Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Precious Doll]

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016) Mandie Fletcher 5/10
Backtrack (2016) Michael Petroni 4/10
Sausage Party (2016) Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon 7/10
Down Under (2016) Abe Forsythe 6/10
Disorder (2015) Alice Winocour 4/10
The Forest for the Trees (2003) Maren Ade 6/10
Tickled (2016) David Farrier & Dylan Reeve 4/10

[Reza]

Pete's Dragon (David Lowery, 2016) 8/10

Charming modern variation - this is a remake of an old Disney film - of Kipling's "The Jungle Book" about an orphan who is raised by a dragon in the jungle.

I think you left something out there. Pete's Dragon is based on an old story co-written by Seton I. Miller (1902-1974) who co-wrote the screenplay for The Adventures of Robin Hood among his many achievements. He was two generations younger than Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) whose oft-filmed The Jungle Book was a Disney remake earlier in the year.

What I meant was that the concept was used by Kipling in The Jungle Book. Miller substituted the dragon for the wolf.

[Precious Doll]

Endless Poetry (2016) Alejandro Jodorowsky 5/10
Love and Peace (2015) Sion Sono 6/10
Mother's Day (2016) Garry Marshall 5/10
Truman (2015) Cesc Gay 4/10
Neruda (2016) Pablo Larrain 6/10
Evolution (2015) Lucile Hadzihalilovic 6/10
In Jackson Heights (2015) Frederick Wiseman 7/10
Indignation (2016) James Schamus 4/10

[Big Magilla]

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Delbert Mann, 1960) 8/10

Moving Americana based on William Inge's pulitzer prize winning play about small town people and their problems. Seen through the lives of various characters - a long married couple facing marital problems - husband (Robert Preston) has lost his job and when rejected in bed by his wife (Dorothy McGuire) seeks comfort in the arms of the local beautician (Angela Lansbury), the couple's shy wallflower daughter (Shirley Knight) is in agony about going to a party with a blind date who turns out to be a handsome but anguished jew (Lee Kinsolving) and the loud and bossy aunt (Eve Arden) who comes to visit with her henpecked husband (Frank Overton) who has secrets of her own. Beautifully acted by the entire cast the film is surprisingly frank about matters of sex. It cannot hide it's stage origin with each actor getting to play a big scene which they do with a lot of conviction. Preston, doing a lot of loud acting, still manages to convey a lot of tenderness in a number of quiet moments with McGuire and especially with Knight who is luminous. The plot is melodramatic but makes points on issues that are still very relevant today.

I wish Warmer Bros. and the William Inge estate would resolve their differences and release this wonderful film on DVD.

The 1957 Broadway version had an equally interesting cast. Frank Overton was the only one who got to repeat his stage role.

Teresa Wright, Pat Hingle, Eileen Heckart and Evans Evans (Mrs. John Frankenheimer) had the roles played by McGuire, Preston, Arden and Lansbury in the film. Both Lansbury and Evans were in Frankenheimer's All Fall Down two years later.

Judith AKA Judy Robinson originated the Shirley Knight role, but has only appeared sporadically in films and on TV since, nothing further on Broadway. She's the one listed as "Judy" on IMDb.

Both Timmy Everett (on screen as Tommy Djilas with Preston in The Music Man) and Lee Kinsolving, who played the tragic Jewish cadet in the film, died before their time. They both died of heart attacks in their thirties in the seventies, Kinsolving at 36 in 1974 and Everett at 39 in 1977.

[Big Magilla]

Pete's Dragon (David Lowery, 2016) 8/10

Charming modern variation - this is a remake of an old Disney film - of Kipling's "The Jungle Book" about an orphan who is raised by a dragon in the jungle.

I think you left something out there. Pete's Dragon is based on an old story co-written by Seton I. Miller (1902-1974) who co-wrote the screenplay for The Adventures of Robin Hood among his many achievements. He was two generations younger than Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) whose oft-filmed The Jungle Book was a Disney remake earlier in the year.

[Reza]

Espionage Agent (Lloyd Bacon, 1939) 6/10

Wartime propaganda that was actually made before WWII began and one of the few Hollywood films at the time to show the Germans in a negative light. The film was a plea to the United States government to beef up their spy system. A diplomat (Joel McCrea) discovers his wife (Brenda Marshall) is a German spy so resigns from service to try and expose them with the help of his wife. Slow going with an applealing McCrea. Brenda Marshall's film debut.

