Helvetica

It is the greatest typeface ever created. Or it’s an abomination. Or maybe, you know, it’s just a bunch of letterforms and punctuation. The pendulum swings wildly on this subject, and, in this documentary, about the titular font family. I’m guessing that, for most people, a lot of the discussion in these interviews will fly over their heads.  Even for me—someone who has spent about 30 years involved in graphic design of one form or another—the points being made are somewhat on the esoteric side. But what really hits in this film is not the lionization of Helvetica as the universal typeface by many of the designers interviewed, but the expressions of antagonism from others who rebel against the corporate world’s favorite font and all it seemingly stands for. Rejection of the norm is always more interesting, to be sure, and I too in my meager way have often avoided using the face whenever possible—and yet, I must confess that many of the examples of more “expressive” designs shown here strike me as sloppy and obtuse, while the clean look of the now-classic font comes across as generally appealing. Your mileage will massively vary here, depending largely upon your grasp of or interest in the visual arts. If you’re the artsy type, pun intended, give this a look and see if you learn something. If not, then maybe you can skip it. And if you’re ever in doubt, just go with Helvetica and avoid using Futura. You’ll thank me later.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Genuinely creepy, scary and intense. This movie is not scary like a slasher pic, with seat-jump surprises, but instead it works its effect through suggestion and atmosphere. The score helps the cause considerably, producing viewer anxiety through sound cues throughout the plot's advancement through scenes of ever-rising stakes. The visual direction is artful as well, using all the tricks of light and shadow, uncomfortable closeups, and visual scale to emphasize the scope of the danger. Truly one of the best sci-fi/horror films to come out of the 1950s, and maybe even one of the best of any genre. It has been remade multiple times, but in this case you should accept no, um, substitutes. 

The Outlaw

What a weird movie. The film was directed by both Howard Hughes and Howard Hawkes, and it’s pretty apparent where the direction came from the amateur and where it came from the pro. Many scenes are oddly paced and strangely cut—editing may more accurately be called the issue, rather than directing—while the script sort of meanders through a story that has little real narrative and careens wildly between overly dramatic and jarringly comedic. In short, the piece is something of a mess. Yet, it is a relatively entertaining mess at that. Though the writing may be idiosyncratic in terms of narrative, there’s some good, snappy dialogue in many of the scenes. Meanwhile, the actors mostly acquit themselves well; Walter Huston in particular stands out, while Jane Russell lets it all hang out (metaphorically, of course; this was made in the 1940s, after all). As for historical veracity, your guess is as good as mine. Probably little to none, but that hardly detracts from the entertainment value. All in all, it’s not a great movie, but it isn’t a bad one, either. Nor is it really as scandalous as the reputation may have it. A curiosity, but hardly an outlaw production. 

That Touch of Mink

A movie from another time and another place ...  and given how radically different the vision is from the world of today, it's practically by and about a different species (and I don't mean mink). For those of us with a slightly more expansive view of life, and particularly human relations, this is a movie that it’s hard to watch without having a big grin on your face. The humor throughout the story is light, breezy, dry and droll, a quality that is helped immensely by Cary Grant being Cary Grant and delivering his lines with his classic aplomb. Doris Day gets in her share of gentle zingers, too, while the supporting cast in roles large and small deliver snappy moments that pick up the slack whenever the principals need a break. Additional pleasures come from the time machine visuals of early ‘60s New York City like the Automat, various city locations, and even old Yankees Stadium (complete with cameos from Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra). Mostly, the fun comes from watching outdated manners and mores played for laughs in their native habitat and time frame. Such a story, with these sensibilities, would be impossible to tell today; you have to reach back in time via the magic of cinema to get an experience like this. The bad old days weren’t always bad, and tomorrow—or today, for that matter—ain’t as good as it seems…and here’s the proof. 

Ghost in the Shell

Style and substance, yet ironically little soul. The warning about a cybernetic future is well taken, though at this point it feels both derivative and a bit too late. One can’t help but mentally compare this movie in real time to the Matrix films, with their similar themes and at least congruent visuals, but the more widely known—and successful—iteration of this vision injected touches of humor and humanity into the technological spectacle, whereas this work is largely grim and almost as mechanical as the very thing that it wants to warn us about. Even the opportunity to ogle Scarlett Johansson, in various painted-on get-ups, only provides a thin layer of extra entertainment to these proceedings. I guess cyber dystopias only have so much appeal. Who would have thought that (besides anyone with a soul)?

The Quiet Man

Drunkenness, angry outbursts, violence, squalor: are these how we think about the Irish? It is if John Ford and John Wayne have their way. At least the casting of Maureen O’Hara and her flaming red hair—to say naught of her temper—lend the proceedings a fair amount of verisimilitude. Truth be told, this is a relentlessly silly film, and I can’t say it is particularly to my taste. The visuals are fine to look at, including but not limited to O’Hara, but the rest of the tale comes across as either ridiculous or profoundly cliched, in a way that suggests an outlook that is either too lazy or unsophisticated to try to create something with more nuance. Even the serious background—Wayne’s ex-boxer character is haunted by a death in the ring—does little to temper the story’s more ridiculous excesses. I suppose this isn’t really a bad flick—the execution isn’t incompetent or anything—so I'll spare the flick a HISS, but I couldn’t ever really find a way to appreciate this effort. Irish eyes, it turns out, smile at the weirdest things.

Roman Holiday

Who wouldn’t fall in love with Audrey Hepburn? You can hardly blame Gregory Peck, given that his leading lady here it at the height of her powers as the epitome of grace, beauty, charm and charisma. Hepburn is a wonder in this movie, bringing absolute believability to her role as a European princess out on the lam for one free day. (It probably helped that she really was the progeny of at least minor royalty.) The third costar of the film, the city of Rome, does yeoman’s work at giving the tale a magical setting with both ancient and modern touches throughout, as befits a fairy tale. Though the story may fit that most traditional of genres, this one casts its spell in many standard forms, but without, perhaps, a real fairy tale ending. Certainly, had this film been made recently, the denouement would have been radically different; maybe there’s something to say there about the difference between this time and a period when easy outs were not always the order of the day. One negative critique: the pacing of the movie seems a little too slow for the modern viewer. Whether that’s something wrong with the film or with me is a matter for debate. Overall, this movie makes for light and breezy entertainment, something that may not be profound but is most assuredly a good time spent with one of the medium’s most luminous stars. That’s the scoop: she’s a girl you want to spend a day with, for sure.