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

[Reza]

White House Down (Roland Emmerich, 2013) 7/10

While a cop (Channing Tatum) and his daughter (Joey King) are taking a tour of the White House a bomb is detonated inside the United States Capitol. The attack is led by a group of mercenaries headed by the disgruntled Head of the Secret Service (James Woods) and an ex-Delta Force and CIA operative (Jason Clarke). Their mission is to get the President (Jamie Foxx) who ends up on the run with the cop in the corridors of the White House. Action packed nonsense is a full-on popcorn roller coaster ride and a guilty pleasure to boot. The action is not only confined to inside the White House but also on its rooftop, in the gardens surrounding it, inside the Pentagon where the Speaker (Richard Jenkins) and a Special Agent (Maggie Gyllenhaal) hold fort, and on Air Force One where the VP (Michael Murphy) is immediately taken up when danger threatens the President. Unbelievable and deliciously prepostrous film is great fun with Tatum at his most wooden.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (Mark Robson, 1954) 5/10

Slow and boring Korean War heroics about a pilot (William Holden) and his interactions with his colleagues (Mickey Rooney, Earl Holliman), the Admiral (Fredric March), his worried wife (Grace Kelly) and the deadly mission of destroying a series of bridges in North Korea. Based on the book by James Michener the film was partly shot on location in Japan. Kelly has three brief scenes and is added onto the film for glamour and she gets to do a rather tame nude swimming sequence. A lot of the film involves the landing and take offs of planes from an aircraft carrier. The scenes of the bombings won the film an Academy Award for visual effects as well as a nomination for its editing.

Man in the Shadow (Jack Arnold, 1957) 6/10

Sweltering southern town gets all hot and bothered when the upright sheriff (Jeff Chandler) goes against the rich and corrupt man (Orson Welles) who runs the town. When his senior ranch hand beats to death a young Mexican labourer and the only witness to the crime is also killed the cop starts to investigate with a little help from the rich man's daughter (Colleen Miller). Taut little thriller has the excellent Chandler go up against a slumming Welles, chewing the scenery, who did the film strictly for the paycheck although he did help to rewrite the screenplay as a favor. Rugged Chandler - a poor man's Gregory Peck but a better actor than him - is very good in the lead. The plot takes the route of superior social justice melodramas from the likes of Kazan, Brooks and Kramer.

The Plunderers (Joseph Pevney, 1960) 6/10

Four unruly young cowboys ride into a town and terrorize the townfolk. The town's shell-shocked one-armed Civil War hero (Jeff Chandler) refuses to help. When the elderly sheriff is gunned down the crippled man decides to spring into action especially when urged on by his former lover (Marsha Hunt) and the store owner"s young daughter (Dolores Hart) who is in love with him. Chandler simmers and glowers and is far too old to be romancing Hart - although she gets to act opposite John Saxon who plays one of the hoodlums, a Mexican, who nearly rapes her. The film is a slowburn and builds suspense. Ray Stricklyn, as the brash but cowardly leader of the gang, was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (Hugh Laurie, 2022) 7/10

A three-part tv adaptation of Agatha Christie's mystery novel but with no Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple in sight. Instead we get childhood friends turned amateur sleuths - Bobby Jones (Will Poulter), the vicar's son, and Lady Frankie (Lucy Boynton), the posh daughter of Earl (Jim Broadbent) and Lady Marchington (Emma Thompson). Bobby discovers a fallen man at the bottom of a cliff who, before dying, whispers to him "Why didn't they ask Evans". And so begins the mystery of the dead man who is suspected of having been murdered after a number of suspicious people enter the fray - the stranger who stays back with the corpse, the dead man's sister, a couple who live in a large mansion next to a sanatorium and the pretty blonde woman whose photo was in the pocket of the corpse. When Bobby is poisoned and his golf partner commits suicide the two sleuths decide to investigate. Atmospheric mystery is well cast and shot on lovely locations in Wales. Laurie shifts the plot slightly but mainly follows the original novel unlike the ridiculous woke adaptations of Kenneth Branagh. Old chum Emma Thompson puts in an amusing cameo along with Jim Broadbent.

