Scrooged, 1988

Directed by Richard Donner
Written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue (from some old thing that Charles Dickens wrote)
Starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Bobcat Goldthwait

This is not everyone's favorite, nor is it everyone's favorite Bill Murray movie (surely that's Groundhog Day), nor is it everyone's favorite Christmas move (surely that's It's a Wonderful Life, in a crowded field). However, I watch it basically every year. It's heart is in the right place, even if (as the New York Times would say) Mr. Murray and director Richard Donner had disagreements about the tone. Besides, it's friggin' Bill Murray as Scrooge -- what more could one ask for? There are lots of good lines, many delightful supporting performances, and, like the original Scrooge, he gets the message, so it has the Christmas spirit.

One bit that I especially enjoy (partly because the waiter is played by Tony Steedman, also known for playing Socrates in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) and features a little primer in proper grammar:

Frank Cross (Bill Murray): "Are you him? Are you him?"
Waiter (Tony Steedman) shakes his head: "Are you he?"

Scrooged at IMDB.

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Scarface, 1932

Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, and George Raft
Directed Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson
Written by Ben Hecht and related work by a lot of other people

This is a classic tale of mobsters going from bad to worse during prohibition. Paul Muni (mostly unknown now) turns in quite a performance as Tony Camonte; George Raft is his best friend; and Ann Dvorak is Cesca, his sister. It goes from being a gangster movie to something almost Shakespearean at the end. There's a scene near the end where people "talk past" each other until one of them realizes what's happening, which is almost unimaginable to see in a movie like this. Certainly worth it for that, if not strictly for its historical value in the history of gangster movies.

Scarface at IMDB.

Rinaldo (George Raft) and Tony (Paul Muni)

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The places to hear from me:
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Favorite movies - The Pantheon
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Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com

The Asphalt Jungle, 1950

Directed by John Huston
Written by Ben Maddow and John Huston
Starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, and Jean Hagen

A really fine movie. It's worth seeing just for Sterling Hayden, but the whole thing excels. The script is great, it looks great, the acting is great. It's said to be one of the first heist movies, and it makes you understand how the whole sub-genre could come from it. As a side note for comedy fans, if you're wondering how to stop seeing Louis Calhern only as Trentino (see below) from Duck Soup or Jean Hagen (also see below) only as Lina Lamont from Singin' in the Rain, this movie will do it. Finally, if you want to see how good acting can be disturbing without being the least bit explicit, wait for the scene with Sam Jaffe as (Doc Riedenschneider) near the end.

Finally, Stanley Kubrick must have really liked this movie. See The Killing for why I think that.

The Asphalt Jungle at IMDB.

P.S. If you've forgotten who Trentino is, he's the one on the right:

If you've forgotten who Lina Lamont is (again, on the right -- in the white, not the cop):

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The places to hear from me:
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Movies - Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
Politics - Progressive Politics (per Josh Lubarr)
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Favorite movies - The Pantheon
Me generally - Josh Lubarr's web site extraordinaire
Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com

Idiocracy, 2006

Directed by Mike Judge
Written by Etan Cohen and Mike Judge
Starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph

This is a really funny, genuinely subversive, dystopian comedy. The script is great, and it's full of quotable lines. The conception of the future rings true, which is why it's so funny, and yet actually creepy and off-putting under further scrutiny. The music is delightful. Luke Wilson is completely on the money as the everyman who is elevated by the decline of everything around him, and continually appalled by what he sees. And it has that Mad-magazine (or perhaps Doug Kenney), "every detail is funny" look. Yes, there are plot holes and things don't make sense, but just watch as if you were from the future and you won't notice those. Or watch these to obliterate your memory.

And it's in The Pantheon.

Also, you can tell that Jon Stewart loves this movie. 
 

(L-R: Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary
of Education, Secretary of Commerce, Attorney General)

 
Idiocracy at IMDB.


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The places to hear from me:
Food - josh lubarr food stuff
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Movies - Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
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Favorite movies - The Pantheon
Me generally - Josh Lubarr's web site extraordinaire
Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com

Groundhog Day, 1993

Directed by Harold Ramis
Written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis
Starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell

I think this is Bill Murray's best movie. It's a good story based on an intriguing premise. It's very funny, and, dare I say, even moving at a few moments. He's at the top of his game and obviously working well with Harold Ramis, who is also at the top of his game. The other performances are fine, but this is Bill's movie and he carries it off. It's not a masterpiece of cinema, but it's head-and-shoulders above most comedies (and a lot of what's out there). I could list my favorite lines, but there are too many. There's something particularly hilarious about the recurring scenes in the diner -- especially the scene where he drinks coffee from the decanter and when he gets Andie McDowell's list of what she's looking for in a man ("Me again").

There's also notable material about it in this article; spoiler alert for the article: I hope they're finally talking again.

And it's in The Pantheon.

Groundhog Day at IMDB.

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The places to hear from me:
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Movies - Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
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Favorite movies - The Pantheon
Me generally - Josh Lubarr's web site extraordinaire
Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com

Intolerable Cruelty, 2003

Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones


This movie is a favorite among favorites (and it's in The Pantheon, of course). Along with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, this is my favorite cat-and-mouse movie.

The acting is, across the board, wonderful. Of course George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones are good, but this movie wouldn't be what it is without Geoffrey Rush ("I'm in a meeting!"), Billy Bob Thornton ("Honey, do I look worried?"), Cedric the Entertainer ("You want tact? Call a tactician."), Paul Adelstein ("Baby field greens"), Richard Jenkins ("Your Honor, this is harassment, and, frankly, it's still a little arty-farty."), Edward Herrmann ("Is that possible?") and so many others.

And they obviously wouldn't be so good if it weren't for the writing. The universe of this movie is so filled with lying that it's easy not to notice how often it happens. When George Clooney unknowingly repeats the lie that someone (no spoiler here) has died in a business meeting when we clearly know otherwise, it's just a reminder that they are all filled with, as Big Daddy would say, mendacity.

The Coen brothers really outdid themselves with this movie. The pacing is great, look is great, and even the little touches are great -- things like "Living without Intestines" magazine. That's part of the reason why this movie holds up so well after repeated viewings, and I speak from experience.

A lot of reviews compared this movie to screwball comedies, but, while their influence is evident, it's a product of now. It's just as much fun watching George Clooney go through trouble as our modern Cary Grant, but those movies (The Awful Truth, for example) are about a world that isn't greedy the way this one is. That some of the main action happens at a divorce lawyers' convention in Las Vegas, versus swanky and relatively innocent apartments and nightclubs in '30's New York is telling enough. So much of this movie is about cupidity versus Cupid that the Coen brothers may have left out that pun as a sign that it was too obvious.

Intolerable Cruelty at IMDB.

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The places to hear from me:
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Favorite movies - The Pantheon
Me generally - Josh Lubarr's web site extraordinaire
Also also - Josh's Part of lubarr.com

Across the Pacific, 1942

Directed by John Huston
Written by Richard Macaulay
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet

Second-tier thriller/adventure fare with Bogie, Greenstreet, and Mary Astor all providing reasonable but not stunning performances. It was obviously sold as a kind of Maltese Falcon reunion (with both the cast and with Huston directing), but it's not nearly as good. Still, it's not a bad ride. 

Across the Pacific at IMDB.