Presence

 

        A typical Wednesday night, just having one of those days where I must make sure, I have a place to live and more importantly not overreacting about having to research other new things in this decade, because holy crap apps at fast food places drive me bonkers. Anyway, getting back to the point and the point is having spent a stress filled day, and my brother propose to watch a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven and Haywire) moreover written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man), for which after watching this film, I praise the film for its experimental shots as well as an intriguing story.

        A family becomes convinced they are not alone after moving into their new home in the suburbs. Moreover, the family has a massive dysfunctionality written all over their faces though let’s face it makes for a great story. 

        I've already seen this movie twice now and granted this film came out two years ago, but yet at the same time this is hands down one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, and yet what sticks to me more is the fact that Steven Soderbergh all he did was use just regular mirrorless or DSLR camera's that local videographer's use for their wedding's or news coverages as well as a stabilizer for these camera's and really made something out of it almost the same as using wide angle lenses for the fight scenes in Haywire another great movie out of Soderbergh's filmography that I actually like but these film together in what they have in common, is that they're both experimental in their own way but exceptionally great though doubt anyone is going to appreciate them for what they are. The other amazing thing and this is coming from me, is that Soderbergh actually used nylon rubber slippers for the staircase scenes and I always wondered after my first two times viewing the film never understood how he was able to pull those off without any foot sounds and now having heard about this fact I actually want to buy me some rubber slippers just to try it out. Sure this film cost a grand total of 2 million dollars to make but in all fairness majority of that money went to Lucy Liu, who actually does a great job in the movie playing the difficult mother, but a lot of the credit goes to Callina Liang who does a superb job playing the outsider in the family that's a bit of rebellious but also relatable, moreover does an excellent job playing the main protagonist that begins to sense things through the rest of the movie. Now for sure this film does have all the elements of a typical Poltergeist movie or The Haunting, where you have a typical dysfunctional family always bickering, two out of the two members don't believe in the supernatural and deep down you'll have the feeling of when you see one Haunted movie you've seen them all, but with this movie it has the refreshing feel of something new and different that I love about the film. I'm not going to spoil any details about the film because again this is hands down one of the greatest movies I've seen in this entire decade so, far and I would highly recommend anyone watching this film because again this is a limited budget and experimental in every way that has a great feel that just makes this film great in my opinion. Either way this film is amazing, and I love every minute of it, and look at if you have Hulu or Disney Plus bundle then I would tell you all, to STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW AND JUST SIT DOWN AND WATCH PRESENCE RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE! And there is all I have to say before I go on and on about how great this film is.  

       

        

A Bridge Too Far

 

          

            Well, it's like this I'm still going on a massive quest in becoming the ultimate cinema fan, kind of like spending majority of my time on Dungeons and Dragons. For which I've done a fairly good job in watching a ton of Kubrick's movies as well as some Japanese films and Samurai movies. Though I haven't necessarily found the ultimate hidden treasures and with the help from my brother by providing me with a list of films to watch, I now can begin my quest of watching the right movies to watch as well as enjoying more appreciative films. Starting with a World War II movie that to me is most certainly in the top five best World War II movies ever made.

            Late in 1944, the Allies seem to have the upper hand in the European land war. A combined British and American paratrooper force, led by American General Gavin (Ryan O’Neal) and British General Urquhart (Sean Connery), plans to take a highway leading from the Netherlands into Germany, so that the British ground troops led by Lieutenant General Horrocks (Edward Fox) and Lieutenant Colonel Vandeleur (Michael Caine) can enter enemy territory. But the Allies soon learn that they may be overconfident. 

