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Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a beguiling indictment of bigotry and much, much more. There is so much going on in this film that to boil it down to one theme is very hard. To say it’s about learning to walk in another man’s shoes to understand what they are like is to neglect the equally powerful coming of age, loss of innocence and noble parenting themes that are part of its power.

The story is told from the point of view of the children of small town lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck, GUNS OF NAVARONE). Scout (Mary Badham, THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED) is his tomboy daughter, who also narrates the film as a recollection. Jem (Phillip Alford, SHENANDOAH) is his older son, who gets into a fair share of trouble, but spends a greater deal of his time keeping his sister out of worse fixes. For the summer, they become friends with a peculiar young boy named Dill Harris (John Megna, THE CANNONBALL RUN). They inform Dill about the many legends of their town. Mean old Mrs. Dubose (Ruth White, MIDNIGHT COWBOY) hides a Confederate pistol under her lap blanket when sitting on her porch. Nathan Radley (Richard Hale, BEN-HUR) is the meanest man in town and keeps his grown son Boo (Robert Duvall, APOCALYPSE NOW) locked up in the basement because he’s dangerous. The Radley house is a constant realm of fear for which only the bravest kid dares to go on the porch or peer into the window.

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Theatrically melodramatic and filled with slapstick and wit, AUNTIE MAME combines humor and heart wonderfully. This is all driven by a fascinating central character, which is brought to life perfectly by Rosalind Russell.

Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik) is orphaned when his father passes and he must go to New York City to live with his eccentric aunt Mame (Russell, PICNIC). Patrick’s father sets up his son’s trust with a conservative bank and puts Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark, SUNSET BLVD.) in charge of making sure that his son doesn’t become a freak at the hands of his “crazy” sister. Mame loves Patrick and tries to do the best for him, fighting the influence of Babcock as best as she can. However, Mame’s lavish lifestyle comes to a crashing end when the stock market plummets and she loses all her money. Mame keeps her head up as she struggles to survive and keep Patrick in her life. However, she has a hard time when a grown Patrick (Roger Smith, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES) wants to marry Gloria Upson (Joanna Barnes, THE PARENT TRAP), a girl from a “top-drawer” family.

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If you’ve read the history of this blog than you know many of the reviews came from a newsletter that I’ve been doing on a regular basis since 2001. I was able to get a good chunk of the older reviews up before the blog launched, but there are still about 800 more to go. So I finally have been able to get back to tackling the archives that aren’t already posted. When I post new archival reviews, I’m going to post a little recap of what’s new in the world of older reviews. There’s no ageism at Rick’s Flicks Picks… a good movie is a good movie no matter when it was made and the same can be said about a good review.

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For famed animator Bill Plympton, HAIR HIGH marks his most conventional and widely accessible feature film to date. Partly due to a more traditional plot structure, the film lacks some of the no holds barred originality of his best works like I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON!, but in taking stabs at high school, the films about high school and the 1950s while adding in a dose of horror, he makes an engaging satire that retains his signature sense of style and humor.

Rod (Dermot Mulroney, ABOUT SCHMIDT) and Cherri (Sarah Silverman, SCHOOL OF ROCK) are the “it” couple at Echo Lake High. He’s the hot rod driving, football star and she is the beautiful cheerleader. One day, the new kid Spud (Eric Gilliland) accidentally nicks the paint on Spud’s car, which leads Rod to turn Spud into Cherri’s slave. As these stories go, Spud and Cherri start off as bitter enemies, but eventually fall in love. So when Rod finds out that Spud has asked Cherri to the prom, he sets out to get his violent revenge.

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Intended originally as a sequel to COFFY, FOXY BROWN turned into a stand-alone production late in the game and ended up working more completely than its predecessor. Though still just a vigilante justice/ revenge flick, this film sets up its main character and conflict then keeps consistent throughout.

Foxy Brown (Pam Grier, JACKIE BROWN) is the pistol-packing girlfriend of drug informant Dalton Ford (Terry Carter, TV’s original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), who has just had plastic surgery to take on a new identity as Michael Anderson. Before Foxy and Michael can go on vacation, she has to bail out her no-good brother Link (Antonio Fargas, I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA), who is in debt to loan sharks for $20,000. After taking out two of their thugs, drug kingpin Steve Elias (Peter Brown, THE WEDDING PLANNER) and madam Katherine Wall (Kathryn Loder, THE BIG DOLL HOUSE), who runs a model agency as a front for her prostitution ring, go gunning for Foxy. After tragedy strikes, Foxy sets out to turn the tables on the dealers, who have ruined her neighborhood and harmed her loved ones.

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Don’t miss the best movie of 2007 thus far. Scott Frank’s crime thriller is actually more of a character study. Star Joseph Gordon-Levitt solidifies his place in the upper echelon of young actors. This taut story is driven by a strong central character and filled with a fleshed out supporting cast. Director/writer Frank, who makes his directing debut with this film after writing such films as MINORITY REPORT and OUT OF SIGHT, makes us believe in his protagonist’s life and clearly allows us to understand his motivations. It ranks up there with films like FARGO and A SIMPLE PLAN.

Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt, TV’s THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN) was a cocky, high school hockey star in his small Mid-Western town before a car accident killed his friends and left him scarred and mentally and emotionally damaged. Now working as a janitor at a bank at night, Chris has trouble remembering things as well as sequencing events. He is prone to emotional outbursts and lacks impulse control. He lives with a sardonic, blind man named Lewis (Jeff Daniels, THE HOURS), who is his best friend. They hope one day to open a restaurant, but a visit to the Pratt house for a holiday meal, shows us how little faith they have in Chris now and how much denial is still present regarding who he has become.

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Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2007 Academy Awards, this film peeks into the lives and the politics of a section of the three major ethnic groups in Iraq — the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds. Director James Longley took two years filming in Iraq to gain a perspective of how the American invasion has changed the lives of its citizens.

In the first section, we watch a fatherless, 11-year-old, Sunni boy as he tries to attend school after having failed for four years previously while working for the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage. In the second part, Moqtada Sadr followers in two Shiite cities enforce Islamic law at the point of a gun. In the third section, a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the U.S. presence, because it has allowed them hope.

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Mixing genres can sometimes revitalize both genres in the end. Cowboys and vampires is not a bad idea, but executed poorly and it could be a joke. Adding the gang metaphor to the mix as well, NEAR DARK handles the tone fine, but is a near miss in most other departments.

Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar, TV’s HEROES) is a cowboy who picks up the pretty stranger Mae (Jenny Wright, TWISTER) one night. He thinks she’s different from all the girls of his small Texas town, which is true because she’s a member of a roaming gang of vampires. And when Adrian wants to neck with her right before dawn, he’ll get bit, turning him into a creature of the night. Now Caleb has a choice — get his head lobbed off or join the gang. However, to join the gang, he has to kill and drink his victim’s blood. The other gang members, which include leader Jesse Hooker (Lance Henriksen, THE RIGHT STUFF), wild Severen (Bill Paxton, FRAILTY), punked out female Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein, ALIENS) and loose canon kid Homer (Joshua Miller, RIVER’S EDGE), don’t think Caleb is cut out for the immoral, immortal life. As Caleb struggles with the draw of the gang, his father Loy (Tim Thornerson, WHO’S HARRY CRUMB?) and little sister Sarah (Marcie Leeds, BEACHES) go on the road searching for him.

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Wow, this is a very misunderstood movie. Some of the reasons why it has been written off for so many years may include: director Russ Meyer (who is not known for making great films); the fact that it is written by legendary critic Roger Ebert; it’s association with the notoriously bad VALLEY OF THE DOLLS; or the fact that if you’re not with it you might actually think the overwrought story is just plain bad. In actuality it’s actually an often-brilliant satire of the free-love culture and Hollywood cautionary tales.

For the story, an all-girl rock group, The Kelly Affair, heads out to Hollywood to find fame and fortune. Kelly McNamara (Dolly Reed) is the outgoing lead singer, Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers) is the quiet bass player and Petronella Danforth (Marcia McBroom, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR) is the sexy black drummer. The band’s young manager Harris Allsworth (David Gurian) is dating Kelly, but she is quickly lured away from him by the party lifestyle of drugged out record producer Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell (John Lazar, SUPERVIZENS) and blonde gold digger/ wannabe actor Lance Rocke (Michael Blodgett, THE TRIP). Other key characters include porn star Ashley St. Ives (Edy Williams, CHAINED HEAT), Kelly’s rich aunt Susan Lake (Phyllis Davis, TV’s MAGNUM P.I.), lesbian clothing designer Roxanne (Erica Gavin, CAGED HEAT), Susan’s stiff and snobby business manager Porter Hall (Duncan McLeod, BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE), law student and Petronella’s beau Emerson Thorne (Harrison Page, TV’s JAG) and the heavyweight boxer champ Randy Black (James Inghehart, DEATH FORCE). The girls will get tempted by sex, drugs, greed and violence as they slide down the slippery slope of show business.

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Terry Gilliam brings a unique vision to his work — a mix of social commentary, absurd slapstick and pitch black humor. BRAZIL — which is set in a cold, totalitarian society — is not only his most accomplished work narratively, but the most effective blending of the various elements of his style.

The world of BRAZIL is a bureaucratic industrial behemoth where the government controls everything, but excels at nothing. Minor tasks take ages to accomplish due to pointless paperwork. A mistake occurs that leads to a Mr. Buttle being arrested instead of Archibald “Harry” Tuttle (Robert DeNiro, AWAKENINGS), whose crime is that he is covertly operating as an engineer who is infinitely more efficient and competent than the government’s Central Services workers. The error comes down to the records department where Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce, EVITA) must clean up the mess. Lowry is not only good at his job, but seemingly the only one who cares about what he’s doing while the rest of his co-workers just watch TV. His boss Mr. Kurtzmann (Ian Holm, THE SWEET HEREAFTER) is a nervous wreck whose main talents are avoiding responsibility and passing the buck.

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