Movie Review: The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Tony Richardson  

Starring: Jodie Foster, Rob Lowe, Beau Bridges, Nastassja Kinski, Wilford Brimley, Matthew Modine, Amanda Plummer, Wallace Shawn  

Running Time: 110 minutes  

Synopsis: It's the 1950s, and dreamer Win Berry (Beau Bridges) converts an abandoned school into a hotel. His teenaged children John (Rob Lowe) and Franny (Jodie Foster) are incestuously attracted to each other, while their brother Frank (Paul McCrane) comes out as gay. Bad-boy high school footballer Chip (Matthew Modine) inflicts a life-long trauma on Franny, and over the years the family endures many adventures, including a relocation to Vienna, and encounters with Win's friend Freud (Wallace Shawn), and a girl in a bear costume (Nastassja Kinski).

What Works Well: The adaptation of John Irving's novel is committed to an original assortment of unconventional characters, unexpected incidents, and challenging themes, riding on a foundation of tragedy as a foundation for life's journey. Death is the Berry family's constant, and often unexpected, companion, but this does not prevent the pursuit of dreams, pleasure, and sometimes miraculous achievements despite shocking setbacks. 

What Does Not Work As Well: In a case of stuffing too much of the book onto the screen, the outcome is too quirky for its own good, with serious incidents of rape, incest, terrorism, and suicide almost dismissively caught up in merriment. Director Tony Richardson rarely pauses long enough to allow true emotions to surface, and further degrades his work with some ill-considered and unworthy Benny Hill-like fast-motion sequences. 

Key Quote:

Multiple characters: Keep passing the open windows.

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Movie Review: Man Of The West (1958)

Genre: Psychological Western  

Director: Anthony Mann  

Starring: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: Former outlaw Link Jones (Gary Cooper) has built a new life of peaceful domesticity. But after he is caught up in a botched train robbery along with entertainer Billie Ellis (Julie London) and card sharp Beasley (Arthur O'Connell), Link stumbles upon his old gang led by the hard-drinking and aging Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb). The gang is now marginalized and incompetent, but Dock harkens back to old glories and wants Link to rejoin for one last bank heist. 

What Works Well: Director Anthony Mann combines the impressive breadth of CinemaScope with an intimate focus on one man forced to confront his legacy. Gary Cooper's considered presence enhances a central theme of the monster within called upon to slay the ghosts of the past, and Lee J. Cobb's borderline maniacal father figure exemplifies the power of elders to shape destinies. The overarching titular narrative captures the man of the west's progress from lawlessness to respectability. And while the unevolved are decidedly humiliated (in an exhaustingly epic fist fight) and discarded, beneath the veneer of civility violence is not far from the surface.

What Does Not Work As Well: In a few talky scenes, the tight focus on a small number of characters starts to resemble a stage play. A climactic gun battle is staged with exquisite excellent but suffers from endless bullets syndrome.

Key Quote:

Link Jones (to Dock): You've outlived your kind and outlived your time, and I'm comin' to get you!

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Movie Review: Yalla Aa'belkon Chabeb: Single, Married, Divorced 2 (2016)

Genre: Dramedy  
Director: Shady Hanna  
Starring: Badih Abou Chakra, Talal Jurdi, Fouad Yammine, Dory Al Samarany, Nada Abou Farhat, Nibal Arakji, Darine Hamze, Marwa Khalil, Julia Kassar  

Running Time: 118 minutes  

Synopsis: In Beirut, four fortysomething men grapple with relationship issues. Walid (Badih Abou Chakra) is wealthy but frustrated by the shallow women he meets on the dating scene. His friend Mazen (Dory Al Samarany) has frequent casual sex behind the back of his long suffering girlfriend Nour (Nada Abou Farhat). Heart surgeon Hatem (Talal Jurdi) is secretly bulimic, testing the limits of his wife Nina (Nibal Arakji). And new father Ziad (Fouad Yammine) is married to Maya (Darine Hamze) but feeling neglected and carrying on a secret affair with Ghida (Marwa Khalil).

What Works Well: Stylistically similar but less a sequel and more a male counter-perspective to the 2014 original, this version is more serious and dramatic. The bulimia sub-plot makes for a difficult watch, and Mazen's callous treatment of Nour points to unstated sex addiction. Nevertheless moments of humour do emerge, most commonly in Walid's succession of dates with entitled and materialistic husband-hunters.

What Does Not Work As Well: The shifts in tone between serious and lighthearted are often awkward, and the drama is less expressive, a natural outcome of a focus on men unwilling to verbalize thoughts and emotions. A character with early onset dementia (Julia Kassar as Mazen's neighbour) is treated as no more than comic relief.

Key Quote:

Walid: I would very much like to get married. Especially if I fall in love.

