"Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us better people."
-- Roger Ebert, The Great Movies

Monday, January 28, 2013

Swing Time


  • Title:  Swing Time
  • Director:  George Stevens
  • Date:  1936
  • Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
  • Genre:  Musical, Comedy, Romance
  • Cast:  Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness
  • Format:  Standard, Black and White
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"My talent  is gambling, Pop, hoofing is all right, but there's no future in it.  I want to spread out."-- John "Lucky" Garnett (Fred Astaire)

"Listen, no one could teach you to dance in a million years!  Take my advice, and save your money."-- Penny (Ginger Rogers) to Lucky

"It's funny how we met... and all that's happened to us since."-- Penny
"The way we've been sorta'... thrown together and everything."-- Lucky
"As if  it were all meant to happen."-- Penny
"It's quite an experience."-- Lucky
"No, it's more than an experience.  It's sorta like... a romance."-- Penny

Swing Time is one of my three favorite Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals (the other two being Shall We Dance and Top Hat).  This time, Fred plays John "Lucky" Garnett, a professional dancer who's about to marry his high school sweetheart.  The guys in his touring dance troop know they will be out of a job if Garnett leaves the stage for marriage and a serious job, so they arrange for him to be hours late for his own wedding.  When he misses the wedding the girl's father actually makes a deal with Garnett... if he can make $25,000 then he will let him marry his daughter.  Lucky takes the challenge and goes off to the city to make his fortune.

In a large city, presumably New York, he runs into a girl, Penny Carroll (Ginger Rogers).  He follows her and finds out she's an "instructress" at a dance studio.  Deciding to have a little fun, he dances badly, causing several prat falls with Penny... who gets so frustrated she tells him no one will ever be able to teach him to dance, he should save his money.  Unfortunately, her boss over-hears this and fires her and her maiden aunt (Helen Broderick).  Lucky feels bad and decides to show Penny's boss that she has taught him a thing or two and the two dance together.  Penny's boss is so impressed he gets them an audition at the Silver Sandles club.

Unfortunately, unbeknownest to Penny, Lucky is flat broke, he only has the wedding clothes he's wearing to his name.  He sends his friend Pops to get some money, but Pops isn't as good a gambler as Lucky.  He brings a drunken gambler to Lucky's for a game of "strip pichet" (no idea... a card game that looked like some version of gin).  Lucky's never played the game before and loses.

Penny gets mad at Lucky for blowing their audition.  But he gets them a second tryout.  She relents after he sings to her while her hair is covered in shampoo.  At the club, they dance together on the crowded dance floor, but before they can perform their number... the orchestra leader cancels and leaves.  He's had a crush on Penny for awhile, and refuses to play to see her dance for another man.

Lucky gambles again for the orchestra... and wins it.  He and Penny get their audition.  Penny and Lucky, with the orchestra become a star attraction, and the owner of the Silver Sandals offers Lucky 50 percent of the take.  Mindful of his deal with his ex-fiancee's father, he argues it down to 25 percent.  He'd earlier quit his bets at the roulette wheel because he was afraid of  winning too much.

Lucky, Penny, Pop, and Mabel (Penny's maiden aunt) head out to the country to relax, even though it's the dead of winter and it's snowing.

They return to the city and the Silver Sandals is re-opening after it's make-over.  Ricardo, the band leader, tries to give Penny jewelry and she refuses it.  Mabel challenges Penny to kiss Lucky.  She's determined to, loses her nerve, and then they do... off screen, hidden by a open door.

Lucky, with his dancers and chorus girls, dances to "Bojangles of  Harlem" as the new opening number of the club.

Margaret, Lucky's ex-fiancee arrives at the club.  Pops plays card tricks with some wise guys in the audience of the club.  Unfortunately, they are the ones Lucky won the orchestra from.  Even worse... they now know Pops palmed the Ace for Lucky... something even Lucky hadn't realized.  Confronted with the evidence that he cheated, Lucky decides to re-draw cards, and loses.

Penny finds out about Lucky gambling... and losing... and gets really upset, and even more upset when she finds out about Lucky's ex-fiancee.

Ricardo (the orchestra leader) proposes to Penny, and in a fit of pique she accepts him.

Fred sings "Never Gonna Dance" to her and they dance together, but it is a dance of  love and loss, and at the top of  the Silver Sandals set, the two part company.

But Margaret is there to give John a "Dear John" letter... she's fallen in love with someone else.  Meanwhile Lucky is completely in love with Penny. In the end, Pops and Lucky pull the same gag with cuffed trousers on Ricardo as his band had pulled on Lucky in the prologue, giving Lucky enough time to talk to Penny and stop the wedding.

List of  Musical Numbers

  • Pick Yourself  Up - Fred and Ginger vocals, and dance - Ballroom & Partner Tap
  • The Way You Look Tonight - Fred, vocals
  • Waltz in Swing Time - Fred and Ginger, dance - Ballroom & Partner Tap
  • A Fine Romance - Ginger and Fred vocals
  • Bojangles of Harlem - Fred & Chorus - dance
  • Never Gonna Dance - Fred, vocals - Fred and Ginger - Ballroom Dance
Swing Time is just pure fun.  Fred and Ginger are in fine form, and the picture mixes romance with comedy and irony.  For example, Fred sings the lovely ballad, "The Way You Look Tonight" to Ginger -- while her hair is covered in shampoo and she's annoyed with him, rather than in a traditional romantic setting.  "A Fine Romance" is a sarcastic song with both Fred and Ginger spitting lyrics like - "A Fine Romance... with no kisses".  The film also uses the RKO Players like Eric Blore and Helen Broderick to fill in the comedy moments of  the plot.  The only real out of place number is "Bojangles of Harlem" which is, unfortunately, done with Astaire in blackface.  Otherwise, it's a fine number (which includes Astaire dancing with three shadows... that suddenly start to not follow him).  But yeah, dated, is the kindest word for it.  The Silver Sandals set is a lovely two-level art deco set with a black and white dance floor below, and a shining black dance floor above.  The two floors are connected by two staircases, one on each side of  the main dance area.  The set is used particularly well when Fred and Ginger dance to "Never Gonna Dance" -- a song of love and loss, that ends with them parting, which at that point in the plot they do.  It's lovely.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  The Thin Man

