More old Movies on VHS

Still in possession of a functioning VHS player I enjoy the inexpensive pleasures of old movies, especially the good ones.

I started to watch The Age of Innocence with Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer but lost interest part of the way through. I just have no interest in the plight of the old rich and their inter-generational struggles, hamstrung as they are between the rigid code of their parents not yet dead and their life of leisure and sexual dalliances. Yuck. The thing is narrated a lot, too, which suggests just how weak the action in the film really is.

The Ninth Gate was a much better movie, reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code and certainly easier to follow than that one. This one is about an unscrupulous book dealer played by Johnny Depp. He is hired to track down the three copies of a classic volume of satanism for a rich client Boris Balkin (Frank Langella). The client owns one copy but wants the other copies because he knows only one of them is genuine. Why he wants them is only clear by the movie's end. He is aided in his quest by a mysterious blonde who follows him from New York to Paris to the French countryside. After a while it is clear also that someone is after Johnny Depp and shortly after his visit with each of the owners of the books they meet with a lurid and bizarre death seemingly foretold in the book. Without question Roman Polanski is a great director. It is a shame that he apparently also has engaged in questionable behavior that is hard to forgive, at least by the state of California.

Run Fatboy Run was kind of a disappointment. I very much liked Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and although this movie was not a complete disappointment, it was awfully predictable in the shape of the narrative. Simon Pegg plays a total loser who abandons his beautiful biracial fiance at the altar and spends the next five years trying to get her back. She goes for a total winner instead (Frank Azaria) who being a rich American in high finance is everything seemingly that Simon's character is not. As in all fairy tales this guy ends up being too good to be true as he reveals a mean competitive side that turns the tide in favor of Simon's character. The action hinges on a marathon and as with all these sports movies a miracle happens. It is a bit much to see it retreaded once more for what seems like the hundredth time. But maybe I watch too many movies.

Old and Very Old Movies

I went to the library where they have VHS tapes on sale for 25c apiece. I picked up Oceans 11, Dr. No, Out of Africa, and The African Queen. Mini-reviews:

Oceans 11 (1960) turned out to be a heist film with an all-star cast and cameos, the legendary "rat pack" which was a little confusing with all those characters. Naturally things end badly for the rat pack and their larcenous ambitions since the Hays Office would never allow crime to pay on screen, even if it was at the expense of a gambling enterprise.

Dr. No (1962) was the first James Bond film to be made. He was not the gadgeteer he later became in these films as Agent 007 was only armed with things like a gun, hair from his head and the occasional shoe to smash poisonous spiders climbing up his arm while asleep. As no Jame Bond film would be complete without a femme, Ursula Andress was the nature girl, singing a calypso song and hunting for sea shells on a radioactive beach. Finally Dr. No was a mad scientist for whom motivations as to why he wanted to mess up the US space program were never really clear. He did have metal hands, which made him a little creepy.

Out of Africa (1985) was a mildly entertaining snooze fest where Meryl Streep and Robert Redford shared long meaningful looks but never saw eye to eye in the wild African paradise. All the coffee on Karen Blixen's plantation would not have kept me awake through this one.

The African Queen (1951) was a story of how a spinster missionary (Hepburn) and a drunken Canuck (Bogart) defeat Imperial Germany on a lake in 1914. It is no doubt the best of the lot.