            In one of the rare few times in life, I'm glad to have forgotten a lot of my history lessons in High School, and watching something like this, where you’re on the edge of your seat as well as watching the Allies trying to conquer Germany but then turns of events hit and your like, "Really?" Now, I'm going to stop right there for the sake of the review just because I don't want to spoil any details about this great movie, A Bridge Too Far is a World War II movie based on the events of an Operation gone wrong (Operation Market Garden), almost like the events of Dunkirk in fact I'm told from listening to a book by William Goldman that these two events, England actually celebrate which is weird but I guess in a fair sense we celebrate the Great Depression at times? Although the States are always in debt so, they were secretly celebrating the Great depression. If you were raised with The Princess Bride, than you need to thank the late William Goldman for making your childhood worthwhile, and a surprising factor is that Goldman started off as a Novelist (aka Author), he actually had no interest in wanting to be a screenwriter, and so, he started off writing books as well as short stories and poetry then later when on to do works in the theater in New York furthermore with twists of fate, went on to Hollywood and written some underappreciative classics. Like a ton of Robert Redford's films, but more importantly written the classic novel The Princess Bride as well as helping the late Rob Reiner bring “The Princess Bride” to the big screen. Richard Attenborough is another great example of if you don't know this guy well I will give you the infamous line that ever came from Attenborough's mouth "Welcome, to Jurassic Park" and the surprising factor is that he's directed a ton of movies, as well as winning two Academy Awards for his direction on the film Gandhi in 1983, for which Sir Ben Kingsley won for Best Actor. So, deep down Richard Attenborough has been this almost forgotten filmmaker and after watching this I now need to watch all his movies, well, maybe one at a time you can never trust some of these filmmakers because let's be fair Steven Spielberg lost his mind after 2015. Now, if I had to pick a shot that I found was the best and needs to bring back into filmmaking now, is the entire paratrooper army landing on the Netherlands and Attenborough knew he had only one chance to pull it off and so, to ensure he had the coverage he wanted he used a grand total of 19 cameras rolling during the paratrooper drop and the way he did it is flat out awesome almost the same way Coppola shot the Valkyrie scene in Apocalypse Now. Moreover, the tone of the battle sequences looks so legit especially when you see the battle on the bridge sequences it's almost like you’re transported into the battle itself and either way I love the way it turns out and would stamp in approval, considering this as the best battle sequences in any WWII movie. What's great about this movie is that you even have a huge list of A-list actors in this movie from Sean Connery just six years after is time as James Bond, as well as Academy Award winners Michael Caine and Sir Anthony Hopkins it's almost like an Avengers for British actors ready to destroy the Nazi's. And the same goes with Robert Redford as well as Elliot Gould and to those who've never heard of Elliot Gould, he was one of the main financiers for George Clooney and Brad Pitt on the Ocean's Eleven trilogy back in 2001. But you also got James Caan delivering a great performance in helping a brother in arms, as well as Gene Hackman though he's not playing an American in this movie but also delivers a great performance as well. When you think of World War II movies in general you'd always know that the Allies of course win the war and it's really a matter of how, you as writer or even a filmmaker can give the audience a refresher in terms of how to make a epic war movie new and different, more importantly what story you can tell that we as an audience member don't know about. And with this movie this is a grand and epic battle where the odds tend to shift and your worry for each of these characters in if they become victorious or not, and both Goldman and Attenborough really do a fantastic job in bringing this film to life. Now if you’re looking for an epic War movie, I would highly recommend watching A Bridge Too Far, this was an epic movie with a great ensemble of tremendous actors who don't have a ton of on-screen time but deliver in the best way possible. Now, keep in mind that this film is three hours long so, if you’re having a hard time paying attention to the movie just take constant breaks in between the film. And although I've seen this film on Amazon Prime the film is also on Tubi so, if you have both streaming services then this will be the film for you to watch in January.

                

January Recommendation: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

 

        I believe after watching Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls I knew that the movie that started it all for Jim Carrey besides the Dumb and Dumber and The Mask, also I looked back at my passed movie reviews and I was shocked to realize that I haven't reviewed Ace Ventura: Pet Detective for which really I was shocked but then again I haven't reviewed The Mask yet, so, in all fairness I'm very lazy. Although all these films are great, moreover, Jim Carrey success beyond measure as well as making him a household name as well as the best comedic actor of the 90's. 

        When the Miami Dolphins, Mascot is abducted, Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey), a zany private investigator who specializes in finding missing animals, investigates the case. Soon Miami's star QB Dan Marino is kidnapped as well, making Ace's sleuth work even more pressing. Working with representative Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox), Ace closes in on the culprits, but not before many ridiculous misadventures.

