ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Jet Li. Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan and Jet Li! For many people that is all that is needed to elicit a "wow, I need to see that." Beyond star power, the film is a riveting success. This is a kung-fu film with a healthy sense of humor, an epic story and amazing visual imagery. Some people will object to Michael Angarano's character, they will say, the film doesn't need a white lead to keep the audience engaged. That is true, but Angarano plays the role well and the character adds substance to the story. The cultural conflict from thrusting a boy from Boston into ancient China reflects the conflict between his kung-fu masters. His personal growth helps carry the heroes journey through China. This layering of themes works well.

[Lynne]

From Rotten Tomatoes:

A recent divorcee and mother of a four-year-old girl discovers true passion for the first time in her life after meeting a free-spirited artist. But shocking charges against the young woman could shatter her new love and force her to prove she is a good mother in this tale of social intolerance.

Set in Boston, MA and Washington, DC

[memento]

From IMDB: College has always been a time for experimentation, sexual, cultural and otherwise. "Harvard Man" plays out against a background of love, sex, basketball, crime and experimentation. Action and philosophy in young people's quest to discover their true identity.

[Fran]

Also known as:  "Vendetta: No Conscience, No Mercy"

From IMDb:  "Irish Eyes" explores the relationship between two Irish-American brothers in Boston born to immigrant parents and raised in a rough, working-class Irish neighborhood. After watching their father being gunned down in front of their eyes as children, Thomas and Sean Phelan grow up building their lives on opposite ends of the law. Thomas, the studious and responsible brother, creates a better life for himself through education and hard, honest work. Eventually, he builds a successful career as a US attorney. Sean, the more rebellious of the two, gets caught up in a life of crime and rises through the ranks to become the head of the Irish mob. Spanning from post World War II during the late 1950's through the Irish Mob wars of the 1970's and culminating in their adulthood in the 1990's, the story is set to the backdrop of backroom politics and the realities of the Irish mob and its gang wars. The theme of the film simultaneously addresses the similarities between the two factions of law and crime while revealing the similarities between the two brothers.

[southendmd]

Plot:  A strong-willed pedestrian battles an equally strong-willed traffic light.

[memento]

From IMDB: Teen baseball fan Johnny Barrows sneaks into the baseball stadium of the Cleveland Indians, then playing in the 1948 World Series; claiming to be an orphan, he befriends team members & broadcaster Mike Jackson. But it develops that Johnny has a troubled home life with his mother and stepfather, and is involved in juvenile crime. His 'better side' shows only when he runs away to visit the team again. Can Mike and the Indians (playing themselves) wrest Johnny away from bad influences?

Trivia:
Archive footage was used for the 1948 game with the Boston Braves, the 1948 World Series, spring training in Tucson, Arizona, USA and a game in 1949.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  George and Catherine Apley of Boston lead a proper life in the proper social circle, as did the Apleys before them. When grown daughter Eleanor falls in love with Howard (from New York!), and son John with Myrtle (from Worcester!), the ordered life of the Apley home on Beacon Street is threatened, as is the hoped-for union of John and Apley-cousin Agnes.

[Lynne]

Monument Ave., originally titled Snitch and titled Noose in Australia, is a 1998 American film directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary. The film centers on the Charlestown, Massachusetts Irish Mob and small-time criminal Bobby O'Grady (Leary) who is dealing with the problems that arise due to Charlestown's code of silence. The film also stars Famke Janssen, Martin Sheen, Billy Crudup, Colm Meaney, Ian Hart, and Lenny Clarke.

[southendmd]

Plot:  A Boston police detective investigates a series of gruesome decapitations of various college coeds commited by a helmeted, black-leather clad serial killer which leads him to suspect a well known anthropology professor as well as his female live-in assistant.

[memento]

From IMDB: Being that I was a fan of the original, I found this film to be a complete disappointment. Who thought that they could remake the Out-Of-Towners? It was a stupid move actually. George and Gwen Kellerman are now George and Nancy Clark (Played by Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn). This time they are left with empty-nest syndrome after their son leaves for London. With nothing to do, George needs to go to New York because of a job interview that he desperately needs being that he was let go from his previous job after 23 years. The only thing is that Nancy doesn't know this. But she does nearing the middle of the film. A few jokes are resurrected from the original and still bring a smile to those that watched and enjoyed the original. Other than that, the rest of the movie is a complete disappointment from start to finish.

Errors in geography: When the main characters are driving out of Boston to supposedly head for New York City, they are seen passing over the Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River. This leads to Kendall Square in Cambridge and would be not be an acceptable route. In reality they would have taken I90 (Mass Turnpike) to get to New York and would not have crossed the Charles River until the I95 interchange in Newton.