tomgrunick Reviews

Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)

Not That Great

[3/10 · 17 March 2006]

I watched this movie yesterday and it's not that great.

Based on a stage play, It can never get away from those stagey origins, and most of the scenes are just a couple of people sitting around talking. If it weren't for the song (NOT sung in the movie by the Carpenters, by the way) this film would be forgotten, even allowing for the many big names who star in it.

As a period piece from the mid-60s it is vaguely interesting...too bad it was made in 1970, when Hollywood still thought that people talking about sex was daring.

There was one good bit, though, and that was when a very young Diane Keaton is talking to Bea Arthur. Bea mentions the Bing Crosby-Ingrid Bergman film "The Bells Of St. Mary's", which Diane hadn't seen.

But she does get to see it, of course, because that is the movie she is coming out of with Al Pacino in "The Godfather" when they read that Don Corleone has been shot.

Skip it, or watch it on fast-forward.

Amy's Orgasm (2001)

I think she was faking...

[23 September 2004]

This movie is nothing but a tease...offering all sorts of insights into the way women and men inter-act but in the end offering only shallow platitudes.

The use of the confessional as the way of hearing Amy's inner thoughts was nothing but a glib gimmick...completely unbelievable.

The acting was wooden and unimpressive, and I couldn't recognise any of the stars. Nor will I be looking for them in another movie any time soon.

This is a poor imitation of Sex And The City, and comparisons with Woody Allen are hopeful at best, and laughable at worst. It all seemed like a stand-up routine taken too far.

And what is it with movies about women who write books about how they don't need men, and then fall in love? Change the formula!

Three's a Crowd (1969 TV Movie)

Hagman's Undiscovered Gem

[10/10 · 1 July 2003]

I saw this movie on TV years ago, and remember it fondly. Larry Hagman's comic timing was terrific, and, as usual, Norman Fell steals every scene he is in.

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed Larry's autobiography, I would have liked him to have gone into more detail about this overlooked gem.