regina989

Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, the Queen and King of Warner Bros. in the late '30s and early '40s, only worked together a couple of times. "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" is their major effort, and it's a very good one. Warners pulled out all the stops for this Technicolor extravaganza, and Curtiz directs with a sure hand. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's music is wonderful. The real star of the show, though, is Ms. Davis as Queen Elizabeth. With all the on-screen Elizabeths to choose from, you won't forget hers. I had just watched "The Sea Hawk" where Errol faces another great Elizabeth, Dame Flora Robson (even though they only have a couple of scenes together, but Errol seems much more at ease in that picture).

Bette made no secret of her dislike for the freewheeling, womanizing, undisciplined Flynn, and criticized his performance opposite her for years afterwards (although if memory serves she eventually relented and admitted he wasn't bad). Some may take issue with the pacing of the movie, but Bette's so good, Errol's so handsome, and the dialogue so adult and refreshing (and don't forget the reliable villain Henry Daniell), you can't help but like it.

This is my 10th or 11th Mel Gibson movie in the last 3 weeks...yikes! Well, I'm happy to get to this one because it might be Mel's best movie. (And I'm a big fan of the "Lethal Weapon" franchise.) I liked this movie when it first came out, and I like it even better now. You do get to catch some lines and nuances on repeated viewing. Mel and Sigourney, wow, are they hot...that scene at the party...! Mel admitted recently in a TV interview that he had had an on-set affair early in his career (but not since). You gotta wonder if it was with Sig...I would believe it. The real standout in the movie though is indeed the great Linda Hunt, well-deserving of her Academy Award. Where is Linda? We haven't seen her lately. Let me also mention Maurice Jarre's compelling musical score. He wrote several scores for Peter Weir...check them (and the films) out. Anyway, if you've never seen this movie, don't just sit there. Go get it...and get it in DVD so you won't have to deal with the awful pan-and-scan video.

I've just watched all Lethal Weapon movies on video in the last 2 weeks. I liked #4 better on video than in the theaters in 1998, because I was caught up on the stories and the characters. Still, it's the weakest of the series. As someone already said, Riggs is too "settled." He and Lorna make a good couple and there's real chemistry there, but Riggs with the short hair and looking a little heavy, and with a girlfriend and a baby on the way, etc., well, he just isn't real "Lethal" anymore. And a big part of the relationship between Riggs and Murtaugh (the core relationship, always) is their differences. Now they're just about the same. Plus Leo Getz wore out his welcome and shouldn't have been in this one. #4 has its moments, and I really liked Jet Li, but the whole enterprise lacks the snap of the previous entries. So Mel, Danny, Joe, Renee, and Chris, thanks for the memories, but please don't make another one. Mel has been saying recently that there won't be another one; hope he sticks to it.