Danny Reviews

I'm a film lover with a degree in Forensic Linguistics

[dannyreviews]

Spice World (1997)

As someone who grew up in the 1990s, The Spice Girls were our Beatles. A British import that released hit after hit and were all over pop culture history. And also like The Beatles, The Spice Girls had their own movie that was the favorite of every child, teenager and young adult of late 1997 and early 1998. But unlike "A Hard Day's Night", which was a simply told story that was cinematically pleasing to all the senses, "Spice World" was a hot mess of both good and cringeworthy qualities. When I first saw the movie in 1998, it was the best movie I'd ever seen, on par with all the Disney animated films. Almost 30 years later, my nostalgic past still has a soft spot for what it was, but the flaws are more clear than ever.

The story focuses on the Spice Girls (Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton, Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm, Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown and Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams (later Beckham) as they prepare for their big concert at the Royal Albert Hall. With their short-tempered and neurotic manager Clifford (Richard E. Grant), the girls make appearances on music shows, interviews and celebrity parties, but are exhausted by the extra attention and work. They also have to contend with passing characters such as Hollywood writers (George Wendt and Mark McKinney), a traveling film crew led by the opportunistic Piers (Alan Cumming) and Rupert Murdoch-style media magnate Kevin McMaxford (Barry Humphries) hellbent on destroying the girl group with salacious gossip and his clandestine spy Damien (Richard O'Brien). When the pressure gets to all the Spice Girls, the big concert at the Royal Albert Hall is at stake and the future of the group is tested.

"Spice World" could have been a straightforward satire on the music industry and media manipulation, and it is to some extent, but the film takes too many artistic liberties that border on complete absurdity. These scenes come to mind. First, the girls are visited by aliens. Yes, you read that right. Actual aliens from outer space that come out of a spaceship and are big fans of the group. One may argue that this is a spin on how odd the fandom can be, but the alien angle makes no logical sense and looks more awkward at a wider glance. Next, a scene where Posh commandeers the tour bus in order to make it to the show, which satirizes female-centric prime-time television series like "Charlie's Angels" and "Wonder Woman" and straddles the worlds of reality and fiction. But again, the humor comes across as awkward and out of character with what came before. Other oddball scenes include a makeshift boot camp with a fruity drill seargeant (Michael Barrymore), segments involving some overlord handler nicknamed "The Chief" (Roger Moore), dream sequences that look like cheesy soap operas and a conversation between McMaxford and his assistant Brad (Jason Flemying) that ends with spontaneous rainfall in the office.

Spice World does do well in other areas. The musical numbers, and there are plenty of them, are fun to watch, even with some poor lip-synching. The girls themselves have great chemistry in scenes on the tour bus and go into mundane conversations about dolls, chess and Gucci dresses. There's also cameos from British legends of music and film like Elton John, Elvis Costello, Bob Hoskins and Jennifer Saunders that are fun to play as a game of "Name that Star" But the true winner of "Spice World" comes from one name.

Playing their manager Clifford is the amazing Richard E. Grant and he adds his own unique humor to this character that looks like he's about to have a nervous breakdown every second. Grant channels his legendary character Withnail from "Withnail and I" as well as his neurotic fatherly figure in "Jack and Sarah" into Clifford and even as the film falters in quality, Grant is right there to balance the good and the bad as well as the sane and insane alongside his calm assistant Deborah (Claire Rushbrook). It's when Grant and Rushbrook are on screen that the film has some sort of cinematic and leveled legitimacy.

"Spice World" currently holds a 3.8 average on IMDb which I find to be very mean spirited. Sure it's not a particularly great movie, it's uneven in certain areas and repeated utterances of the term "girl power" get tiresome, but "Spice World" holds up as the classic "so bad it's good" flick that one can watch on a boring afternoon when it's raining outside. No film centered around a musical group will have the near-perfect execution of "A Hard Day's Night", but by watching the film's final scene, there is a cinematic powerhouse that was waiting for over an hour and a half to make its appearance. Maybe that's what makes "Spice World" all the more worthy to see.

6.5/10

[dannyreviews]

One Battle After Another (2025)

After spending the last two reviews badmouthing Sean Penn, I finally decided to watch "One Battle After Another" and see if I can counteract my previous arguments on both Penn's possible Oscar caliber work and Paul Thomas Anderson's seemingly vanilla filmmaking skills. With the 98th Annual Academy Awards starting in less than 24 hours from the writing of this post, here's my verdict.

The film opens with the latest excursion by the French 75 Vigilante group, led by couple Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) as they break into an Immigration Detainment Center. The latter of the two first comes into contact with racist Commanding Officer Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Penn), whom she sexually humiliates. After giving birth to their daughter Charlene, the far left terrorists rob a bank in which Perfidia mortally wounds a bank guard. As Perfidia goes on the lam, Pat and Charlene are forced into hiding and given the names Bob and Willa Fergusson. Sixteen years later, Charlene/Willa (Chase Infiniti) is a spunky teenage girl and Pat/Bob, the ever proud but overprotective single father. Lockjaw, now moving up in the ranks of a White Supremacy club, renews his search of the French 75 and his initiation is to kill Charlene/Willa as revenge for Perfidia's humiliation and for simply being a bi-racial person. Charlene/Willa is forced on the run and Pat/Bob returns to old habits in order to rescue his beloved daughter.

"One Battle After Another" is a prime example of the type of film that gains buzz because of its relevance to current news topics. Just like how "In The Heat Of The Night" won Best Picture because of its Civil Rights focus, "One Battle After Another" is the film of the Trump era as it delves into immigration, racism, and terrorism. The problem is that instead of the plot being manipulated into some satirical twist with some fancy plot burlesque like a Tarantino film, the topics are played straight like actual propaganda. The terrorists are viewed as heroes and their actions all for the betterment of humanity and Lockjaw is portrayed as the racist pro-American villain hellbent on revenge. A much more superior film like Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon" already told you that the bank robbers were completely in the wrong and the police/detectives were not bad people, but doing their job. Unfortunately, in this era's brand of mainstream filmmaking, leftist tropes are the rule of the day and anything otherwise gets gatekept at the door. It borders on cowardice and conformity which I know Paul Thomas Anderson did not subscribe to in his early years.

Where "One Battle After Another" shines is in the stellar editing work by Andy Jurgensen, who I hope takes home an Oscar at tomorrow's ceremony. The scenes with the getaway after the bank robbery does the trick in maintaining an edge of your seat experience. Also the scenes with Bob on the run after Lockjaw's invasion does the same in promoting a compelling middle act. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood also shines with his jazzy and percussive score that lessens any cliches by giving the action an unique and offbeat mood, a contrast to his chamber music score for "There Will Be Blood" and proves he's a terrific composer and also might finally win a well deserved Oscar. Finally, Michael Bauman's cinematography encompasses the viewer into the action and brings into the fold Paul Thomas Anderson's long shot fingerprint that he utilized so well in "Boogie Nights". "One Battle After Another" is a great visual piece of cinema but less proficient in its screenplay and as an acting showcase

Leonardo DiCaprio, as always, gives a terrific performance as Bob Fergusson. After 30 years in the business, Leo has not lost his luster and is able to disappear into Bob's traits, personality and history. As he pants, cries and panics in the pursuit of his daughter, the pain and the grit is on display. While he will most likely not win Best Actor, it is still another well deserved nomination and a notch on an already full career belt. Unfortunately, DiCaprio is surrounded by a cast of actors who are too abbreviated in their performances. I felt that Teyana Taylor and Benicio Del Toro, good as they were, had very little screen time with no room for standout work warranting Oscar consideration. They were merely nominated just because of the film's frontrunner status. I also wanted more focus on Chase Infiniti's Willa, as she's the core of the story instead of merely being the figure of the action, even though she does stand out in the film's final act. The screenplay did not take the time to let these three characters have dimension that would compete with DiCaprio and I felt that if they were in the film more, Taylor and Del Toro's nominations would have been more deserving and Chase Infiniti given a spot in the Top 5 for Best Actress.

