Movie review - "The Presidio" (1988) ***

 Quite fun. Great star power from Sean Connery and Meg Ryan (doing wonders as The Girl - though she has an arc, being a hot mess). Mark Harmon very likeable. Some okay action sequences. Nothing that memorable but just old school 80s action with fun people. 

Movie review - "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) ****

 Some of humor has dated - attitudes, rather. Sally's orgasm is actually out of character for her - but what a scene. Beautifully directed. Meg Ryan is the heart - so good. Funny, gorgeous. Billy Crystal rises. Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher excellent. Made with such love. Woody Allen given the proper schmaltz treatment.

Meg Ryan Top Ten

 1) When Harry Met Sally (1989) - for a time she was the It Girl

2) Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

3) Top Gun (1986) - a few scenes can make a career

4) In the Cut (2005) - brave performance

5) You've Got Mail (1998)

6) Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) - much mocked but it broke all the rules

7) When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) - completely forgotten film, good acting

8) Courage Under Fire (1996)

9) Hanging Up (2000)

10) DOA (1988) 

Script review - "When Harry Met Sally" by Nora Ephron

 This was mocked on a podcast by two males making fun of the premise, but it does operate as a decent thesis and also is a film of its time. This material has been much mined since by TV. It copied a lot of Woody Allen, but does offer a female point of view. It also feels, well, Jewish, in its emphasis on the importance of being married. But it's simple yet effective, smart, two contrasting characters, and the plot develops logically. I'm not sure how long they'll last married -Harry's got too many issues.

Sidebar: Meg Ryan really made the film go next level. Billy Crystal is absolutely fine but I get the feeling a bunch of other stars could have played the role but Meg is the heart.

Peter Hyams Top Ten

1. Capricorn One (1978). His best film. Everything works. 

2. Outland (1981). Not everything works. But lots of fun.

3. 2010 (1984). Thankless task. But it's fun and it's remained vivd for me.

4. Running Scared (1986). Fun buddy cop film.

5. Narrow Margin (1990). No one saw this when it came out but it's fun.

6. Our Time (1974). Sweet. Female writer. Not perfect but interesting.

7. Goodnight My Love (1972). Overrated but still entertaining.

8. End of Days (1999). Silly. But it has the courage of its silliness.

9. Enemies Closer (2013). Terrific Jean Claude Van Damme performance.

10. The Presidio (1988). Cheerful slick 80s Hollywood stuff with Meg Ryan as Sean Connery's trashy daughter.

Movie review - "The Doors" (1991) **1/2

Much to admire - the stunning production design, the care that went into a lot of it, Val Kilmer's perfect performance, the strength of the cast (down to minor roles), the fact it is stuffed wall to wall with Doors music and Morrison poetry. This cost a bomb but the production values are on screen - Venice Beach, UCLA film classes, concert footage, planes.

But it's a hard slog. Stone had a vision - to show Morrison's journey on the doors - but it's not a very interesting journey. He starts off strange, talented, and charismatic, then just drinks and takes drugs and drinks and takes drugs and becomes dull to hang around.

Sure, the judge's ruling in the obscenity trial was harsh but Morrison as shown here should have spent time inside for a bunch of reasons - being abusive to his women, brawling, being a f*ckwit basically.

Maybe Morrison simply doesn't work as a lead character - he's better as a support. The film would probably have been better off being told through the eyes of John Densmore or Pam Coulson.

Meg Ryan is miscast as Coulson - it doesn't matter as much straight up but later on when she gets on heroin and the relationship becomes a Days of Wine and Roses thing... I didn't buy it. Her acting was fine, it's just a matter of persona - maybe Meg Ryan is wild in real life but she doesn't seem like it, and I struggled.

