Reviews of Classic and Modern Movies in a Flash!
We pick up with Marlin, Nemo and Dory a year after the events of ‘Finding Nemo’ ended. The three have adjusted into a family routine. Although the ever forgetful Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) feels that there’s something missing. When she suddenly starts remembering her childhood, she decides she must go find her parents. Nemo and Marlin accompany her on her quest. Along the way they have some frightening and humorous adventures as they try to find out where Dory belongs.
1hr. 37min.
William Wyler directed Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in this poignant story about a modern day princess. On a goodwill campaign across Europe that makes a stop in Rome, Ann (Hepburn) is overcome with the pressures of her position and decides to run away and have a holiday for herself. There she meets a smooth American reporter (Peck), who knowing her identity suggests a day of fun for her (all the while getting the story of his career). The scoop becomes less important to him, as he falls in love.
Audrey Hepburn won the Academy Award for her breakout performance that launched her career.
1hr. 58min.
Told in flashbacks as Julie (Irene Dunne) listens to a set of beloved records, the story follows the courtship and marriage of Julie and Roger (Cary Grant). Their life seems set to follow fun and adventure as Rogers journalism career takes them to Japan, but when an earthquake causes Julie to not only miscarry but also be unable to have any children of their own, their lives take a more serious turn. Their attempts to adopt a child are met with difficulty and then eventual success. The two must go through the joys and heartbreak of parenthood in this humorous and poignant tale.
One of Cary Grants early dramatic films, he was nominated for an Academy Award.
1hr. 59min.
Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) leads an ordinary life sifting through negatives at Life Magazine. His most exciting moments comes in his daydreams of adventures and his attempts to talk to new coworker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). Everything changes when not only is it announced that Life will go digital, but the most important negative of the last edition of the magazine is lost. It’s up to Walter to track down the illusive photographer before it’s too late. His search takes him to distant parts of the world and (along the way) to finding himself.
Ben Stiller starred and directed this humorous, imaginative and uplifting film.
1hr 54min.
Fred Astaire stars as Tony, a psychiatrist who longs for a patient with “real problems”. Into his office comes Amanda (Ginger Rogers) who is brought there because she keeps cancelling her wedding. There is an instant attraction that Tony doesn’t feel is professional, not so for Amanda who pursues him with a will. She even goes so far as to invent more neurosis for him to treat. Things get more wacky and hilarious as it culminates with Tony hypnotizing Amanda (to help her get over him) and her leaving his office before he can bring her out of it!
1hr. 23min.
Quirky inventor Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough, but no one except his wife (Marcia Strassman) and their kids (Amy O’Neill and Robert Oliveri) believe in him. When an accident causes the Szalinski kids and their neighbors (Thomas Wilson Brown and Jared Rushton) to be shrunk to the size of bugs and put out with the trash, it’s up to the resourceful kids to battle through the biggest adventure of their lives; the Backyard!
Featuring some (still) impressive special effects, this film was a box office smash, opening at #2 behind Batman.
1hr. 33min.
In 1957 Leo McCarey remade his 1939 classic ‘Love Affair’. This time around he chose for his leads Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The story tells of their shipboard romance, that leads the two to (wanting to test the strength of their love) want to meet in 6 months at the top of the Empire State Building. Getting their lives togethar in the meantime, they both anticipate a happy ending, but they come to learn that “the course of true love never did run smooth”.
Always one to let his actors improvise during filming, Leo McCarey’s parring of Grant and Kerr proved a stroke of genius in this romantic/comedy/drama.
1hr. 58min.
Set on the eve of WWII, the story follows young Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) as he is shipwrecked on a deserted island. He soon realizes that he is not alone; the fantastic black stallion he saw being shipped on the same ocean liner has washed up on shore as well. The two form a strong bond as they survive together. When they are picked up by a fishing boat, their adventures continue back in the USA. After a chance meeting with a former jockey (Mickey Rooney), they realize The Black has racing potential. They get him entered literally as ‘The Dark Horse’ to race against two of the greatest horses of their time.
1hr. 58min.
Animated Giselle (Amy Adams) is following the “fairytale formula”, of meeting a prince (James Marsden) and getting married the next day, when his stepmother Narissa (Susan Sarandon) sends her to a place “where there are no happy endings”; the human world of NYC. There she meets divorce attorney Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan. While she learns about the problems of the real world, Giselle teaches them that sometimes ‘happily ever afters’ do happen.
Three of the songs were nominated for the Academy Award.
1hr. 47min.
When young Penny disappears from the orphanage, it’s thought that she has run away, but when Rescue Aid Society mice Bernard (Bob Newhart) and Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) are brought in to investigate, they realize that she has been kidnapped by Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page). They track them to
Devil’s Bayou, where Penny is being forced to search for the Devil’s Eye (a massive diamond) in a cave that can only be entered via a small hole. Bianca and Bernard must come up with a plan to save Penny before Medusa decides she no longer needs her.
Followed 13 years later by The Rescuers Down Under, this film would become the first Disney animated film to have a sequel.
1hr. 17min.