[Reza]

Witness For the Prosecution (Alan Gibson, 1982) 7/10

A scene for scene television remake of the Billy Wilder classic film based on Agatha Christie's stage play. An ailing but very eminent barrister (Sir Ralph Richardson who is marvellous in his own way but cannot dim the memory of Charles Laughton's deliciously wicked performance in the original) takes on the case of a man (Beau Bridges) who has supposedly murdered a rich lonely woman for her money - the victim's maid (Dame Wendy Hiller) has implicated him. Just as the trial is about to be won the alleged murderer's German born wife (Dame Diana Rigg) gives incriminating evidence against her husband leading to a twist ending. Christie's plot is great fun and full of her usual surprises. The running comic repartée between the barrister and his annoying nurse (Deborah Kerr who brings her own charm to the part although she is not as effective as the great Elsa Lanchester in the original). Watch this one for it's great cast and as a comparison to the original classic.

[Reza]

Mrs. Dalloway (Marleen Gorris, 1997) 8/10

A memory piece based on the novel by Virginia Woolf and adapted for the screen by Dame Eileen Atkins. When we go through life often we come to a crossroads and we make a choice. The plot here hinges on wondering years later about that choice and thinking if a different one had taken us on a journey far different to the one life has brought us into the present. Mrs. Dalloway (a radiant Vanessa Redgrave), a Victorian matron, is preparing to give an elaborate party and she keeps drifting into the past of her youth. She has long been married to the safe and sound politician Richard Dalloway (John Standing). Thirty years earlier she (Natascha McElhone) was loved by the free thinking and gregarious Peter (Alan Cox) and stole a kiss from her childhood friend Sally (Lena Heady) which effects her deeply as well. However, she chose to marry young Dalloway (Robert Portal) instead. Back in the present she wonders - through extensive voiceovers - how changed her life may have been if she had made a different choice. Also arriving at her party are Peter (Michael Kitchen), now involved in a sad affair with a married American woman in India, and Sally (Sarah Badel) who is now the robust Lady Rossiter with five "strapping sons". The story encompasses class boundaries, politics and social and religious conventions along with the tragedy of WWI which impacts Mrs Dalloway via the suicide of a shell shocked soldier (Rupert Graves). Beautifully filmed with a superb group of actors playing the characters as young and old.

[Reza]

Pete's Dragon (David Lowery, 2016) 8/10

Charming modern variation - this is a remake of an old Disney film - of Kipling's "The Jungle Book" about an orphan who is raised by a dragon in the jungle. The relationship between the child and the dragon is very moving and the crux of the story depends on that as the two frolic together as parent and child until other humans enter the picture when things sour for the poor dragon. A forest warden (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her daughter chance upon the kid and discover the dragon which her old dad (Robert Redford) always claimed he had seen in his youth much to everyone's disbelief. This is a gentle film (with an eco-friendly theme) although the dragon does end up chained and drugged (like King Kong) resulting in an escape with a couple of dramatic moments on a bridge. The film has a rousing finalé quite ripe for a sequel. Probably the summer's best film and a welcome change from all the comic book nonsense we were assaulted with all season. My only gripe is that most of the scenes on the screen are so dark but that could be due to the 3-D effects but overall it's a lovely effort with a number of heartfelt moments. And the dragon is adorable. The film's most moving and teary moment: the child reuniting with his giant friend and the dragon hugs him close to his chest.

[Reza]

Mohenjo Daro (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2016) 7/10

Most critics have savagely attacked this film. And I suppose they are right too. Gowariker brings nothing new plotwise to his garish reimagining of history - It is 2016 BC (the trailer proudly proclaims this is before the Mughals, before Christ, even before Buddha) and a grand city in the desert is ruled by a despotic and cruel ruler (Kabir Bedi) who is brought down to his knees by a young simpleton villager (Hrithik Roshan with chisled muscles and blonde highlights in his hair) who it turns out is the son of the actual ruler who was killed by the despot. However, there is an old fashioned grandeur to this film starting with the city itself - Mohenjo Daro, not only one of the largest settlements of the Indus Valley Civilization but also the world's earliest major urban settlements. It was built near the Indus River (in present day Southern Pakistan) and the story purports to tell how this ancient city came to be destroyed. The film's massive sets (with the help of CGI), the thousands of extras, over-the-top performances, ripe dialogue, romance (this being Bollywood the hero gets to sing and dance during a devotional gathering), a massive flood and gladitorial fights in the arena bring forth fond and vivid memories of such Hollywood epics as "The Ten Commandments", "Ben-Hur", "Gladiator", the "Tarzan" films & "Jaws" (Roshan gets to wrestle with a giant alligator that leaps out of the water). Truly epic indeed. Roshan gets the full star treatment during his entrance as the camera focuses first on his rippling biceps (the ancient civilization also apparently had gyms) followed by showing him standing on a boat from the back (more shots of muscles) gradually circling up to his face with green eyes and blonde curls flowing in the breeze - Garbo, Dietrich and Crawford must be green with envy in their graves. The film should be watched for it's scale and imagination but if you are looking for something orginal in it's story or in terms of romance (leading lady Pooja Hegde makes her film debut and she is quite insipid) then you will waste your time.