In her defence the film is thrown out of whack by giving such a big role to Kathleen Quinlan as Morrison's wiccan lover. Quinlan is very good in the part - more comfortably cast than Ryan - but the prominence to her role sort of throws the movie.  Her character is much better defined - she has a career, an inner life (witch), more agency... she overtakes Ryans' character. (Aside: Quinlan was in Apollo 13 and I had fun imagining her astronaut's wife character in that movie having this secret other life where she ran around topless snorting coke, drinking blood and having sex with rock stars).

A lot of this was repetitive. Two scenes where Morrison couldn't get it up. Three out of control concerts. Endless drug taking and parties.

What was the point? Was there a theme? That Morrison was... crazy? Lost his way? I was confused.

The film is full of pleasures and is great to see on the big screen. It just goes too long and feels hopelessly unfocused.

Movie review - "Proof of Life" (2000) ***

Lots of good things about this movie - the location shooting the performance of Russell Crowe in the lead, the interesting "world" of kidnapping and ransom (remember the good old days when Latin America, not the Middle East, was the kidnapping capital of the world?), David Caruso's lively support performance.

Meg Ryan kind of wrecks it. She throws the movie off balance, not just with her uninspiring performance but also her sheer star quality. She's a good actor but feels too light weight and all wrong for what is basically the Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca role. You didn't need Meg Ryan you just needed someone attractive, who lusted after Crowe nobly, while the focus was on Crowe trying to get huer husband back.

Meg Ryan's casting pulls focus - you're drawn to her, which is actually a mistake dramatically because the character is so passive. All she does is lie to a politician - the rest of the time she makes cups of tea and hangs around Crowe.

The film flounders in some other spots it should be strong - like the opening sequence of Russell kicking arse (intercut with him talking about it thus robbing the piece of suspense) and the sequence of Morse being kidnapped. I also hate it how they got Morse to be tough and yell at his kidnappers BECAUSE HE'S AN AMERICAN - why didn't they just play it truthfully, in that you'd suck up and be nice.

So a flawed film. But like all movies written by Tony Gilroy, worth watching. Russell Crowe is very well cast and has a great last scene.

Movie review – “The Women” (2008) **

Artistically mostly a failure but fascinating to watch because you can see why they made the wrong choices they made. It would have been impossible to remake the 1939 film, which was inherently sexist – a bunch of women bitching and desperate to hang on to their men, nothing without them. So here the women are more supportive – they have careers and you are allowed to go back to a cheating husband, but only after you set up your own fashion line first. It means the work has been de-fanged a bit – the troublesome Rosalind Russell character becomes the bitch but with a heart of gold Annette Bening, there is Hollywood horseshit with Ryan running her own company.

That doesn’t matter so much. The real problem with this is that the ghost of Sex and the City lingers over it so much. I can understand why this is – presumably the success of that series/movie helped this get greenlit – but did Annette Bening have to be so reminiscent of Kim Cattrall? Did they have to focus on four friends and have scenes of them having lunch together chatting around a table being witty? Did it have to end with one of them having a baby? Did it have to be set in New York?

If this had come out in 1994 as originally planned it would have gone gangbusters. But now it just seems so old fashioned, with this irritating product placement for Sacks and this silly third act point where Bette Midler (wasted) inspired Meg Ryan with the words “you have to say to yourself ‘what do I want’?” The woman has a maid, housekeeper, one kid, big house and cool job - she doesn’t exactly strike me as Miss Selflessness.

English’s direction is very poor with anything other than a two hander (the two handers are fine but honestly who can’t direct one of them). Meg Ryan is okay, Bening too close to Cattrall, Debra Messing, Eva Longoria and Debbie Mazar are good, Candice Bergen and Cloris Leachman are terrific, Jada Pinkett Smith is poor (she plays it totally wrong, all sitcomy – and I didn’t believe that these women would be friends with that sort of lesbian).

Some really good scenes – Bergen and Ryan (really wonderful two hander), Bening and Ryan’s daughter. And there are bright lines and lots of good actors. This didn’t deserve the shell-acking it received at the hands of middle aged male critics, who seemed to be personally offended by it, but it’s still a disappointment.