Classic Movie Picks: January

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies Now Playing guide for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

My New Year's resolution is to "discover" a new film each month by watching something I've never seen before. January has many interesting prospects; in fact, of the 21 films I've listed here, I've only seen 7! Happy New Year, and here's to another year of classic movies!

Star of the Month: Angela Lansbury
I first came to know Lansbury on TV, as novelist & amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. At that time, I had no idea that television was just the latest arena of entertainment in which Lansbury had made her mark. As Robert Osborne details in his Star of the Month article, Lansbury's long career includes great successes in film, on Broadway, and on television - a feat that arguably no other entertainer can claim. TCM is airing her films each Wednesday in January and I've singled out some of my favorites below; however, the entire month's line-up looks strong. I am especially looking forward to the TCM premiere of a production of Sweeney Todd which was filmed for television in 1982, and stars the Broadway cast. I also highly recommend TCM's Private Screenings interview with Lansbury, airing on January 25. True to form, her interview is one of the best of the series!
1/4, 12:15 AM - The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
1/11, 10:15 PM - The Three Musketeers (1948)
1/18, 10 PM - The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
1/18, 2:15 AM - The Court Jester (1956)
1/25, 8 PM - Private Screenings: Angela Lansbury
1/25, 9 PM - Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)
1/25, 11:30 PM - Death on the Nile (1978)

Starring Joseph Cotten
He may not be the Star of the Month, but Joseph Cotten is an actor who I always enjoy watching. Cotten gets the spotlight in prime time on January 2nd. That evening I'm especially interested in the premiere of The Steel Trap (1952), a race-against-the-clock thriller co-starring Teresa Wright (another of my faves) as Cotten's wife. He also stars in the period drama Under Capricorn (1949) on January 19, part of the month-long tribute to cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and in Love Letters (1945), a romance co-starring Jennifer Jones. In one of those "only in Hollywood" situations, Cotten had previously starred opposite both Wright and Jones - in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Since You Went Away (1944), respectively - but both times he played the actress's older uncle, not a love interest!

1/2, 11:15 PM - The Steel Trap

1/19, 8 PM - Under Capricorn

1/21, 10 PM - Love Letters

1/3: Happy Birthday, Marion Davies!

6 AM - 6:30 PM, 9 films

These days Marion Davies is probably better known for her real-life role as William Randolph Hearst's girlfriend, rather than for her many films. Hearst's championing of Davies' film career, for better and worse, is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Teen-aged Marion was already a Broadway veteran when Hearst vowed to make her a star in pictures. He used his newspapers to give Davies publicity and even created a production company devoted to making her films; however, Hearst's insistence that Davies star in serious dramas, rather than the comedies at which she excelled, also hampered her career. Despite the behind-the-scenes machinations on her behalf, the truth remains that Davies was a charming performer whose talent speaks for itself.

1/31: Governor's Award Winner - James Earl Jones

12 AM - Claudine (1974)

2 AM - Gardens of Stone (1987)

As a prelude to February's "30 Days of Oscar" programming, tonight's films honor the Governor's Awards recipients for 2011, including two TCM premieres starring James Earl Jones. I'm especially interested in Claudine, a working-class romance that was made as a conscious alternative to the blaxsplotation films of the 70s. It was the first, and unfortunately last, project of the Third World Cinema Corporation, a partnership of famous black artists that set out to train minorities in film production and make films which presented a dignified portrayal of African-American life. Gardens of Stone is a story of soldiers stationed at Arlington Cemetery during the Vietnam War; it boasts a rich cast of character actors, including Elias Koteas, Dean Stockwell, and Laurence Fishburne, and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

BONUS: TCM is honoring more pioneering African American filmmakers - Charles Burnet, Gordon Parks, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Melvin Van Peebles - on January 16.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

by AJ

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is an intense action thriller that by many accounts, including my own, is the best of the series. This movie finds IMF team leader Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the entire Impossible Mission Force disavowed after a mission inside the Kremlin goes terribly wrong. Nevertheless, his team still has to stop a madman from instigating nuclear holocaust, but without the vast resources they would normally have.

The most thrilling scene involves Cruise scaling the side of the world’s tallest building in Dubai. He’s more than 100 stories up and the special gloves that provide an extra strong grip aren’t very reliable. The real thrill comes when he has to figure out how to get back down the side of the skyscraper - without the gloves. This sequence, like the rest of the movie, is expertly shot and edited and completely engaging. I was too wrapped up in the action on screen to wonder about the movie magic behind these incredible sequences. The action set-pieces are exciting, but not over the top; I found myself thinking what Ethan Hunt must have been thinking in those situations: “This is a terrible idea, but it’s all I can think of right now.”