        Chairmen and CEO of Morgan Creek Productions, James G. Robinson, in the early 90's, sought to produce a comedy that would have a wide appeal. Gag writer at the time Tom Shadyac pitched a rewrite script to Robinson and was hired as a director for what would be Shadyac's directorial debut. Robinson later recognized Jim Carrey after watching In Living Color (a Sketch Comedy) furthermore found him perfect for the title role as Ace Ventura. At first, Ace Ventura was supposed to be a bumbling idiot, until Jim Carrey was cast, he made some conditions in terms of the character, and that his character would be zany as physically possible, but the more important condition for his character despite his quirks and eccentricity, should be good at what he does. And personally I think that's what makes Ace Ventura such a watchable movie especially the second film is yeah, not matter how crazy this guy is, the guy does know what he's doing and I almost rank him up there with Sam Spade from the Maltese Falcon, Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe's characters in The Nice Guys and Ace Ventura as the greatest PI's in movie history. Even with Jim Carrey in the title role, you also have a great list of supporting actors and actresses as well as the young and beautiful, Courteney Cox who does and excellent job being the love interest as well as being a trustworthy alley for Ace, even Sean Young does a great job playing the over the top police chief who doesn't take Ace seriously but later has a dark secret. Though more importantly Dan Marino does a great job in the movie just playing Dan Marino moreover is excellent on screen but could also act with Jim Carrey and especially in some of my favorite scenes where Jim is trying to get Dan to the game and both are complimenting each other on their personalities. Tony Shadyac deserves a lot of credit in his directorial debut, for good reasons he shows great trust and allowing Jim Carrey to develop the character further and to see what works and what doesn't work and personally that shows a lot about how directors and comedic actors should trust one another in terms what's good and what's not good and at times maybe taking the ego out to the trash but that's just referring to the breakup of Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. Though, more importantly both men worked on the script for the film as well as collaborating again on "Liar Liar" for which did extremely well, and for being a gag writer as well as finding some promise in the script that shows that taking a leap of faith does pay off at times, moreover trusting your up and coming, comedic talent to make this film a success. In the month of January, I've slowly began to realize that January is hands down the worst month of the year simply because, Christmas comes to an end and everyone is absolute Scrooges, by already taking down their decorations and believe me I live in a town of Nebraska where they have the entire business section of town entirely in Christmas lights and you don't want to escape that great view of the section of town, but then when New Years Day ends all the decorations are taken down then you feel gloom and depressed because having to go back to reality and every normal person would know that reality sucks. More importantly January takes way to long and we all have to do sh*t that we don't want to do in life, and the point that I'm trying to make here is that when it comes to the month of January where we all become miserable in our own personal lives, a really good comedy is always the best thing to watch in the month of January and having watched both of the Ace Ventura films and appreciating them for what they are. And the first Ace Ventura is a perfect example, have a great time and laugh at the obscure and ridicules comedies and if you’re a fan of Jim Carrey's earlier comedies then I would highly recommend watching not only Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as well as Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. But more importantly if you’re dealing with a lot of BS in your personal life during January, it's never too late to have a comedic refresher and watching comedies are always the cure to a terrible month like January. 

          

Anaconda

 

 

        You remember the song from Sir-Mix-a-Lot, Baby Got Back? As well as the lyric "my anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun"? Well six years prior to the release of that classic song I never thought they would come out with a movie titled Anaconda. And no, it's not about a man's polish sausage. It's all about a huge ass, computer generated Anaconda, and the fact that they promote this movie to be a scary, type of a film is funny to watch even after all those years.

        Filmmaker Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is traveling deep the amazon jungle looking for a forgotten tribe. Terri and her crew, which includes an anthropologist (Eric Stoltz) and a cameraman (Ice Cube), come across Paul (Jon Voight), who is stranded on the riverbank. He offers to help but secretly puts the entire crew in danger by hunting a very big snake.

        I was aware of this movie by the time of its release as well as seeing the film on cable TV couple of times but, again was one of those films that I never in a million years had the interest in wanting to watch the movie, until now when I saw the film on a local streaming service I figured "what the hell" like I had nothing better to do. Not a whole lot of development info I could find in terms of the film, other than the CGI for the Anacondas cost roughly 100,000 dollars per second, for which sh*t I don't know how they were able to accomplish that though it was piss poor job since the snake looks so, bad that you can look how fake it is to even seen almost like a Sharknado type of bad. As much as I want to make jokes about Jennifer Lopez role choices but sadly this movie along with Selena, was her big break before she became the crazy woman that divorces more men than the Dallas Cowboys not trying to win a Super Bowl. The same goes with Ice Cube because that man was only in certain movie like Boyz in the Hood or Friday because he's kind of like a Daniel Day Lewis type of actor that only picks the certain movies despite them not being that great. Although the one Actor in this entire movie I can make fun of is Jon Voight because his character of course is a shady character who only cares about himself and yet they decide to bring him on, furthermore has a strange accent that I don't know if it's supposed to be a Spanish type of an accent or he's just doing his best impression of Al Pacino's Tony Montana from Scarface, I'm certain that he's supposed to be a South African poacher but doesn't really matter considering every time he's on screen, I'm still confused on his choice of accent moreover hoping if he's going to say to the snake "SAY HELLO, TO MY LITTLE FRIEND". Now having watched the movie, I'm a little curious on how the people who are terrified of snakes would react to watching a computer generated snake, though sure they would refuse to watch this movie of course, but when you tell them it’s a fake snake not the best looking snake I would love to see if they try and watch the movie, either way it would be funny to make them watch this movie only to be scared by a computer generated snake because the snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark were a hundred percent real than the fake Anaconda. This is defiantly one movie I wouldn't recommend in fact this would explain why this kind of movie would be released in the springtime for 97, just to fill the gap of mediocre movies that would later come out, but then again it shows that Hollywood still hasn't changed a thing. And yet the sad thing is that this movie isn't even close to being a funny bad movie, furthermore, would prove why I wouldn't recommend anyone in wanting to watch this movie. 