[Reza]

Rustom (Dharmendra Suresh Desai, 2016) 4/10

Loosely based on the shocking murder trial in 1961 of Indian Navy Commander K. M. Nanavati who was charged with allegedly murdering his wife's lover. A jury acquitted him but later the High Court reversed this verdict and gave him life imprisonment. The controversy surrounding this trial led to the abolishment of the jury system in India. Bollywood takes the basic premise and a number of details from the case but gives it a melodramatic twist of it's own with some corny characters, long winded court scenes with inane dialogue aimed strictly at the "front bench wallahs". A highly decorated Naval officer (Akshay Kumar) arrives back unexpectedly from a trip abroad to find his wife (Ileana D'Cruz) not home and hasn't been seen in two days. Discovering love letters written to her from their friend (Arjun Bajwa) he rushes over and shoots him three times in the heart. Then he gives himself up to the police. Thus begins a long and sensational trial which becomes a media circus as the victim's sister (Esha Gupta) wants the officer to hang for his crime. The film makes valid points about the power of the media and how they can change public opinion. The film also touches on how corruption has reached top levels of the Armed Forces as well as the Government. The actors all give uneven performances. Akshay Kumar looks dashing in his Navy uniform but is as wooden as ever speaking in his usual clipped tone. D'Cruz is pretty but she has an underwritten role which merely requires her to either smile or cry quietly. Gupta play's the dead man's sister as a campy femme fatale with a pageboy wig, plunging neckline and waving a cigarette in a long holder. This could have been an effective little mystery thriller if the screenplay had not had it's main aim at the commercial market by treating the trial scenes like a farce. The music score is a major detriment as it loudly underscores every dramatic moment or campy dialogue which made sitting through this film a rather annoying experience.

[Reza]

A Hatful of Rain (Fred Zinnemann, 1957) 8/10

Harrowing film about drug addiction that helped bring down the Production Code in Hollywood where taboo subjects like sex and drugs were prohibited on screen. The story revolves around a morphine addict (Don Murray), his unsuspecting pregnant wife (Eva Marie Saint), the sympathetic protective younger brother (Anthony Franciosa) in love with his sister-in-law, their hardheaded old-school visiting father (Lloyd Nolan) and the over-the-top drug pushers (Henry Silva, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, William Hickey). Based on the hit Broadway play the film is full of stagy confrontations along with a number of effective scenes on location in New York which opens up the action - cinemascope adds to the grandeur of the situation with the crisp black and white cinematography of Joseph MacDonald. The actors all rise to the occasion with Franciosa nominated for an Oscar (he was also nominated for a Tony for creating the part on stage) - he has one long drunk scene which probably netted him both nods. Saint is equally good not playing for sympathy but focusing on the character's dependability while Murray convincingly goes through the epic withdrawal symptoms although he comes off still looking like a movie star instead of like a washed out addict. This is pure melodrama but one that brings forth it's harsh anti-drug message with a strong punch.

[Reza]

Renegades (Victor Fleming, 1930) 6/10

Stodgy but atmospheric early talkie set in the deserts of Africa amongst the French Foreign Legion. A soldier (Warner Baxter) gets involved in battles with Arabs and with a former fiancé (Myrna Loy) who turned out to be a spy â la Mata Hari and had betrayed him. Typical half baked nonsense that came in the wake of Valentino's "Sheik" with Myrna Loy in one of her many early exotic vamp roles where she is merely required to be evil and look stunning.

[Reza]

Invitation to Happiness (Wesley Ruggles, 1939) 6/10

Two people from vastly different backgrounds - she (Irene Dunne) is rich and pampered while he is a boxer (Fred MacMurray) from the wrong side of the tracks - come together when her father backs the young man. The relationship quickly sours as his boxing career takes off and he spends months away from his wife. Soapy story takes a turn for the worst - more sap - when their son is shuffled between the two. Spectacularly brutal boxing sequence at the finalé along with very good performances by the two leads makes it all bearable. Otherwise nothing special.

[Reza]

La Vérité sur Bébé Donge / The Truth of Our Marriage (Henri Decoin, 1952) 7/10

A couple's broken down marriage is analyzed through the plot which is based on a novel by Georges Simenon. Elegant industrialist and philanderer Françoise (Jean Gabin) finds himself in hospital at death''s door due to poisoning. When he learns that "Bébé" (Danielle Darrieux), his wife of ten years, has administered the lethal dose of arsenic, he tries to figure out why she would do such a thing. An idealistic and romantic woman finds herself emotionally bruised during her marriage to a man of the world who continues to have affairs. One day she finally snaps and feeds him poison. Slow and talky adaptation is superbly acted by the two leads. Decoin and Darrieux (once married to each other) were a screen team and made nine films together.