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Suspicion

  • Title:  Suspicion
  • Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
  • Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
  • Date:  1941
  • Genre:  Mystery, Film Noir, Drama
  • Cast:  Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Leo G. Carroll, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce
  • Format:  B/W, Standard
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC
"I'm honest because with you I think it's the best way to get results." -- Johnnie

"Monkey-face, I've been broke all my life!" -- Johnnie

Suspicion starts like any light romantic comedy.  Johnnie (Cary Grant) meets Lina on a train and tries to pick her up, but she's unimpressed.  They run into each other again at a fox hunt.  He talks her for a walk on a Sunday, and makes a date for later that afternoon.  Lina announces this to her parents, but he breaks their date for that afternoon, and for a week, Lina is miserable because she hasn't seen him in so long.  However, he returns just in time for the hunt ball.  Very soon after, Lina sneaks out of  her parents house and the two are married at the registry office.  The two go on a whirl-wind European honeymoon, then return to a new house - where Lina discovers that Johnnie has no money.

Suddenly, instead of a light romance, the film resembles Gaslight.  Over and over, Lina picks up on her husband acting weirdly, or suspiciously.  But she has no proof, no idea what's really going on, and every time Johnnie's money troubles seem to catch up with him, he suddenly comes up with the money he needs (such as a £2000 pound windfall that Johnnie claims he got from the track).  Lina notices her husband is fascinated with detective and murder stories... but at first thinks nothing of  it.  But when Johnnie's dear friend, Beaky, dies under mysterious circumstances, Lina goes to their mutual friend Isobel, a mystery writer.  Isobel talks about her recent mystery, where a man causes another man to walk over a weakened foot bridge and fall to his death.  Isobel says that morally it's murder if the first man knew the bridge was weak.  She then casually says "It's the same with Johnnie's friend, Beaky."  Beaky had died after drinking a large amount of  brandy in a drinking contest - despite his allergy to brandy.  Lina freaks at this, because she knows that Johnnie knows about Beaky's allergy, and that Beaky would sometimes still drink brandy even though it caused him to have fits, and trouble breathing.  Later, Isobel, her husband, Lina, Johnny, and a strange blond woman dressed as a man have a dinner party.  Johnnie's dinner conversation though not only focuses on murder but on untraceable poisons.  Lina's so freaked she won't let him into her bedroom that night.

Things finally come to a head when Lina decides to go home to spend a few days with her mother.  Johnnie insists on driving her.  On a winding road, Lina thinks he's trying to kill her, but he pulls her back into the car, then yells at her.  When they talk, Lina comes to the conclusion that Johnnie was considering suicide as a way out of  his money problems, and for her to get his insurance money to settle his debts for once and for all.  Lina throws herself  into his arms, and they drive back towards their house.

In Gaslight, Ingrid Bergman gradually comes to realize that her husband is a criminal who only married her to have access to the empty house next to hers, where he thinks there's a treasure.  The husband manipulates his wife, trying to make her think she's going insane - and she's only saved at the last minute by a kind policeman.

Suspicion is much more unsettling.  Cary Grant is very menacing - and switches from his "happy go lucky", "everything is fine" personality to someone who is truly scary like lightening.  He clearly seems to not only not want to work, but to only have a talent for losing money - and he routinely borrows money to pay off  his most insistent debtors.  Yet, at the same time, Joan Fontaine's Lina, seems almost paranoid.  We see her getting little pieces of evidence that her husband's up to no good, such as when she goes to visit him at his office, and learns from his employer and a family friend (played brilliantly by Leo G. Carroll) that Johnnie was fired weeks ago after £2000 went missing from the business.  But each time she finds something out, he has an explanation and she forgives him and realizes that she loves him.

What makes the film brilliant is that because of Grant's superb acting, and the way he flips back-and-forth between menace and light-hearted kindness, one is never sure of his motives.  Does he want to kill his wife for her money?  It doesn't appear so, he never actually does anything to her.  Yet, at the same time, he's almost slimy in the way that he always has an answer for everything.  At times, Lina seems very alone, but at others she has no problem going out - she visits Isobel with no problems, and sees other friends who seem jealous of  her relationship with Johnnie.  Suspicion is a masterful, and short (only 99 minutes) film with no concrete endings.  I highly recommend it.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  5 of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Swing Time

Friday, January 18, 2013

Batman The Dark Knight Rises


  • Title:  (Batman) The Dark Knight Rises
  • Director:  Christopher Nolan
  • Date:  2012
  • Studio:  Warner Brothers
  • Genre:  Drama, Action
  • Cast:  Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Burn Gorman, Matthew Modine, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy
  • Format:  Color, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"You hung-up your cape and cowl but you didn't move on - you never went to find a life.  To find someone..." -- Alfred Pennyworth
"Alfred, I did find someone." -- Bruce Wayne
"I know, and you lost them.  But that's all part of living, sir.  But you're not living, you're just waiting, hoping for things to go bad again." -- Alfred

"I never wanted you to come back to Gotham.  I always knew there was nothing here for you except pain and tragedy and I wanted something more for you than that.  I still do." -- Alfred

"I take what I need from those who have more than enough.  I don't stand on the shoulders of those who have less."  -- Selina Kyle

The Dark Knight Rises opens with a James Bond-like opening sequence, the CIA flies into some country to "rescue" Dr. Pavel, a nuclear physicist.  But Bane, a mercenary and his men take the doctor from the plane and kill everyone on board by causing the plane to crash.  The film then quickly moves to Gotham City.

In Gotham City, the mayor, and Police Commissioner James Gordon are at a celebration/benefit/ceremony for "Harvey Dent Day", Gotham's solemn civic acknowledgement of  the death of  Harvey Dent.  The mayor also mentions that the "Dent Act" has allowed Gotham's police to arrest those involved in organized crime and keep them in jail without parole.  Gordon looks at a speech he's written out, but at the last minute he folds it up and doesn't give the speech.  We learn later that this speech was Gordon's "confession" of  the truth of  what Harvey Dent did after he became Two-Face towards the end of  The Dark Knight - as well as the truth of  what Batman did and did not do.  That is, that eight years ago, Batman took the fall for Dent's actions, then disappeared.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has become a recluse.  He catches a maid stealing his mother's pearls from his safe, and later realizes she lifted his fingerprints too.  Bruce uses his computers in the Batcave to find out who the maid/catburglar is - she's Selina Kyle.

