Movie – Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a big budget war film made during the height of the Vietnam War.  As you might expect, it did not do well initially at the American box office.  Probably adding to the alienation of audiences at the time is the fact that both the Japanese and American sides are given equal time in the film, right down to all the Japanese scenes being in their own language and therefore subtitled for American audiences.  As an American I am familiar with many of the things that led up to the attack, of course, but I still learned quite a few things that I did not know.  The movie states right at the beginning that even though this is a re-creation, every person and event is factually correct.  I ended up liking this film quite a bit more than I expected.

Movie – Win Win (2011)

Win Win is the third movie from actor/writer/director Thomas McCarthy.  Since the 1990s he’s been paying the bills by acting, usually playing some sort of character actor supporting role.  You’d probably recognize him if you looked at his IMDB page.  About ten years ago, though, he decided to try his hand at writing and directing his own movie.  The result was The Station Agent (2003), the first film in which I ever saw Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones).  McCarthy’s second film was The Visitor (2007), which garnered lead actor Richard Jenkins an Oscar nomination.  Both of these films are well worth your time.  (You can read my review of The Visitor here.)  When I found out Win Win was from the man who had done the other two movies I immediately wanted to see it.

Movie – The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

The movie The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (hereinafter known as TRAC²) was released in the 1960s not too many years after the Cuban Missile Crisis when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were very high.  That therefore makes this film very notable for the fact that the Soviets (or “Russians” as Americans commonly mislabeled them) are shown to be regular people just like Americans.  The impact of this was wide-ranging.  The film was very popular in the U.S.  It garnered four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.  It won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy.  It was discussed in Congress.  And it was even shown in the Kremlin, where some of the Soviet leaders were visibly moved according to director Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, A Soldier's Story.)

Movie – Mirror Mirror (2012)

Mirror Mirror is one of two Snow White movies that were released in 2012.  The other – Snow White and the Huntsman – took an ultra-serious approach to the story and didn’t succeed.  Mirror Mirror took a more family friendly, tongue in cheek approach.  While it also fell short in some areas it does have enough fun moments in it for me to recommend it.  It also received a 2013 Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design, which was unsurprising given director Tarsem Singh’s reputation for opulent outfits and sets.

Movie – Rachel, Rachel (1968)

The movie Rachel, Rachel was Paul Newman’s directorial debut.  It starred Joanne Woodward, who had been his wife for ten years at that point.  (They ultimately were married for 50 years until his death in 2008.)  Not only did Newman direct his wife to an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (her second of four), the film itself was also nominated for Best Picture.  It received two other Oscar nominations for Estelle Parsons as Best Supporting Actress and for Stewart Stern’s adapted screenplay.  Newman did not receive a Best Director nod, though.

Movie – Europa Europa (1990)

Europa Europa is a German film that tells the sort of true story of Salomon Perel, a Jewish teen who hid his religion from the Nazis during World War II, even to the extent of joining the Hitler Youth.  Its original title was Hitlerjunge Salomon, which translates as “Salomon of the Hitler Youth”.  Realizing that title would not do well in English speaking countries, it was changed to Europa Europa, although there is still debate on why it has a repeated title.  The movie turned out to be one of the more popular German films released in the U.S.  The German government, though, tried to ignore it – perhaps because of the subject matter or perhaps because it was adapted and directed by a Polish woman (Agnieszka Holland).  They did not even nominate it as their Foreign Language Film entry at the Oscars.  They ended up with egg on their faces when it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and its screenplay was nominated for an Oscar.

Movies with Repeated Titles

Lt. Col. Korn – “You’re the only Major available in our headquarters staff.”

Capt. Major – “No, Major is my name, not my rank.”

Col. Cathcart – That’s close enough for me Major.  Consider yourself a Major now.”

Major Major – “Sir, I don’t know anything about being a squadron commander.”

Col. Cathkart – “We all have to make sacrifices Major.”

Major Major – “Sir, I’m in building and laundry.”

                                    How Captain Major became Major Major – Catch-22

Anyone who’s been visiting here for a while knows that I am somewhat fascinated with patterns in the titles of movies themselves.  I have done categories titled Movies by the Numbers, Quarky Movies, Attack of the “V” Movies, One Letter Movies, and “American” Movies.  The last was seven months ago, so it’s time I did another.

What I mean by “repeated titles” are those films that consist solely of the same word or phrase appearing more than once.  Two examples of this are Author! Author! (1982) and Jamon, Jamon (1992).  I’m using these as examples because I won’t be reviewing them.  I didn’t feel Author! Author! was good enough to recommend and I have not seen the Penelope Cruz/Javier Bardem movie Jamon Jamon (and it’s not available via Netflix.)

I should note that “close, but no cigar” movies will also be excluded.  Examples of what I mean are Kramer vs. Kramer and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (although you can read my review of that film here.)  Another example for the fellow language geeks out there is Hot Shots! (1991), which contains the same four letters in a repeating pattern.

After I post each review for the films in this category I will add a link to them here:

50/50 – (posted December 10, 2011)

Europa Europa (1990)
Rachel, Rachel (1968)
Mirror Mirror (2012)
The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)
Win Win (2011)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

On to the reviews…