Malcolm1980's Movie Reviews Thread 2015

[malcolm1980]

12/30

Port of New York (Laszlo Benedek) **1/2 - Drug dealers smuggles off a shipment of opium from a ship and it's up to Customs agents and Narcotics officers to find it. It's B-movie film noir/police procedural. It's notable as featuring one of Yul Brynner's early film acting roles. Here, he plays the big villain and he's terrific. He actually enlivens what's otherwise a rather generic, bland standard noir. The good guys are kind of forgettable and generic that you really want it to be all about him. Overall, it's merely an okay film but Brynner's performance make it somewhat of a worthwhile watch.

Brooklyn (John Cromwell) ***1/2 - A young Irish woman immigrates to America for a better life and finds love with a young Italian man. Oh, my. This is such a lovely, lovely film. It's surprisingly funny in parts, it's moving and of course romantic. It's really surprising how much I loved this film considering that the plot is far from original. But thanks to the magical combination of great acting, directing and writing (a script by Nick Hornby, no less), it becomes a beautiful piece of old-fashioned romance done exceedingly well. I've always known Saoirse Ronan to be one of today's best young actresses all the way back to her breakthrough role in Atonement but she absolutely impresses in a completely new level here. I recommend it highly.

[malcolm1980]

12/31

Desk Set (Walter Lang) *** - I squeezed in one last film for 2015. This time it's yet another Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy team-up. It's about the ladies who work in the Research Department of a TV network who faces a threat of being replaced by a computer (yes, this movie kind of predicted the Internet in a way). The head of that department and the man who invented the computer meet and you can predict it from there. I read that this film was actually one of the inspirations for 30 Rock and I can definitely see it. It's not a comedic masterpiece but it is a charming, likable and funny film. Hepburn and Tracy are great but the ensemble cast especially Joan Blondell also make it work.