Sunday, January 11, 2009

St Ives 1976 Warner Brothers

St Ives is a great Charles Bronson film. Bronson stars as a down on his luck writer, with a gambling addiction. He is hired to work as a go between, to help retrieve some stolen ledgers. John Houseman is excellent as the weird eccentric millionaire that hires Bronson, Jacqueline Bisset is very attractive, and well cast as a sort of mystery woman. Others in the cast are Maxamillian Schell, Harry Guardino, Daniel J. Travanti, and bit roles by Robert Englund, and Jeff Goldblum. This film is a great mystery, well worth the 99 minutes of your time.

Pineapple Express 2008 Columbia

Pineapple Express is just downright hilarious. See this film for a good laugh. The plot is simple and silly, a summons process server, witnesses a murder and goes on the run with his pot dealer. The crazy antics of these two men are sometimes gross, but wildly funny. Ed Begly Jr. is hilarious as usual. Seth Rogan and James Franco make a good team and maybe they will make another film together in the near future. Gary Cole was very funny in this film as the villain. He was also very funny in "Office Space" and "Talladega Nights."

An Enemy of the People 1978 Warner Bros

This is definitely a forgotten film. Steve Mcqueen stars as Dr. Thomas Stockton, a doctor determined to get the polluted springs in his town closed down. He is faced with numerous issues, problems with the communities attitude toward this move, and problems with his family. The film is based on Ibsen's play of the same name. The setting is Norway, or Sweden, but the set looks like it was shot on the Warner Brothers back lot. The film is well cast and well acted. Joining Mcqueen are Bibi Anderson and Charles Durning. Warner Brothers barely released this film. A New York Times article published in 1979 dubbed this film The Movie that Warner Brothers does not want you to see. Mcqueen had to gain lots of weight for this role and he dons a full beard, and glasses. The film used to show up on late night TV once and a while, but now it never shows up. It seems that almost all of Steve Mcqueen's films have been released on video or DVD, except for this one. If it turns up, watch it, its well worth it.