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

[Reza]

Ransom! (Alex Segal, 1956) 8/10

When his young son is kidnapped a rich businessman (Glenn Ford) is told by the cops that paying the ransom will not guarantee the child's safe return. So he decides not to pay the sum demanded. Extremely tense, edge-of-the-seat thriller plays the waiting game at the man's house where a group of people gather to see the outcome - the child's distraught mother (Donna Reed), the police chief (Robert Keith), a wily but concerned reporter (Leslie Nielsen), the old butler (Juano Hernandez), the maid (Juanita Moore) and hordes of reporters hovering outside the house like vultures awaiting news. The film avoids showing the kidnappers which places the audience in the same space as the characters on the screen. The entire story focuses on the father's decision and his struggle to come to terms with what he has done. Ford is outstanding as the helpless, guilt ridden but tough man who gambles on the life of his son. Remade in 1996 with Mel Gibson.

[Reza]

The Wilde Wedding (Damian Harros, 2017) 3/10

Awfully contrived situations, a screenplay that unsuccessfully juggles far too many characters and a wonderful cast who appear to be simply going through the motions spells disaster for this film. A family gathers for the fourth marriage of an over-the-hill actress (Glenn Close - lovely but botoxed) at her fabulous New York estate. Amongst the guests for the weekend are her three grownup sons, assorted grandchildren, her egocentric first husband (John Malkovich - bald and acting fey), her rockstar ex-daughter in law (Minnie Driver), the groom (Patrick Stewart - wearing a ridiculous permed wig) and his two daughters with one bringing along her female friend/lover. Needless to say chaos ensues along with romance in the air, various sexual couplings with one awkward one going viral on the net and numerous heart-to-heart talks between present and former lovers. This whole enterprise not only smells of deja vu but is clumsily directed to boot. Close has remarkable screen presence and despite looking bored throughout still manages to shine playing off her two leading men. She deserves much better though.

[Reza]

Wind River (Taylor Sheridan, 2017) 7/10

Leisurely paced thriller about the murder of a Native American girl. Investigating the case on a Reservation in snowy Wyoming is a rookie FBI agent (Elisabeth Olsen), who is totally out of her depth in this strange land, and a local tracker (Jeremy Renner) harboring something similarly tragic from his past. Acting as her guide they try to find the killers. Sheridan, who wrote the screenplays for "Sicario" and "Hell or High Water", makes his debut as a director and as in the two former films there are sudden scenes of brutal violence superbly staged here as a standoff between a bunch of cops. This leads to a deadly shootout which really makes no sense other than to provide the film a set-piece which mirrors similar confrontations in a Tarantino film. This slow film abandons the mystery by revealing all in a sudden flashback which is clumsily edited into the scene involving the shootout. The highlights of the film are the stunning white vistas of the countryside through which the two leads trudge either on foot or on a snowmobile. A rare mainstream film that highlights a forgotten American community. Renner is very good as the stoic, resourceful and sympathetic man who wants answers.

[Precious Doll]

The Snowman (2017) Tomas Alfredson 2/10
The Belko Experiment (2017) Greg McLean 4/10
Zigeunerweisen (1980) Seijun Suzuki 6/10
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) Lucio Fulci 8/10
Brigsby Bear (2017) Dave McCary 5/10
Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017) Jane Campion & Ariel Kleiman 7/10
Eight Hours are Not a Day (1972) Rainer Werner Fassbinder 8/10

Repeat viewings

The Kremlin Letter (1970) John Huston 4/10
The Landlord (1970) Hal Ashby 6/10

[Greg]

After my recent challenges, it is good to get back to a more normal life, including movie watching.

Brief Encounter - David Lean - 1946

This is another classic which I have until now missed that I was able to catch up with on TCM.

The film tells the story of a housewife, heartbreakingly portrayed by Celia Johnson, who has an almost-love affair with a doctor, played by Trevor Howard, that she meets on a weekly Thursday trip to town. Brief Encounter expertly, and quite appropriately, breaks the show-it-don't-tell-it rule as a significant part of the film's time is taken up with a voice over from Johnson's character. Because so much of what happens between the Johnson and Howard characters occurs with their feelings only and not their actions, it works to have a meaningful part of the plot restricted to just one person's mind.

David Lean foreshadows the epic grandeur he would bring to later movies in this intimate story, most notably how the rushing into and out of the train station of the trains they ride underscores the ebbing and flowing of their relationship. You can actually see hints of what would come decades later in Dr. Zhivago. Also, there is even more decades of foreshadowing with frequent use of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in the score, as it forms the instrumental basis for Eric Carmen's 1975 song "All By Myself."