A young man's body is found in Gotham's tunnels.  One of the investigating officers from Gotham's PD realizes it was someone he knows and goes to St. Swindon's Boys home to tell the man's younger brother the bad news.  Later, Officer Blake goes to Bruce Wayne's home.  He lets Bruce know that he knows that Bruce was the Batman, and that he doesn't believe "he did what they say he did" - but also casually mentions the boys' home is no longer receiving aid from the Wayne Foundation.  Bruce is puzzled by this and decides to clean himself up and head into Wayne Enterprises and Lucius Fox to find out what is going on.  He discovers that Wayne Enterprises is on shaky financial footing, following Bruce's mothballing of  a fusion reactor clean energy project.

Catwoman sells Bruce's prints... but she's also prepared for the deal to go south, which it does.  She has the bad guy she sells the prints to call her friend outside using the cell phone of  a politician she kidnapped at Wayne's party.  When the police arrive, she screams, cries and "acts helpless" as a cover so the police ignore her as a victim and she escapes.

Gordon, meanwhile, is investigating in Gotham's tunnels.  He's captured by Bane's men and brought to Bane.  Bane isn't happy about this, kills two of  his own men, and shoots Gordon - dumping all three in an underground river or conduit that leads to the sewers and eventually out to the river.  But Bane takes Gordon's speech about the truth of  what Harvey Dent did and Batman's innocence.  Blake finds Gordon, washed onto a concrete shore.

Blake tells Bruce Wayne about Gordon getting shot, and Bane's underground (literally) army.  Blake knows that Bruce is Batman and asks him to help.  He tells Bruce, "I don't know why you took the fall for Dent's murder but I'm still a believer in The Batman, even if you're not."

Bruce goes to Miranda Tate's charity ball, where he runs into Selina Kyle.  Miranda was one of  his main investors for the fusion clean energy project.  While they dance, Selina warns Bruce that a storm is coming.

When Bruce goes to Wayne Enterprises - Lucius Fox shows him "The Bat", a stealth urban helicopter (similar in design to the Tumbler car, but for the air).

Bane and his gang attack the Gotham stock market.  Batman arrives to chase the "robbers" of  the stock exchange.  However, all he really does is distract the police.  One particularly enthusiastic cop decides he rather take down The Batman than catch any of  Bane's men from the stock exchange action.  Batman fails to stop Bane's computer program from uploading into the stock exchange, but does grab the Netbook they used.  Batman escapes the police in The Bat.

Selina, in her Catwoman outfit, goes after Daggett, the man she sold Bruce's fingerprints to.  He'd promised her the "Clean Slate" program to wipe her name, details, and police record from every database in the world.  But when she claims what's hers - he tells her it doesn't exist.  Batman arrives.  Batman and Catwoman fight Daggett's troops, then escape in The Bat.

Batman lets Selina off, and returns home.  He's admonished by Alfred, who's had enough.  Alfred tells Bruce the truth - he burnt Rachel's letter than explained she was going to marry Harvey Dent - to spare Bruce pain.  In the ensuing argument - Alfred says he will leave.

The next morning, Bruce is woken up, not by Alfred, but by the front doorbell.  And his faithful butler is no where in sight.  Fox tells Bruce he's broke and Wayne Enterprises will soon be in the hands of  Daggett.  The energy project is in danger, though "Applied Sciences" is off  the books and all the weapons and tech hidden there are truly hidden.

Daggett meets with Bane - Bane tortures him and off screen, kills him.

Bruce sleeps with Miranda on the floor of  his mansion, before the fireplace - since he has no power or heat in the old house.

Batman meets Catwoman, she takes him to Bane, but locks him in.  Bane and Batman fight.  They are in the wet tunnels, near the underground river/sewer.  It's a wet, dark, echoy place for a fight.  Bane breaks into Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences, blowing the floor.  He then breaks Batman's back and his Cowl - holding it up as a trophy, and making Bruce's physical and psychological defeat complete.

Blake goes to Wayne Manor but finds it abandoned.  However, he catches Selina Kyle at the airport.

Bruce, meanwhile, wakes in the Pit prison.  Bane says it's the worse prison, because with the chimney leading out... there's hope, in the midst of despair, which for Bane makes the despair worse.

Selina is jailed in Blackgate.  Bane takes Fox, Miranda, and a board member into the sewers and to the fusion reactor.  When Blake tells Gordon - he asks one of  his cops to start and all-out search of  the tunnels.  He promotes Blake to detective and asks him to investigate Daggett and his enterprises.

Bane gets Miranda to activate the fusion reactor.  Bane also lures all the Gotham PD police into the Gotham tunnels.

Bane pulls the core from the reactor, creating a bomb, plus the core will decay and explode in five months.  Blake realizes Daggett's cement pours were actually laced with explosives.

A boy soprano sings the American National Anthem at a Gotham Knight football stadium, just as he finishes, Bane walks in and blows the concrete, trapping all of  the Gotham police force in the underground tunnels.  Blake was just a moment too late to get the cops out.  The football stadium also collapses as do streets and bridges all over Gotham - and all but one bridge off the island.  Bane has Dr. Pavel explain about the bomb, then kills Pavel. The bomb is mobile and "an ordinary Gothamite" holds the trigger.  Seeing the police trapped, Blake goes to the hospital for Gordon.

Anarchy soon reigns in Gotham City.  Bane and his men let all the inmates out of  Blackgate Prison.  His men "patrol" the streets in cameo tumbler cars stolen from Wayne Enterprises.  Looting, robberies, beatings, and total chaos take over as Gotham City is left as a city without any government or police whatsoever.  The few police not in the tunnels during the collapse are hunted and killed (again, off-screen).  A very few start an underground resistance movement.  Meanwhile, the US president makes an appeal than Gotham isn't forgotten, but won't risk the terrorists in the city exploding the nuke.  Also, with all the bridges and tunnels in and out of the island blown, and Winter starting, soon food, especially fresh food, is hard to come by.

Selina is appalled by what has happened to her city.