Finally, my verdict of Sean Penn's performance. Having gone in open-minded and not expecting much, I have to say that Penn's performance is for the most part adequate. It's hardly an Oscar worthy performance but Penn does bring some sense of mental imbalance to the Lockjaw character that works in the progression of the story. Even as his voice is a gravelly, regimental and one-noted, I suppose its within the scope of what Paul Thomas Anderson had intended for Penn and it makes his character scarier than usual. However, it's nowhere near the multi-layered performance of Stellan Skarsgaard's Gustav Borg in "Sentimental Value" which I'm still routing for all the way.

As I stated in my review of "There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson's frontrunner status in the top 3 categories is too little too late when his peak was a lifetime ago. While he still has the great filmmaking acumen to stir up the audience with great visuals and another great performance out of Leonardo DiCaprio, "One Battle After Another" is not in the league of his prior achievements and a Best Picture win would not be fully deserving.

7/10

[dannyreviews]

There Will Be Blood (2007)

For the first time in nearly 20 years, I rewatched probably the crown jewel of 21st century cinema with Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece "There Will Be Blood", probably one of the last legitimate American film classics, before being hijacked by endless remakes, sequels and woke garbage. With Anderson's frontrunner status for the top 3 Oscars at Sunday's 98th Academy Awards for "One Battle After Another". it seems to be too little too late to finally honor Paul Thomas Anderson when he had already peaked in his filmmaking prowess so many years earlier.

The film focuses on Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), first as a young silver prospector, in a 20 minute wordless overture. He adopts the son of a deceased workman in order to project himself as the typical Christian family man and worm his way into buying properties to drill oil. After unsuccessful attempts, Daniel is met by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) who wants his family's land drilled for oil. What begins as a promising business deal devolves into conflicts with Paul's preacher twin Eli, explosions, family estrangement, lost relatives, and like the film's title, a whole lot of shed blood and at the helm of the sinking ship is Daniel losing grip on reality.

"There Will Be Blood" focuses on the business end of monetary insanity, much like the appropriately titled silent film classic "Greed" from 1924. But while Gibson Gowland's McTeague was melodramatic in his facial expressions, Day-Lewis is chillingly evil without any effort. Day-Lewis slithers into Daniel Plainview's character evolution. In the first scenes, he's a snake oil salesman with subtle instability, and fake generosity. If anything, he's a protagonist that we want to lose because of his arrogant behavior. That want becomes full blown as the stain of evil implants itself on Day-Lewis' face and bodily movements. He's not a human being in any trait whatsoever, and the film's two final scenes illustrate that transformation in spades. It's why I consider Daniel Day-Lewis' Oscar winning performance as the gold standard of 21st century cinema, because there was no script read or rehearsal, nor mere speaking of the words, but a chameleon of the highest quality. Also excellent is Paul Dano as the Sunday twins Paul and Eli. In particular as the latter of the two twins, playing a character who is the complete opposite of Daniel with kindness and spirit and when the two butt heads, you see the battle between miserly behavior and selflessness racing in an endless marathon.

The other great aspect of "There Will Be Blood" is Robert Elswit's Oscar winning cinematography, which pays homage to the early 20th century Sothwestern paintings of Frederick Remington and Charles M. Russell, all the way down to the perfect aperture that captures the horizon by the desert. Elswit also pays homage to the burning of Atlanta scene in "Gone With The Wind" by capturing the flames and dark black smoke of the oil rig explosion, so rich and lush in its exaggerated colors. Elswit's win came as a surprise to people expecting Roger Deakins to win his long awaited Oscar for the Coen Brothers' "No Country For Old Men" (which coincedentally was filming in the same Texas region at the same time) but Elswit made the setting simmer in its beauty as a contrast to Daniel's madness whereas Deakins' work making evil Javier Bardem's surroundings stand out did half the job by comparison.

As I stated before, "There Will Be Blood" was the peak for both Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis, and the fact that the Academy Awards are most likely going to award Anderson the top three honors just feels hollow. Where were the Academy voters when Anderson was breathing his artistry onto a blank canvas and creating the all-American tragedy? Looking at clips from "One Battle After Another", I see a filmmaker who has been co-opted by the big studios to become the industry standard. When you see "There Will Be Blood" and his breakthrough masterpiece "Boogie Nights", there's a unique artistic DNA that distinguishes him from his peers. I have yet to see "One Battle After Another" but I'm not holding my breath that it's going to be at the level of "There Will Be Blood", especially having Sean Penn stinking up the screen overacting with awkwardly stressed syllables in the few moments I've caught of him in small clips. Penn is a million miles behind Daniel Day-Lewis in acting qualities and it should be Day-Lewis that represents the highlight of Paul Thomas Anderson's career.

"There Will Be Blood" has remained an unforgettable experience when I first saw it in the theater all those years ago. Daniel Day-Lewis' performance left such a lasting impression on this avid film lover as to the possibilities of how to portray the biggest SOB on earth. Even from watching the trailer for the film months earlier, I knew Day-Lewis would not only win the Oscar, but remain a pillar of famous film characters that will be talked about for decades, if not till the end of time.

10/10

[dannyreviews]

Sentimental Value (2025)

Ingmar Bergman, Jan Troell, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Thomas Vinterberg, Lars Von Trier; five masters of Scandinavian cinema. Now there is a sixth name to be added to this list, Norwegian Joachim Trier and what a splash he has made on this current Oscars season. "Sentimental Value", which will probably go down as his magnum opus, has received the most Oscar nominations for a Scandinavian film with nine, a deserving honor it holds.

The film centers around two sisters, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes Borg (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleas) who have just buried their mother and are now reconnecting with their estranged filmmaker father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgaard) who hasn't made a film in many years. It is during a retrospect of his career that Gustav runs into actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) and decides to cast her in his long awaited next film, whose plot holds the secrets and skeletons of the Borg family, going back generations and the reasons for the family's emotional disconnect from relationship and fidelity.

Director Trier and co-writer Eskil Trogt have crafted an intelligently written screenplay that doesn't dumb down its characters, nor does it dumb down the intelligence of the viewers. The film opens with a narrative structure that gives a background of the relationship between Gustav and daughters that is wrought with that aforementioned emotional disconnect but that's only the beginning. We are also introduced to Gustav's backstory that explains his personality, and devotion to his art, that is rich in colorful and sometimes graphic detail. We also see the sisters in the present day, Nora as an actress and Agnes as a married mother of a small child, and the baggage that both still carry as a result of Gustav's absence as children. Even the house where the Borg family has lived for generations acts as its own character, with its dreary white and red interior design that looks like a gallery of IKEA showrooms, bearing witness to these permanent scars. Trier and Trogt haven't just created a family, but their environment as well.

Trier's choice of musical selections are also integral to the plot. The opening titles song, the very bluesy and folky "Dancing Girl" by Terry Callier sets the stage for a hypnotic trance into a rabbit hole of intrigue and eavesdropping, all the way to the closing song "Cannock Chase" by Labi Siffre, whose calm tone acts as the end of a tense marathon. How Trier was able to use two obscure songs not merely as a soundtrack filler but more as a mood stabilizer also reinforces his genius. Just like Martin Scorsese using the coda to Derek and the Dominoes "Layla" in the body count scene in "Goodfellas", the right notes and the right attitude can make a film go from very good to excellent with the snap of a finger.

