Torn Curtain, 1966

Director: ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Stars: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews,









And now, the last review of April!

American physicist Michael Armstrong (Newman) is on his way to Europe with his secretary/fiancee Sarah (Andrews) for a big mathematics conference or something.  (Is it ridiculous that I don't completely understand what is going on?)  Anyway, the whole point is that everyone thinks Armstrong is defecting to Germany, and he can't tell them that really he is working for the US government as a sort of spy, trying to get a formula for something!  

Okay, I don't know why I don't know the details because this truly IS one of my favorites.   It has PAUL NEWMAN!  Enough said.

Torn Curtain is not at all scary, just suspenseful, and of course, romantic.  And, no, Julie Andrews does NOT sing.

CAMEO:  In the hotel in the beginning, Hitch is seated, holding a baby.

Gaslight, 1944

Director: George Cukor (My Fair Lady, The Philadelphia Story, Adam's Rib)

Stars: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Angela Lansbury

When her aunt is murdered in London in the apartment they share, young Paula (Bergman) moves to Italy, and lives there for many years before she meets Gregory (Boyer) who sweeps her off her feet. After the wedding, he wants to move to London, and she finally feels ready after all these years to face the apartment, which was left to her, and all the feelings that go with the unsolved murder that happened there. As long as her husband is with her, how can she not be safe?

But in that house, she starts to hear things when her husband is gone for the night at work. And the gaslight in her room always goes down a little as if someone has turned on the gas in another part of the house, but no one has. She finds a letter addressed to her aunt, but later her husband tells her she had only imagined finding it. Is she losing her mind?

I thought it was excellent! I didn't know beforehand that Joseph Cotten was in it, and I am a fan, so that was a nice surprise. And then the rude chambermaid also surprised me: unmistakably Angela Lansbury! She's great!

The scene at the end that Paula shares with her husband is probably my favorite. Chilling!

Letters to Juliet, 2010

Director: Gary Winick

Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Vanessa Redgrave

Aspiring writer Sophie (Seyfried) travels to Italy with her fiance on a pre-honeymoon vacation. When he ditches her for tours of his vendors and suppliers (he owns an Italian restaurant in New York), she explores Verona on her own. When she comes across "Juliet's house", she discovers a wall filled with letters written to Juliet by women who need advice on love. She then finds out that a group of women reply to each letter that has a return address, writing as Juliet. Intrigued, she joins them and replies to a letter written 50 years ago.

So she is very surprised when, a few days later, she meets Claire (Redgrave), the woman who wrote the letter to Juliet, asking for advice on whether or not to run away with Lorenzo, the man she loved. Inspired by her letter and comes back to Italy to find her love Lorenzo and apologize for leaving him.

But they never kept in touch, so it's up to Sophie, Claire, and Claire's grandson Charlie (Egan) to find this Lorenzo, among all the other Lorenzo's with the same surname.

It's a really sweet story, and the only fault I find with it is that it's cheesy. Cheesy but lovely!

Ocean's Twelve, 2004

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and many more!

The guys are back. This time it's an about art and in Europe. Fitting.

Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), owner of the three casino-hotels Ocean's eleven robbed three years ago, wants revenge. One by one, he finds them all, warning them they have two weeks to come up with his money- $160 million. Plus interest. How will they pull this one off?

Personally, I think it was a darn good sequel. It includes a cameo by Bruce Willis, a surprising ending, Eddie Izzard (my favorite comedian!!), and lots of fun throughout. I loved so many lines in the film! I just have to share some favorites.

Quotes:

"I totally phoned in that Dennis Quaid movie." (another Topher Grace cameo)

"Who would I talk to if you were all dead?"-Reuben

"I don't understand what happened! What did I say?"

"You called his niece a whore-"

"-a very cheap one."

"She's seven." --(Danny and Rusty, playing a joke on Linus)

"Great. So, we'll just eat room service, watch movies, and wait for Benedict to show up and kill us." --Danny

"Look- it's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why." --Rusty

"Do I look 50 to you?" -Danny

"Yeah.....only from the neck up....."

(throwing around ideas for a job, speaking some kind of "thief" language)

"Hell in a hand basket?"

"No, we can't train a cat that quickly."

FACT: Despite the fact that they make fun of his age, George Clooney was only 43 when this film came out. He is 50 this year.

FACT: The whole scene with Rusty and Danny, watching Happy Days in French absolutely cracks me up! But that isn't my "fact". Danny makes a comment about Potsie, so I decided to look Potsie up just to see if there was some kind of significance there. I have no idea, but I did find out that Potsie's real name is Anson William Heimlick. Yes, THE Heimlick. He's related to Dr. Heimlick! Cool!