In Bane's prison, Bruce is heart-broken by what has happened to his city, but he also begins to re-build his back.  In prison, Bruce learns of  a child, the child of Ra's al Ghul and his lover then wife was the only one to escape the prison.  This child had a protector in the prison.  Bruce remembers what he learned from Ra's al Ghul, and his heart-break at the loss of  his wife.  With the help of another inmate, Bruce slowly rebuilds his strength.

Bruce ends up trying to climb out of  his prison twice, and failing.  The second time, he remembers his father rescuing him from his fall down the well on Wayne Manor property.

In Gotham, Gordon and Blake explain what's going on to the special forces.  Fox and Miranda explain the bomb is a time bomb and it will go off.  Bane's men attack and the special forces guy is killed by Bane.

For the third time, Bruce attempts to climb out of  the well - he takes supplies, and doesn't use the rope.  As the inmates chant, "rise", in a foreign language... he makes it.  Bruce throws a climbing rope down to the other inmates as he leaves.

In Gotham, Selina beats up a couple of guys who are beating up a kid.  Bruce returns to Gotham.  Bruce offers her the clean slate program for her help.

Gordon is arrested and tried in the Scarecrow's court.  He's sentenced to death - by exile.

Catwoman rescues Bruce and Fox.  Bruce takes Fox to The Bat to get an EMP Emitter to block the trigger of  the bomb.

Gordon's inching across the ice of  the Gotham River when Batman returns and his sign burns on the bridge.  Batman rescues Gordon and his men - then rescues Blake.  Batman and Blake free the cops.  Batman sends Blake to get people out of  the city.  Selina gets the Batcycle and a route out of  Gotham.  There's a melee between Bane's men and the police.

Gordon searches for the truck (one of  three) with the bomb.  Blake recues the boys from St. Swindon's and does a quick house to house warning.

Batman defeats Bane, demands to know who the trigger is.  Miranda is Talia, the child of  Ra's Al Ghul, Bane's her "protector" from the prison, and she holds the trigger.  She knifes Batman in the back.  Gordon finds the bomb and tries to block the signal.  However, the bomb is still a time bomb.  Catwoman rescues Batman.  Cops from outside Gotham blow the last remaining bridge, despite Blake's warnings.

Bruce in The Bat, and Catwoman on a Batcycle challenge Talia in a Tumbler.  The heat seekers that chase The Bat hit the Tumbler instead.  Fox discovers the reactor's being flooded - they won't be able to reattach the core to stop the meltdown.  Talia dies.  Batman will fly the bomb over Gotham harbor.  When Gordan asks who he is -- Bruce gives him a hint, and Gordon realizes he's Bruce Wayne.

Batman literally flies into the sun, and the bomb explodes "harmlessly" over the Ocean.

Gordon quotes "A Tale of Two Cities" at Bruce's grave.  Fox, Alfred, and Blake are all there at the gravesite.  Alfred cries and blames himself.  Blake quits the force.  Gotham unveils a statue of  The Batman.  The Wayne Estate goes to Alfred, but the house is turned into a home for orphaned children.  John Blake is "Robin John Blake" and he gets GPS co-ordinates to the Batcave which he explores.  Fox discovers The Bat had an autopilot after all, despite Bruce saying it didn't.  Finally, in a small cafe, abroad, Alfred sees Bruce and Selina -- and they see him.  And Gordon has a new Bat Signal.

I loved this movie when I saw it in the theater -- three times.  What Nolan did particularly well was he managed to create a Super-Hero trilogy, that was a trilogy -- with a definite beginning, middle, and end, rather than the normal run of sequels one gets for the genre.  I loved how The Dark Knight Rises ties up the story, and I thought the flashbacks were particularly well realized.

Bane's attack on Batman is much more deeply psychological - and personal (once you know who he is) than the physical attack in the graphic novel set (all three volumes of  it, known collectively as Knightfall).  In the graphic novel, Bane starts by letting all the villains out of Arkham -- Batman has to fight them all, becoming exhausted.  Alfred and Dick Greyson (Nightwing) warn him about exhaustion - but stubbornly Bruce doesn't listen, and thus the steroid-enhanced Bane is able to physically beat him and break his back.  Nolan's film has Bane, step by step, take everything from Bruce:  his fortune, Wayne Enterprises, Alfred (who's manipulated into a "tough love" confrontation that goes horribly wrong), even his city.  Yes, Bane break's his back, and symbolically, the cowl too, thus breaking The Batman, but it's the psychological devastation that really breaks Bruce's spirit.  And it's Bruce's comeback from that psychological "bottom" that makes the film so interesting and triumphant.  Bruce is physically thrown in a well, a Pit, and he's in physical agony and psychological despair... but he comes back, which makes it a heartening film, and a joy to watch.  Bruce also seems ready to finally hang up his cape and cowl for good... though the film places enough hints for a "Nightwing" film for "Robin John" Blake.

Another major departure of  the film from the graphic novel set, is Bane is quite different.  The costume is different, his back story is different, Bane's connected to Talia and Ra's al Ghul, and Bane's dependence on the addictive steroid, Venom (not to be confused with the Marvel character Venom), is dropped.  I was really surprised by that first time I saw the film, but each time I saw it, I found the connections from Bane to Talia (Miranda) to Ra's al Ghul, just suit the plot so much better... and bring the entire story line to a very satisfactory conclusion.

Overall, I really, really liked it.  The script crackles with great dialogue, as did the previous two in the series.  Though I think Alfred would never leave Bruce, the film makes it work as both a form of  tough love on Alfred's part, and really a challenge between father and son.  For Bruce to really be his own man, he both has to lose everything and he has to regain everything, and that includes his surrogate father.  Though I do wish he and Alfred had spoken when they see each other in the cafe.  But, on the other hand, they don't need to.  Alfred and Bruce understand each other without having to speak.

Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was not the "bored socialite cat burglar" or the "hooker trying to make a living" of previous Batman stories (both in print and on tv/film).  She's rough, and tough, and she thinks she wants what Bane promises -- an end to the wealthy, privileged, useless upper class.  But when she sees what's happened to Gotham, she hates it.  Selina realizes that without any law, anarchy rules - and in anarchy the poor and the weak suffer even more than they did under the rich, something Selina hadn't thought was possible.  This is why she allies with Batman.  For once, this Selina does not have any physical attraction to Batman, not 'til the end, when she and Bruce run off  together.  Selina even appears to really, really hate men.  A word needs to be said about Anne Hathaway's costumes too.  Her Catwoman costume was great... it looks more like armor than the sexy, sorry, catsuit, of other catwomen, and it has long sleeves and what looks like a corset underneath.  I actually really liked it, and would like to know more about the construction from the costume designer.  Because, wow!  Selina's other clothes were equally impressive, she reminded me a lot of  Audrey Hepburn, a classic actress known for her clothes and unique sense of style.  The hat Selina wears to the airport is particularly Hepburn-esque.  I have no idea if  this was intentional, but the styles, mostly in black, looked great on Hathaway.

The score by Hans Zimmer was excellent, as have been all three Nolan Batman film scores by Zimmer.  The score for The Dark Knight Rises is haunting and dark, and is very effective in how it adds to the film.  Also, I thought it was really very neat the way that several times the film becomes almost silent and it's simply images and music - including the end, after Bruce Wayne's graveside funeral service.  Nolan really knows how to use imagery and light and how to integrate that with the musical score, for a uniquely filmic quality.  It's a rare talent in a modern director and should be celebrated.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  5 of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Suspicion

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Superman and Batman Apocalypse


  • Title:  Superman and Batman Apocalypse
  • Director:  Lauren Montgomery
  • Voice Director:  Andrea Romano
  • Date:  2010
  • Studio:  Warner Brothers Animation
  • Genre:  Action, Animation, Drama
  • Cast:  Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Summer Glau, Edward Asner, Andre Braugher
  • Format: Color Animation, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:   R1, NTSC

"This is how they see you.  Bigger than life.  You're their champion."-- Kara to Clark

"Ever since this girl came into our lives, you've let your guard down, Clark, even exposed your secret identity - despite common sense."-- Batman
"Unlike you, Bruce, I don't look for the bad in everyone.  You may think I'm naive but every instinct tells me this girl is my cousin.  She's done nothing to show me otherwise and she'll be safe with me."-- Superman

"This might not be the right time, but you've always been an inspiration to me."-- Big Barda
"Barda..."-- Wonder Woman
"Seriously, Diana, when someone brings hope to another person?  It's a gift."-- Big Barda

The film opens with the voice-over of a radio talk show, among items mentioned are  former President Lex Luthor's impeachment and the frequent meteor showers of Kyptonite meteorites.  Both items refer to the previous film, Superman Batman Public Enemies.  Suddenly, a huge meteor hits in Gotham harbor and eyewitnesses call it in to the radio station, cue opening credits.

A naked girl arrives on the Gotham docks.  Longshoremen act, well, as they would, but she trashes two of them.  A third gives her his trench-coat.  She takes it, then runs into the street, where she's hit by a car, which barely slows her down.  This mysterious girl causes havoc where ever she goes.  Batman catches up to her, and she blows up one of  Gotham's new auto-blimps.  Superman arrives and tosses the blimp into the harbor before it can crash into something and cause real damage.  Batman meanwhile uses Kryptonite to calm down the girl.  This knocks her out and he's able to take her to the Batcave.

In the Batcave, Superman arrives, and he and Kara speak in Krypton.  Superman learns this is Kara, his cousin.  Krypto the dog also arrives, but doesn't seem to trust Kara.  Batman and Superman agree to keep her in quarantine.  Kara remembers her parents putting her in a ship, then dying (as well as the bright flash of the planet being destroyed).  Batman, still not sure, is protective of  Superman.

Meanwhile on Apocalypse, Darkseid is training a new Queen Fury.  However, she fails her test - a fight with the Furies, and is killed.  Granny Goodness and Darkseid look on during the fight.

Clark takes Kara shopping (and appears to have Bruce Wayne's budget).  They end up in a park, where he shows her a statue of Superman.  There's a bright flash of  light, and someone arrives.  Kara fights, her powers get out of control, and she trashes the park.  Wonder Woman and Batman explain Kara needs more training and they are taking her away for her own good.  Reluctantly, Superman agrees.

Wonder Woman takes Kara to Paradise Island.  Superman and Batman, along with Wonder Woman and her Amazon sisters, watch Kara battle Artemis.  Kara loses.  Superman is a bit freaked by this and even tries to protect his cousin from a perceived threat.  Kara runs off  and spends time with her friend the Prophetess Harbinger.

Meanwhile a Boom Tube arrives bringing Doomsday - an army of  Doomsdays.  Wonder Woman leads her army of Amazons to fight them.  Batman and Superman fight as well.  Superman defeats the Doomdays with his heat vision.  He's upset by using his power in such a way, but Wonder Woman point out they weren't really alive.  Batman realizes the attack was a diversion and leads Superman and Wonder Woman to find Kara.  On the other side of  Paradise Island, Superman approaches a body in the water - it's Harbinger.  Kara's been taken to Apocalypse.

Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman drop in on Big Barda, who's in witness protection in a small town. They ask her for Mother Box so they can open a Boom Tube to Apocalypse.  Barda offers to come too.  The four soon arrive on Apocalypse.  Big Barda and Wonder Woman face the Furies.  Batman faces mechanical tiger/dog beasts.  Superman also faces off against mechanical monsters before challenging Darkseid.

However, when Superman gets to Darkseid, Kara's been brainwashed to fight for him.  Batman arrives in Darkseid's throne room and tells him he's set all the hell spores (megaton bombs - a single one can destroy a planet, Batman has rigged 500) to blow.  Darkseid thinks Batman is bluffing and threatens him with the Omega Beam.  However, as they fight and Darkseid over-powers Batman, he realizes that Batman might not be bluffing.  He releases Batman and Kara to Superman.  Darkseid orders Batman to disarm the hell spores and leave Apocalypse.

Clark takes Kara to Smallville and to the Kent farm.  But instead of  his parents, Darkseid is waiting there.  Darkseid threatens Kara with his Omega beams.  Both Kara and Clark fight Darkseid.  Darkseid sends Superman into orbit, but he drifts towards the sun - regaining his powers.  Seeing Kara hurt, Superman goes nuts, and trashes Darkseid.  Darkseid uses his Omega beams.  Superman does a good impersonation of a twister on Darkseid.  Darkseid leaves via Boom Tube.  Superman embraces Kara.  She reveals she's changed the destination on the Boom Tube - sending Darkseid into deep space.  The Kents arrive, only to see their farm has  been trashed and their house collapses.  Clark promises to re-build everything.