"Sentimental Value" joins that very intimate list of films with a minimum of four acting nominations, all well deserved. Reinsve and Lilleaas are this generation's Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in the manner in which they disappear into the doldrums of the demure and delicate Scandinavian film heroines. Both capture the muted and introverted personalities of the Borg sisters in the way that Ullmann and Andersson confronted one another in Bergman's "Persona" (which there is a visual reference to in this film). It's strange to see an American child actress like Elle Fanning, known for "Daddy Day Care" and "We Bought a Zoo" show up in a film from Norway and receive her first Oscar nomination, but she astounds in her supporting performance, even as a match to her Norwegian counterparts. Her Rachel Kemp manages to balance the American mannerisms with the emotional baggage of a Bergman heroine. But the heart and soul of "Sentimental Value" belongs to the one and only Stellan Skarsgaard.

I have always been an admirer of Stellan Skarsgaard's acting, from his breakthrough in Von Trier's "Breaking The Waves" to Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting" and most recently, HBO's "Chernobyl" (which also had Best Actress frontrunner Jessie Buckley). Now comes "Sentimental Value" and the 50+ year transatlantic career that Skarsgaard holds is culminated in his greatest performance ever. Gustav isn't the typical estranged father, he was never abusive to his daughters, but more conceited in putting his career before his parenting duties. Skarsgaard also doesn't scream or go into histrionics in every other scene. The fact that he is this quiet and emotionally damaged man is all that is required for the viewer to understand this character. The notion that "less is more" applies to the nth degree with Skarsgaard's Gustav and it warrants him winning a well deserved Oscar. If the Academy Awards feels it fitting to give Best Supporting Actor to the current frontrunner, which is the overrated and mediocre "actor" Sean Penn for "One Battle After Another", then it shows that the voters are not only tone deaf but irreversibly and terminally brain damaged. This is Stellan Skarsgaard's award for the taking, no questions asked.

"Sentimental Value" will hopefully maintain Norway, and therefore the rest of the Scandinavian region's place as a hotbed of cinematic masterpieces and with the current record holding of nine nominations, Trier and his contemporaries have potential to reshape the future of the Academy Awards where these films can flourish and open up to a new generation of young audience members feeling the burnout of endless superhero franchise films.

10/10

[dannyreviews]

Hamnet (2025)

The 98th Academy Awards is in less than two weeks and with all the precursor awards out of the way, there is only one sure thing to come out on the stage on Oscar night; Jessie Buckley. In only 7 years, from her breakthrough in the HBO series "Chernobyl" to standout work in Sarah Polley's "Women Talking" and a previous Oscar nomination for "The Lost Daughter", Buckley now emerges as the one and only frontrunner for Best Actress, in what will probably be her signature performance, as Agnes (Ann) Hathaway Shakespeare in Chloe Zhao's "Hamnet" and what a well deserved win it will be.

The film opens with a chance encounter between the young Agnes Hathaway and William "Will" Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) during one of Agnes' falconry sessions. She, a healer by trade and nature, and he, a tutor by financial necessity to pay off his father's debt, have a whirlwind romance that leads to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and shotgun wedding. Through further financial struggle and a stillbirth, Agnes and Will are able to set up their family with daughters Susana (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and Judith (Olivia Lynes), and son Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). But the Shakespeare family is put through the biggest hurdle when Hamnet dies from the Bubonic Plague while Will was out of town and both Agnes and Will cope by throwing themselves into their crafts, especially Will's work on a famous play named partly in honor of their son that will change the theater landscape forever.

"Hamnet" is a gorgeous period piece and acting powerhouse that started as a tightly timed screenplay that runs on a typical A-B plot. The first third of the film which showed Agnes and Will's early years felt rushed and underwhelming. We know very little about their backstories and are instead thrust straight into a carefully polished "man meets girl" formula. The reason for this mood is the partial production of Amblin Entertainment and its head Steven Spielberg, who is the king of the typical, corporate, ready-made film. If anything, one of two things could have happened, remove their first meeting altogether and open with the Shakespeare family unit, or devote another 15-20 minutes on the opening itself. Luckily, once we get to the scenes involving the birth of the children and then the family older, "Hamnet" finds its rhythm and actually takes time to focus on the peccadillos and idiosyncratic traits of its characters.

"Hamnet" more than makes up a millionfold for its limp beginning by focusing on the grieving process in a unique manner and that is through the opening night showing of "Hamlet". What we see is the beauty of entertainment as a distraction but also highlighting the pain on display. And what we see is why Jessie Buckley will win the Best Actress Oscar. She hardly utters a word and her reaction of reliving her son's life and death in the form of the character of Hamlet is simply bone-chilling and will leave you with tears in your eyes. Also, in the scene when Hamnet takes his last breath, she lets out this scream where the pain is raw. Find me any leading female performance in this awards cycle that can come close, because you can't and Jessie Buckley owns this season rightfully so.

The rest of the ensemble also give excellent performances, including Paul Mescal, who gives just the right amount of emotion to Will's pain without it seeming hammy. Watching him recite the "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy has a calm and quiet aura of solace that doesn't come by often. Jacobi Jupe makes a great impression as the titular Hamnet reminding me of Jude Hall's performance in Kenneth Branagh's "Belfast", juvenile as a typical child, yet mature and caring. Also, it's always great to see Emily Watson in any performance and she's no different here as Will's mother Mary. I only wish she had a bigger presence in the film but I suppose it would have been merely filler.

Just a quick warning, when you get to the last scene of "Hamnet", it's not a matter of if you tear up, but when. There is no way that a sane person can reach the ending without tearing up and/or getting a lump in one's throat. My lump was still there even 10-20 minutes after the film ended.

9/10

[dannyreviews]

Bands Still Not In The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Today (2/25), the nominees for the 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced and as usual, the names are a mish mosh of rock, pop, contemporary and rap groups. They are in alphabetical order:

The Black Crowes

Jeff Buckley

Mariah Carey

Phil Collins

Melissa Etheridge

Lauryn Hill

Billy Idol

INXS

Iron Maiden

Joy Division/New Order

New Edition

Oasis

P!nk

Sade

Shakira

Luther Vandross

Wu-Tang Clan

Notice anything? Not one act on this list was around in the 1960s and only a small percentage of the nominees were around in the 1970s and about half actually constitute as rock acts. Now I know that as time goes on, the chronology of the inductees moves on to more contemporary acts, but not when there's a backlog of 1950s, 60s and 70s rock artists and bands that still have not gotten their due. Note: I did another list like this many years ago and a lot of the artists/bands have since gotten their due. Hopefully, the same will apply with the following acts of the (also in alphabetical order).

Alan Parsons Project

Paul Anka

Boston

Jim Croce

Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Dan Fogelberg

Grand Funk Railroad

The Guess Who

Herman's Hermits

Humble Pie

J. Geils Band

Jethro Tull

Tom Jones

Kansas

King Crimson

Little Feat

Little River Band

Meat Loaf

The Monkees

Mott The Hoople

Procol Harum

Neil Sedaka (UPDATE: Passed away on 2/27/2026)

Boz Scaggs

Squeeze

Steppenwolf

Styx

Supertramp

Three Dog Night

Tommy James And The Shondells

Toto

[dannyreviews]

The Substance (2024)

With the current Oscar season in full swing, I thought I would go back to last year's awards cycle to a film favorite that should have gotten more award wins. Coralie Fargeat's breakthrough horror masterpiece "The Substance", pushes the boundaries and raises the bar on how a horror film should interact with the audience and culminates in a career best performance for Demi Moore that wound up getting robbed of a Best Actress win.