Man of the World (Richard Wallace, 1931)

Disgraced American reporter (William Powell), hiding in Paris, runs a successful blackmailing scheme with his partner - his former lover (the ascerbic Wynne Gibson) - where they con money out of people who are in sexually compromusing positions. He decides to go straight when he falls in love with the vivacious niece (a pre-stardom Carole Lombard) of a rich victim (Guy Kibbee). Powell is fine as the debonair crook. Screenplay by "Mank" - Herman J. Mankiewicz.

[gunnar]

Satantango (1994) - 7/10 - The film has great cinematography and is interesting, but I think 7 hours is pretty excessive and it would have been just as effective in the 3-4 hour range. I liked seeing a few of the scenes from different perspectives and in a different context. Did we really need 8 minutes or so of cows? It's pretty bleak much of the time, but there is humor to be found here and there.

12 Monkeys (1995) - 8.5/10 - Bruce Willis is sent back in time from 2035 to gather information on the origins of a virus that destroyed 99% of the population in 1996. Things don't go exactly as planned. The film still holds up very well and having seen La Jetée, I now see the connection there. Willis was good and Brad Pitt was pretty convincing as a mental patient.

Princess Mononoke (1997) - 8.5/10 - Ashitaka is cursed when he kills a boar god that has been possessed by a demon. He leaves his village in search of a way to find a cure and becomes involved in a battle between a town with people who have developed guns and the forest creatures who are trying to protect themselves and the land. Among the wolves of the forest is a young woman who was raised by them after her parents died. I saw the film in the theater and again when I bought the dvd upon its release, but it's been 20+ years and I still enjoyed it a lot.

[gunnar]

A Brighter Summer Day (1991) - 9/10 - Zhang Zhen is a 14 year old boy from a good family in Taiwan in 1960. He is attending night school and is falling into juvenile delinquency, hanging out with members from two rival street gangs, though belonging to neither. There is romance and music, but also violence, including murder in this four hour film which I enjoyed quite a bit. It may be a long film, but it doesn't drag.

[Reza]

Bond Street (Gordon Parry, 1948) 5/10

Portmanteau drama revolving around the wedding dress, pearl necklace, veil and flowers of a bride (Hazel Court). Four stories behind those objects found on Bond Street. In the first story the seamstress (Kathleen Harrison) of the wedding dress, worried for her pregnant daughter, deliberately tears the dress of a difficult customer (Adrianne Allen) but matters right themselves when the two ladies make peace. The pearl necklace figures in the second story which, in noir fashion, involves a murderer and thief (Derek Farr) who holes up with a floozie (Jean Kent) who makes the mistake of falling in love with him. The third story has a meek seamstress (Patricia Plunkett) fixing a tear in the wedding veil and getting involved with a man (Ronald Howard) who ends up threatening her blackmailing husband (Kenneth Griffith) and falling in love with her. The silly last story has the former flame (Paula Valenska) of the groom (Robert Flemyng) arrive on the eve of his wedding to stay with him for good. His father-in-law (the droll Roland Young) saves the day just before walking his daughter (Hazel Court) down the aisle. Terence Rattigan had a hand in the screenplay and together with producer Anatole de Grunwald would go on to make even more elaborate portmanteau films during the 1960s - The VIPs (1963) and The Yellow Rolls Royce (1965).

Miss Robin Hood (John Guillermin, 1952) 3/10

A comic strip writer (Richard Hearne) is persuaded by Miss Honey (Margaret Rutherford), a fan, to join her in a game of crime where she acts like Robin Hood using orphan girls to steal money from safes and distribute to the needy. Farce rests on the familiar personality of Rutherford but is rather silly to make much of a dent. Many familiar faces - Dora Bryan, Sidney James, James Robertson Justice, Ian Carmichael, Michael Medwin, Reg Varney, Eunice Gayson - pop up in bit roles.

