Pollyanna.

Review #733: Pollyanna.

Cast
Mary Pickford (Pollyanna Whittier), Wharton James (Reverend John Whittier), Katherine Griffith (Aunt Polly Harrington), Helen Jerome Eddy (Nancy Thing, Polly's Maid), George Berrell (Old Tom, Polly's Handyman), Howard Ralston (Jimmy Bean), William Courtleigh (John Pendleton), and Herbert Prior (Dr. Tom Chilton) Directed by Paul Powell.

Review
You may be asking me one question: Why this movie, particularly in the twilight hours of August? The answer is...Why not? It's not like this isn't the first random choice on this show (Sweet 15, anyone?), and it won't be the last. Also, it's a movie with Mary Pickford, a very notable star of screen during the silent era, playing a 12 year old, though she was actually 27 when this was released in theaters in early 1920. This was based off (say it with me now) a novel of the same name, which was popular enough to spawn a series of books along with a term for bias towards the positive side. Anyway, how's the movie? Let's put it this way: If you are up for some cheer and pleasantries that illuminate from Pickford, this is for you. Even when the movie reaches gloomier subjects near the end, it never ceases to be anything other than entertaining, in large part due to Pickford. Her presence practically stretches throughout the whole movie, and it's hard to not enjoy Pickford's radiant charm. It has its shares of drama and light comedy, and the actors do a good job not overacting either for the most part. Ultimately, the optimistic charm of Pollyanna and the way it spreads across the community makes the movie more than just an orphan story, it makes it a enjoyable tale that is nicely spread in less then an hour. It's a good film to spend time on, and ultimately a good film to enjoy with everyone, especially silent movie fans.

On an unrelated note, the teacher in my first college class happens to be from Canada, which Pickford was also from. I guess after all the time mentioning that country in the past few years paid off in a subtle way.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Escape from L.A.

Review #732: Escape from L.A.

Cast
Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken), Steve Buscemi (Map to the Stars Eddie), Georges Corraface (Cuervo Jones), Cliff Robertson (President), Stacy Keach (Cmdr. Malloy), Peter Fonda (Pipeline), Pam Grier (Hershe Las Palmas), A. J. Langer (Utopia), Valeria Golino (Taslima), Bruce Campbell (Surgeon General of Beverly Hills), and Michelle Forbes (Brazen) Directed by John Carpenter (#068 - Halloween, #634 - Escape from New York, and #712 - The Thing)

Review
It's been a while (ten days) since I reviewed a movie, so let me get back to work with a familiar director, John Carpenter. And hey, it's the sequel released 15 years after the first movie, what could go wrong? The answer to that question lies within the movie itself. I praised the original for its dystopian outlook, Russell himself, and the thrilling action. What I forgot to mention is that Escape from New York managed to keep itself from losing momentum. The sequel? Not so much. While Russell is still the best actor in the movie, the rest of the cast isn't as impressive. Corraface's character comes and goes too quickly to make any real impression on you, while Fonda's character is more pointless than Buscemi's character, but at least the latter does something important, so points for that. The movie is bleak, but it isn't as interesting as the first movie, and the computer effects for water effects (especially the surfing - yes Snake surfs) don't help the movie, as they come off as too distracting. It takes a while for the movie to become interesting, and the action scenes are passable, though they are overshadowed a bit by the scene where Plisskin has to make 5 baskets in a row (at the LA Coliseum, no less), and the aforementioned surfing scene, which is just plain strange. The movie was written by Debra Hill, John Carpenter & Russell, with Russell apparently coming up with the ending. I guess it was hard to make an ending that wasn't just like the last one, with this ending being more bleak given that there was no sequel (which apparently would've been Plissken escaping Earth) because this movie proved to be a failure financially. It's not a bad movie, it at least is entertaining to a degree, and Russell clearly had a lot of passion for this movie, and I respect his performance. The movie itself, though, isn't as good, but it is at least a good way to pass 100 minutes, and you might enjoy the movie more than I did. It's hard to believe this movie was released in August 1996. August...9th, 1996. Okay, I didn't plan for this to be an anniversary review. Welcome to the human race.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.