Moore plays Elisabeth, an aging movie star with a long running aerobics program. When she is fired by the show's smug producer Harvey (Dennis Quaid), Elisabeth finds herself in a car accident. It is while recuperating in the hospital that she receives an advertisement for a black market drug nicknamed "The Substance" which can create a younger version of herself. Elisabeth takes the serum, is incapacitated and her young self Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges from her body. The catch is that Elisabeth and Sue must operate on alternating weeks. Elisabeth takes the drug, zones out and Sue takes her place. Then Sue takes the drug, zones out herself and Elisabeth comes out of her week long coma. But the greed of endless beauty and attention gets to both Elisabeth and Sue's heads and they start to overdose on the drug, with disastrous consequences.

"The Substance" is probably the most original horror film, if not the most original story in any genre in many years. Director and writer Fargeat takes what could have been a cliched story about overcoming aging in the world of entertainment, and inverts the scenario into a horror induced bent. Think of it as a mix between "All About Eve" and "Jekyll & Hyde", with a dash of Shakespearean tragedy and Aesopian morality. But it does not seem like a rip off of these tales because it goes the extra mile to create original characters that may have the typical motives of fame and transformation but results that have never been thought up before nor will ever be bested in the years to come.

Without giving too much away, the final sequence of "The Substance is the clincher as to the limits a screenplay can have to show far its characters can go for their pursuits. Slowly but surely, we see a point of no return that is as scary as Regan McNeil's turning head and pea soup vomit, as unexpected as the titular Alien coming out of Kane's stomach and as mesmerizing as the birth of Frankenstein's Monster, until the final scene where the mood shifts to melancholy and bittersweet serenity.

For the longest time, I was not the biggest Demi Moore fan, in fact I found her acting in films like "The Scarlet Letter" lethargic and listless and other films like "Ghost" good but not outstanding. All that changed when I finally saw "The Substance" and I saw a performance that had been waiting in the wings for almost 40 years to make its mark. I realized that Demi Moore was a great actress who gave mediocre performances because the studios saw her more as a sex symbol and less as a serious actress. Moore simply leaves you hypnotized in her physical and mental body language, all held back from prior performances that could have made her viewed in a serious light. Demi Moore proved that in 2024 that one can start all over again and reinvent how they tackle a role with heart, body and soul.

Margaret Qualley also shows herself as a great actress in a different style and attitude than of her famous mother Andie McDowell. Qualley's Sue is a mini Demi in appearance, but different in subtle personality. While her being nominated for an Oscar was a long shot, I definitely see Qualley as a future nominee and her performance in "The Substance" sets the precedent. Dennis Quaid's Harvey is the typical slimy Hollywood producer and he is deliciously evil. Quaid plays his role like a Batman villain, dressed in exaggerated colors and speaking in a cocky tone, providing a comedic tone to an otherwise dreary mood.

"The Substance" received 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress for Moore and a well deserved win for Best Makeup, which plays a key role in the later scenes. As stated before, Demi Moore was robbed of a Best Actress win because no matter what other films you've seen from that Oscars ceremony, no performance will come close. Having seen clips of Mikey Madison in "Anora", which was the eventual winner, it seems that Madison's performance is more centered on her thick Brooklyn accent and less focused on body language. Will Demi Moore finally win an Oscar somewhere down the line? If she does, the performance will probably not be in the same league as "The Substance", then again, not many performances will.

9.5/10

[dannyreviews]

Cinema Legends Turning 90 in 2026

A new feature for this blog. I will only include names of people that have full biographies on IMDb, are featured on the Nonagenarians And Centenarians website and/or featured on Wikipedia's list of births on the 1936, 1936 in Film, 1936 in Television, 1936 in Music and 1936 in Animation pages. This will not include photos as there will be more names than the number of files allowed to post. In alphabetical order:

Anna Maria Alberghetti - actress, singer (5/15) ✔️

Norma Aleandro - actress (5/2) ✔️

Budd Albright - stuntman, actor (8/18)

Alan Alda - actor, producer, director (1/28) ✔️

Marisa Allasio - actress (7/14)

Joe Alves - production designer (5/21) ✔️

Goksel Arsoy - actor, producer (3/15) ✔️

Ursula Andress - actress (3/19) ✔️

Judy Bamber - actress (10/13)

Lino Banfi - actor (7/11)

Jeanine Basinger - film historian (2/3) ✔️

Charikila Baxevanos - actress (3/15) ✔️

Brian Blessed - actor (10/9)

Joan Bradshaw - actress, producer (4/14) ✔️

Burt Brinckerhoff - director, producer, actor (10/25)

Calvin Brown - stuntman, actor (4/23) ✔️

K Callan - actress (1/9) ✔️

Dick Cavett - talk show host, actor (11/19)

Michael Chapin - actor (7/25)

Matt Clark - actor, director (11/25) ✝️

Matt Climber - director (1/12) ✔️

Jess Conrad - actor, singer (2/24) ✔️

Gary Conway - actor (2/4) ✔️

Mariclare Costello - actress (2/3) ⭐️

Monika Dahlberg - actress (4/30) ✔️

Andrew Davies - producer, screenwriter, novelist (9/20)

Bud Davis - stuntman, actor (12/23)

Lisa Davis - actress (4/20) ✔️

Don DeLillo - novelist, screenwriter (11/20)

Bruce Dern - actor (6/4) ✔️

Kiril Donchev - film composer (2/21) ✔️

Jean Doumanian - producer, screenwriter (7/28)

Keir Dullea - actor (5/30) ✔️

Nancy Dussault - actress (6/30)

Hector Elizondo - actor (12/22)

Peter Ellis - actor (5/30) ✔️

Joel Fabiani - actor (9/28)

Carmen Flores - actress (8/18)

Frank Fontaine - actor (11/28)

Jill Forster - actress (11/30)

Anita Gillette - actress (8/16)

Lawrence Gordon - producer (3/25) ✔️

Jerry Grant - film composer (12/31)

Walon Green - director, screenwriter (12/15)

Judith Guest - novelist, screenwriter (3/29) ✔️

Buddy Guy - musician, actor (7/30)

Ingeborg Hallstein - singer, actress (5/23) ✔️

Richard Harrison - actor (5/26) ✔️

Alan Heim - film editor (5/21) ✔️

John-Michael Howson - writer, producer, actor (8/8)

Engelbert Humperdinck - singer, actor (5/2) ✔️

Pam Hyatt - voice actress (4/9) ✔️

Jerrold Immel - film composer (9/9)

Dan Inosanto - stuntman, actor (7/24)

Melissa Jaffer - actress (12/1)

Jabeel Jalil - actress (4/1) ✔️

Glenn Jordan - director (4/5) ✔️

Xenia Kalogerpoulou - actress (9/12)

Philip Kaufman - director, producer, screenwriter (10/23)

Alfred R. Kelman - director, producer (5/17) ✔️

Doug Kershaw - musician, actor (1/24) ✔️

Yuliy Kim - film lyricist (12/23)

Walter Koenig - actor (9/14)

Milt Kogan - actor (4/10) ✔️

Susan Kohner - actress (11/11)

Yoichi Kotabe - director, producer, animator (9/15)

Charles Kuenstle - actor, screenwriter (5/3) ✔️

Jerry Lacy - actor (3/27) ✔️

Sue Ann Langdon - actress (3/8) ✔️

John Leyton - actor, singer (2/17) ✔️

Sanford Lieberson - producer (7/16)