The final scene between the Johnson character and her husband delivers one of the simplest-but-most-affecting viewings of pathos ever in a motion picture. A masterpiece.

10/10

[Precious Doll]

Shock Troops (1967) Coast-Gavras 8/10
The Mountain Between Us (2017) Hany Abu-Assad 3/10
Jesus (2016) Fernando Guzzoni 5/10
It (2017) Andy Muschietti 5/10
The Last Face (2017) Sean Penn 1/10

Repeat viewings

State of Siege (1972) Costa-Gavras 9/10
Pennies From Heaven (1981) Herbert Ross 7/10
Under Fire (1983) Roger Spottiswoode 6/10
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) John D. Hancock 6/10
Being John Malkovich (1999) Spike Jonze 9/10
The Big Bus (1976) James Frawley 5/10
The Earrings of Madame De (1953) Max Ophuls 9/10
1776 (1972) Peter H. Hunt 5/10

[Reza]

Victoria and Abdul (Stephen Frears, 2017) 8/10

Utterly charming, witty - in fact sometimes quite hilarious - drama about yet another of Queen Victoria's unconventional relationships. The film is sort of a sequel to "Mrs Brown" and deals with the Queen's later years when Victoria (Judi Dench, playing the Queen again) grew attached to an Indian-Muslim, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), who was brought across from India to ceremoniously present a gold coin to the aged monarch. Bored, stifled and depressed but still feisty, she takes to the handsome young man and much to the horror of the Prime Minister - Lord Salisbury (Michael Gambon), Bertie, the Prince of Wales (Eddie Izzard), Lady Churchill (Olivia Williams) and her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby (Tim Piggot-Smith) she has the young man made part of the royal household and her "munshi" - she learns Urdu and verses of the Quran from him. The ironic screenplay has a field day with historical facts, spices up incidents and lays bare racism and the white man's folly for underestimating their own "coloured" subjects - something which the silly white man still hasn't mastered today even if they no longer rule but only try to cohabitate yet fail miserably at it. The screenplay takes a tongue in cheek attitude and presents the relationship with a lot of respect with both thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Dench is magnificent as the seemingly docile old monarch who underneath maintains a razor sharp mind who easily commands fear all around. Fazal is also very good, thankfully not playing his character as a caricature, bringing a lot of infectous humour and pathos to the part. Superbly produced film - with sumptuous sets and costumes - unfortunately presents all the characters around the two leads as buffoons and villains - although Bertie, after the Queen's death, immediately banished Abdul back to India and destroyed all evidence of his presence in the Queen's life - which creates an uneven balance. This is a delightful film with Dame Judi Dench at the top of her game at almost age 83.

[Reza]

Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011) 7/10

Prepostrous premise - however most science fiction usually is - but fairly riveting action drama has a comatose / dead (?) soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) whose brain has been transplanted by another man's brain cells courtesy of a scientist (Jeffrey Wright) which allows the person to be transported to a Chicago bound train which was destroyed by a terrorist's bomb. Absurd? Sure it is. The man gets to repeatedly spend eight minutes on that train in order to discover which passenger planted the bomb. The confused man is suitably perturbed to find himself in this forced predicament but manages to obey the instructions by forming a bond with his direct contact (Vera Farmiga) and a passenger (Michelle Monaghan) on the doomed train. This time-shifting concept was applied years ago in the comedy "Groundhog Day" but here it's deadly serious, full of suspense, pathos, American jingoism and heavy bouts of sentimentality. Sounds cheesy but manages to be fairly gripping and moves at a breakneck pace. An interesting B flick with Gyllenhaal good as the beleagured man who has to race against time to not only save lives but try and reinvent his own.

[Reza]

The Italian Job (Peter Collinson, 1969) 8/10

Cockney Michael Caine masterminds a gold bullion heist by creating a traffic jam on the streets of Piedmont while using Mini Minors as the getaway cars. Classic British caper is held together by the insouciant charm of Caine, a sense of rivalry between Britain and Continental Europe, the tiny cars whizzing through the Italian streets and the appearance of wizened Nöel Coward as a kingpin operating out of a maximum security prison. The lovely Italian Alps get a glimpse although the two major Italian stars barely make any impact - Rosanno Brazzi as the late crook whose idea is used for the robbery and Raf Vallone as a Mafia don. Fondly remembered film set during the swinging sixties which evokes a sense of nostalgia looking at the locations and at a very young Michael Caine.

