The One and Only (1978, Carl Reiner)

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Henry Winkler? The Fonz, of course. To me however, the name Henry Winkler means Genius. The star of two of my favorite movies of all time (Heroes and Night Shift), Winkler broke out of his stereotyped role of a tough guy and became more of a pathetic type of loser that audiences couldn't help but love. After looking for more films from this "classic" era of Winkler, I stumbled upon The One and Only and had to watch it.

Andy Schmidt (Henry Winkler) is a man who wants an audience. Any audience. He'll do anything, anywhere to get people to watch him. From the time he was little he knew he wanted to be on stage performing. He loved and needed the adulation of a crowd there for him to perform to. After winning over his reluctant college sweetheart Mary (Kim Darby), they get married and move to New York to follow Andy's dreams of acting. With no luck in his job hunt, Andy has a chance meeting with Milton, a midget actor who has been wrestling to make ends meet. Could Andy himself try this route as a substitution for his dream of being an actor?

The One and Only is simply one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Winkler hits a grand slam as the attention-hungry schlep you can't help but root for. Winkler definitely steals the show and each of his silly outbursts are funnier than the last. The supporting cast is also great, with Kim Darby as Winkler's normal wife, Herve Villechaize as Milton and Gene Saks as Wrestling Promoter Sidney Seltzer, whose constant need to use the bathroom and reminders of his son's sexuality are, though crude and inappropriate, quite hilarious.

RATING: 9/10

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Vittorio De Sica)

Starmummy is back from a short dormancy to bring you a true cinema classic. I must have checked this film out of the library at least 5 times previously but never got around to watching it, until now. If you know anything about film, you've heard of this particular movie. It has been called one of the greatest films ever made and popularized the neo-realism movement, which employed actors with no training.

Bicycle Thieves (or Ladri di biciclette as it was known in its native Italy and The Bicycle Thief in the U.S.) is the story of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), an unemployed husband and father of two. He finally gets a job hanging up posters but is told that he needs a bicycle or else the job will go to someone else. He explains his dilemma to his wife Maria (Lianella Carell) who then sells their bedsheets to get Antonio a bike. However, on his first day on the job, his bike is stolen. Antonio and his young son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) search through the streets of Rome to find the bike napper, which brings them to several different locations, including a fortune teller, a church and a restaurant.

Bicycle Thieves is by all accounts a brilliant film. The untrained cast pull off their performances marvelously and with absolute realism, especially Maggiorani as a desperate father and 7 year old Staiola, one of the most memorable child performances I've ever seen in a film. The father and son's quest is full of many high and low events which really make the audience feel for the characters. I highly recommend picking up Criterion's release of this film, which comes with 2 discs and a 75 page book with interviews and articles about the film.

RATING: 10/10

The Orphan (2009, Jaume Collet-Serra)

When I first saw a trailer for this film, I (as did many other folks) instantly thought it looked like a ripoff of the Macaulay Culkin movie from the 90's The Good Son. I liked the Good Son and was a little perturbed that they would try to make some crappy rehash. Sure the girl playing the orphan looks pretty creepy and pretty damn crazy, but c'mon - what could top lovable Macaulay Culkin, star of such family friendly movies as Home Alone and Uncle Buck play a psychopathic kid?

The Orphan is about a married couple whose third child dies during childbirth. After some time passes, they are ready to adopt and go to a local orphanage where they find Esther. She is intelligent, lovable and caring. But soon after coming to live with her new family, "accidents" start happening to those around Esther. Her new mother Kate (Vera Farmiga) eventually realizes that Esther isn't the innocent child that her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) thinks she is.

Despite some obvious similarities to The Good Son, The Orphan was actually a fine film. Much better and more original than I was expecting. Isabelle Fuhrman is excellent as the devious Esther, far more mature and talented than most her age. There were some genuinely scary scenes and the ending was very unexpected and shocking. Though I still have a fondness for The Good Son, The Orphan is a worthy adversary to good ol' Mac.

RATING: 7/10

Paul Naschy - RIP

Adios Amigo.

Introducing - The ASP BAN VENT Rating System!

I have decided to revamp my rating system, after much deliberation. I felt restricted by the option of only 5 possible ratings. I devised a new ratings system called The ASP BAN VENT rating system. Basically this highly complex system involves lots of algebraic equations, geometrical angles, dodecahedrons, smegma and a merkin or two. So in laymen's terms, it's just a scale of 1-10 instead of 1-5. Very complicated, I know. But I have given each number a describer. Here is a breakdown of the list:

1 - Air Biscuit
2 - Sucked
3 - Pretty Bad
4 - Below Average
5 - Average
6 - Not Terrible
7 - Very Good
8 - Excellent
9 - Near Perfect
10 - The Shit

PS - if you're wondering where the name ASP BAN VENT came from, it's an acronym and it should be pretty easy to figure out if you study my describer chart.

