The Bad News Bears

            This is daring for the time it came out. A baseball team of misfits that swear up a storm and fight like banshees, but in the end they pull it together. Oh, their coach is a drunk as well. Buttermaker (Walter Mathau, The Odd Couple) is a pool cleaner in the Southern California-San Diego area, and takes charge as coach of the Bears, the most rag-tag group of misfit kids that the director does not want allowed in the league.

            With the help of a few recruits, and some fundamentals, Buttermaker can get any team turned around. The Baseball action and cinematography is a bit unconventional and amateur, and the script leaves something to be desired, but the end is priceless.

            The kids are hilarious, and little Tanner, the four-foot-nothing shortstop that doesn’t take guff from anybody stands tall. New recruits include Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon) who pitches a mean spitball, with the Vaseline on her hat brow, and Kelly Leak, the baddest kid around, who is also a well-respected loan shark and drives a Harley Davidson.

            Really just a classic story told in a campy 70's era So-Cal low budget way. It's raw and has an edge that just makes it endearing if you had any experience of being bad at something as a child but having someone believe in you none-the-less. So really, this foul-mouthed comedy speaks to the heart of anyone. A 2.

The Scale

In case anyone reads this, I rate movies on a scale of 1-2, no decimals, in which a 1 simply means "I would never watch this movie again" and a 2 means "I would watch this movie again". There are definitely subjective and in-between feelings, but those are best left to description by word rather than number.

The Apostle

             This movie is a masterpiece exploration of the Pentecostal, southern tradition, and reflects much of writer/director/star Robert Duvall’s upbringing. It also represents a great deal of research and rehearsal by Mr. Duvall, who stars as the charismatic, yet tormented preacher who folks just call Sonny. He is a warrior for the Lord, and a master in the Pentecostal preaching technique. He is also s very conflicted soul, and struggles a great deal with self-control.

            From opening scene to close, this is a great work of art, detailing a man’s life. He is preacher and pastor of a church, which he founded, and is in one day voted out in a single day by his conniving wife, as well as abandoned by her for the youth minister. He then goes on a drunken rampage and kills the youth minister at a children’s softball game. All he can do is run. He sets out for Baton Rouge, and before long he finds himself making friends and taking jobs in another town. Under the alias “the apostle E.F.” He takes up the cause of the church again. He is constantly haunted by his personal struggles and inner conflict.

            The conclusion is dramatic and powerful, and through out the story, the snippets of southern culture turn up. Just a delightful redemption peace without any frills, other than solid character acting, brilliant dialogue, and a raw southern worldscape. A certain 2, this is rewatchable, and many great quotes pervade this thunderous movie.

A New Day A New Way A New Blog

I used to have a few different places to express things, and then I condensed them all into 1. mattyo.blogspot.com. But I've opened this one to hopefully be a companion to some videos I might create, and also post reviews of films. Since I have over 300 movie reviews I've never shown to anyone. We'll see what comes of it.

Second-hand Lions

             This movie is kind of a celebration of two aging actors. Robert Duvall (The Apostle) and Michael Cain (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) play the Brothers McCann. Known to be loaded with money, they are stalked by money hungry relatives and traveling salesman, and the gossip of the town has them as Mafia hitmen, bankrobbers, and adventurers.

            Enter Walter (Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense), their great nephew, whose mother is shamed by her family, but, she wants a piece of the treasure, and leave Walter at the McCann’s in order to sniff out the treasure. Walter can’t stand his mom, or her steady stream of bad news boyfriends. Children in distress make for wonderful characters when played well.

            Soon, the grizzled old men open up to Walter and he to them, and they begin to bond. The Old men begin buying strange things, like lions, and giraffes, and begin telling Walter all sorts of Stories of strange adventures in the Africa with the foreign legion. It has a Big Fish quality that I find so endearing. As the Old Testament in particular makes an emphasis, remembering the past is essential to a people and an individual.

            Soon his mother returns, and Walter’s education summer will begin to change things for the better. The story is told very wel, and the old men are supreme in their old age. It’s a really fun movie about growing up, and being a man, and what makes a man a man. Learning and changing, how you handle trouble, and how you overcome circumstances. Clearly a 2 and worth watching.

Dreamgirls

This is a marvelous piece of musical as adapted to the screen. It’s funny how there seem to be two philosophies of musical adaptation. Either make something that would be impossible to do on stage, or be as faithful to the stage performance as possible. This one takes the latter, as it presents Dreamgirls in a brilliant but traditional way.

It’s been a while, so I don’t remember the principle’s names, but Three Girls form a trio and become marketed as the Dreams, and chase the idea of musical equality on the charts of white music. Along the way their producer begins a lot of funny business deals, including a lot of black money, and manipulates everyone to make things sell, and make himself successful.

Along the way he wrongs many people, including a lounge singer names Jimmy Early (Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop) and many others. It’s got an all star cast including Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx (Collateral) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon). 

Aesthetically it’s beautiful, and deals with a great deal of thoughts on the aesthetics of the 60’s and 70’s, and looks at the beauty in the clothing and expression of African-American culture. It’s a period piece, and everyone plays a cultural part.

The theme is redemption, of course. It’s a huge critique of societies ills and the corruption of the show business industry when you mix it with greed. One desperate element is combustible, more than one lethal. 2.