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

[Reza]

When Tomorrow Comes (John M. Stahl, 1939) 4/10

Corny romance between a married music conductor (Charles Boyer) and a crusading waitress (Irene Dunne) does not hold a candle to the two stars' previous collaboration in the same year's "Love Affair". The film has a memorable hurricane sequence for which it won an Oscar for it's sound design - which is also pretty unbelievable when it's major competition in this category was "Gone With the Wind". The stars have great chemistry but the material is absolute tripe (based on a story by James M. Cain). Barbara O'Neill is outstanding as Boyer's deranged wife.

[Reza]

I Met My Love Again (Joshua Logan, Arthur Ripley & George Cukor, 1938) 3/10

Rather tired drama about a feckless woman (Joan Bennett) who dumps her dull childhood sweetheart (Henry Fonda) and runs off with another man (Alan Marshall) who dies and leaves her with a child. Years later she reluctantly returns to see if she can again hook up with her former friend who is about to get married. Boring film took three directors to bring to the screen. Dame May Whitty is delightful as the outspoken aunt who encourages the reunion despite opposition from friends and family. Skip this one.

[Reza]

I'll Take Romance (Edward H. Griffith, 1937) 6/10

Charming fluff - a Metropolitan Opera star (Grace Moore) is wooed by an opera manager (Melvyn Douglas) into going to Buenos Aires for a concert instead of keeping her own plans of performing in Paris. Along the way romance ensues along with complications when his deceit is exposed. Moore gets to sing arias from "La Traviata" and "Madame Butterfly" in between scenes of romance and comedic moments courtesy of Helen Westley, Margaret Hamilton and Stuart Erwin. Fun!!

[Reza]

Vanessa, Her Love Story (WilliamnK. Howard, 1935) 6/10

Helen Hayes had two careers in Hollywood. The first part ended right after this film, her tenth as a star, having already won an Oscar for her first. She left MGM for great success on the stage having "failed" as a boxoffice star mainly due to her lack of screen glamour - she would make a huge comeback 35 years later and winning a second Oscar and a new career as a character actress in Disney films. Like most of her films this too was a prestigious MGM production - David O'Selznick personally produced - and as in most of her films she suffered tediously throughout the plot based on the book by Hugh Walpole. Vanessa (Helen Hayes), youngest of the Herries family - the film opens with her grandmother's (May Robson) hundreth birthday. She desparately loves her cousin (Robert Montgomery), the black sheep of the family, but fate keeps them apart. She drives him away after the death of her father (Lewis Stone) as she mistakenly believes his death in a fire was caused by him. When he returns she forgives him but he is already married to a gypsy (and later loses his arm during the war) so she gets married to another cousin (Otto Kruger) who later goes insane. The trajectory of their love affair goes from one tragedy to another as Hayes suffers with stiff upper lip. Old fashioned nonsense is made palatable by the star through sheer star presence although dashing Montgomery is too light as an actor to make their romance believable. The studio's great roster of character actors - Violet Kemble Cooper, Henry Stephenson, Jessie Ralph, Donald Crisp, Ethel Griffies, Mary Gordon - provide the two stars able support. Dated film has romance, tears and lush cinematography by Ray June.

[Reza]

Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973) 10/10

Classic and charming comedy which channels the comic elements of Howard Hawks and the lyricism of John Ford - two directors whom Bogdanovich considered to be his mentors. Extremely cynical comedy set during the Depression in the dust bowl of Kansas and Missouri is superbly shot in deep focus monochrome by László Kovács and acted to perfection by a superb cast. A con-man (Ryan O'Neal) gets saddled with the precocious chain-smoking 9 year old daughter (Tatum O'Neal) of his dead girlfriend - the brat may or may not be his daughter. While on a journey to deliver the child to her relatives they team up to swindle bereaved widows by selling them bibles at an exhorbitant price. The superb screenplay is a series of vignettes as the two play out their cons constantly bickering and looking out for each other when matters begin to sour. Along the way they meet up with an assortment of zany characters - a ditsy trollop (Madeleine Kahn who was nominated for an Oscar), her sarcastic black maid (P. J. Johnson) and a bootlegger and a cop (both played by John Hillerman). The film relies on the great chemistry between the two leads - Ryan and his daughter Tatum. It made a star of Tatum O'Neal and for her delightful performance (which Bogdanovich got out of her with great difficulty) she won an Oscar. Matching her every step of the way is Ryan O'Neal as the lovable rogue looking out to make a buck by hook or by crook. This is one of Bogdanovich's four masterpieces and a must-see.