The Dubai skyscraper sequence is the centerpiece of the movie, but the other action scenes before and after aren’t lacking in any way. Most action movies are only concerned with explosions, guns, fights, and noise. Ghost Protocol has all of those things, but they are never without a purpose and are certainly not run of the mill. Like every action movie in recent years, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is influenced by The Bourne Identity and its sequels, but it doesn’t flat-out copy Bourne (unlike a lot of recent action movies). It’s well paced, has interesting characters, a not-too-flimsy but not-too-complicated plot, great visual effects, and did I mention thrilling action?

Credit for all of this goes to cinematographer Robert Elswit, editor Paul Hirsch, and especially director Brad Bird, whose previous films are the animated The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant. Bird's live-action debut proves that talent and skill can translate to any type of film.

Christmas may have passed, but it’s not too late to treat yourself to one of the best films of the year. And for an extra treat, see it in IMAX or the new IMAX Experience, the sound system is the same even though screen is not a true IMAX screen (6 stories tall, 8 stories wide) but you’ll be too engrossed in the movie to notice.

Best of 2011 Gift Guide

by Lani

Many film critics have already published their "Best of the Year" lists, but as a member of the general public I haven't had a chance to see some of the year's most critically-acclaimed films. There are many intriguing films coming to theaters before the end of the year, and I hope to add some of them to my personal "best of" list. However, some of my favorite films of 2011 are already out on DVD. With roughly a week of shopping time left before Christmas, here are some suggestions that should appeal to any movie-lover on your list.

Cedar Rapids - Ed Helms (The Office) stars as naive, small-town insurance agent Tim Lippe, who is called upon at the last minute represent his company at the annual regional convention. Tim must rely on three convention veterans (John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) to help him navigate his way through the intimidating, and sometimes corrupt world of Midwestern insurance. This film could easily have been called Mr. Lippe goes to Cedar Rapids because, in the tradition of Frank Capra's classics Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, it is the story of an innocent in cynical world. Helms is an appealing everyman whose guileless sincerity is never grating, and Reilly is hilarious as "wild man" Dean Zeigler. If given the choice between Helms' gang of bros from The Hangover 2 and his Cedar Rapids pals, I'd be be cashing in my drink tickets at Horizons with Zeigler & Co. every time.

Super 8 - Anyone who embarked on some creative effort as a child - whether it was making a movie, putting on a play, or forming a band - knows the thrilling potential of such a scheme to go from fun to fiasco fairly quickly. One minute you're making a werewolf costume out of tin foil and Styrofoam cups, the next you're wearing that costume, handcuffed, in the back of a police cruiser. (That exact situation never happened to me, of course...) I was reminded of that thrill while watching the young protagonists of Super 8 set out to make their zombie movie, despite facing near-death as witnesses to a spectacular train derailment. The accident may have unleashed a dangerous alien force upon their small town, but the kids will have to wait a couple days while their film is developed to know for sure (they didn't have handheld digital video recorders in 1979, after all). Director J.J. Abrams intentionally pays homage to the films of Steven Spielberg, balancing the sentimentality of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial with the moodier atmosphere of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And like Spielberg did with Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore in E.T., Abrams has cast talented young actors to play characters who actually resemble real children.

Bridesmaids - A lot of the press around this film labels it as a raunchy comedy...but for women! However, what I really appreciated about this movie was not that it showed women "acting like men," but that it showed women acting like regular human beings. So many films that center on "best friends" do little to establish why the two women would be friends in the first place; so when the supposed besties suddenly turn on one another in order to further the plot, there's no sense of loss because their friendship seemed unlikely to begin with. (I'm looking at you, Bride Wars.) In contrast, the friendship in Bridesmaids between maid-of-honor Annie (Kristen Wiig) and bride Lillian (Maya Rudolph) feels true; and when the stress of the wedding causes friction between them, it doesn't feel contrived. I think of this film as one part The 40-year Old Virgin, one part I Love Lucy, and a little bit Anne of Green Gables. Wiig shines as the down-on-her-luck Annie, proving she has a range beyond the manic characters she's known for on Saturday Night Live. The supporting cast is also excellent, especially Melissa McCarthy as a brash in-law and Rose Byrne as a too-perfect trophy wife.

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen's latest film may not be his best, but it is his biggest hit with audiences so far. What makes it so appealing? Well, there's the charming lead performance by Owen Wilson as Gil, a fledgling novelist who idealizes the arty, bohemian milieu of Paris in the Twenties. Then there is the element of fantasy, which Allen previously used to great effect in The Purple Rose of Cairo; one night Gil finds himself living his 1920s dream, rubbing shoulders with Hemingway, Picasso, and an enchanting Parisian fashion designer named Adriana (Marion Cotillard). And, of course there is Paris itself. Just as he did in Manhattan, Allen begins this film with scenes of the title city set to a gorgeous piece of music. Even if you don't share Gil's rose-colored view of Paris (sorry, no city is better when it's raining out), you can't help but be a bit swept away by this opening sequence.

Cedar Rapids, Super 8, and Bridesmaids are all currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Midnight in Paris will be available on Tuesday, December 20. Happy Holidays!