something Like a War (1994)
Al Stump's Version of Ty Cobb
As usual, Burns and his team do a terrific job of outlining the dead ball era of baseball. My major issue is that his portrait of the dominant player of that era, Ty Cobb, appears to have been taking verbatim from the unreliable and often misproven scribblings of Al Stump, the ghostwriter of the elderly Cobb's deathbed autobiography. I am a little surprised that Burns would fall prey to Stump's fairly obvious pulp fiction, but I guess it makes a more compelling story than an actual portrait of the complex, and certainly flawed individual that was Ty Cobb. When would I expect some sort of retraction or correction.
The Defenders: The Locked Room (1962)
Just a comment....
...as a lawyer for 35+ years, there's not an attorney in the country who'd allow his criminal defendant client to wear a hat like that as the judge charges the jury. Or any other time when the jury is present.
The Defenders: The Quality of Mercy (1961)
Cross of expert witness
"Can a Mongoloid be educated??!?"
Ouch. I've never been accused of political correctness, and I do make allowances for the fact that this is 1961, but I cannot imagine an educated lawyer (as E. G. Marshall's character is portrayed as being) asking such a ignorant and ham fisted question.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst: The Gangster's Daughter (2015)
Speculation and bc Gossip
This episode is an absolute waste of time. There is about five minutes worth of actual hard evidentiary information contained in the entire episode. The rest is supposition, speculation, daydreams, fantasies, and fluff used to expand and fill out what should've been a five minute episode. I regret having wasted an hour of my life on this nonsense. There is no"there" there.
Dr. Kildare: A Game for Three (1963)
Susan Strasberg & Andrew Prine Own This Episode
Guest stars Susan Strasberg and Andrew Prine do the heavy lifting in this episode, playing the craven opportunist Dr. Stephen Miller and his devoted if misguided wife Barbara. Dr. Miller accuses Kildare of having an affair with Barbara, in order to wriggle out from under very serious charges of patient neglect. Barbara knows this is wrong, but goes against all her best instincts to corroborate her husband's false accusations because she has just discovered she is pregnant and is terrified of raising the child without a father. Strasberg sells her part convincingly, and has never been more beautiful. Prine is a perfect villain, parlaying his undeniable people skills into an almost believable screed of faux wounded righteousness against Kildare. A very solid episode, well written and acted all around, but especially by the guest stars Strasberg and Prine.
McCartney 3,2,1 (2021)
If you're interested in The Beatles' music, this is the best documentary you'll ever see
This is about the music, and if you're interested in the music more than the clothes and gossip and drugs and other aspects of the group, you can't do better than this. Having the brilliant Rick Rubin, whose own credits are as long as your arm, as the host and questioner, is a brilliant approach. As good as anything I've ever seen on rock music...no, better!
Soupçons (2004)
Well told, but longer than necessary...and one important question
I thought this was an unusually well told true crime/trial story. My only real complaint was that it's about two episodes too long. If the editors were to have deleted about 10% of the scenes of Michael Peterson staring wistfully out into the trees and gardens outside his windows, the show could've been done in 10 episodes. Nevertheless, I found it nearly impossible to turn off. A truly frightening depiction of what a defendant in a criminal case is up against when the state (or Federal government) decides he's guilty. This is even more terrifying when the state hires, as it did in the Peterson case, "experts" who start with a conclusion or result and then work backwards, filling in or simply inventing tests and fake methodology to support their pre-determined conclusions. Chilling. I don't know whether Peterson murdered his wife, but I do know that the execrable Duane Deaver falsified his expert opinions and conducted bogus "testing" probative if nothing in order to put this defendant behind bars. I find it appalling that Deaver didn't do at least as much time as Peterson.
One important issue that I think was omitted (I don't remember hearing it mentioned) was that between the first trial and subsequent events a decade later, the hostile Peterson daughter (forgot her name, sorry) obtained a multi-million dollar wrongful death judgement against Peterson, rendering him a pauper for what remained of his life. This would have been important to know in the final episodes.
Petticoat Junction: Kate's Homecoming (1968)
Up, Up and Away....
The sisters rendition of the 60s pop hit "up up and away" is nothing short of terrifying.
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
Good hero, bad villains, great girlfriend...
Overall I'd say this was a very enjoyable film. I thought the strongest points were the scenes with Peter and MJ, or with Peter and Ned trying to set up Peter's "plan" for establishing a relationship with MJ. I thought Mysterio was one of the lamest villains I've seen him in an MCU film; he was totally unconvincing and the entire "disaster tech" concept didn't ring true with me. Watching a second time, I can't help but think if you remove the Peter & Zendaya scenes, it's a 5. We'll give it a 7.
Chernobyl (2019)
Does TV Get Any Better?
This is a compelling tale remarkably written by Craig Mazin and beautifully acted by an extremely talented ensemble. I'm thinking of the various docudramas I've seen in my television watching life, which probably goes back to the early or mid 1960s, and I just can't think of anything that compares to the job this talented crew did on Chernobyl. I would imagine that Emmys would be in order for Johan Rieck's directing, Craig Mazin's screenplay, and at minimum, Jared Harris and Stellan Skaärsgard for acting. The evolution of the relationship between scientist Harris and lifelong "party hack" Skaarsgard is one of the most impressively told subplots in Chernobyl . The story of incompetence in a dysfunctional authoritarian state is sadly topical 33 years after the events depicted in this miniseries.
Dr. Kildare: A Shining Image (1961)
Suzanne Pleshette at her loveliest and quirkiest
An excellent Season One episode about a young, lively and adorable young woman struck down by an incurable illness. Suzanne Pleshette has never been so attractive and fun to watch. I'd guess she was 23 or 24 when this was filmed, and at least for me, her energy and joy in living completely steal the show. An odd Raymond Massey lecture to young Dr. K near the end, wherein he takes Kildare to task for trying to prompt Pleshette's character into actually doing something with her intelligence and skills, rather than leading the idle life of a wealthy social butterfly. "The world NEEDS ornaments", Dr. Gillespie tells Kildare. Apparently, women shouldn't work or create or maximize their potential because they're more important as "ornaments". Brilliant, Leonard! Despite this moment of idiocy, this episode still belongs to Ms. Pleshette.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
How can anyone NOT give this a "10"???
I don't understand how anybody can give this less than a 10. This movie has everything: incredible acting by a remarkable ensemble cast (O'Toole, Sharif, Guinness,Quinn, Hawkins, etc.); amazing cinematography shot on location in Jordan and Morocco; reasonable historical accuracy in comparison to films about less complex historic/political situations. I understand that the film inflates Lawrence's role in the Arab Revolt, but if it didn't, it would never have been made. This is a flat out masterpiece.
Conspiracy (2001)
Remarkably well made film; too many participants went unpunished
This is not intended to a review, as I feel there are many well-written and insightful reviews already. My only comment is that I am extremely disappointed at the end, when the film titles inform us of what happened to each Wannssee Conference participant after the war. It is my belief that each and every participant was a member of a conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity as defined in the Nuremberg charter, and each, without exception, should have been charged and tried on that basis. As we see, many lived to a ripe and prosperous old age, never having to face any consequences for their role in devising, implementing, and approving the plan to murder 6 million Jews. Great movie, bad reality.