Ken Loach - director, producer, screenwriter (6/17)

Jerzy Maksymiuk - film composer (4/9) ✔️

Siw Malmkvist - singer, actress (12/31)

Asa Maynor - actress (9/22)

Zubin Mehta - orchestra conductor (4/29) ✔️

Don Menza - film score musician (4/22) ✔️

Ed Metzger - actor (1/23) ✔️

Rhys McConnochie - actor (12/28)

Richard Michaels - director (2/15) ✔️

Thom Noble - film editor (5/??) ✔️

Masako Nozawa - voice actress (10/25)

Corinne Orr - voice actress (1/6) ✔️

David Ossman - actor, writer (12/6)

Stuart H. Pappe - editor (7/6)

Raimond Pauls - film composer (1/12) ✔️

Monika Peitsch - actress (12/23)

Millie Perkins - actress (5/12) ✔️

Edward Petherbridge - actor (8/3)

Florin Piersic - actor (1/27) ✔️

Pat Priest - actress (8/15)

Frederick Pyne - actor (12/30)

Alan Reed Jr. - actor (5/10) ✔️

Steve Reich - minimalist/film composer (10/3)

Dawn Richard - actress (3/5) ✔️

Dick Richards - director, screenwriter (7/9)

Martin Rosen - director, producer (8/31)

Stephanie Rothman - director, producer, screenwriter (11/9)

Jose Carlos Ruiz - actor (11/17)

Jorge Saljines - director, producer (7/31)

Dede Santana - actor (4/29) ✔️

Hiroshi Sasagawa - director, producer, animator (7/9)

Gerald Scarfe - director, animator, illustrator (6/1) ✔️

Lawrence Schiller - director, producer (12/28)

Elizabeth Shepherd - actress (8/12)

Sushma Seth - actress (6/20)

Mala Sinha - actress (11/11)

Georgina Spelvin - actress (3/1) ✔️

Ralph Steadman - art director, poster artist, title designer (5/15) ✔️

Tommy Steele - actor, singer (12/17)

Sandor Stern - director, producer, screenwriter (7/13)

Gueorgui Stoyanov - director (7/27)

Zdenek Sverak - actor, screenwriter (3/28) ✔️

Joan Tewskbury - director, producer, screenwriter, actress (4/8) ✔️

Kevin Thomas - film critic (6/12)

Luciano Tovoli - cinematographer, director (10/30)

Robert Towers - actor (8/19)

Alfred Uhry - playwright, screenwriter (12/3)

Lucha Villa - singer, actress (10/30)

Glenn Vilppu - animator (9/9)

Sandra Voe - actress (10/6)

Wavy Gravy - actor, personality (5/15) ✔️

Carolyn Wickwire - actress (12/28)

John Wilder - director, producer, screenwriter, actor (5/28) ✔️

Richard Wilson - actor (7/9)

Bill Wyman - musician, actor, producer (10/24)

Anthony Zerbe - actor (5/20) ✔️

Svetalana Zhutovskaya - animator (8/20)

✔️ - Turned 90 and lived through 2026

✝️ - Passed Away in 2026 at 89

⭐️ - Turned 90 and Passed Away in 2026

[dannyreviews]

Cinema Legends Over 100 Years Old Still Alive (as of 1/1/2026)

New year, new updated list of centenarians.

Elisabeth Waldo - actress, musician (b. 1918) + 3/16/2026

Caren Marsh Doll - dancer, actress (b. 1919)

Maj-Britt Håkansson - actress (b. 1919)

Francis Rigaud - director (b. 1920)

Yavar Abbass - producer, cinematographer (b. 1920)

Patricia Wright - actress (b. 1921)

Beulah Garrick - actress (b. 1921)

Edgar Morin - director, screenwriter, philosopher (b. 1921) + 5/29/2026

Elisabeth Kirby - actress (b. 1921) + 4/20/2026

Ray Anthony - musician, actor (b. 1922)

Jacqueline White - actress (b. 1922)

Annette Warren - singer, actress (b. 1922)

Helen Colvig - costume designer (b. 1922)

Annabel Maule - actress (b. 1922)

Bess Meisler - actress (b. 1922)

Aram Boyajian - editor, producer, director (b. 1922)

Virginia Fleener - animator (b. 1922)

Manos Zacharias - director (b. 1922)

Alexandra Myskova - actress (b. 1922)

Vincent Ball - actor (b. 1923)

Johnny Pate - film composer (b. 1923)

Vera Linnecar - director, animator (b. 1923) + 5/??/2026

Enid Wizig - animator (b. 1923) + 2/12/2026

Jozef Hen - screenwriter, director (b. 1923)

Ruth Geller - actress (b. 1923)

Paul Harding - actor (b. 1923)

David D. Osborn - screenwriter (b. 1923)

David Lawton - actor (b. 1923)

Lino Murolo - actor (b. 1923)

Adeline Leonard Seakwood - production coordinator (b. 1923)

Maria Victoria - actress (b. 1923)

Anne Russell - actress (b. 1923)

Philip Roye - actor (b. 1923)

Marina Cacciotti - actress (b. 1923)

Francoise Sullivan - dancer, actress (b. 1923)

Eva Marie Saint - actress (b. 1924)

Lee Adams - lyricist (b. 1924)

Ann Vernon - actress (b. 1924)

Woody Woodbury - actor, comedian (b. 1924)

Yatsuko Tan'ami - actress (b. 1924)

Jean Harlez - director (b. 1924) + 5/15/2026

Madeline Anderson - director (b. 1924)

Kang Cheng - director (b. 1924)

Walter Schultheiss - actor (b. 1924)

Teresa Cunillé - actress (b. 1924)

Ip Chun - martial artist, actor (b. 1924)

Terry Gibbs - film score musician (b. 1924)

Robert Porter - producer (b. 1924)

Pat Jaffe - producer, editor (b. 1924)

Norbert Terry - director, producer (b. 1924)

Alice Toen - actress (b. 1924)

Richard Gilbert - director, producer (b. 1924)

Ronald Spencer - director, producer (b. 1924)

Ti Lu - actor (b. 1924)

Donald P. Desmond - set constructor (b. 1924)

Luvsanjamtsyn Tsogzolmaa - actress (b. 1924)

Pat Parrish - actress (b. 1924)

Ute Sielisch - actress (b. 1924)

Humberto Almazán - actor (b. 1924)

Georges Riviere - actor (b. 1924)?

