Watching Movies June 21

The Machiavellian Thomas Cromwell returns ten years later deeply embroiled in Henry VIII's political intrigues and marriages, and Mark Rylance is magnificent. The final episode is some finely wrought drama and a great ending to a terrific series. This conclusion to Cromwell's story even improves the stature of the first series and puts them both on the highly-recommended list.

I don't know why he's an ape, but the gimmick works because I wouldn't have watched the movie otherwise. I didn't know anything about Robbie Williams except that he was a British pop star.  Unfortunately, it's the standard rock music biopic we've seen many times before: the rise and fall due to wealth and drugs and the pressures of fame with occasional musical numbers. It's all done well but it's never surprising. You'd hope a movie that dared to cast an ape as its lead would try to be daring in any other way. I guess he just really loved Planet of the Apes.

Zombies, spaceships, punk rockers, arms-dealing yakuza, transgender love: This Japanese movie throws together lots of crazy ideas but doesn't display the filmmaking skills to make it all work. At the very least some tighter editing is desperately needed to give it more momentum. Some good music might have helped too. I won't even ask for good acting.

It's a one joke movie, but the script is actually pretty tight and the lead actors are fun so I have no complaints.

Paul Newman's a young lawyer who was born and raised to climb the social ladder only to find it may lead to wealth and status but not happiness. It's a solid drama that suffers from being an adaptation of a popular novel, meaning it runs too long trying to encompass a large timespan with new plot threads introduced late in the story, so it loses momentum. Thankfully a few performances kickstart some life into it. Robert Vaughn is terrific as the unsuccessful version of Newman's character, giving a showy Oscar-nominated performance. Barbara Rush is excellent too as the major rung on his ladder. Most of all, Billie Burke (Glenda, the good witch) shows up late in the film as a quirky elderly philanthropist and steals the movie. Newman is solid and maturing as an actor, and you could follow this with The Verdict to see what the character might end up 20 years later.

A delightfully zany rich family takes in a "tramp" as a chauffeur. The threadbare story follows close on the heels of My Man Godfrey, but it's full of sharp one-liners and the ensemble is excellent despite being lesser known talents. I watched it because Billie Burke won an Oscar and she's hilarious as the matriarch. Vaudeville veteran Clarence Kolb plays a cantankerous father figure doing physical comedy you rarely see in older actors. Alan Mowbray's butler upstages everyone (he was also in My Man Godfrey). Stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne are simply charming, with Aherne reminding me a lot of Errol Flynn. Ann Dvorak even pops in as a man-hungry friend. It's a stellar cast just making this as fun as possible. It lulls a bit near the end when it tries to make a story happen, but don't let the story spoil your fun.