At the end, Superman introduces Supergirl (Kara) to the Amazons on Paradise Island.

Overall, I liked this better the second time around.  It's still not as much fun as Public Enemies, and it's definitely more a Superman story than a Batman one.  In fact the graphic novel this is based on is Superman Batman  Supergirl.  But I liked that Wonder Woman had such a big part in the film.  It was also very cool to see Big Barda - and as a good guy no less (she's often ambiguous at best).  Darkseid is a Superman villian, though, so again, very much a Superman story.  The voice cast is excellent - Kevin Conroy reprises his role from Batman the Animated Series and Justice League.  Susan Eisenberg is again Wonder Woman (she had voiced Wonder Woman / Diana in Justice League).  Tim Daly from Superman the Animated Series and Superman / Batman Public Enemies is back.  And the guest cast includes Summer Glau as Supergirl, Ed Asner as Granny Goodness, and Andre Braugher as Darkseid.  The film also has a lot, and I mean, a lot of fight sequences.  There are a few character moments, but not many.  I'd have preferred a more character-driven storyline with fewer fight sequences.  Also, I would have liked to see more of  Clark's views of  Bruce and Bruce's views of Clark - as that was what made the graphic novel series so much fun.

Recommendation:  See it, especially if you are a Superman fan.
Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Suspicion  (Or The Dark Knight Rises - which I just got on DVD)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Superman Batman Public Enemies


  • Title:  Superman Batman Public Enemies
  • Director: Sam Liu
  • Voice Director:  Andrea Romano
  • Date:  2009
  • Studio:  Warner Brothers Animation
  • Genre:  Animation, Action, Drama
  • Cast:  Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Clancy Brown, CCH Pounder, LeVar Burton
  • Format:  Color Animation, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Luther did the one thing nobody was expecting.  He made things boring again.  And boring's good, isn't it?  The economy's back to normal, crime's down, there are no wars or anything."  -- Power Girl

"You mean those so-called super heroes?"-- Lex Luthor
"They do work for you now, most of  them anyway." -- Amanda Waller
"That's to keep them from working against me.  I'm not going to put the fate of  this planet in the hands of... of  freaks and monsters." -- Lex Luthor

"It doesn't matter what any of us think, Luthor's the president and what he says goes." -- Capt. Atom

"You're not going to tell me you killed him for your country, are you?"-- Batman
"Some of us still believe in putting our country first."-- Maj. Force
"Sorry, but I don't see any patriotism here.  All I see is a psycho who latched onto an excuse to kill people and who's so stupid he doesn't realize he's being used by Luthor."-- Batman

This is the second time I've watched this film, and it does stand up to re-watching, something that's difficult for animated films to do.  The two Superman Batman animated films are based on a series of  Superman Batman Graphic Novels (collections of  the soft-cover books).  This film in particular is based on the graphic novel of the same name, which I loved, and I think it's one of the best in an excellent series of  books.

The film opens with a voice-over and video montage of  economic collapse.  Companies are laying off workers, people are demanding jobs in protests, people are getting evicted and living in tent cities, there are audio clips of politicians telling people to "tighten their belts", there's a corresponding rise in crime, and martial law is imposed.  Into this walks Lex Luthor, campaigning for the presidency on a "third party" ticket.  He wins.

And in his first speech, he attacks super heroes, while introducing the country to his own hand-picked super hero force:  Power Girl, Captain Atom, Major Force, Black Lightening, and some other female hero (who's neither recognizable or important to the plot).  They're stooges, essentially, even Power Girl, who should know better than to trust Luthor.

Luthor then, privately, discusses the private threat he hasn't yet revealed to the public - a meteor of pure Kryptonite is heading straight for Earth, and will hit the planet in seven days.  Luthor's plan?  Destroy it with nuclear missiles, of course.  Amanda Waller, and later even Luthor's own general ask Luthor to consider a back-up plan, but he ignores their advice, swearing he's made the calculations himself and he knows he will succeed.

Batman and Superman are together in the Batcave below Wayne Manor when Luthor announces he wants a meeting with Superman to "bury the hatchet".  Both Bruce and Clark know it's probably a trap, but they go anyway.  At the meeting, Luthor threatens Superman, then unleases Metallo - a Krypton-powered metal man whose very presence hurts the man of steel.  Metallo and Superman fight.  Batman arrives to rescue Superman, and is nearly strangled.  Superman rescues Batman but gets shot with a Kryptonite bullet. Batman blows Metallo to smithereens, but Superman warns he'll re-form.  Batman and Superman are covered in the dirt, ash, and rock from the explosion.  But before Batman can remove the Kryptonite bullet from Superman, he realizes that Metallo is after them again.  Batman sets off another explosion, and he and Superman escape through the sewers.  The explosions catches them, though.  Clark sees Bruce lying face down in the water, "Bruce!  It's not ending here... I won't let it!" he gasps, and moves to his friend's side, and pulls him out of the water.  Bruce coughs up the water, somewhat recovered, and the two limp their way through the sewers to the Batcave.  Bruce has Clark pull down the electric fence covering the opening.  They are met by a startled but unflappable, Alfred.

Though Clark and Bruce are both weak and injured, they soon recover.  Alfred is shown sealing away the Kryptonite bullet in a lead box.  Alfred also returns Superman's washed uniform shirt and cape.

As the two heroes recover in Bruce's inner sanctum of  the Batcave, Luthor gives a presidential address.  He blames Superman for the death of John Corbin (Metallo), and shows an edited videotape of Superman attacking himself and Corbin "for no reason", before showing Corbin's burnt body.  Then Luthor supplies an answer for anyone doubting that Superman could do something so evil -- the approaching meteor is Kryptonite (true) and driving Superman mad (not true).  Luthor closes his presidential speech by announcing a one billion dollar bounty on Superman's head.