Dick Van Dyke - actor, singer (b. 1925)

Lee Grant - actress, director (b. 1925)

Thelma Ruby - actress (b. 1925)

Pete Murray - actor, DJ (b. 1925)

Michael Beint - actor (b. 1925) + 4/23/2026

Brigitte Auber - actress (b. 1925)

Peggy Webber - actress, screenwriter (b. 1925)

Janette Bertrand - actress, screenwriter (b. 1925)

Alan Shayne - actor, casting director (b. 1925)

Hal Gurnee - director, producer (b. 1925)

Yoshiki Onoda - director (b. 1925)

Bathsheba Garnett - actress (b. 1925)

Noel De Souza - actor (b. 1925)

Eve Brenner - actress (b. 1925)

Hilkka Kinnunen - actress (b. 1925)

Al Hyslop - producer (b. 1925)

Adele Addison - actress, opera singer, playback singer (b. 1925)

Blanche Marvin - actress, screenwriter, critic (b. 1925) + 1/13/2026

Jose Torres - actor (b. 1925)

Lao Shen - actor (b. 1925)

Ewa Krasnodebska - actress (b. 1925)

Shelia Mitchell - actress (b. 1925)

Masao Hayama - actor (b. 1925)

Hubert Frank - director (b. 1925)

Yoshihiro Ishikawa - screenwriter, director (b. 1925)

Larry Kostroff - production manager (b. 1925)

Leonard S. Smith Jr. - production manager/assistant director (b. 1925)

Nicholas Sgarro - director, script supervisor (b. 1925)

Rey Baumel - actor (b. 1925)

Thomas Frost - sound engineer (b. 1925) + 4/10/2026

Erhard Marggraf - actor (b. 1925)

Matsuko Shiga - actress (b. 1925)

Gloria Patrice - actress (b. 1925)

Joyce McCluskey - actress (b. 1925)

Claudia Lawrence - actress (b. 1925)

Irmina Romanis - makeup artist (b. 1925)

Jean-Louis Maury - actor (b. 1925)

Shinobu Asaji - actor (b. 1925)

Marc Grady Adams - actor (b. 1925)

[dannyreviews]

Film people turning 100 in 2026 (part 2)

Annie Geeraerts - actress

Rey Verhaege - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Sara Montes - actress (Update: Made it to 100)

Frederick Rolf - actor

Mina Kolb - actress (Update: Made It To 100)

Giannis Vogiatzis - actor

Elaine LaLanne - TV personality (Update: Made it to 100)

Bob Legionaire - actor

Ivanka Mezan - actress

Anupras Lauciunas - actor

Lyudmila Arinina - actress  (Update: Passed Away on March 14, 2026 at age 99)

Vladimir Zamansky - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Maria Bastos - actress 

Rimma Shorokhova - actor

Pilar Padilla - actress 

Margarita Andrey - actress 

Koco Qendro - actor

Jack Bravman - director 

Cyma Rubin - director

Sumiko Haneda - director (Update: Made it to 100)

Odysseas Kosteletos - director 

Guru Bagchi - director 

Alfredo Leone - director 

Allan Martin - director 

Stuart Canin - score musician 

Peter Wright - dancer, director, choreographer, actor

Horst Hachler - director  (Update: Made it to 100)

Claudine Meunier - playback singer

Larry Carr - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Helena Lebdusková - editor 

(no photo available)

Zdenka Navrátilová - editor

(no photo available)

Volk Mol - cinematographer 

(no photo available)

Heinz Liesendahl - director

(no photo available)

Horst Flick - director 

(no photo available)

Kurt Ulrich - director, actor

(no photo available)

A. Leslie Thomas - production designer, art director 

(no photo available)

Rolf Bayer - director, producer, screenwriter 

(no photo available)

Ernst Ritter von Theumer - director, producer, screenwriter

(no photo available)

Penelope Munday - actress

(no photo available)

John Dutton - script supervisor

(no photo available)

Frank Arno - actor

(no photo available)

Mike Shoskes - sound mixer

(no photo available)

Michael Egan - actor

(no photo available)

Elizabeth Ross - actress

(no photo available)

Mario Russo - assistant director

(no photo available)

[dannyreviews]

Film people turning 100 in 2026 (Part 1)

I’m about a month early but I’ve decided to get a head start on this project.

Mel Brooks - director, producer, screenwriter, actor, comedian, composer

David Attenborough - actor, narrator, director, producer (Update: Made It To 100)

Laurence Rosenthal - composer

Terry Kilburn - actor

Marilyn Erskine - actress (Update: Made it to 100)

Bambi Linn - actress, dancer (Update: Made it to 100)

David Frankham - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Judith Magre - actress 

Margaret Barton - actress (Update: Made it to 100)

Gene Shalit - film critic (Update: Made it to 100)

Jack Waltzer - actor, acting teacher

Joe Negri - actor, musician (Update: Passed Away on May 30, 2026 at age 99)

Stan Ross - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Araby Lockhart - actress

Eileen Page - actress 

Everett Chambers - director, producer, screenwriter, actor

Gyorgy Kurtag - composer (Update: Made it to 100)

Philip Springer - composer, songwriter (Update: Made It To 100)

Aleksandr Zatsepin - composer (Update: Made it to 100)

Gudrun Thielemann - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Teddy Reno - actor, singer

Harry Raymon - actor (Update: Made it to 100)

Marianne Prenzel - actress (Update: Made it to 100)

Peppino Mazzullo - voice actor

Ruth Grossi - actress

Wendy Playfair  - actress (Update: Passed Away on March 10, 2026 at age 99)

Patricia Davidson - actress

David Lee - composer, score musician

LaNorma Fox - stunt double (Update: Made It To 100)

Hilary Knight - illustrator

[dannyreviews]

The Witch (The VVitch) (2015)

In time for Halloween, this is the perfect opportunity to review probably one of two of the greatest horror films of the last 15 years (the other being The Babadook), Robert Eggers' "The Witch", which is more cinematic in its storytelling than cheaply made histrionics and jump shots.

In 1630s New England, family patriarch William (Ralph Ineson) has been banished from his Puritan community for being too prideful. He and his family, which includes his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their five children, uproot themselves and settle into a new life in the remote woods. At first, things seem normal, but when eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) plays peek-a-boo with her newborn brother Samuel, the baby disappears before her eyes. As the family copes with their unexpected loss, William takes Thomasin and elder son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) into the woods to hunt, Kate becomes catatonic, and twin siblings Jonas and Mercy (Lucas Dawson and Ellie Granger) play with their goat Black Phillip. Gradually, these various occurrences lead to a chain reaction of witchcraft, possession and a family that ends up turning on one another.

"The Witch" operates as a mixture of different film types, horror, family drama and historical fiction and it aces all on all three. On the horror end, director Eggers and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, create a hellish, gray landscape where the unexpected phenomena of forestry, religion and witchcraft come from all four corners. As a family drama, the emotions of a Shakespeare tragedy or a Eugene O'Neill saga are made plain on the faces of the characters. The screams, the yelling and the tears aren't hammed up as you would see in some MST3K schlockfest and the actors aren't smiling as if they know they're in on the joke. The disintegration of the family unit and the loss of mental faculties are as believable and even more frightening. Lastly and probably most impressive, "The Witch" acts as an early English dialect study that is so eerily perfect. The entire cast perfect the word choice, syntax and archaic pronunciation that it borders on a foreign language.

In a breakthrough performance, Ralph Ineson shines as William, the domineering, yet caring patriarch who tries to keep some sort of sanity but is slowly breaking apart at the seams. Ineson is one of those "people in the thing" actors who always pops up in other big budgeted films, television shows and video games but in small blink-or-miss roles. His deep whiskey voice is reminiscent of the late Alan Rickman and adds more human elements to William. Kate Dickie, known to many as Lyse Arryn in Game of Thrones (which Ineson also was in), is one of the best actresses to play insane characters. She's like Sally Field if she wasn't overacting and leans more towards a subdued insanity trait like that of Isabelle Adjani. As Katherine, Dickie is also top notch in playing someone breaking at the seams, except in her case, the seams broke very early. And then there's Anya Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw as Thomasin and Caleb respectively. We get to see Taylor-Joy in the genesis of her career make a mark like other child actors such as Jodie Foster and Reese Witherspoon and even an old timer like Dean Stockwell, in which they act more adult than child. Scrimshaw does probably the most impressive character shift, from a naïve child to enlightened soul. Taylor-Joy has rightfully broken into the mainstream, but Ineson, Dickie and Scrimshaw still have their selective audiences and hopefully as the cult status of "The Witch" progresses, the rest of mainstream Hollywood should take notice of these underrated talents.