  

Renfield

 

        

        I know it's not the perfect timing in terms of wanting to watch a scary-ish movie. But if there's anything I've learned when it comes to streaming services it's that you only get a once in a lifetime chance, to watch some of these movies and I had to make an opportunity in watching this entertaining movie from Nic Cage. Renfield is an interesting take on the Bram Stoker's, Dracula lore, where this time we focus on the side character of Renfield, a side character that was according to Stoker is described to be an insane person that eats bugs or any insects all because the man is clearly insane as well as loyal to Dracula and with this movie you see a unique spin to the character.

        Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the tortured aide to his narcissistic boss, Dracula (Nic Cage), is forced to procure his master's prey and do his every bidding. However, after centuries of servitude, he's ready to see if there's life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness.

        I have to say at the time of this film’s release I was a little intrigued with the idea of focusing on a side character from Bram Stoker's novel as well as making him a bit of an anti-hero through the course of the movie. What I like most about the movie is that you do have a sort of tribute to the original Dracula and re-create some of the legendary shots from the original film which is cool because I doubt anyone remembers the early thirties Dracula and with this movie it's more of a re-introduction to the world of Dracula. After years of bad monster movie re-imagine, it was after the Tom Cruise Mummy where screenwriter Robert Kirkman, took inspiration and focused more on the character Renfield as the central part of the story. Granted this movie isn't up to par with Nic Cage playing Nic Cage in the Unbearable Weight of Massive talent, because again, we as fans would usually expect Nic Cage chewing the scenery thought deep down it's interesting to see him playing a savage villain but then again it's not up to the spasms and over the top acting you'd usually get from Nic Cage and when watching the trailer for the first time I was expecting to have an over the top impression of Bela Lugosi's Dracula but with this movie sure I like that Cage is playing a villain but, it was "well I was hoping for an over the top Dracula", though you can't win them all I guess. Hoult did a good job playing the title character of Renfield and as well as playing a tragic character and I truly see that, especially after watching The Menu when you see him being obsessive to his idol chef then later has his heart broken. Moreover, I did a great job with some of the violent action scenes for which I was pretty impressed by the action sequences myself moreover that's something I'd never expect when watching a movie like this. Though then again when you see some scenes where Hoult is trying to improve himself as well as movie into an apartment or hitting on the lead female detective it soon becomes a bit cringe at times. Either way this film is entertaining has some great and entertaining moments but at times it becomes a bit on the cringe side and loses some flair and especially wants Nic Cage to chew the scenery. If you’re looking for a movie to pass the time for sure, I would recommend watching this movie, while still streaming on Peacock but when you’re done watching it whether you love it or not it's a good once over type of film.  

    

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

 

        I've slowly begun to realize that January is the month of comedies in my opinion. Just because Christmas season is over you must go back to reality, and of course nothing is going your way in life, more important you lose a sense of inspiration. Luckily Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls was the only Ace Ventura movie I haven't seen and with Jim Carrey back at the helm, I knew this movie was going to be amazing. And yet the most puzzling thing I can't solve about these films is that we didn't even get a third installment of an Ace Ventura franchise though in all fairness it's best to quit while you’re ahead of the game. 

        Legendary Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) returns for another adventure when he's coerced out of retirement while on a soul-searching retreat in the Himalayas. He must now retrieve an endangered white bat from a village located in Africa. 

