The internet keeps crashing on me. Making me crazy. Please be advised.
Breaker Morant is based on the actual events during the Boer War, and subsequent court marshalling of three Australian officers. The government has set them up for a fall, providing them with an inexperienced defense attorney and allowing him little time to prepare his case. The trial scenes are tense and the flashbacks to what the men actually did in the field are also engaging. But I was really fascinated with how the men held up in their cells, preparing to face their verdict, and the politics of it all. Very good.
Ah, the Sweet Smell of Success, good in so many ways. Burt Lancaster ("Field of Dreams") is a gossip columnist and Tony Curtis ("Reflections of Evil") is a PR agent trying to get his clients some publicity. Only Lancaster's shutting him out because he wants Curtis to break up his sister's relationship with a musician. Then the plot gets twisty. Curtis is fast talking and sleazy and grasping for fame. The dialogue is so quick you have to sit up and take notice. Two of my favorite lines: "The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river." and "That fish is four days old. I'm not buying it." I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Rocket Science reminded me of Thumbsucker. Mostly because the main kid is shy and then suddenly inspired to join the school debate team. The style of this is different though, less dreamy than Thumb. It was funny, but not too funny. The best bits being with the younger kid who lives across the street from the love interest. The soundtrack has some really cool instrumental covers of classic Violent Femmes songs. I'm lukewarm on this.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army is just a whole lotta fun. Ron Perlman ("In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale") just eats up this character and loves every minute of his screen time. Director Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth" lets his imagination run wild with all the creatures and sets in this story. And the story starts strong and just keeps on going, quickly re-establishing the Team and introducing a very worthy villain in Luke Goss ("The Dead Undead"), an elf who wants to destroy the human race. Go see it.
A classic noirish thriller, The Third Man, stars Joseph Cotten ("The Survivor") as a writer who goes to visit a friend in post WWII Berlin, only to discover the friend has been killed just before he arrived. Cotten then sets out to solve the mystery of his friend's death. It's fast paced and intriguing, asking which loyalty a man should follow. There's a femme fatale love interest. And Orson Welles ("Moby Dick") is awesome. Very good.