As I said before, the elements of Shakespeare and O'Neill in this grey colored landscape makes "The Witch" a most unique horror film that can be taken seriously and not as unintended comedic fodder. It's great to see how far Robert Eggers has progressed in the last 10 years, and "The Witch" is an impressive debut from a filmmaker who should be talked about in the same sentence as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

9/10

[dannyreviews]

Entertainment Legends Who Should Receive The Kennedy Center Honors (2025 Edition)

Here is an update of the list that I last did in 2018. This is due to the announcement on President Donald Trump's Truth Social Account that the KCH will be announced tomorrow (8/13/2025). I acknowledge that some of these are unrealistic choices due to celebrities that do not like Trump or have artistic styles that do not conform to Trump's new vision of the Kennedy Center, but that does not stop me from including them on this list.

Actors:

Alan Alda, Jane Alexander, Michael Caine, Leslie Caron, Glenn Close, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, Boyd Gaines, Joel Grey, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, Nathan Lane, Jessica Lange, Sophia Loren, Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Denzel Washington

Composers/Conductors:

John Adams, Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Phillip Glass, John Corigliano, Dave Grusin, Arvo Part, Mike Post, Simon Rattle, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Leonard Slatkin, Morton Subotnick, La Monte Young, Hans Zimmer

Directors:

Woody Allen, James Cameron, Coen Brothers, Ron Howard, Barry Levinson, James Ivory, Ridley Scott

Musicians:

Herb Alpert, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Larry Carlton, Ron Carter, Ry Cooder, Bela Fleck, James Galway, Evelyn Glennie, Keith Jarrett, Kim Kashkashian, Wynton Marsalis, Jean-Luc Ponty, Pinchas Zukerman

Singers:

ABBA, Paul Anka, Janet Baker, Cecilia Bartoli, Kathleen Battle, Andrea Bocelli, Pat Boone, Shirley Caesar, José Carreras, Eric Clapton, Petula Clark, Judy Collins, Phil Collins, Renee Fleming, Vince Gill, Kiri Te Kanawa, Alison Krauss, Carol Lawrence, Patti Lupone, Johnny Mathis, Audra McDonald, Sherrill Milnes, Liza Minnelli, Van Morrison, Nana Mouskouri, Bernadette Peters, Samuel Ramey, The Rolling Stones, George Strait, Bryn Terfel, Frankie Valli, Frederica von Stade, Willard White

Broadway/Stage People:

Lee Adams, Emanuel Azenberg, Toni Basil, Alain Boubil/Claude-Michel Schonberg, Michael Frayn, Savion Glover, Cynthia Gregory, David Hare, Bill Irwin, James Lapine, David Mamet, Alan Menken, Trevor Nunn, Kenny Ortega, Tim Rice, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Sellars, Susan Stroman, Tom Stoppard, Tommy Tune, Jonathan Tunick, Jerry Zaks

My personal guess for recipients this year (from the list above):

Paul Anka

Alison Krauss

David Mamet

Liza Minnelli

The Rolling Stones

Alternates:

Andrea Bocelli

Robert Duvall

Vince Gill

Tommy Tune

UPDATE (8/13/2025):

The 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees are:

George Strait

Sylvester Stallone

Michael Crawford

Gloria Gaynor

KISS (Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss)

[dannyreviews]

A Man And A Woman (Un homme et une femme) (1966)

Five years ago, I had purchased a ticket to see the great French director Claude Lelouch speak in a post-screening Q&A of his 1966 magnum opus “A Man and a Woman” at the Film Forum in Manhattan. There was just one problem; the entire world was being hit by the COVID pandemic. Lelouch was forced to cancel his appearance, but the screening went on as planned. Imagine my shock and surprise when I read that Lelouch was making his long overdue rain check appearance with the same planned program at the same venue as before. It only took one minute for me to purchase my ticket a second time and here’s the rundown of both the film and the Q&A session from yesterday (4/5/2025) that followed.

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimee play Jean-Louis and Anne, two widowers who meet when they drop their kids off at the same boarding school. The two become very close to one another and even their kids bond in the process. Unfortunately, both of them are still haunted by their pasts and tread very carefully in how they proceed with their whirlwind romance.

You might be asking yourself, why the short synopsis? Because "A Man and a Woman" is the most unconventional romantic film ever made; one where the genre itself may not even apply because the romance element is actually secondary to the plot, which is at best minimalist. And yet, it is one of the greatest love stories ever put to film. We get to understand both Jean-Louis and Anne's pain of losing a loved one, but not emphasized through schmaltzy monologues, but rather simply told flashbacks that explain everything. We also get to see both protagonists at their day jobs; Jean-Louis as a race car driver, Anne as a script girl on film shoots and how both their occupations played a role in why they are widowed. So to answer the question "A Man and a Woman" is not about the romance itself, but the individual lives of both participants, hence the title of the film.

The genesis of how "A Man and a Woman" all came from one shot; a woman with her child and their dog walking on the beach early in the morning, identical to the first scene in the film. During the Q&A, Lelouch brought the audience back to 1965 when he was a struggling filmmaker with a string of flops behind him. Heavily in debt and at risk of becoming another failed auteur, he walked to the local shoreline for inspiration and that scene was staring him in the face. Then Lelouch took the train and once the trip was finished, the idea for "A Man and a Woman" was born. The idea was to cast two actors who would be seen as regular folks and not movie stars, which meant that the original choices to play Jean-Louis and Anne; Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, were put aside. As great as Delon and Schneider were as actors, they would have been all wrong for the main roles. Trintignant and Aimee emulated the sufferings of widowhood just with the expressions on their faces that are not hackneyed, melodramatic or movie star looking. The reason why Anouk Aimee was such a favorite during the awards season was how she was able to convey just about every emotion not just on her face, but her entire body, and not even speak for key parts of the film. Had it not been for the amazing performance of Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" that won Best Actress for 1966, Aimee might have been the winner, and rightfully so.

Not only is "A Man and a Woman" an unconventional romantic film, it is also a music video precursor, children's entertainment and sports documentary all rolled into one and perfect in each area. Pierre Barouh who played Anne's husband in flashbacks sings a Samba song as a backdrop to their marriage. Lelouch mentioned how Barouh, a songwriter and the film's composer Francis Lai were dear friends and collaborators whose working relationship spanned over 30 films and how they shaped Lelouch as the legend he is today. Next were the children playing Jean Louis' son Antoine and Anne's daughter Francoise. Lelouch told the kids to lead the conversations that they were in and have Trintignant and Aimee just react. The scene with the four characters in the restaurant is one of the most organically created moments in the film where it seems that none of them are playing fictional people. Finally, the scenes of Jean-Louis on the racetrack give us a first hand look of auto racing that a documentarian might have captured. Lelouch as cinematographer, but also Michel Fano and Jean Barronet's impeccable sound design are able to transport the audience to the venue with revving engines and loud crashes.

"A Man and a Woman" was a huge hit in America playing for 1-2 year stretches in New York and Los Angeles which helped it become a favorite in the Oscar and Golden Globe races. Lelouch would win the Oscar Best Screenplay along with his co-writer Pierre Uytterhoeven, which the moral of that story is to win that award is not have a screenplay period. It also won the Oscar and Golden Globes for Best Foreign Film and Anouk Aimee would win the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Actress and receive her only Oscar nomination in the same category. The biggest award it received was the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival. For a DIY film with a shoestring budget and a small cast and crew, "A Man and a Woman" has become a moment in the history of cinema that is not merely a footnote, but a cultural phenomenon that is still beloved after nearly 60 years.