[Reza]

Shockproof (Douglas Sirk, 1949) 6/10

Doomed romance between an ex-con (Patricia Knight) and the parole officer (Cornel Wilde) who is obsessed with her. Social commentary about trying to rehabilitate criminals by changing their environment. With Sirk at the helm the plot predictably has elements of melodrama but the screenplay by Samuel Fuller, bordering on pulp, keeps things tough with noir overtones. Platinum blonde Knight (then married to Wilde) is very good as the tough broad, not above plugging bullets in a man, who also has a gentle demeanor. A tacked on studio ending unfortunately dilutes what could have been a far better film.

[Reza]

Chef (Raja Menon, 2017) 6/10

Bollywood remake of Jon Favreau's film follows the same plot but has the added pleasure of being filmed on location in beautiful Kerala with it's stunning waterways, large colonial buildings and small towns bursting with colour and character. A chef (Saif Ali Khan) loses his job in New York, returns to his son in India, and with the help of his ex-wife and her boyfriend starts a restaurant on wheels. In the process he reclaims his creative promise and manages to make amends with his estranged father. Unfortunately the main character is such a drip - constantly in need of validation - that one feels no sympathy for him. Saif Ali Khan looks self conscious throughout and doesn't quite fit into the role. Highlights of the film involve the mouth watering Indian cuisine - food porn galore. Cute little film which unfortunately suffers from a slow pace especially during the second half. The lovely cinematography is a plus.

[Precious Doll]

The Disaster Artist (2017) James Franco 6/10
Wonder Wheel (2017) Woody Allen 4/10
Crown Heights (2017) Matt Ruskin 7/10
The Secret Scripture (2017) Jim Sheridan 4/10
False Confessions (2016) Luc Bondy & Marie Louisa Bischofberger 2/10
A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes (2000) Charles Kieselyak 4/10
Witchhammer (1970) Otakar Vavra 6/10

Repeat viewings

Throw Momma from the Train (1987) Danny DeVito 4/10
Liquid Sky (1983) Slava Tsukerman 10/10
Made For Each Other (1971) Robert B. Bean 6/10
The Breaking Point (1950) Michael Curtiz 7/10
Blow-Up (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni 10/10
Between the Lines (1977) Joan Micklin Silver 5/10

[dws1982]

Saw In A Lonely Place today at the Belcourt in Nashville.

I've seen it before, but it was definitely something special getting to see it in 35mm with an audience. Every time I see it, and especially this time, I'm convinced it must be just about the greatest movie ever made, or at least close to it.

[Precious Doll]

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) Bharat Nalluri 4/10
The Wizard of Lies (2017) Barry Levison 6/10
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017) Noah Baumbach 7/10
The Promise (2017) Terry George 2/10
Handsome Devil (2017) John Butler 4/10
Heaven Knows What (2015) Benny & Josh Safdie 6/10

Repeat viewings

Dolores Claiborne (1995) Taylor Hackford 8/10
The Slap (1974) Claude Pinoteau 7/10
Ladybird Ladybird (1994) Ken Loach 9/10
Tomorrow (1972) Joseph Anthony 7/10
Rich Kids (1979) Robert M. Young 7/10
The Great Texas Dynamite Chase (1976) Michael Pressman 6/10
Carnal Knowledge (1971) Mike Nichols 4/10
Possession (1981) Andrzej Zulawski 8/10

[Precious Doll]

Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) Simon Curtis 6/10
Lucky (2017) John Carroll Lynch 6/10
Borg McEnroe (2017) Janus Mertz Pedersen 5/10
El Inca (2016) Ignacio Castillo Cottin 5/10
The Book of Henry (2017) Colin Trevorrow 2/10
Invisible (2017) Pablo Giorgelli 7/10
Wonder (2017) Stephen Chbosky 6/10
Girls Trip (2017) Malcolm D. Lee 6/10