Batman and Superman attempt to investigate, but they are attacked - first by Banshee, then by a group of ice villians (Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, Killer Frost, etc), then by Soloman Grundy and Mongo, then Sheba, then Night-Shade and Grog.  Before long Superman and Batman are seemingly surrounded by every DC villain that could fit on the screen.

Captain Atom arrives with his team and a Federal Warrant for Superman's arrest.  But Superman and Batman fight Luther's heroes and defeat them, then Superman escapes with Power Girl, his cousin, Kara.  Captain Atom and his group follow Superman and Batman, after receiving orders from Luthor to "do your job" and eliminate Superman.  During that fight, Batman shows his skills not only at fighting, but at psychological manipulation, not only goading Major Force by calling him a psychotic murderer, but doing so in front of Captain Atom who hears every word, and takes it to heart.

Kara, however, has realized that her cousin is right and Lex Luthor is wrong, and attacks Major Force to defend Batman.  Despite everyone yelling at her, she breaks Force's containment field causing a radiation leak.  Black Lightening and Captain Atom co-operate to contain Major Force.  In the resulting explosion, Force is dead, and Atom appears dead.  Kara, that is, Power Girl, decides to stay with her cousin.

Meanwhile, Luthor's launched his nuclear missiles at the meteor.  It doesn't work.  The meteor is still on course for the planet.  Luther appears weak and sick.  Power Girl takes Superman and Batman to Luthor's hideout, but they are met by Hawkman and Captain Marvel who attempt to take the two out.  When Superman knocks out Captain Marvel, and Billy Batson is left in a crater, a concerned Batman goes to check out the young teen to see if  he's OK.  Batman asks the injured child to say something.  Billy answers, "Shazam!" and becomes Marvel again.  But, the two, with Power Girl's help manage to convince Hawkman and Marvel to not listen to Luthor.

Meanwhile, Luthor claims the first attempt to destroy the meteor was a "fact finding" mission, but he can now put his plan into action.  Not even the public is convinced by this, as rioting and looting breaks out.

Amanda Waller, shocked by Luthor's inaction, discovers he's taking steroids and liquid Kryptonite injections.  Luthor tells Amanda he will let the meteor hit, so he can be in charge of  the world that rises from the ashes.  Dressed as Hawkman and Captain Marvel, Batman and Superman arrive.  Luthor destroys all the information on the meteor, but Amanda gives them a back-up on a thumb drive.  She also asks a general to arrest Luthor.  Luthor, however, escapes, and takes more Liquid Kryptonite, before climbing into a robotic super suit.

Superman and Batman travel to Japan, to meet Hiro -- the Toyman.  Power Girl has arrived before them and acts as lookout to avoid the teen billionaire genius.

Toyman shows the two heroes a giant Superman/Batman Robot, he mentions it has manual controls, but he can control it from a nearby computer console.  The Lex-bot arrives, takes out Power Girl, using Kryptonite blasts.  He fights Superman, also using his Kryptonite gun.  Then he destroys the control council.  Batman heads for the rocket, saying "Goodbye" to Clark/Superman as he gets inside the robot and takes off.

Superman fights and defeats Luthor.  Batman takes off  in the rocket.  "That was my best friend!  And you just killed him!" Superman yells at Lex, before knocking him into next week.  However, Luthor takes off again in pursuit of  the rocket and Batman.

Batman manages to destroy the meteor using the rocket.  Superman and Lex fight, and even though they've landed back in the US he finally knocks him out.  Captain Atom has recovered and arrives with Power Girl and a message for Superman.  Superman rescues Bruce who's in a survival capsule shaped like a combination of the Batman and Superman symbols.  He sets Bruce on a rooftop, and helps him out of the ship.  Luthor is taken away.  Lois arrives.  Batman disappears as Superman watches the sun rise.

Again, this was an excellent animated film.  It is a bit political in tone - rich businessman Lex Luthor, one of the most evil villains in the DC Universe, yet someone that Superman can never really stop because he can't prove he's broken the law - becomes president.  And in the DC universe, Lex Luthor was president for awhile during the Bush years (besides harrassing Superman, he bombs Gotham City at one point to annoy Batman, making part of the city a wasteland).  Although the film doesn't state outright that Luthor caused the economic turmoil that he then exploits to get himself elected, it's certainly implied.  And the economic turmoil described in the film's excellent opening sequence is half  the Great Depression, and half every economic down turn since.

But what is even more striking about Lex Luthor is what an obvious xenophobic racist he is.  He wants to get rid of  Superheroes, especially Superman, not only because he doesn't trust them, but because he considers them "freaks and monsters" - and not human. Luthor is one step away from openly declaring a war between humans and meta-humans.

But one of the best things about this film isn't merely it's politics - it's seeing the glimpses of the close friendship between Bruce Wayne (voiced by the incomparable Kevin Conroy of  Batman: The Animated Series) and Clark Kent (Tim Daly of  Superman:  The Animated Series).  Though they don't see eye to eye on how to solve crimes, or battle super villains, in this film they are nonetheless close friends - and it's threats to Bruce that cause Clark to really go after Lex Luthor.  Plus there's some wonderful dialogue between the two.

If  I had one quibble with the film, I could have done with less of  the mega fight scenes, especially every super villain they could find being thrown into a fight with Superman and Batman, and more of  the male bonding between Clark and Bruce.  And more Alfred.  I always like to see the more Alfred the better - he only gets one scene here.  It's a great bit, but once Batman sails off  into what appears to be a one-man one-way mission to save the planet, you'd think someone would break the news to him.  But I digress.

The Superman Batman Graphic Novels were known for their thought bubbles, yellow for Superman's pov, and blue for Batman's pov.  I think the film could have used some voice-over between the two, because that was a big part of what made the graphic fun - seeing Clark's view of  Bruce and Bruce's view of  Clark, or their situation or whatever.  It was always great fun to see how iconic characters viewed each other.  However, the film does do a great job, when we see Superman and Batman working together, of showing their different personalities and methodology.  And that was terribly fun.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Superman Batman Apocalypse

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Sunset Boulevard


  • Title:  Sunset Boulevard
  • Director:  Billy Wilder
  • Date: 1950
  • Studio:  Paramount
  • Genre:  Drama, Film Noir
  • Cast:  William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Jack Webb
  • Format:  Standard, Black/White
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I just think a picture should say  a little something."-- Betty
"Oh, one of  the message kids, just a story won't do.  You'd've turned down Gone with the Wind."-- Joe
"No, that was me.  I said, Who wants to see a Civil War picture."-- Sheldrake

"I am big, it's the pictures that got small."-- Norma Desmond

"Still wonderful, isn't it?  And no dialogue.  We didn't need dialogue, we had Faces."-- Norma

"Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture.  They think the actors make it up as they go along."-- Joe

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is one of the best movies made about movies, ever.  It's also an excellent Film Noir, filmed by one of Film Noir's best directors, Billy Wilder. The dialogue sparkles, and much of this film is quotable.  The characters are sympathetic, but doomed - as is characteristic of  Noir films.

