tropicaldiver2001 Reviews

Margie (1946)

Very sweet movie about teenage angst

[8/10 · 8 August 2016]

This is a great movie about being a high school senior in the 1920s. Jeanne Craig captures the emotional highs and lows experienced at that age.

Conrad Janis, who played the record producer in the Buddy Holly Story, looks so young and smart aleck in Margie. Alan Young, who was Wilbur in Mr. Ed, looks so geeky and smitten with puppy love over Margie. Esther Dale, who plays Margie's grandmother, is a strong woman and former suffragette with common sense ideas about life.

However nowadays we would frown on a romance between a high school teacher and a student. But world famous historian Will Durant married Ariel, his high school student in 1913. They co-authored many books and were married for over 60 years.

About Schmidt (2002)

Sad but true

[10/10 · 12 March 2006]

I am surprised at the number of reviewers who hated "About Schmidt".

I thought that "About Schmidt" was a great movie because it told a very believable story of a retired man who has to face some unpleasant truths as he gets older. He pays a price for not preparing.

Warren Schmidt portrays a familiar story. He had a middle class white-collar job that provided enough money for a nice house and a big RV (although half was paid by his wife as his uptight daughter reminds him).

His over dependence on his wife, his polite non-welcome back at his old job, his strained relationship with his only child: these are very real possibilities for us in modern life.

Many reviewers really disliked the prospective son-in-law and his family. But guess what. When your kids marry, they usually don't give you a veto. At least the son-in-law is genuinely friendly to Schmidt and he and the daughter seem to love each other.

Kathy Bates and her tribe are louder, poorer, more touchy-feely than Schmidt. But they also are genuinely friendly to Schmidt when he does show up, after being blown off by his daughter when he wants to arrive in Denver early to help plan the wedding. Howard Hessman did a great job as the father of the groom. So many issues between him and Kathy Bates. Sound familiar?

Kathy Bates naked is a very typical depiction of the 50 something American woman. The truth hurts here. Jack Nicholson is a little paunchy himself in this film. We may be overweight but we are still here and guess what, we have sexual feelings even as we age.

I really did like this movie because it made me think. I will be 65 in ten years. My 15 year old daughter will be about the right age to marry by then. Will she pick a long haired, friendly but underachieving guy? Parents can see problems down the road that their kids can't with choices in careers, marriages, spending etc. But children still make their own way as this movie reminds us.

The glimpses of the daughter growing up (bath time, violin recital, horseback lessons) are extremely familiar to me. The fact that once she is grown up, there is a wide gulf between them, is a cautionary tale for all of us.

The message of this movie to me is "make an effort now". Make plans before you are 65 so that you have something to do (paid or unpaid) after you retire. You need to stay close to kids and friends. Apparently Schmidt only had one friend in Omaha, the man who had an old affair with Mrs Schmidt. His mistake.

Stay in touch with people or you will end up as Warren Schmidt, pouring out his heart in letters to someone who can't read them. That is a very powerful message. I liked this movie.

James' Journey to Jerusalem (2003)

Good start, disappointing finish

[6/10 · 26 June 2005]

My test for any movie, American or foreign, is that early in the film I begin to care about the characters. I did begin very quickly to care about James, although he seems too-naive to be true. He is held up in accomplishing his goal of arriving in Jersusalem through various situations, but never seems to really take the time or make the effort to get there. After all, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are not that far apart. The movie is an interesting self-criticism of Israeli characteristics.

Towards the end James starts to head towards some sort of modest business success in Israel, but the movie seems to stop abruptly. I was disappointed and got no emotional payoff. I wasn't expecting necessarily a happy ending but was unprepared to have it just sort of fizzle out.

I can think of better endings, such as the father, Salah continuing to give business advice to James behind his son's back until James achieves real success, or James finally taking time off, arriving in Jersusalem and being disappointed in its commercialization.

Ice World (2002 TV Movie)

Documentary about prehistoric people

[8/10 · 18 June 2005]

Ice World is a Discovery Channel documentary concerning three people living 24,000 years ago in England during the last ice age. They live very much like plains Indians, with tee pees, buckskin clothing and long hair.

Aki and Mora are a couple with a child on the way. Brom is their tribal chief. As the ice cap advances they flee southeast towards warmer weather. At that time there was no English channel and they walked to France and over several months on to present day Czechoslovakia. This is a fictional account of how people might have coped back then.

The scenes of our three twenty-somethings trying to find another tribe to join up with are intermingled with discussions by archaeologists lecturing about cave paintings and findings that correlate with the basic story.

I found myself caring about the three characters and hoping that they make it. All dialog of the three prehistoric people is in prehistoric (and probably made up) language.

The movie made me appreciate the struggles of very distance ancestors and was well made. It was filmed in northern Canada.

Straight Time (1978)

Gritty but engaging

[8/10 · 10 May 2005]

A realistic view of a parolee just out of state prison who easily drifts back into the easy money of crime. Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) is not rehabilitated and belongs back in prison. This movie is probably the best I have ever seen at making this point.

Teresa Russell is great as the girl who is too good for Max and who might have offered him a reason to go straight. Gary Busey also at his acting peak here.

The very best scene is in the final credits when previous mug shots of Dembo are displayed showing him younger and younger in prisons and juvenile halls. A very typical convict with a life of crime stretching back decades. Also very sad.