Austin360 blogs > Austin Movie Blog > Archives > 2009 > September > 02
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
What I’m watching
Wherein our movie critic periodically shares what DVDs he’s been viewing in his spare time …
- “Marlene” (1984; Maximilian Schell): Marlene Dietrich, grand Deutsch diva, is marvelously frank and haughty in this miraculous documentary portrait of the late actress. Schell recorded hours of audio with Dietrich and intersperses the interviews over scenes from her life and films. She can be impatient and hilariously forthright. For example, she calls Emil Jannings, her celebrated co-star in “The Blue Angel,” an awful “ham.” Hypnotically watchable, the doc was nominated for an Oscar.
- “Men in War” (1957; Anthony Mann): A masterpiece of combat drama by the great Mann, whose films consistently prove him one of the strongest directors of male-oriented action. (Check out his westerns and noirs — tough and indelible.) As soldiers with conflicting missions, consummate macho guys Aldo Ray and Robert Ryan go head to head in this Korean War-set nail-biter, a tragically unsung knockout.
- “The Fountainhead” (1949; King Vidor): Stodgy but entertaining adaptation of the Ayn Rand novel stars Gary Cooper (always a little stodgy but entertaining) as architect Howard Roark, whose individual artistic vision butts head with society’s conformist mores. Obvious and heavy-handed, with some romantic action between Cooper and Patricia Neal telegraphed through amusingly clunky visual symbolism.
- “Sunshine Cleaning” (2008; Christine Jeffs): A smart, subtle dark comedy starring the irrepressibly glowing Amy Adams and an archly funny Emily Blunt as unlikely cleaners-up of gory crime scenes. Sprightly, and surprising, entertainment.
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