Death Becomes Her

Actors: Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini

Rating: 7 out of 10, Fun to watch this again after so many years and to see Bruce Willis hold his own against two academy award winning actresses. He’s so immersed in action roles that I’d forgotten how funny he can be. He’s hilarious as the hapless pawn caught between two immortal females bent of blowing holes in each other. The special effects were groundbreaking at the time and are still eye catching but more commonplace in today’s cinema. Seeing Meryl Streep maneuver with her head completely turned around is worth the price of admission. She handles this exorcist moment with her usual aplomb and style – how is that even possible! Finally I would have bought anything Rossellini was selling if she wore that outfit.

MVP: Willis showing off his comedy chops as Dr Ernest Menville 

How the West Was Won

Actors: Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, Richard Widmark

Rating: 9 out of 10, A welcome venture into the past when movies at least tried to be epic without the use of CGI. This film tries to capture the critical phase of American history when we expanded to the west coast. A big favorite from my youth that has aged really well and still stands on its own. Every scene seems to boast a Hollywood legend and while there may be a little too much song and dance (whenever Debbie Reynolds appears) the story still appeals. The history is traced through three generations of a westward moving family and doesn’t hide the mis-steps along the way.   

MVP: Jimmy Stewart as the Mountain Man Linus Rawlings out to see the varmint 

Play Misty for Me

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills

Rating: 8 out of 10, Eastwood’s first directing gig and you can see the promise that’s been redeemed so many times in subsequent films. He plays a laid back radio DJ with vintage late 1960s aplomb who picks up what he thinks will be a casual one night stand. Of course, its anything but that with Jessica Walter, (yes the Bluth matriarch herself) going all fatal attraction on him without any rabbits around to boil. Eastwood does a superb job of building tension and finally delivers the punch we’ve all been waiting for. Eastwood also makes great use of his Carmel by the Sea home as the setting. I visited there a few years ago and think I did it in large part because of seeing this movie all those years ago.

MVP: Walter as the maniacal Evelyn

Suicide Squad

Actors: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne
Rating: 9 out of 10, I am seriously worried about the state of movie critics who have almost universally panned this anti-hero centric endeavor because I thought it truly rocked. There were engaging, if demented characters, and gallows humor generously laced throughout. The plot is a little thin but this is a superhero movie not Shakespeare and while the “heroes” aren’t generally admirable, they’re certainly watchable. Will Smith proves he’s remains a bona fide movie star while still being generous with the other actors in the ensemble. Harley Quinn wears the hell out of a pair of shorts as Margot Robbie continues her white hot streak. I thought the only miss was Joel Kinnaman as the supposedly good guy leader; he doesn’t have the screen presence to pull off the part, especially in this cast. Everyone else, and I mean everyone, was awesome. Don’t listen to the self-important gas bag critics, go see this rowdy, no holds barred excess of a flick. I loved it. 
MVP: Smith as Deadshot leads by mere presence, tough call though after seeing those shorts again

Vanishing Point

Actors: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Gilda Texter
Rating: 8 out of 10, This film was very interesting to see again after all these years. I first saw it as a high school kid when kit first came out and it has stuck with me ever since. It feels like a farewell to the 1960s and everything that era represented. Kowalski picks up a car on Friday night in Denver and decides he has to be in San Francisco by Monday. His subsequent streak through the American southwest with various and sundry police agencies hot on his tail works on so many levels. Kowalski's ride almost becomes a mystical journey towards freedom contested by the forces of evil - The Man.The nude motorcycle rider made the most serious impression on the high school version of myself and nothing over the years has dimmed that opinion,. She remains an almost perfect example of the 1960s dream girl. Unfortunately the 1970s and bulldozers always seem to win.
MVP: Newman as the legendary Kowalski

The Birds

Actors: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright.

Rating: 9 out of 10, This is the first “horror” movie I can remember be allowed to watch. It scared me then and continues. Hitchcock was truly the master of building suspense gradually to a terrorizing finale. I was too young to appreciate the charms of Ms. Hedren at the time but I can now fully understand why Mr. Hitchcock was so severely smitten. She had screen presence to spare and teamed up with one of my favorite actors of the era, Rod Taylor. Taylor’s weird relationship with his mother was a little distracting but this was the sixties. I think the last scene of the movie could go down as the most tension laden ever filmed. This movie has aged well and is still eminently watchable, a tribute to Hitchcock’s genius; so tough to look away when Hedren is on screen as well.  

MVP: Hedren as Melanie Daniels luminous and smart bird food 

Andromeda Strain

Actors: Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, David Wayne

Rating: 6 out of 10, This hasn’t aged well which is not surprising as it highlights the leading edge technology of 1971 which is laughable in today’s society. The reveal of the town killed off by exposure to the extraterrestrial bug is startling but the dialogue is stilted to the point of unintentional comedy. While this was a fresh and thoroughly interesting story thirty years ago it comes across as almost quaint nowadays. The supposedly dramatic race to turn off the nuke was ridiculous.

MVP: Reid as the butch, epileptic scientist steals every scene she’s in