Swiss Family Robinson

Actors:  John Mills, Dorothy Maguire, James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk, Sessue Hayakawa, Kevin Corcoran
Rating:  8 out of 10, This was one of the defining movies of my early life.  I think as a very young child I realized I absolutely loved movies when I saw this Disney classic at the venerable Scenic Theater in Keene, NH.  The theater had a huge billboard over the entrance and I clearly remember a movie poster showing the race involving an ostrich jockey.  Most of all I remembered a thrilling adventure film that captured my imagination the way few films ever did.  Everything is geared towards a young viewer – you can sense the presence of Walt Disney behind the filmmaking.  The ship wreck, the recovery, the best tree house in movie history, and the final battle against the pirates – it has everything a young boy would love.  It seems I’ve got a bit of that young boy in me still because I still absolutely love this movie. 
MVP:  MacArthur as Fritz in his pre-Dan-O days, the big brother we all hoped for

Skyfall

Actors:  Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Ben Whisahw, Bérénice Marlohe

Rating:  9 out of 10, I was a little concerned when I heard Sam Mendes was directing because he gets a little carried away with himself in his movies.  007 shouldn’t spend an entire movie contemplating his navel and I was concerned that might happen with Mendes at the helm.  While there was a lot more introspection than your normal Bond adventure it certainly worked.  The first twenty minutes disabused me of the concern for the lack of action with Bond commandeering a train (with a back hoe!) and then being shot.  My radar went up for the next 45 minutes though but the plot soon got away from bickering British bureaucrats and got Bond back throwing people off skyscrapers.  Craig looked a little tired in this one, hopefully because he was supposed to be in the plot.  There were neat little homages to the Bonds of yesteryear, including two beloved characters reappearing, which is something I always love.  This had the feel of a transition film where we’re moving the background people around Bond and shaking up his private life. Javier Bardem has to be one weird dude or he just might be a fantastic actor.  He was totally eerie as the bad guy and scored another unfortunate hairdo (becoming something of a signature for him).  The bottom line is that this is a great film and one of the best Bonds ever.  I shouldn’t have worried.  Even a touchy feely guy like Mendes is no match for the irresistible force which is James Bond. 

MVP:  Dench in her swan song as M – typically dominates every scene she’s in

First Men on the Moon

Actors:  Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Lionel Jeffries
Rating:  7 out of 10, the last of my nostalgia movies from Christmas.  This was another memorable film of my youth that involved that amazing special effects guy – Ray Harryhousen.  Another HG Wells story that is brought with typical 1960s verve and the Haryyhousen effects.  The film starts with the first moon mission, led by the UN!  They are celebrating when they come across evidence of human presence on the moon dating back to 1899.  They track down the last survivor back on earth and the rest of the movie is told through flashback.  A slightly off kilter inventor, played with typical dash by Jeffries, creates a new compound which allows space travel in a brass sphere.  His incredibly dull neighbor and the neighbor’s girlfriend head to the moon where they encounter a race of ant like aliens.  This movie captured my imagination in the 1960s and the story does not age well and has firmly descended into camp fun (no gloves needed on moon – but it was still fun). 
MVP:  Jeffries as the eccentric inventor who was the first man on the moon

The Shootist

Actors:  John Wayne, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Harry Morgan, Richard Boone, Ron Howard, Hugh O’Brian
Rating: 9 out of 10, the Duke’s last film and made as he was dying of lung cancer.  It serves as a fitting send off for the greatest actor in the Western genre.  He plays a legendary gunfighter who’s dying of cancer in 1901 Colorado.  He chooses to go out on his own terms and you can see a lot of Wayne’s own personal beliefs on display.  There is an extra on the DVD where some of the surviving actors reminisce about the film.  They remember many actors, including Bacall and Stewart, fought to be cast in the movie because everyone knew this would be the Duke’s swan song.  Apparently he wasn’t a mythical figure just for the fans but amongst his peers as well.  This film is a treat as fans get to say goodbye, in style, to the Duke as he rides over the horizon.
MVP:  The Duke (of course) as the shootist going out in style

Passing the Torch Between Generations - Duke Schooling Ron Howard

Sons of Katie Elder

Actors:  John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Michael Anderson, Paul Fix, James Gregory, Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy
Rating: 8 out of 10, one of my favorite movies of Wayne’s older years and while the Duke was starting to show his age for a part like this – he still dominates the screen like few actors ever.  He plays the eldest brother of four who return to bury their mother and find she was cheated out of her land by Gregory.  The scenes with the four brothers struck me as very realistic.  You can forget that Dean Martin was actually a fairly good actor until you see him holding his own in a major film such as this.  The plot is a bit contrived but you know there had to be a final shootout with the bad guys and this is delivered with the Duke’s fabled eighteen shot six-shooter.  It was kind of jarring to see an incredibly young Dennis Hopper but this movie still stands the passage of time well.  Any time passed with the Duke is time well spent
MVP:  The Duke (of course) as gun fighting son John Elder

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Actors:  Doris Day, James Stewart, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Daniel Gelin
Rating: 7 out of 10, The final movie of my Doris Day fascination with the added bonus of Jimmie Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock.  This was an interesting look back at tourism in the 1950’s when you could take a jaunt to Morocco and not get blown up.  Stewart plays a Midwestern doctor who somehow is married to a Broadway star (the 50’s were different).  While vacationing in Morocco they become embroiled in a planned London assassination and their son is kidnapped to prevent them from revealing what they know.  I was struck by how innocent the whole thing was.  Nowadays the whole family would have been whacked.  The movie had all of Hitchcock’s fascinating camera shots and of course his obligatory cameo (always fun to watch for).  Stewart and Day were an interesting couple who didn’t have a lot of on screen chemistry but were both superb actors.  Hitch must have liked Day’s rendition of Que Sera, Sera because it becomes a central plot point and is now firmly stuck in my head for the foreseeable future (I was singing it to the dog this morning – talk about animal cruelty).  I enjoyed the movie more for the innocence of the age and Hitch’s subtle jabs at society in general – a good watch.
MVP:  Stewart as Dr Benjamin McKenna chasing spies and assassins

The Thrill of it All

Actors:  Doris Day, James Garner, Edward Andrews, Arlene Francis, Carl Reiner
Rating: 7 out of 10, Another in my journey through Doris Day land.  This one teams her up with James Garner again.  Now that I’ve seen a number of her rom coms from the 50’s and 60’s I think that she had the best chemistry with Garner.  He plays a baby doctor who has to deal with his wife (Day) suddenly becoming famous as a TV personality.  There are some really funny bits in this such as when Garner drives his beloved convertible into a backyard pool.  There is just great timing between these two actors.  This movie was written by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner and directed by Norman Jewison so it has a great pedigree.  Reiner even appears in several cameos as an overacting soap actor (kind of redundant there).  Some of the coolest parts of the movie were the exterior shots of NYC in the 1960s and the overall snapshot of family life in that bygone era.   
MVP:  Garner as Dr Gerald Boyer struggling to accept his wife’s success