your lucky ring stinks

Average rating: 5, though more fairly it would be an average of 8 + two ignorable crappy craps

Lust for Gold (1949) - "During the 1870s, the ruthless Jacob Walz (Glenn Ford) becomes very wealthy after locating a legendary Arizona gold mine and securing sole ownership by murdering his partner. Walz then travels to Phoenix, where he catches the attention of a beautiful and crafty woman named Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino), who has learned of his exploits. Eventually, Walz falls in love with Julia, unaware that she's already married to Pete (Gig Young), who is eyeing his fortune."
length: 1 hour, 30 minutes

source: I bought the DVD
I watched it because: I like Glenn Ford and am trying to his more highly-rated films
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: N/A% Audience: 67%
my IMDB: 1/10 🦃

MPAA rating: Approved

directed by: S. Sylvan Simon

my notes: yuck! The characters are flat, and none of them is likable or compelling. Ford's Walz is handsome and rugged and abhorrent. Ida Lupino was not a good actress, and Julia was not a good role.     3 thumbs down.

overall: not  recommended

 

The Expendables (2010) - "Mercenary leader Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his loyal men take on what they think is a routine assignment: a covert operation to invade the South American country of Vilena and overthrow its dictator. But, when they learn that the job will be a suicide mission, they must choose redemption or the destruction of their brotherhood."
length: 1 hour, 43 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD (set) through the public library
I watched it because: I haven't seen the 4th film in the series and wanted to watch them all, close together, beforehand

    previously reviewed here (I've seen it at least four times)
IMDB: 6.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 42% Audience: 64%
my IMDB: 7/10

MPAA rating: R

notable quote: "'Come on. Why don't you man up? Jesus! She wasn't your type.'

    'Why don't you keep saying "She wasn't my type?", so I could put a bullet in your bleak brain! Look who I'm taking to: Dracula's life coach. No wonder you're alone.'" 

directed by: Sylvester Stallone

my notes: this viewing spurred a rare increase in rating for me. This film is fun, fast, fresh, and just complicated enough to be interesting but not so complicated that one loses the thread. I especially like Jason Statham's Lee Christmas character, and the fact that he was caught on film actually laughing, twice! (He's more of a smirker.) Jet Li is amazing (as the unfortunately named Yin Yang), realistically conveying plucky + kick ass + intimidated when faced with death. 

    (My only quibble is that the one-DVD set doesn't have closed captioning. Annoying.) 

overall:  recommended

GoldenEye (1995) - "When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of Alec Trevelyan, AKA Agent 006 (Sean Bean), a former ally-turned-enemy, only James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) can save the world from an awesome space weapon that—in one short pulse—could destroy the earth! As Bond squares off against his former compatriot, he also battles Trevelyan's stunning ally, Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon."
length: 2 hours, 10 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD through the public library
I watched it because: one of my faves is in it
IMDB: 7.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 80% Audience: 83%
my IMDB: 3/10

MPAA rating: PG-13

notable quote: "Oh, grow up, 007."

directed by: Martin Campbell

my notes: good GOD, are these movies dumb or what?! I liked two things about it: Tchécky Karyo as Defense Minister Mishkin (one of the few gray-area roles in this film) and Famke Janssen as the completely deranged Xenia Onatopp. It's fun to watch that lunatic, though even that gets old after a while. This movie is also way too freakin' long. 

    Roger Ebert's review is here, which I think is too kind.

overall: not  recommended

The Palm Beach Story (1942) - "Married New Yorkers Tom and Geraldine Jeffers love each other, but money, or lack thereof, is causing problems in their marriage. Tom, an ideas man, needs $99,000 to finance his latest project—the working model of a suspended airport—money which no one is willing to provide. Gerry is feeling like a burden around her husband's neck as she, self-professed, has no marketable economic skills beyond her feminine wiles. So Gerry decides unilaterally to run off to Palm Beach, Florida and give Tom a divorce. Without money, she uses those feminine wiles to finesse her way to Palm Beach via train and yacht. One of those that assists her on her journey is extremely wealthy, single and straight-laced John D. Hackensacker III. Gerry thinks that John may be the answer to Tom's financial backing worries. So when Tom follows Gerry down to Palm Beach, she introduces him to John not as her soon to be ex-husband but rather her single brother, Captain McGlew, who John renames Mac. But with Mac being single and handsome, John's flamboyant and man-hungry sister Maude, also known as the Princess Centimillia, thinks she's found her next husband, just as John thinks he's found his future wife."

length: 1 hour, 28 minutes

source: I own the DVD
I watched it because: I hadn't seen it in a while, and it was the perfect fit for a day of mind-numbing work

    previously reviewed here
IMDB: 7.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 97% Audience: 81%
my IMDB: 9/10

AFI: 100 Years…100 Laughs (2000) #77

MPAA rating: Approved

notable quote: "Right now I don't like you, although I may get over it later."

directed by: Preston Sturges

my notes: this is such a charming film! Joel McCrea is realistically lovelorn, and just a big handsome lug of a man. Claudette Colbert has an unusual look for a lead, but she does it well. Mary Astor is such a sophisticated lady, so this performance as the brassy Centimillia is particularly funny. And Rudy Vallee... what a cutie, and what a voice! 

overall: highly recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Expendables]