Sunset Boulevard is the story of  Joe Gillis, down on his luck Hollywood screenwriter, and Norma Desmond - once queen of the silent silver screen, now all but forgotten in her decrepit Hollywood mansion.  The film opens with a shot looking up at a dead body floating in a swimming pool. Narration sweeps the viewer into the story, telling us how Joe ended up in the swimming pool.  Yes, this is the second time Wilder's started a film with his protagonist dead or dying and used narration to explain how he wound up in such a state (the other being the wonderful Double Indemnity).  Joe's a writer, but he's hit a "slow" point, so much so that he's three months behind on the rent on his apartment, and his car is about to be repossessed.  Without his car, Joe's in trouble, so he dodges the finance company, which leads him to Norma Desmond's mansion -- he gets a flat and pulls into her garage.

Norma, once Queen of Silent Films, has now gotten old and lives in seclusion with her butler, Max.  Joe introduces himself to her, recognizing her, but really has no interest, he only wants to hide out until he can get the money to pay what he owes on the car.  But Norma is fascinated by this young man, thrown into her clutches by fate.  When he tells her he's a writer, she shows him her script for "Salome".  It's truly dreadful, and about 600 pages too long, but Joe reluctantly accepts a job as editor/re-writer/ghost writer.

And thus begins Joe's descent.  He becomes a "kept man", with Norma buying him gifts of fancy clothes, jewelry, watches, cuff  links, etc.  Joe, a "plain speaking" sort, isn't impressed with Norma's gifts, but he's caught in her web and helpless to get himself out.

At the beginning of the film, just prior to meeting Norma, Joe has a meeting at Paramount Pictures with Mr. Sheldrake, to plug his new baseball picture.  The meeting goes nowhere, though he meets Betty Schaefer, a script reader with aspirations to be a writer.  They meet later in the picture, when Betty tries to convince Joe to develop about six pages of  his failed script into a full-length movie.  They meet again and begin to work on the new script together, and even start to fall for each other.  But their relationship is doomed because she's engaged to his best friend, Artie (Jack Webb); and Joe, though he's not in love with the much older Norma Desmond, feels a certain responsibility to her.

Every time it seems that Joe might break away from Norma... and find happiness with friends his own age like Artie and Betty, he's drawn back.

Meanwhile, Norma lives in the past, watching her movies on a theater screen in her home.   (Something Joe scoffs at... one wonders what he'd think of the VHS/DVD/Blu Ray market today?)  She even performs live shows for Joe once in awhile.  Once a week, what Joe describes as "her waxworks" come to play bridge, they are cameos of other classic silent era film stars.  Norma is an aged beauty, and she hasn't handled the fact well.  Partially because of  Hollywood's standards of  young perfection, but also partially because she was never able to change with the times or re-invent herself.  Which is a fate of many Hollywood stars, especially women.

Norma finally drops off  her script for "Salome" in person to Cecil B. De Mille (played by De Mille himself). When an aide at Paramount calls her, she instructs Max to hang up... playing hard to get.  She later goes to the studio in person and meets De Mille.  While he's checking out the calls she's received, an old lighting gaffer recognizes her, and turns a huge floodlight on her.  Soon behind-the-scenes people and actors alike are flocking around her with cries of, "Norma Desmond!" and "It's Norma Desmond!" and "I thought she was dead!".  De Mille, meanwhile, discovers that the calls were about her car... someone wanted it for a Crosby picture.  De Mille decides to save Norma's feelings by not telling her, and even promises to shoot "Salome" after his current film.

Norma returns home and books every type of beauty treatment she can.   Joe gets even more frustrated, but won't leave, he can't leave.

Finally, Joe starts sneaking out during the evening to meet Betty and work on their script, "Dark Windows", a romance.  They start to fall for each other.  But Joe doesn't want to break up the engagement between Betty and Artie.  Norma also becomes jealous and even calls Betty to tell her "what kind of man he is".  Joe catches Norma at this, invites Betty over, then cruelly explains his circumstances.  He's driving her away because Artie's a nice guy.  After Betty leaves, Joe goes to his room, grabs his suitcase, and begins packing - taking only his own clothes, and leaving the rest.  Norma has a fit... and in her anger, shoots him three times (and thus, Joe winds up in the swimming pool).  Later, reporters, police, detectives, and others gather.  By this time, she's gone completely mad and has no idea where she is or what's going on.  Max, her director, and first husband, directs her down the stairs, and with newsreel cameras rolling, she delivers her speech about how great it is to be back in pictures, and the film's immortal last line:  "Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark.  All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Sunset Boulevard is brilliant.  It's dark, and chilling, and Joe, a perfectly nice guy, a writer from Ohio who came to Hollywood to make it big, and died in a swimming pool, is both a warning and a ideal protagonist.  The film's theme is broken dreams:  Norma became a star at sixteen, but now she's fifty and has no one, and no concept of  how to live in the world.  Joe only wanted to become a working writer in Hollywood, and, well, didn't.  The film is the antithesis of  the rags-to-riches tale that is so popular in the American psyche and in Hollywood films and musicals in particular.  It's also a tale of  how Hollywood uses beautiful women and then spits them out to replace them with someone younger, and more beautiful (though that's implied not explicit).  I love this film, and Billy Wilder's directing.  And, again, as in most Film Noir films, the dialogue sparkles.

I highly, highly recommend Sunset Boulevard.  If you've never seen it, make a resolution to watch it, you won't be disappointed.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  5 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Superman/Batman:  Apocalypse