[Reza]

Destroyer (William A. Seiter, 1943) 3/10

Sentimental WWII actioner set on a battleship given the dubious task of carrying mail under the command of a martinet captain (Edward G. Robinson) who clashes with one of the officer (Glenn Ford) who has secretly married his daughter (Marguerite Chapman). Between moments of comedy the crew manages to down five Japanese planes and ram a submarine. Silly and predictable.

[Reza]

Charlotte Gray (Gillian Armstrong, 2001) 5/10

Bland WWII film about a Scottish woman (Cate Blanchett) who joins the french resistance in order to search for her boyfriend who is missing in action in France. She moves in with the father (Michael Gambon) of a fellow worker (Billy Crudup) and gets involved with trying to save the lives of two jewish children also living in the house. Well made film unfortunately has no sense of danger despite constant threat from the Nazis and most damagingly the film is dull. Blanchett is good, Gambon superb, Crudup is badly miscast and the production values are exemplary. This is a lifeless spy thriller and a disappointment.

[Reza]

Shooter (Antoine Fuqua, 2007) 6/10

Implausible action scenes but a very plausible scenario in a film belonging to the "guilty pleasure" genre. A retired sniper (Mark Wahlberg) is set up for the assassination of the Ethiopian President by a nasty U.S. senator (Ned Beatty) and his henchman (Danny Glover) but manages to escape despite being shot. Chased by the nasties and the FBI he goes into war mode and turns the tables on everyone and their kitchen sinks. Great fun seeing Wahlberg make asses of assorted government agencies. Old fashioned chase thriller with scary elements of truth in how governments can so easily fool the general public by covering up their rogue tracks.

[Reza]

Give Me Your Heart (Archie Mayo, 1936) 6/10

Contrived but moving soap opera about adultery and premarital sex with Kay Francis suffering throughout - she gives up her baby which is adopted by her lover (Patric Knowles) and his invalid wife (Frieda Inescort) while she is "bought" off by the man's titled father (Henry Stephenson). Old hat plot is given life by the elegant presence of star Francis (who is one of the very few stars from the golden age of Hollywood who seems remarkably contemporary despite her films being over eighty years old), the debonair charm of George Brent - who plays her husband - and the sardonic wit of Roland Young as her confidant.

[Reza]

Saddle the Wind (Robert Parrish & John Sturges, 1958) 8/10

Lovely Julie London sings the title tune and comes between two brothers - a retired outlaw turned rancher (Robert Taylor) and his younger trigger happy punk brother (John Cassavetes). Superbly photographed in colour on location in Colorado, the film has the interesting but clashing acting styles of both leads - Taylor's simplistic and Cassavetes' over-the-top method. Things turn grim when the younger brother shoots a hired killer (Charles McGraw), goads and kills a squatter (Royal Dano) and wounds a land baron (Donald Crisp) who is his brother's kindly mentor and business partner. Intelligent little western is marred somewhat by its inserted process shots and an underwritten role for London. However, both leads, the superb supporting cast and a taut screenplay with greek tragedy undertones make this well worth a view.

[Reza]

The Dark Tower (Nikolaj Arcel, 2017) 2/10

Not everything translates well from book to screen and certainly not when a 90 minute movie is adapted from a series of eight books by Stephen King. Also this is such a tacky looking film with lousy special effects with action scenes that hold no sense of awe - just a lot of chases with people shooting at each other as cars crash and buildings burn. A young boy (Tom Taylor) has visions of a Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey with his annoyingly patented Texan drawl - I'm quite sure I heard him say "awlright" which became his silly catch phrase on Oscar night) who seeks to destroy a Tower to bring ruin to the world (King thinks big; nothing less than an apocalypse) and of a gunslinger (Idris Elba) who opposes him. The kid bands with the "cowboy" to bring down the nasty man. The film crams in a lot - at least it moves at a quick pace - the kid travels through a portal to a post-apocalyptic place called Mid-World where the gunslinger seeks revenge from the Man in Black for killing his father (Dennis Haysbert - if you blink or look down at your popcorn you'll miss seeing him). The characters move between this world and NYC where the final confrontation takes place. Jack Earle Hayley appears as one of the villain's minions. McConaughey looks bored striding around killing people and droning his dialogue in a monotonous tone. Elba seems to have wandered off some different project but his character is striking and in command. He gives the film's best performance and it's about time Hollywood gave him something worthwhile to do. Apart from Denzel Washington he's the only gritty black leading man in Hollywood who not only has style but a whole lot of charisma. The kid is a non-entity in a sea of similar white kids populating films of this ilk. Skip this crappy film and hope that Elba gets his hands on some good scripts.