        For sure I've seen the first movie in fact there many times I've seen the movie but never watched it whole, but for sure I've watched the first film all the way through. And, I may have seen this movie all the way through, though I doubt I personally remembered watching the movie. Of course Jim Carrey is excellent in the movie despite the fact that he really didn't want to do the movie, but the man is a master of being this cartoonish goof ball that you really can't help but laugh at him and really this movie is one of the many reasons as to why he was a talented comedic actor in the nineties. But the best part of the whole movie is the entire actors in the entire movie, and even though Jim Carrey is great in the movie the supporting cast where excellent as well as the Himalayans monks who through the course of the first act don't show the distain for Ace but, the head monk hears about the news in Ace taking on a case, desperately wants him to leave even giving him a special medal just so, that he can leave and the fact that we see all the monks celebrating, you can see all of the Monks were annoyed by him and desperately wanted him gone and it's just fantastic furthermore the funniest thing I've seen in the movie. Even actor, Ian McNeice does an excellent job in the movie as Ace's aid who at times is extremely patient with Ace especially when they’re about to leave Ace wants to play with a slinky and I just love how he's either patient or somewhat bewildered on the man's craziness, for which either way his performance is fantastic and the same with Simon Callow who plays the main antagonist in the movie and the most interesting thing is both McNeice and Callow where in episodes of Doctor Who back when Doctor Who was an excellent show for which is awesome to see their filmography. After watching the movie I never quite understood why they didn't make arrangements for a third installment and doing some research I believe it had a lot to do with Jim Carrey not wanting to do despite having to do with the contracts dispute, moreover coming to blows with producers as well as the director of the film which I think that was one of the main reasons but props to the guy for at least giving out a great comedic performance. This film was entertaining from start to finish and seeing critics bashing the movie it proves time and time again that movie critics are nothing but trolls because if you want something new from this movie then you’re expecting way too much from a goofy comedy and should just shut up and accept the film for what it is. If you're feeling down and needing something refreshing, the Ace Ventura films are an excellent way of finding a perfect comedy to laugh at as well as having a great time, along the way.  

  

Killer's Kiss

 

        Found another Stanley Kubrick movie! And this is one of those films, Rosie Perez most infamous for White Man can't Jump. Talks about this film as a great film of course but was made on a very low budget out of the creation of Stanley Kubrick. Directed by Kubrick, this film is in fact his second film he's made two years after developing his first film Fear and Desire. I think out of all the earlier Kubrick films I've seen besides Dr. Strangelove, I got to say that this film is probably in my top five or six favorite Stanley Kubrick movies because of the very limited resources he had to work with. 

        Davey Gordon (Jaime Smith), a New York City boxer aging out of his profession, meets dancer Gloria Price (Irene Kane), and they begin a romance. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera).

        Now this film is, in fact, an independent movie to the point where there was no money involved so, if you’re expecting a great Stanley Kubrick movie, this is technically a twenty-six-year-old learning how to make movies. What I like most about the movie, is that this has absolutely no budget, though it was a 75,000 dollar budget that really goes to camera as well as actors, but Kubrick while making the movie had no permits to shoot at any section of New York City and had to be unnoticed through the course of filming and when you watch the film your surprised at how he was able to pull off some of these shots as well as the boxing match because they look so realistic, and your curious as to how he was able to stage a boxing match with tons of extra's it's just astounding to see. And even some of the action/chase scenes are on top of roof buildings in the lowest part of New York City, and all the guy used hand-held cameras. Moreover when you think about it, the film was shot entirely in NYC, nobody would care what you were shooting because it's a huge a** city that I doubt any cop s would come by and say "you can't film here", and I think if you can shoot a film now in the Big Apple maybe you'd get caught making a movie without a permit but back in the fifties I would imagine you'd get away with anything, though I could be wrong but granted this is New York and crime could happen anywhere so, plus riot's happening as well as cops not doing the best at their own jobs. Kubrick did in fact have to fund the movie with the help of relatives and friends, but even with some of the great photography that he uses, he had a hard time with filming the dialogue as well as having to fire a veteran sound guy so, Kubrick had to post-sync a lot of the dialogue to make it work. The film is in fact on Tubi, for which time and time again, Tubi is proving why it's a great streaming service for some of these lost and underappreciative movies and even though you have to watch commercials, but it's also free to watch and you'll never know what underrated classics you'll find but also some crazy and weird movies that you'll never expect to relive in terms of watching. Still, Killer's Kiss is one of those films that's extremely great as well as another one of those films that has a very limited budget with no permits and basically using very limited resources furthermore making it work, and again I might say this is up there in the top five of Kubrick's best films in my list so, this film says a lot on how great this film is just like On the Waterfront for which both films came out the close to the same year so, both films say a lot of great movies with limited resources.  

