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thebigrabbit33
Reviews
The Parent Trap (1998)
Give Me Back Brian Keith & Maureen O
This more modern remake is only good as far as you can endure the grinning Lindsay Lohan. She actually is awfully good; the problem is that the parents are absolutely colorless and too much emphasis is put on the little girl(s). She is pretty and lively, but shouldn't have to carry the entire film. The original film had a balance, because Brian Keith, Maureen OHara and Charles Ruggles were wonderful actors and their roles were written as strong characters.
The original parents parted because they were stubborn and headstrong people, not simply self-involved -- as the remake parents seem to be. Only Kramer vs. Kramer could get away with divergent careers as a reason for divorce and leave us with sympathy for the couple. Perhaps Disney has determined that only children will watch the movie, so the adult roles in the film are extraneous and do not matter. Disney didn't use to film this way. They made good movies! I do enjoy, however, the nods given in the new film to the old one: the Kulp sisters of the camp named for Nancy Kulp, the original Vicky Blake actually playing Meredith's mother, and so on.
Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)
It's worth watching.
For a TV movie, this was pretty darn spooky. Reminded me of The Haunting of Hill House -- the 60s original, in terms of dread, not style. To be able to infuse a modern setting with hopeless fear is a real accomplishment. It was the first time I saw Ed Asner in a role I liked, he's grim and believable, as he was much later in Rich Man, Poor Man.
This movie is on a TV-type level of seriousness, not what is carried off in main cinema. Lloyd Bridges, for instance, is a TV show type of guy, and he's playing a major role. But his part and Chloris Leachman's are very pleasing. It is because the story is good enough to conjure up dread, and the characters are likable that I remember this movie years later; I wish I could see it again.