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

[Reza]

Toward the Unknown (Mervyn LeRoy, 1956) 6/10

A test pilot (William Holden) captured, tortured and released by the Koreans returns to his Air base and finds it difficult to prove to his superiors that he is trustworthy and can fly again without cracking up. He clashes with the General (Lloyd Nolan) at the base but finds his ex-girlfriend (smoky-voiced Virginia Leith) still sympathetic and in love with him. The film is basically an advetisement for the air superiority of the United States Air Force with sequences devoted to flying jets and showing experimental planes and rockets. Holden brings his stoic movie star presence to the proceedings.

[Reza]

Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) 10/10

This is not only one of the greatest and most intricately plotted detective stories but also one of the most gorgeously shot films superbly recreating the atmosphere of 1940s Los Angeles. Robert Towne's brilliant screenplay is now considered to be one of the most perfect screenplays ever written as it deliriously weaves a story about greed, deception, incest and murder. The film transports you into Raymond Chandler noir territory - Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a quick-witted cynical private detective, is hired by a woman to find proof of her husband's infidelity. As he delves deep into the case not only does he find the man - the city water commissioner - seemingly involved with a young woman but to his dismay discovers that he was duped by the woman who hired him when the man's actual wife (Faye Dunaway) appears and threatens to sue him for libel. When the water commissioner turns up dead the plot turns dark. The detective is attacked by a hoodlum (Roman Polanski) who slices his nose, he begins to fall in love with the enigmatic widow who turns extremely neurotic, there is a jigsaw of clues leading to the woman's father (John Huston) who appears to be behind a plot to divert the city's water supply for his own gain. The film's brutal and shocking finale takes place in Chinatown where the plot winds down delving deep into the exploration of the dark side of humanity. The film is painstakingly created by a superb team of technicians - John A. Alonzo's lush cinematography shot in muted tones, Jerry Goldsmith's memorable score, Richard Sylbert's outstanding production design and Anthea Sylbert's elegant costumes. The film is held together by Jack Nicholson in one of his signature roles. He is witty, tough, caring and likeable. Faye Dunaway makes a formidable femme fatale seemingly cold and tough but hiding a fragile vulnerability underneath the facade - her look and manner instantly evokes the glamour of Hollywood's golden age. It was a terrific coup by Polanski to cast director John Huston as the evil Noah Cross. His fragile old body masks a man of intense evil who will not let anything come in his way even if it means sacrificing someone close to him. This is Roman Polanski's masterpiece and easily stands shoulder to shoulder with Hollywood's finest classic films. Nominated for 11 Oscars it sadly only won for it's superb screenplay coming up against The Godfather Part II which took most of the awards. A must-see.

[Reza]

She (Robert Day, 1965) 4/10

Ravishing Ursula Andress plays "She" - who must be obeyed, loved and possessed - an ancient queen of a lost desert kingdom. An archaelogist (Peter Cushing), his butler (Bernard Cribbens) and their companion (John Richardson) trek across a desert and across mountains to reach their destination. The power-mad woman considers the local black tribe as savages but is quite nonchalant when she has people who defy her thrown into a live volcano. This nonsense is based on the book by H. Rider Haggard and its saving grace is lovely but dubbed Ursula Andress looking sexy in a white dress. Hammer studio regulars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (as a high priest) add a touch of gravitas to the proceedings.

[Reza]

Becoming Jane (Julian Jarrold, 2007) 5/10

Jane Austen wrote five classic books and died a spinster at age 41. Did she love anyone? The screenplay, a work of fiction, has Austen go down the same path where some years ago we found Shakespeare in love. Jane (Anne Hathaway) is the free spirited daughter (who has the audacity to believe that she can earn a living through writing) of an impoverished clergyman (James Cromwell) and his bossy wife (Julie Walters). She spurns the hand of a rich but ineffectual young man (Laurence Fox), nephew of the local imperious dowager (Dame Maggie Smith), and falls in love instead with an arrogant and intellectual lawyer and rogue (James McAvoy) - shades of "Darcy" from P&P. Austen's books are evoked throughout as she flouts convention and decides to marry this "Tom Jones" for love. Things don't quite go as planned. Lushly filmed in Ireland the story unfortunately has no bite coupled with a complete lack of chemistry between McAvoy and Hathaway who make a rather lifeless couple.

