Joan Leslie 1925-2015

A screen actress from Hollywood's golden age passed away today at the age of 90, and although she acted in plenty of films from the 1940's, she's probably most known for playing James Cagney's wife Mary in the classic Yankee Doodle Dandy. Her other most notable credits were the Humphrey Bogart film High Sierra and the Gary Cooper led Sergeant York, before making guest appearances on television shows from the 1950's through the 1980's. But Mary, wife of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle was her liftoff moment.

Scene from Yankee Doodle Dandy:

Movie of the Day: "Cat People" (1942)

This is my favorite film in our series this week, a horror classic from the 40's directed by Jacques Tourneur that boasts two truly terrifying, suspenseful scenes that would still work today, believe it or not. The story may seem silly- a woman with an ancient curse placed upon her fears she's becoming a cat, but there's no cheesy special effects to be had here. Instead, Tourneur uses shadows, light and fear of the unknown following you at every turn to place us in this woman's shoes as something is consistently following her and will inevitably drag her into the depths of a horrifying future. This is a masterpiece of suspense and one of the most influential horror films ever made. Look out for the pool scene, which is so amazingly effective you'll be shocked it existed in a low budget film from 1942.

Original Trailer:

New Trailer for Jesse Owens Biopic 'Race'

This looks like a pretty traditional biopic, but as always with these, the story sells the movie. And I wonder how many people these days are familiar with the Jesse Owens story- maybe it'll generate some interest when it comes out next February.

Movie of the Day: "The Invisible Man" (1933)

I like to think of Claude Rains as the kind of Paul Giamatti of his day- a fantastic character actor who played so many great and memorable supporting roles (classic movie fans know him from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Casablanca, Notorious, The Adventures of Robin Hood), yet rarely got the chance to carry a movie as the lead. Of course in this one where he did, you couldn't see his face. He was The Invisible Man, the scientist whose experiment rendered him transparent and descending more and more into pure cackling villainy and madness. He's actually one of the great movie villains, with an awesomely creepy look (all covered in bandages), and groundbreaking early special effects that really worked in order to make objects appear to move on their own. James Whale, the director of the Frankenstein movies, proved here again that he was the Master of the macabre, and The Invisible Man still holds up fantastically well today, thanks to Claude Rains' deliciously evil performance. Yes, that is him under the costume.

Trailer:

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Aladdin" (1992)

It's hard to believe that as of today, Aladdin still hadn't been released on blu-ray yet, but the wait is finally over. One of the classics from the famed Disney "renaissance" era, this one featured the legendary Robin Williams voicework as the big blue genie, and was also the last of the home runs Disney was hitting in the early 90's to boast the contributions (both musical and creative) of the late great Howard Ashman, who can be credited with so much of the success of the Disney renaissance. It's still funny, entertaining and with a fantastic score that's still better than anything they've come up with in the new CG era for Disney movies (that Alan Menken guy just cannot be beaten). Buy it before Disney shuts it back up in the vault, you guys.

Original 1992 Trailer:

New Trailer for Saoirse Ronan in 'Brooklyn'

Brooklyn has had a steady roll through the fall film festivals, being rapturously received at Toronto and New York, following its debut in Sundance last January. It's been so well-received in fact, that I now think the film is a heavy Oscar contender in both Actress and Picture, especially given that it's backed by Fox Searchlight, a studio with plenty of awards success behind it. I've always loved the soulful Saoirse Ronan, so it makes me happy to see her going on to adult success after having had her first nomination as a child for 2007's Atonement. This is one of the films I can't wait to see in November.

Movie of the Day: "Dracula" (1931)

I've dedicated this month to monster movies over in the October movie page, but there are still so many from the Hollywood golden age, that I'm also deeming this week the celebration of classic movie monsters in general. So we start with the 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula- a movie that to be quite honest, isn't as good as Frankenstein, but still an essential, for Lugosi's "Children of the Night" speech alone. Lugosi was considered the Master of Horror, and this was the first time he played the vampire, as a seductive, charming, gentleman of the night basically, who can't see his reflection, turns into a vampire bat and ensnares young women with the taste of his blood- this was the beginning of the "vampire as alluring sexual predator" metaphor that continues to this day, since the silent Nosferatu couldn't exactly play on the attractiveness of the freaky Max Schreck's features. This one is so iconic that even the slight staginess of the production from the early sound era shouldn't hinder you from checking it out.

