Movie review - "Philadelphia" (1993) ***

 Nineties cinema par excellance - hot director, social issue, Oscar bait, etc. It made a lot of money, got rewards, but after this the critics turned on Jonathan Demme - too establishment.  The movie became a joke in a way - Tom Hanks seems to apologise for being so acclaimed playing gay and it led to In Out. 

But the movie holds up well. Confidently made. Two great stars in flashy roles. Denzel is that 90s standby - a loveable ambulance chaser. Hanks is very affable - who was as affable, really? Classy support cast including Bradley Whitford, Antonio Banderas. 

The film goes for very long. It's two hours. Thirty minutes could have been cut out. I understand they needed to give Hanks a big monologue in the second half because otherwise Denzel takes over. The powerful drama of the opening half an hour - Hanks discovering his illness, getting fired - is dissipated.

But the acting is lovely, the direction sensitive, it does have heft. 

Movie review - "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) *****

 A magnificent combination of material, writer, director, approach, and stars. Joanthan Demme didn't always has the best scripts he wasn't great on story and sometimes his take on the material didn't match but it works beautifully here. Few movies better demonstrate the power of close ups.

Also he lucked out with casting. Jodie Foster was never better as the plucky, intimated Clarice, who is constantly shown surrounded by men, leering/dismissive. Even Jack Craword (Scott Glenn, very good) can be dismissive. Tony Hopkings is electric. Charming. Gene Hackman and even Sean Connery wouldn't have been as good.

Full of spectacular set pieces. Stunningly well made. Orion were a great studio. William Goldman advised a whole section be cut out apparently. Roger Corman has one of his best roles.

Movie review - "Ricki and the Flash" (2015) **

 Jonathan Demme's last dramatic feature sent him out with a minor hit, helped by the casting of Meryl Streep as a rocker. She's estranged from her family - ex husband Kevin Kline.

Interesting double bill with Rachel Gets Married - that film needed this character. 

Feels like an Australian film. I plotted this. Really poor script. From Diablo Cody! But things of great promise like Rick Springfield loving Streep - that's resolved in one scene! Endless music. Dull. 

Jenny Agutter Top Ten

 1) The Railway Children (1971)

2) Walkabout (1970)

3) Logan's Run (1976)

4) An American Werewolf in London (1981)

5) Equus (1976)

6) The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

7) The Riddle of the Sands (1979)

8) China 9 Liberty 37 (1978)

9) Sweet William (1980) - never seen it actually but it was a lead

10) the Snow Goose (1971) 

Movie review - "Rachel Getting Married" (2008) **

 Anne Hathaway is a proper film star and Jonathan Demme's direction is full of energy but it's not uch of a script it feels like an Australian movie with AH as a hot mess out of rehab for her sister's wedding. There's a lot of speeches and family stuff, and encounters. A romance with a fellow junkie is dispensed with very quickly - they root, that's it. There's a Past (Hathaway accidentally kileld her brother), some secrets (she's full of it), Rosemary de Witt is the sister gets upset. The cast includes Debra Winger and some vaguely familiar faces.

It's too long and too much of it is undercooked - the guy she hooks up with, the mother, the dad's girlfriend, the groom, the groom's family. There's so many speeches and music acts. I get that Demme loves his actors and extras but give them something to play.

Rewrite, please. 

Movie review -"The Manchurian Candidate" (2004) **1/2

 For the first half of this I found it annoying - there was no need to make it, really, and the story doens't really work outside the Cold War. I know big business is bad but they normally just buy off people instead of big conspiracies. It needed the religious fervour of the Cold War.

Meryl Streep has a high old time and Denzel Washington goes mad well - the second half where the movie forges more of its own identity is stronger.It beefs up the Janet Leigh part.

The TV pundit scenes annoyed me for some reason. 

Roger Corman has a small role! 

Movie review - "The Truth About Charlie" (2002) ***1/2

 A delightful surprise - I'd dismissed this film without having seen it like many. I was offended, I guess, by the idea of remaking Charade and its junior grade stars. So I didn't bother. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it at the time but now I totally get it and really enjoyed the film. I understand why Demme wanted to make it, coming off Beloved, a heavy movie, and distracted by his production company and Good Works. He just wanted to have fun. So he look a terrific script, and an actress he wanted to work with and had fun in France. 

It's a love letter to the French new wave, with cameos from Agnes Varda, Anna Karina, and Charles Azanvour, and New Wave techniques and lots of French dialogue. He made the film for Thandie Newton who is fine - not perfect in the way Audrey Hepburn was but she's having a good time and Demme adores her. And Wahlberg is giving it a good try, and it's fun now to see him in a beret and talking French. Will Smith would've been much, much better but Demme is having a great time and so are the cast. Demme was ahead of the curve on diverse casting, and there's quirky touches like the girl from Emmanuele with the magazine (you'll know the one if you've seen the film) playing a cop, Ted Levine as a baddy but a flawed one. Tim Robbins is a little annoying with his dumb voice - this was around the time in his career when I began to dread him in films because he was always Saying Something about American Foreign Policy.

Loved the music. Enjoyed the movie.