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Movie Review: Yalla Aa'belkon: Single, Married, Divorced (2014)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Elie Khalifé  

Starring: Darine Hamze, Nada Abou Farhat, Nibal Arakji, Marwa Khalil  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: In Beirut, four single 30-something women friends grapple with relationship issues. Make-up artist Yasmina (Darine Hamze) is looking for true love, and is in a relationship with the Egyptian Hazem (Aiman Kaissouni) who's only available on weekends. Yasmina's mom (Julia Kassar) pesters her constantly about getting married. Art gallery curator Taline (Nada Abou Farhat) just wants to have casual sex, but her neighbour Marwan (Mario Bassil) is a persistent suitor. Dressmaker Layan (Nibal Arakji) is in a relationship with the married Wissam (Badih Abou Chakra), while Doctor Zina (Marwa Khalil) is deeply frustrated by the shallow men she dates.

What Works Well: Writer and star Nibal Arakji relocates the breezy friendship-and-fashion Sex And The City vibe to the Beirut social scene. This is a surprisingly sharp and often poignant commentary on the sometimes genuine, often caustic, but always humorous search for love and sex among a group of well-defined women. As the friends navigate ticking biological clocks and a minefield of men pursuing their own pleasure, director Elie Khalifé uses crisp editing and observant camera placements to supplement fine work by the ensemble cast.

What Does Not Work As Well: Some of the scene transitions are clunky, and in search of cheap laughs, some emotional beats (in particular Yasmina's mother) play into stereotypes. 

Key Quote:

Yasmina (narrating to the camera): Let's check out my city Beirut. I'll show you how a single girl lives. A doormat has it so much better.

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Movie Review: Ladies First (2026)

Genre: Satirical Fantasy Comedy  

Director: Thea Sharrock  
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Rosamund Pike, Emily Mortimer, Charles Dance, Fiona Shaw  
Running Time: 93 minutes  

Synopsis: In London, Damien Sachs (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a misogynistic marketing company executive, in-line to be the next CEO. After he promotes previously ignored middle-manager Alex Fox (Rosamund Pike) to be a token female presence on the executive team, Damien bangs his head and wakes up in a world where women have all the power. Alex has his job and is the CEO-in-waiting, and men are treated like playthings and their opinions ignored. Damien has to find a way to return to his version of normal, and decides to compete with Alex for the CEO role.

What Works Well: Although in real life his character would have been marched out of the office carrying a box, Sacha Baron Cohen is adequate as a smug and over-confident executive. Some chuckles can be found in the representation of a topsy-turvy world where males are subservient, and a perpetually miffed cat makes for a good co-star.

What Does Not Work As Well: The premise is about 40 years out of date and may have been marginally funny in a 1980s context, although even by then Diane Keaton and Sigourney Weaver were already bossing the corner office. The imaginative dead-end of women behaving just as badly as men if roles were reversed results in ideas drying up by about the 30 minute mark. Desperate for any plot line to prolong proceedings, a "let's have a competition for CEO" results in a bizarre lack of self-awareness as order is restored with the supposedly more awakened man still destined to come out on top.

Key Quote:

Alex: Can you change a tire?

Damien: No. I'm a man.

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Movie Review: Office Romance (2026)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Ol Parker  

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein  

Running Time: 115 minutes  

Synopsis: Jackie Cruz (Jennifer Lopez) is the embattled CEO of Air Cruz, the company founded by her father (Edward James Olmos). With the airline embroiled in legal action initiated by a competitor, Jackie works closely with lawyer Daniel Blanchflower (Brett Goldstein) from her legal team, and they fall in love despite the company's strict policy forbidding office romances. Jackie's pregnant assistant Sydney (Betty Gilpin) starts to suspect that her boss is in a relationship, and when Jackie's private life is dragged into the legal action, the romance is threatened.

What Works Well: Jennifer Lopez makes for a glamorous CEO.

What Does Not Work As Well: It's difficult to believe that an HR policy can be the catalyst for a rom-com, and sure enough this limp effort leans heavily on adults behaving like (literally) horny teenagers. Daniel gets tongue-tied and develops a very visible erection in Jackie's presence, and his use of the "c" word, apparently quite acceptable in his native England, is over-deployed. It's never clear if the pregnant Sydney is supposed to be comic relief, a supporter, or an antagonist, but she is victimized by a shock-for-shock's sake birth scene. Equally, Daniel's incarcerated sister (Jodie Whittaker) is a sub-plot that goes nowhere.

Key Quote:

Jackie (to Daniel): Do you believe in magic?

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Movie Review: The Rebound (2009)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Bart Freundlich  

Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha  
Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: 40-year-old suburbanite housewife Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) separates from her cheating husband and moves to New York City with her two pre-teen kids. She finds a sportscasting job and leans on 25-year-old barista Aram (Justin Bartha) for babysitting. He is a college graduate but aimlessly drifting through life and still living with his parents. Gradually a romance evolves between Sandy and Aram, but the age difference will get into the way.

What Works Well: Catherine Zeta-Jones is radiant as a mom getting to grips with a new stage of life, and director Bart Freundlich avoids romanticizing Manhattan. The final act seeks originality within genre confines. 