Original 1931 Trailer:

BOX OFFICE 10/09-10/11: 'The Martian' Stays on Top While 'Pan' and 'The Walk' Bomb

A great hold this week for The Martian, which fell a scant 37 percent to earn another 37 million- its domestic total is already at 108 million, with reaching 200 million a strong and likely possibility. Meanwhile, the 150 million dollar WB movie Pan was a total flop, bringing in just 15 million, below even the soft expectations of 20 million. The movie was also panned by critics (couldn't resist, sorry) , sitting at 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which means this one joins Tomorrowland and Fantastic Four as one of the biggest bombs of the year. Looks like no one is interested in a live action Peter Pan story, no matter what you do with it.

Hotel Transylvania 2 held onto the family crowd with second place and 20 million, while the Robert Zemeckis film The Walk was a total wipeout, making just 3.7 million after its pathetic IMAX start last week. It didn't even make the top five. I guess another topic no one's interested in is a guy walking on a wire (although I do recommend the amazing documentary about the story from 2008, Man on Wire) . The Intern and Sicario rounded out the top five, with The Intern especially holding well to become a kind of sleeper hit, nearly crossing 50 million so far.

Top 5:

The Martian- 37 million
Hotel Transylvania 2- 20.3 million
Pan- 15.5 million
The Intern- 8.7 million
Sicario- 7.4 million

In limited release, the big news was the smashing start of Steve Jobs, which opened on 4 screens to a stunning 590k, a 133k per screen average, easily the best PTA of the year, but also the 15th best of all time- wow. It'll be interesting, as always, to see how it expands (it's set to go wide on the 23rd), but it looks very promising so far for the sure to be heavy Oscar contender. Next week we have the wide release of the new Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies, along with the Guillermo del Toro ghost story Crimson Peak, and the limited openings of Cate Blanchett's Truth and Brie Larson's potential Oscar player Room. See you all then!

Peter Sarsgaard Redoes the Stanley Milgram Experiment in 'Experimenter' Trailer

I grow more and more amazed every day by the sheer amount of movies that look perfectly interesting and with fairly big name actors that are going straight to video on demand instead of getting a theatrical release. This is what they mean when they say that the adult audience has moved to television- when a movie like this, with Winona Ryder and Peter Sarsgaard about the Stanley Milgram experiments can't even get distribution, hope for film audiences really is dwindling. Look for it October 16th.

Red Band Trailer for John Hillcoat's New Thriller 'Triple 9'

An all star cast gets violent for Australian director John Hillcoat, whose movies The Proposition and Lawless were pretty much known mostly for their violence. But hey, we see Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winsley, Aaron Paul and Anthony Mackie here, so he assembled himself quite an ensemble. It's coming out in February.

An All Star Cast Spoofs 1950's Hollywood in the Coen Brothers 'Hail, Caesar!'

The humorous Coens are back, which I guess explains why this movie is coming out in February of next year. The Coen Brothers are usually in the Oscar race when they have a film out, but I guess their comedies, as great as they can be, never really make it into consideration. Still, this looks pretty awesome and very Coen, as many of today's stars take on impressions of 50's Hollywood actors in a kind of neo-noir screwball comedy, it looks like. Can't wait.

Lizzie Bennett Takes On the Apocalypse in 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'

The aesthetic matches many of the shots, sets and costumes from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, but a new wrinkle is added when zombies attack the 19th century heroine and her pals. Based on a famed graphic novel and with Cinderella's Lily James as Elizabeth, this one should bring in devoted Austen fans who want to see the iconic story spoofed, although zombies in general just feels SO overdone lately.