     

80th Anniversary of The Lost Weekend

 

          

        Well, Happy New Year everyone, we've all made it to the year of our Lord, 2026. And holy crap I'm going to apologize for absolutely none of my actions this year so, if you hear me trashing about the latest movies or Academy Award nominations, well as the great Shoresy once said, "Give your Balls a tug, T*tF**ker". Well, I'm sure these past couple of days got you drinking to the point of a hangover and so, I thought what better way than celebrating a 80th Anniversary about alcoholism, well a movie that explores alcoholism hence Billy Wilder's Best Picture classic, The Lost Weekend. Now, if you have anyone whose experienced this disease before just keep an open mind that this movie will make you feel empty inside.

        Writer Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is on the wagon. Sober for only a few days, Don is supposed to be spending the weekend with his brother, Wick (Phillip Terry), but, eager for a drink, Don convinces his girlfriend (Jane Wyman) to take Wick to a show. Don, meanwhile, heads to his local bar and misses a train out of town. After recounting to the bartender (Howard da Silva) how he developed a drinking problem, Don goes on a weekend-long bender that just might prove to be his last. 

        It's been five years since I sat down and watched this film and I thought to myself, that it's a Billy Wilder movie of course it's going to be a good movie, and through the course of the film I felt horrified on the films premise for which is about alcoholism but usually when you see movies like this you tend to have a sarcasm in joking about how desperately this man goes to finding booze but this, this film makes you feel horrified as well as watching a trainwreck in fact this was almost the same type of horrific feeling I had when watching A Clockwork Orange. So, really, I'm not sure which film is the most horrific, moreover giving you a panic attack, The Lost Weekend or A Clockwork Orange, I mean both films are disturbingly f**ked up, but they also have interesting topics furthermore were way ahead of their times in terms of the film’s release. When you look at the movie Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart you think of him as a loveable goof who at times drinks, moreover, enjoys life and sees an imaginary bunny almost like a PG-rated version of Edward Norton in Fight Club. This film really dives deep into the disease of alcoholism and the way Billy Wilder tells the story is both serious and scary at the same time, but more importantly you have an excellent performance out of Ray Milland, who through the course of the movie, you have this complexity of hating this guy because of manipulating everyone around him then of course you feel a little or more pity due to the guy just being pathetic as well as a drunk, and Milland does an excellent job at making you hate this guy for what he's doing to other people but then you slowly remind yourself that he's going through a disease and alcoholism is a serious disease in terms of addiction that everyone and the whole, entire globe of earth suffer through all the time. And both Jane Wyman as well as Phillip Terry give excellent performances as the supporters to Milland's character moreover each of them share a great dilemma of helping him no matter what or just letting him hit rock bottom because he doesn't want help. What's more, that's the same dilemma we all have dealt with when it comes to any kind of disease, I mean my own father help is own brother whose "down syndrome" as well as having Alzheimer's so bad that he doesn't remember anything (sadly he passed away years ago) and there we times of helping him was such a madness in its own that you're close to having homicidal thoughts and granted if I was Ray Milland's brother I would set up a contraption like A Clockwork Orange and force him to watch drunks in the psychiatric ward, who are going through withdraws and seeing things in their mind, just to make him stop. In fact, this would have worked for both famous baseball legends Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle because both of those guys were massively drunk and nobody told them to get some help (though Mickey went to get help), now granted that it would be a bad idea BUT, could at least help? Though thankfully I'm glad I'm not a problem solver because my ideas would be the worst ideas ever. Even after the film’s release, people in the forties and going into the fifties, sixties and even the seventies, all of them ignored the problem of alcoholism and granted all beer corporations and hard liquor corporations hands out money just to ignore it, it's almost the same as the cigarette companies as well, but sure people back in the late forties who've seen the movie were obviously horrified but then, hell I would at least think they would take a glimpse on their drinking life but then again it's always the biggest problem is never solving the problem just ignoring the problem and blaming it on somebody else. It's crazy that movies like this are crossing the threshold and anyone who hasn't seen this on either Turner Classic Movies, though I doubt I've seen it on TCM, but still this is a movie that everyone needs to see especially when any relative or best friend is suffering from alcohol addiction, for great reasons this is one of the few films out there that dives deep into the darkness of booze and too much of it is in fact dangerous. Now fair warning you’re not going to find it on your local streaming service (convenient), you'll have to rent the movie or buy it. But this film is an excellent film from start to finish and the fact that this film is 80 years old is simply outstanding, moreover it is relevant to the subject of booze addiction and to the people who suffer through it.