High Crime (1973, Enzo G. Castellari)

Here we have another Italian Crime film, though this one is extra special, for a few reasons. High Crime was one of the first Italian Crime films and its success was a huge catalyst for the many films that followed in the genre. Also it had the first pairing of director Enzo G. Castellari and Italian sensation Franco Nero, who ended up making six films together. Lastly, is Franco Nero himself, whose look in this film is that of perfection for the genre. His thick accent, over the top (in a good way) performance and stunning good looks. Hey, I am not too insecure to admit when a member of the same sex is a ladykiller. Nero just exudes a certain type of charisma and machismo here that is unrivaled.

Nero plays Vice Commisioner Belli who barely escapes the car bombing of a drug smuggler he has just captured. He goes to Cafiero (Fernando Rey), an ex crime boss, to see if he knows who may have been to blame for the murder. Meanwhile, as more trouble arises, Belli convinces Commissioner Scavino (James Whitmore) to turn over a file they have collected on the mafia but is killed and Belli takes his place. With this new found responsibility, Cafiero warns Belli that he and his family are in great danger.

High Crime, or The Marseilles Connection as is displayed on the screen in the opening credits, is a real treat. It is a very well thought out, exciting political caper that has a lot more to it than many of the later polizioteschi films. The first time I watched this I was very confused and a little bored but the second time I really enjoyed it. This is probably one of Nero's best roles and the supporting cast was great as well. There is a car chase in this film that is one of the best I've ever seen too. Though the story can get confusing at times, it is well developed and intelligent. If only this one (like many of Umberto Lenzi's eurocrime films) would get a good release, we'd be all set.

RATING: 8/10

Where the Day Takes You (1992, Marc Rocco)

Did you ever watch a movie when you were younger and have it stay with you in your subconscious without ever really coming to the forefront? Where the Day Takes You is a perfect example of this for me. I saw this film right when it came out on video in either '92 or '93. My sister would rent any new release that came out and usually I'd stop and watch for a few minutes and then carry on with my life. This film however I knew I wanted to watch from start to finish because a) it was rated R and I was only 12 and b) its cast consisted of all of my favorite teen actors growing up. Sean Astin from Goonies! My first love Alyssa Milano! Balthazar Getty from Lord of the Flies and Young Guns II! Ricki Lake from Hairspray! Hell, it even had The Fresh Prince! No way was I going to miss this one.

Where the Day Takes You follows King (Dermot Mulroney), a homeless twenty something in California who was just released from jail. In between interview sessions with a shrink (where he is paid $10 a pop), he lives with a group of homeless runaways he calls "his family". There's Little J (Balthazar Getty), a young runaway whose mouth gets him into a lot of trouble, Crasher (James Le Gros) who wants to leave and move to Texas and Greg (Sean Astin), a drug addict who means well but can't get control of his addictions. Brenda (Ricki Lake), another runaway introduces "the family" to Heather (Lara Flynn Boyle), who just ran away from Chicago. King and Heather start to have feelings for each other but after one of the family kills a local pimp, can they survive out on the streets with the cops after them?

If someone asked me to name a movie that really haunted me when I was younger, above all other films (well maybe not Pet Sematary), I would have to choose this film. The whole story of young runaways living day to day, panhandling, selling themselves, taking drugs, shooting each other, etc. Not a very uplifting movie. When you're 12 years old, it can be downright traumatizing. I escaped unscathed for the most part, though like I said before, there are scenes in this movie that have stuck with me and that I'll never forget. The one that instantly pops into my head is when Sean Astin's character wakes up in a pile of his own barf after shooting up. He then finishes out the movie with yack smeared all over the side of his face. Bleck! The other very vivid memory I had of the film was Will Smith (in his first film role) as a legless, homeless youth. There were some things about the film I forgot about until watching it again, the most prominent was the use of Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth, which fit the film perfectly. Overall this film is very realistic, gritty, scary, sad and brilliant. How they got such a great cast I will never know, but it made the movie. Everyone here plays their own down and out character perfectly. The film's urban cinematography couldn't have captured city life better and even Melissa Etheridge's songs were a good fit for the film. I highly recommend this film but it's not a happy movie. If any of you viewer's have even a fraction of the impact I had from this film then you'll understand.

TRIVIA - This film stars no less than 3 actors from the Young Guns series - Dermot Mulroney, Balthazar Getty and Christian Slater (who has a cameo here as a Social Worker).

RATING: 5/5