[Reza]

Winchester (Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig, 2018) 1/10

Laughable mess has the widow and heiress (Dame Helen Mirren) of the Winchester firearm fortune living in widow's weeds in a sprawling California mansion. The house is in constant construction mode as she keeps having rooms built to house the spirits of all the victims who were shot by a Winchester rifle. Rooms shake, a kid gets possessed and there is all manner of ghostley activity as some badass victims have a score to settle with all the Winchesters. Dame Helen's first horror film and it's clear from the word go she is uncomfortable in this genre. The screenplay, apparently based on fact, reeks of horror-movie clichés. Avoid this bomb.

[Precious Doll]

Watched another longish film starring Peter O'Toole tonight, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and O'Toole is so much better in this. Even though it is a bit hap hazard as a musical its a beautiful adaptation of its source material. O'Toole and Petula Clark (simply wonderful in the film) are great together.

While O'Toole is certainly good as Mr Chips it's Siân Phillips who steals the film.

She's great in it - a couple of more scenes and she may have scored an Oscar nomination. Such a shame that Petula Clark was overlooked.

[Reza]

Watched another longish film starring Peter O'Toole tonight, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and O'Toole is so much better in this. Even though it is a bit hap hazard as a musical its a beautiful adaptation of its source material. O'Toole and Petula Clark (simply wonderful in the film) are great together.

While O'Toole is certainly good as Mr Chips it's Siân Phillips who steals the film.

[Precious Doll]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean 4/10

Care to elaborate?

I first saw the film back in the very late 1980s or very early 1990s on the big screen after it had been restored. I appreciate what I'm about to say places me in a tiny minority but I found the film, as beautifully crafted as it is, to be a bore. I should also mention that I saw it at a film festival and given the very heavy schedules that attending film festival entails I had always felt that my dislike of the film may due to film festival fatigue or overload.

I purchased a Blu Ray of the film a few years ago so give the film a second go. I can't say that this viewing was any better. Aside from being bored by almost the entire enterprise and film plodded from one incident to the next and despite the talk their was no real sense of character, with only Omar Sharif rising above the material. That said there are some impressive set pieces like the attack on the train when Lawrence is shot and one his traveling companions getting stuck in a sinkhole but as a cohesive whole I found it a failure. Certainly, it's beautifully made but it leaves me cold and unfulfilled. Funnily enough my partner had never seen it and he was equally unimpressed. We both agreed that at least it is better than Doctor Zhivago (a film I have no intention of giving a second viewing to).

I certainly admire David Lean but do prefer his more intimate films that his sprawling epics and I do view A Passage to India an intimate rather than epic. I don't think he ever made a better film than Brief Encounter.

Watched another longish film starring Peter O'Toole tonight, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and O'Toole is so much better in this. Even though it is a bit hap hazard as a musical its a beautiful adaptation of its source material. O'Toole and Petula Clark (simply wonderful in the film) are great together.

[mlrg]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean 4/10

Care to elaborate?

[Precious Doll]

Return to Montauk (2017) Volker Schlöndorff 1/10
Manifesto (2017) Julian Rosefeldt 2/10

Repeat viewings

The Maltese Falcon (1941) John Huston 8/10
M.A.S.H. (1970) Robert Altman 6/10
Blossoms in the Dust (1941) Mervyn LeRoy 6/10
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972) Paul Newman 7/10
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) Gilbert Cates 6/10
China Seas (1935) Tay Garnett 6/10
Niagara (1953) Henry Hathaway 4/10
The Kindergarten Teacher (2014) Nadav Lapid 8/10
Jubilee (1978) Derek Jarman 9/10
Libeled Lady (1936) Jack Conway 6/10
The Tempest (1979) Derek Jarman 9/10
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean 4/10
The Informer (1935) John Ford 7/10

[Precious Doll]

Kaleidoscope (2017) Rupert Jones 4/10
Tully (2018) Jason Reitman 4/10
The Boys from Feng Kuei (1983) Hsiao-Hsien Hou 7/10
Cute Girl (1980) Hsiao-Hsien Hou 4/10
The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982) Hsiao-Hsien Hou 4/10
55 Steps (2018) Bille August 4/10
Antiporno (2017) Sion Sono 4/10

Repeat viewings

The Touch (1971) Ingmar Bergman 4/10
The Reckless Moment (1949) Max Ophuls 6/10
Cannery Row (1982) David S. Ward 7/10
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) Fred Schepisi 7/10
Caught (1949) Max Ophuls 6/10
Becket (1964) Peter Glenville 6/10

[Precious Doll]

Unsane (2018) Steven Soderbergh 4/10
The Misandrists (2017) Bruce La Bruce 5/10
The Insult (2017) Ziad Doueiri 7/10

