oakyal Reviews

Thrill of a Romance (1945)

romantic fun

[9/10 · 18 March 2006]

Van Johnson and Esther Williams at their loveliest. Wonderful music throughout. A delightful picture for anyone who has ever been or hopes to be in love.

We have beautiful Esther Williams swimming and diving. We have Van Johnson sincere and radiant. We have Melchior in fine classical voice, Tommy Dorsey playing Grieg on the trombone (!) along with other classic Dorsey hits. And a couple of new songs. The movie mostly takes place in a resort with Olympic swimming pool and a sound-stage with a view over Yosemite Valley.

It's all very light, but let yourself be carried away, and it will steal your heart.

Un aller simple (2001)

fun movie, interesting location

[8/10 · 6 April 2002]

Caught this movie on plane from Paris to U.S., perhaps not the best time to judge a movie. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the rather offbeat premise. Far from finding the movie predictable, I was constantly surprised by the direction of the plot and the development of the characters, all of whom I cared for deeply by the end of the movie. The setting, in the Atlas Mountains, is stunning.

Epicenter (2000)

fascinatingly awful

[2/10 · 25 February 2001]

Some spoilers - but do you care? Plot truly ridiculous. Absurd gunfight in San Francisco streets involving a lot of car crashes but no sense. Hero & heroine being shot at by baddies as they go on cable car (which travels about 3 miles per hour). All gunshots miss (but some come very close - scary!) "Earthquake" in LA was a much lower budget affair, involving shaking cameras and falling styrofoam. Gunfight continues uninterrupted during 2 minutes of the strongest earthquake ever. Cutaway to subway car going off track. Why? So later the hero & heroine can come by (does no one else live in LA?) to decide that some people need to be rescued while baddies prepare to drop a car on top of them! Daughter's boyfriend is injured in quake. Daughter says her mom will know what to do - she's to arrive at 9pm! Sure enough the mother arrives in a now virtually deserted mall and they find each other in the designated place. Mind you, in the worst earthquake LA could imagine - whole skyscrapers fall into each other. There is a final shootout with the baddies, a hug, and then the mother (FBI agent) says, "Let's go home, kids". The boy limps along. How will they go home with the city virtually destroyed? What will be there when they arrive? What about all the rest of the people killed by falling styrofoam? Anyway, a hoot.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

great, but somewhat atypical Hitchcock

[10/10 · 15 August 1999]

Wilder and Hitchcock make a terrific combination. Little details of the family and the town make you care about them very much. Theresa Wright is a wonderful heroine, and quite strong. Her torment is not so much fear as conflicted emotions, and you feel them with her. Cotton is both charming and frightening. Aside: what game was Hitchcock playing, anyway?