What Does Not Work As Well: This clunky rom-com suffers from poor pacing, a paucity of ideas, unfunny secondary characters (Aram's parents are obnoxious), and a lack of both subtlety and wit. A couple of scenes (a woman's self-defense class, Sandy's disastrous date with a chiropractor) are prolonged well after the humour runs out. Vulgarity is deployed in a misguided search for laughs, with adults who should know better and kids spouting foul language. Sandy and Aram generate limited romantic chemistry, and it's never clear what a supposedly smart woman sees in his failure-to-launch character other than convenient babysitting services. 

Key Quote:

Sandy (to Aram): Someone like you shouldn't be with someone like me - an old girlfriend with two kids.

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Movie Review: Convoy (1978)

Genre: Anti-Authoritarian Action Comedy  

Director: Sam Peckinpah  

Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Ernest Borgnine, Burt Young  

Running Time: 111 minutes  

Synopsis: On the open highways of Arizona, trucker Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Kris Kristofferson) tangles with photographer Melissa (Ali MacGraw) in her speedy convertible. At a truck stop she sells the car and becomes his passenger. When corrupt Sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) shakes down Rubber Duck and his trucker friends "Pig Pen" (Burt Young) and "Spider" Mike (Franklyn Ajaye), a brawl ensues. The truckers flee and motor into New Mexico, where they are joined by many other disgruntled truck drivers. The convoy becomes a public spectacle and political headache.

What Works Well: Freedom expressed as enjoyment of the open road is both nostalgic and poetic, and the kinetic visual imagery of massive trucks roaring down the highway under gorgeous skies is impressive. Cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr. also excels in capturing countless stunts involving crashing police cars and overturning trucks. The movie was inspired by the fun 1975 C.W. McCall song of the same name.

What Does Not Work As Well: There is no plot to speak of, and no meaningful characters beyond cartoon cut-outs (Ernest Borgnine suffering most from peak buffoonery). The script generally consists of CB radio chatter, and the movie invests in exactly one scene to spell out - straight to the camera - a cacophony of grievances (high gas prices, low speed limits, corrupt law enforcement, the Vietnam War, Nixon, Rockfeller). The final act steps into the ridiculous, bringing in heavy weaponry and big explosions for the sake of spectacle.

Key Quote:

Melissa (referring to the huge convoy of trucks behind Rubber Duck): But they're all following you.

Rubber Duck: No, they ain't. I'm just in front of them.

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Movie Review: Some Girls (1988)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Michael Hoffman  

Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Connelly, Lila Kedrova  

Running Time: 94 minutes  

Synopsis: American college student Michael (Patrick Dempsey) heads to Quebec City at the invitation of his girlfriend Gabby (Jennifer Connelly), who had abruptly abandoned him mid-semester. Gabby lives in a spooky old mansion along with her parents and two sisters Irenka (Sheila Kelley) and Simone. Gabby is flirty but admits to Michael she no longer loves him. He is further disoriented by overtures from the two sisters and a series of surreal encounters with Gabby's Granny (Lila Kedrova), who is suffering from dementia and mistakes Michael for her deceased husband.

What Works Well: This quirky romantic comedy combines cloak-and-dagger aesthetics, sly behaviour, and minor fantasy elements. The European sensibility is emphasized within the French Canadian setting, where the sisters disassociate lust from romance, nudity is common (Gabby's father can only write while naked), generational bonds are strong, femininity remains an ethereal mystery, and the surrounding snowy forests can nurture desires and secrets. Michael is the outsider awakening to how little he understands a different culture.  

What Does Not Work As Well: As the central character, Michael is also unfortunately purely reactionary, reduced to a series of embarrassments, befuddlements, and bamboozlements. Elsewhere, some secondary characters (Gabby's mother, Irenka's sort-of boyfriend) contribute uneven influence.

Key Quote:

Gabby's father (to Michael): How many of my daughters have you slept with?

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Movie Review: Best Seller (1987)

Genre: Thriller  

Director: John Flynn  

Starring: Brian Dennehy, James Woods  

Running Time: 95 minutes  

Synopsis: Police officer and celebrated writer Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) became famous after publishing a best-selling book about a notorious heist that left several officers dead. 15 years later Dennis is a single dad, tired of policing, and suffering from writer's block. Professional assassin Cleve (James Woods) approaches Dennis to write a non-fiction book exposing the ruthless methods of wealthy industrialist Madlock. The skeptical Dennis investigates Cleve's story, and his own life is soon endangered.

What Works Well: This briskly-paced thriller mixes an original premise and moments of action with a thorny buddy story, Larry Cohen's script most interested in the intriguing dynamics between detective and assassin. Dennis is following a scent without losing sight of his purpose, while Cleve's psychotic yet strangely sympathetic hitman is seeking respect and redemption. James Woods delivers one of his best performances, finding a cool edge but never over-stepping into theatricality.

 

What Does Not Work As Well: Unfortunately, the secondary characters are barely sketched in, creating a hollow chamber around the plot idea. The capitalistic villain Madlock could have been so much more, and the women in Dennis' life (his daughter and agent) are reduced to stock representations. The middle act struggles for content and overcooks Cleve's smugness and Dennis' cynicism.

Key Quote:

Cleve (to Dennis): You need me. We need each other.

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