Classic Movie Review Three Days of the Condor

Three Days of the Condor

Directed by Sydney Pollack

Written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., David Rayfiel

Starring Robert Redford, Cliff Robertson, Faye Dunaway, Max Von Sydow

Release Date September 25th, 1975

Published February 18th, 2025 

Three Days of the Condor was released 50 years ago as I write this and yet it feels as alive, relevant, and prescient as ever. This spy thriller from the brilliant director Sydney Pollack posits a form of espionage based solely on wits and guts rather than bullets and explosions and it’s so much stronger for that. Centering the story around the mind of a savvy genius with a knack for code breaking, Three Days of the Condor uses the best traits of star Robert Redford, his wise eyes and movie star looks, and combines that with a premise that was straight out of a real life American thought experiment to create a spy thriller that remains a trenchant critique of American geo-politics to this day. 

Robert Redford stars in Three Days of the Condor as Joe Turner, a normal enough guy who happens to work for an agency that is a cover for a CIA outpost. Turner is not a spy however, he’s just a genius who is capable of seeing patterns where others cannot. His job is to read books, articles, everything really, and look for potential plots that could affect global politics. His most recent discovery appears to be an ingenious way to destabilize a Middle Eastern government while stealing its valuable resources, specifically oil.

Click here for my full length review. 

Movie Review Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy 

Directed by Mark Water 

Written by Daniel Waters 

Starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Joely Richardson, Gabriel Byrne 

Release Date February 7th, 2014 

Budget $30 million dollars 

Box Office $15 million dollars 

Rotten Tomatoes 17% 

Vampire Academy exists simply as a marketing concern. Sure, the film is based on a series of successful young adult novels, but the reality is much crasser in nature. The makers of Vampire Academy have no real interest in the books; they're inherent appeal or doing justice to why the books became successful. No, Vampire Academy exists because somewhere in Hollywood someone saw the books, heard they were set in a school for Vampires, and got the idea for the awful tagline "They 'Suck' at School." Hey-o!

Vampire Academy supposedly tells the story of two best friends who attend a school where one is trained to protect the Vampire high class, and the other is part of the Vampire high class. Zoey Deutch stars as Rose, a Dhampir, and a protector of the Vampire high class known as the Moroi. Rose's best friend is the future Moroi Queen, Lissa (Lucy Fry). Together the two have formed a psychic bond that allows Rose to read Lissa's thoughts and even see through her eyes as narratively convenient a talent as I've ever heard one.

There is a third class of Vampire called the Strigoi, a race of killers who briefly give the film a dangerous life. Unfortunately, the Strigoi don't really matter unless there is a sequel. Yes, Vampire Academy is so wildly, cluelessly, market-driven that the most interesting narrative complication is one built solely to create the chance of another cluelessly market driven idiot movie.

There isn't a single genuine moment in Vampire Academy. Every empty scene evokes an attempt to appeal to a fictional youth market devoid of the conscience needed to know they are being marketed to without consideration of taste or intelligence. And in case you don't believe me, just check out the brooding Robert Pattinson look-alike, Dominic Sherwood, the filmmaker, cast in the role of one of the girls' love interests and tell me that wasn't a calculated decision.

Vampire Academy isn't a movie; it's a 90 plus minute commercial for itself. Each scene is trailer ready; every line of dialogue intended to explain things you should be able to understand out of sheer scene construction. Maybe the filmmakers are assuming you're not very bright simply because you decided to see this movie. Maybe they're right.

Movie Review The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men 

Directed by George Clooney

Written by George Clooney, Grant Heslov  

Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett

Released February 7th, 2014

Budget $91 million 

Box Office $156 million 

Rotten Tomatoes 30% 

The Monuments Men first popped on people's radar when George Clooney announced that the film would not remain in Academy Award contention in 2013. According to Clooney and the studio, filming went into overtime and reshoots were needed, causing the studio to abandon the initial December release date and forgo any last-minute Academy screening.

I wanted to believe that this was the case as I was really hoping The Monuments Men would be as good as the early Oscar buzz indicated. Sadly, having now seen The Monuments Men I can report that it is far from an Oscar contender. Don't be mistaken, the film is not bad. Rather, it's just not an Academy Award level movie despite the Academy Award level talents of Mr. Clooney and co-stars Matt Damon, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman and future Oscar winner (wishful thinking) Bill Murray.

The Monuments Men tells the mostly true story of Art Historians, Architects and Scholars, drafted into the fight to save Europe's great historic treasures in the wake of World War 2. At the time their mission began Adolph Hitler had begun stealing art from collectors across the continent for the purpose of hanging them in his new Fuhrer Museum. As the film progresses however, and Hitler's Germany begins to fall, it becomes a race against time to stop Hitler from destroying the treasures he stole.

There is a great movie to be made of this material, but The Monuments Men is not that movie. Now, I understand that the preceding line implies The Monuments Men isn't a very good movie but in fact it's a rather pleasant film with a minor sense of humor and a deep respect for the mission undertaken by the real life 'Monuments Men.' Unfortunately, the film isn't as interesting as the idea of the film. The editing is sloppy, at times muddling the timeline of the film, and the ending is jarringly abrupt. 

The casting of The Monuments Men may be the film's biggest challenge and failure. The dream team casting of Clooney, Damon, Dujardin, Goodman and Murray created expectations that the film simply could not match. There is a strong corollary to an NBA All Star team. Yes, you have the greatest players in the game on the court together, but no REAL game is being played. It’s as if Clooney and writing partner Grant Heslov felt they had finished the movie simply by assembling the perfect cast. 

The casting of The Monuments Men creates an expectation of greatness that the film simply cannot match. Casting Goodman and Murray implies good humor with an edge of poignancy. Casting Clooney and Damon in a big ensemble evokes the 'Ocean's' movies and a sense of funny camaraderie. Unfortunately, The Monuments Men is never played for laughs even as the cast could get those laughs and still pay respect to the danger of a World War 2 story.

Instead of the movie we think we should get, a poignant comedy about the literal defense of art and culture, we get a dutiful drama that tells a worthy story of heroism without much flavor or insight. The film is respectful to a fault and avoids the humor these actors could create in an effort to remain respectful of the war and the mission. This leaves a rather bloodless, occasionally sloppy, effort that is difficult to dismiss as bad but certainly not worthy of a full critical recommendation.

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