10/10

[dannyreviews]

Moonlighting (1982)

About 10 years ago, I was on vacation somewhere in New England, and one day, I was tuning into the television. One of the films showing on either HBO or Showtime was Jerzy Skolimowski's "Moonlighting" which impressed me. The problem was that the film was about halfway through so we were getting only a portion of the plot. Fast forward to the present, and finding the film in its entirety on Tubi and getting the full treatment. Here's the full verdict.

Jeremy Irons plays Nowak, an English speaking Polish native tasked with renovating an apartment in London for a famous politician. He hires three workers who do not speak English to complete the work, but there's one hitch. The work they are about to embark on is illegal because they are visitors and not citizens. Nowak has to deal with a tight schedule, a limited budget and a city of strangers. But when Poland is in the middle of martial law and there's no travel or phone calls to be made, Nowak must persevere by staying on top of the renovations, not tell his workers about the uprising back home, and even steal and haggle food and merchandise in order to stay afloat.

"Monnlighting" is a dull film with characters that are listless, generic and plastic. The lighting is even duller and the atmosphere bleak. And yet, the film is very fascinating at the same time. Coming out a few years after Werner Herzog's "Strozsek", "Moonlighting" improves on the "stranger in a strange land" theme and does it one better. Where "Strozsek" was able to put its title character in an alien like world with wacky overtones, "Moonlighting" makes those same scenes more mature and therefore taken more seriously, despite there being elements of Chaplin and Keaton style slapstick. When you see Nowak shoplifting food from the local supermarket, there’s a lighthearted tone but hidden behind the action is the will to survive and it’s done beautifully.

Jeremy Irons’ performance as Nowak can be viewed as underwhelming but considering his character’s predicament, it’s an appropriate choice to play it in that context. While it’s not one of his greatest performances, Irons nonetheless makes Nowak into a person we can identify with and care about. Nowak is the only character in the film who is solely focused on as the people he surrounds himself merely pass by. However, I would like to highlight the impressive acting by Eugene Lipinski who played one of the workers named Banaszak. Lipinski is a UK born, Canadian bred actor known for his convincing portrayals of Eastern European characters and his performance in “Moonlighting” is mesmerizing. Not uttering one word in English, Lipinski has not only the Polish language mastered, but its inflections and flow. It’s that carefully crafted characterization that distinguishes “Moonlighting” from being just another average film consisting of poorly written stereotypes like Mickey Rooney’s Japanese character in “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”

“Moonlighting” was a big hit at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Best Screenplay award that year. While it’s wasn’t a major awards contender, critics raved about the film. In a year of major hits like “Gandhi”, “Tootsie” and “The Verdict”, Gene Siskel called “Moonlighting” the best film of 1982 and also made his Top 10 movies of the 1980s list as well. Since then, Jeremy Irons has become one of the most recognized faces and voices of contemporary cinema and “Moonlighting” is a great way to see his career from the very beginning.

8/10

[dannyreviews]

Food In Cinema

Here are some of the best film stills showing food and cuisine.

A Chef In Love (1996)

The Apartment (1960)

Babette’s Feast (1987)

Big Night (1996)

Chef (2014)

Chocolat (2000)

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

The Godfather (1972)

Goodfellas (1990)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Julie And Julia (2009)

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Lady And The Tramp (1955)

Like Water For Chocolate (1992)

The Menu (2022)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Parasite (2019)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soul Food (1997)

Spirited Away (2001)

Tampopo (1985)

The Taste Of Things (2023)

Tortilla Soup (2001)

Waitress (2007)

Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)

[dannyreviews]

Let Him Have It (1991)

"Let Him Have It". Four simple words, but put in different contexts can mean completely different actions and motivations. Does it mean, take the officer out or give the gun to the officer? That would be the statement that could make or break the freedom and life of a mentally deficient 19 year old on trial for the murder of a cop. Peter Medak's 1991 film with the very appropriate title of "Let Him Have It" chronicles one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the English legal system and the weight that those four words have in the study of law and jurisprudence to this very day.

In 1953 England, 19 year old Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) lives with his very supportive family that includes his parents William and Lillian (Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins) and sister Iris (Clare Holman). Derek has a history of petty crime which is caused by him being taken advantage of by local criminals. After being expelled from an Approved School, Derek is lonely and secludes himself from the outside world. That all changes when he crosses paths with the teenaged but more dominant Christopher Craig (Paul Reynolds). Christopher comes from a broken home that consists of a criminal older brother Nevin (Mark McGann). When Nevin is sent to prison for robbery, Christopher develops a hatred for all authority. That hatred culminates one night when Derek and Christopher break into private property and are confronted by police. Christopher kills one cop and wounds another while Derek utters the four words that becomes the center of the entire trial and sad aftermath.

"Let Him Have It" is a film where the viewer already knows the ending before the opening credits have rolled if they did research on the case before. Derek Bentley would be found guilty of murder, despite not being the one who fired the fatal shot, and would be sentenced to death by hanging. Christopher Craig, who was the actual murderer, was only 16 and therefore ineligible for the death penalty, instead receiving an indeterminate sentence. Craig was released after 10 years inside and by all accounts has since become a productive member of society. Bentley would sadly not live into old age and would die by hanging despite a huge campaign to free him.

Peter Medak's recreation of the era in which this crime occurred is impeccable. Everything from the working class atmosphere, to the organized crime underworlds and especially the rigidness of the Old Bailey courthouse. It's the latter of these three characteristics that is the most impressive. All the trial scenes are played straight, without the forced language or histrionics that one might find in a primetime show on one of the major networks. The performance by Michael Gough as the judge is one of natural authority, whose strict demeanor invokes tension one can cut with a knife. It's the smaller details like that which only heightens why "Let Him Have It" is a cut above the rest

Christopher Eccleston gives a breathtaking performance as Derek Bentley, completely filled with pathos and hubris. He does not ham up his character and finds the right underplayed tone. Tom Courtenay as William Bentley also finds that same tone to play a parent who is controlled and headstrong, while Eileen Atkins is the right counterpart as the more emotive parent. Clare Holman as Iris is a great combination of her parent's traits as she is the glue that holds the family together. The last scene when they huddle together and cry as the clock strikes to the minute of their son's execution is hauntingly scary and gives you goosebumps. Paul Reynolds as Christopher Craig is a standout and a once in a blue moon performance that hits all the right notes. He's a hoodlum that acts tough and fearless, but deep down is still a child with insecurities. To play those two types of people simultaneously is something that is underused in today's films. It's one of those performances that stays with you long after the film ends and especially one that the Academy Awards should have taken notice of at the time. It's a shame that he didn't become a bigger name in films and television like Eccleston, but he at least makes his mark in a great way.

"Let Him Have It" premiered at the 1991 Toronto Film Festival, the stepping stone of the Academy Awards season and unfortunately, that's as far as it got. My guess is that it was not promoted well like Medak's previous hit "The Krays" and possibly, audiences saw it as a carbon copy of that film. Awards aside, the best thing this film could have done was drum up more interest in the Derek Bentley case. The epilogue mentions how the fight to clear Derek's name was spearheaded by his parents until their deaths in the 1970s, in which Iris later took the reins. Her persistence paid off, albeit after her death, because in 1998, 45 years after his execution, the courts overturned Bentley's conviction, giving him the vindication that he should have gotten when he was alive. "Let Him Have It", is one the best true crime films about a miscarriage of justice and while it leave you angry that such damage could have been done, acknowledging these wrongs years later is better than sweeping it under the rug.

9/10