Repeat viewings

The Silver Chalice (1954) Victor Saville 5/10
The Rainmaker (1956) Joseph Anthony 6/10
The Green Ray (1986) Eric Rohmer 8/10
Easter Parade (1948) Charles Walters 6/10
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) Anatole Litvak 6/10
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) Martin Scorsese 6/10
Sleeping Dogs (1977) Roger Donaldson 2/10
Slacker (1991) Richard Linklater 7/10

[Sabin]

/Being John Malkovich/ (1999) Spike Jonze 10/10
Wrote a blog piece about this recently then deleted it. Ultimately, the place for my thoughts is here, I think. I don't know if BJM plays better today than when it first debuted in 1999, but it takes on a whole new meaning. Or rather, its original meaning becomes more clear. It's a devastating portrait of male ego. I could go on about all the choices that I adore about this film. Mike D'Angelo makes an excellent point about how completely, hilariously random many elements are. For example, so many of the choices are thematically purposeful, but they're immediately followed by something random. Malkovich tunnel: purposeful. New Jersey Turnpike: random. But today in the #MeToo era, Being John Malkovich plays like the ultimately portrait of a disempowered man. Look at Craig's final fate: he's forced to live inside the daughter of two women, looking at this burgeoning Matriarchy for years to come. He's pathetic and he's condemned. Meanwhile, Lotte is the ultimate snowflake. She pays the rent by healing the trauma of animals. She gains power through questioning her gender. In Being John Malkovich, there's nothing more powerful than a snowflake on a search for meaning...and I love that.

There are times when I think THIS (not Eternal Sunshine...) might be Kaufman's magnum opus. For instance from a writing perspective, he spends the entire first act laying out this love triangle. Imagine if Craig didn't find the Malkovich portal? He might then read a book on pick-up lines, right? Instead, he finds the Malkovich tunnel, which is totally incidental. But the players have been set in motion. From then on, everybody in the film is relentlessly pursuing something (or somebody) else in a journey ripe with discovery and betrayal. The reveal of Captain Merton gets a demerit or two in my book for being just a little too silly. But the lines of reggies shelling out bucks just to be somebody else for a few minutes... well, it's the new app. It's just another thing, invading somebody's privacy, and nobody really cares. They're just mindless drones lining up. Admittedly, it's a bit facile, and Jonze and Kaufman wisely background it to the love triangle.

Never loved this film more than I do today. Best of 1999.

[Precious Doll]

Loving Pablo (2017) Fernando Leon de Aranoa 4/10
Aurore (2017) Blandine Lenoir 5/10

Repeat viewings

All This and Heaven Too (1940) Anatole Litvak 6/10
The Model Shop (1969) Jacques Demy 6/10
For Ever Mozart (1996) Jean-Luc Godard 6/10
Sideways (2004) Alexander Payne 10/10
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Michael Curtiz & William Keighley 6/10
That Cold Day in the Park (1969) Robert Altman 7/10
Portrait of Jennie (1948) William Dieterle 6/10
Forty Guns (1957) Samuel Fuller 6/10
Angel of Vengeance/Ms. 45 (1981) Abel Ferrara 7/10
Angel Baby (1961) Paul Wendkos 6/10
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) Terry Jones 5/10
Black Sunday (1977) John Frankenheimer 5/10
Rachel, Rachel (1968) Paul Newman 7/10
Das Boot (1981) Wolfgang Petersen 8/10 (208 minute director's cut)

[Reza]

La Muerte de un Ciclista / Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955) 9/10

A couple, involved in an illicit affair, knock down a cyclist on an isolated road and drive on after seeing he is hurt but alive. He is a Professor (Alberto Closas) and his mistress (Lucia Bosé) is the wife of a rich man (Otello Toso). Their relationship begins to deteriorate when the cyclist is found dead and the woman is blackmailed by an art critic (Carlos Casaravilla) who is part of their social circle. Bardem creates an atmosphere of intrigue, dread and fear - which was a swipe at the oppressive Franco regime in Spain at the time. This was was one of the early Spanish films to detract from Franco's vision of cinema and Bardem mixes neo-realism with thriller elements from Hollywood. The tense mood is straight out of Hitchcock - Will the lovers be caught? Will the blackmailer succeed? Will her husband discover the truth? Will the couple have a pang of conscience and turn themselves in? Bardem flirts with all these dilemmas leading up to an ironic if melodramatic end which appears to have been the result of the harsh censors at the time. The actors are all superb with Lucia Bosé a standout playing the cold selfish woman who is clearly more in love with her social position than with the two men who flank her life - her lover and her husband. The film is a marvel of production design and superb camerawork which captures the characters different moods using deep focus and glaring close-ups. Classic film and a must-see.