Movie Catchup: I'm As Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Going To Take This Anymore!

I've been blasting through movies at a fair clip over the past few weeks, so here's the highlights.

Network
A 70's movie, a last great golden age in my view before everything went all blockbuster and sentimental, and also Peter Finch's last. Howard Beale, a veteran news anchor, has a breakdown on live television, but it doesn't have quite the effect anticipated.

Perhaps it's not as shocking now as it was then, what with Celebrity Big Bother and Judge Judy, it does show it's deficiencies in plot and styling, but the acting is still great and not surprisingly won umpteen Oscars the following year.

Out of the Past
A classic film noire from 1946, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) is running a garage in a backwater town in the California hills when a he's contacted by a past acquaintance with a job offer he can't refuse.

Although the plot is good, it's let down by Mitchum, who hadn't quite got the hang of acting at that time, and Greer who's more neurotic than fatal (she was no Ava Gardner). The highlight is Kirk Douglas, as the menacing Whit Sterling, who could act, and proceeds to do so, stealing the scene from Mitchum every time.

Need for Speed
A vehicle, if you forgive the pun. for Aaron Paul after his success in Breaking Bad. Having been framed for the death of his friend, Tobey Marshall (Paul) drives across America to compete in an unlicensed road race and revenge himself on the man (Dominic Cooper) who set him up.

Not a bad little pizza movie, if undemanding. There's almost no plot and the script sounds like it was written in an afternoon, but this is more than made up for by the car chases, which are breathtaking.

Snitch
Dwayne Johnson plays John Matthews, a construction and transportation owner whose estranged son is arrested in a DEA sting operation and makes a deal.

Dwayne continues his acting lessons, this time with the help of Susan Sarandon as an ambitious D.A., Jon Bernthal as an ex-con who gets unwittingly involved, and Barry Pepper as Matthews D.E.A. handler. Dwayne doesn't do too bad, and it's a good role for him, with a bit of action as well as acting. Give the guy a break: he's really trying!

I, Frankenstein
Dr. Frankensteins creation (Aaron Eckhart) is saved by the Gargoyle army to help save humanity from the demon horde.

Yeah, whatever. I couldn't really summon up the enthusiasm for this. It just seems like a group of media types got in a room and randomly threw Gothic stories around until something stuck. Watch only if you're bored.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
And finally, one of the best comedy films ever made, and certainly one of the most original. Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is asked by Juliette Forrest (Rachel Ward), daughter of a noted cheese scientist, to solve the mystery of her father's death.

Funnier than a pack of hyenas in a laughing gas factory, Martin and Ward spark off each other wonderfully, but it's the "bit" players and the fantastic editing of all the 40's and 50's film clips that make it such a treat. Watch again and again.

Better Call Saul
Ooooo, speaking of Breaking Bad, a new series has started in the 'States about one of the characters. Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman, one-time hustler and con-artist, now tries to keep his head above water as a public defender.

Although I was a little disappointed with the ending of the parent series, this looks a little more promising.