Repeat viewings

The Medusa Touch (1978) Jack Gold 7/10
Helter Skelter (1976) Tom Gries 9/10
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) Lou Adler 6/10

[Precious Doll]

Blade of the Immortal (2017) Takashi Miike 4/10
Brothers of the Night (2017) Patric Chiha 2/10
The Wall (2017) Doug Liman 2/10
Time to Die (1966) Arturo Ripstein 7/10
Frantz Fannon: Black Skin, White Mask (1995) Isaac Julien & Mark Nash 6/10
Woodpeckers (2017) Jose Maria Cabral 4/10
Guilty Men (2016) Ivan Gaona 4/10

Repeat viewings

Kedi (2017) Ceyda Torun 8/10
Ode to Billy Joe (1976) Max Baer Jr. 4/10

[mlrg]

Call Me by Your Name - 7/10
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri - 10/10

[Precious Doll]

Brad's Status (2017) Mike White 4/10
Detroit (2017) Kathryn Bigelow 6/10
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) John Cameron Mitchell 1/10
Murder on the Orient Express (2017) Kenneth Branagh 2/10
Bye Bye Germany (2017) Sam Garboaski 4/10
The Untamed (2016) Amat Escalante 7/10
The Summit (2017) Santiago Mitre 4/10
Neko Atsume House (2017) Masatoshi Kirakata 4/10
Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016) Ryota Nakano 4/10
Before We Vanish (2017) Kiyoshi Kurosawa 5/10

Repeat viewings

Monte Walsh (1970) William A. Fracker 6/10
The Chase (1966) Arthur Penn 8/10
Mahogany (1975) Berry Gordy 6/10
Seven Beauties (1975) Lina Wertmuller 8/10

[Big Magilla]

When I first read Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express in the 1960s, I thought it would make a great film with an all-star cast. I can't recall who I cast as Poirot in my mind, possibly David Niven, but I do remember casting Deborah Kerr in the Lauren Bacall/Michelle Pfeiffer role and Ingrid Bergman as the princess, the role Sidney Lumet originally asked her to play.

I saw the film the day it opened in New York and loved it. I loved Albert Finney's Poirot, even if he wasn't the character as written, and I loved the rest of the cast as well, especially the women - Bergman and Bacall in particular, but Wendy Hiller in the role Bergman turned down and Rachel Roberts as her maid almost as much. I thought all four actresses were Oscar worthy, though AMPAS was never going to nominate more than three of them, if that many. Speculation at the time centered on Bergman and Bacall, the big question being whether they would be nominated in support as their roles suggested or as leads due to their still potent star personas. Bacall had just come off her Tony award-winning portrayal of Margo Channing in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve. Both were finding new popularity with younger audiences who were discovering their old films on TV and in revival houses. Bergman's life story really resonated with younger audiences. Although her Oscar win was a surprise, it was a pleasant one.

I tried to watch the ghastly 2001 TV remake with Alfred Molina that Reza reviews below, but couldn't take more than a few minutes of it. Thanks, Reza, for confirming my suspicion that I would have been wasting my time to sit through the entire thing.

I very much liked the 2010 David Suchet version that was part of his long-running Poirot series. It, too, had an all-star cast that included Barbara Hershey in the Bacall/Pfeiffer role, David Morrisey in the Sean Connery/Leslie Odom Jr. role, Toby Jones in the Richard Widmark/Johnny Depp role, Eileen Atkins in the Wendy Hiller/Judi Dench role, Marie-Joée Croze in the Ingrid Bergman/Penelope Cruz role, Hugh Bonneville in the John Gielgud/Derek Jacobi role, Samuel West in the George Coulouros role and Jessica Chastain in the Vanessa Redgrave/Daisy Ridley role, the standout among the passengers in this version. She has an expanded opening sequence and a very moving scene at the end of the film with a morally repulsed Suchet who is disgusted with what he finds but reluctantly agrees to not report those findings to the authorities.

I haven't seen the new version, but probably will at some point, if I can bring myself to seeing it without wanting to pull Branagh's ridiculous pasted-on mustache off his smug face.