The Happiest Days of Your Lives (Frank Launder, 1950) 9/10

Due to a government clerical error the staff and children from a girl's school are evacuated to move into a boy's school. Pandemonium ensues. The lead for the comic situations are jointly taken by the heads of both schools - the horrified stuffy headmaster (Alastair Sim) and the formidable tweedy headmistress (Margaret Rutherford). The screenplay relies on stylised English humour and stock characters played by the cream of British talent whose presence in the roles instantly signaled the type of character each was playing. The two brilliant leads are surrounded by the eccentric Joyce Grenfell as "Gossage" the gym teacher ("just call me sausage") who bangs the school gong (an amusing reference to the gong at the start of each Rank Organization picture) and Guy Middleton as the sleazy and supercilious sports teacher. The two antagonistic leads are forced to join hands when they have to pretend to the kids' parents and visiting inspectors that all is well. Hilarious farce is adapted by Launder from the play by John Dighton. Classic British post-war film manages to squeeze out every laugh helped in great part by the superb comic timing of the entire cast.

Espionage (Kurt Neumann, 1937) 7/10

This B-film from the MGM stable is almost like a precursor to Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" - set on a train with a gently squabling couple (Edmund Lowe & Madge Evans), both reporters from rival publications who end up posing as husband and wife while they pursue a munitions magnate (Paul Lukas) through war-torn Europe. Often silly but also quite amusing with screwball situations between the two leads. Lowe and Evans swiftly sail through coasting on their great chemistry. A small gem.

Destination Gobi (Robert Wise, 1953) 6/10

True story set during WWII at a United States weather station in Inner Mongolia run by a reluctant Naval officer (Richard Widmark). When the Japanese attack the camp the officers seek help from nomad Mongolians in exchange for sixty horse saddles. Standard war film with a slight twist otherwise its the usual plot - officers trudging through the Gobi desert (shot in Nevada) towards the sea coast in China helped and abetted by the local nomad tribe. When the group is betrayed to the Japanese it appears they will have to spend time as POWs in an internment camp. Wise's first color film blends sarcastic humor, action sequences, and double crosses to create an unusual war film. Widmark, as always, is very good as the leader of the motley group.

The Virginian (Stuart Gilmore, 1946) 5/10

Oft filmed story, based on Owen Wister's 1902 novel and 1904 play, is the first colour production after the versions with Dustin Farnum in 1914 and Gary Cooper in 1929. A New England school teacher (Barbara Britton) arrives in Wyoming and meets two cowpokes - the irresponsible Steve (Sonny Tufts) whom she takes a shine to and the "Virginian" (Joel McCrea) with whom she clashes. It's only a matter of time before love blossoms, tragedy follows one of the men and a cattle rustler (Brian Donlevy) meets his comeuppance. Corny film with its banal plotline has nothing new to offer though the lovely colour cinematography and McCrea's charming presence are both a plus. Donlevy doesn't hold a candle to the performance by Walter Huston as the despicable villain in the first sound version in 1929.

The Bounty Hunter (André De Toth, 1954) 6/10

Scott plays a bounty hunter who goes looking for three bank robbers and creates suspicion and consternation in a small town. Shot in 3-D but released in standard format the film has many moments where objects are flung at the camera. Typical low budget 50s Scott western with nothing new to offer yet through sheer star power he makes it interesting going through the genre's usual tropes. Bland Dolores Dorn is the much too young love interest for Scot who was 36 years older than the actress while Marie Windsor and Ernest Borgnine play a couple of flashy characters.

Two Thousand Women (Frank Launder, 1944) 6/10

In Nazi occupied France a group of Brirish women are interned at a hotel in the countryside. When three RAF airmen bail out of a plane and find refuge at the hotel it becomes a cat-and-mouse game for the women to first hide them and then during a staged concert help them to escape as they defiantly sing "There'll Always Be an England". Typical WWII patriotic propaganda entwined in a mixture of suspense (a Nazi spy amongst the women) and artificiality - the women are all dressed impeccably with immaculate hairdos and faces fully madeup even though there is a shortage of water for baths. The women play an assortment of types allowing most of the top leading ladies and character actors of British cinema to make an impact - a journalist (Phyllis Calvert), a novice nun (Patricia Roc), a stripper (Jean Kent), a posh lesbian (Flora Robson) and her "companion" (Muriel Aked) and Dulcie Gray, Thora Hird, Anne Crawford and Renée Houston rounding out the lot of stars playing characters representing regional Britain. Good film could have been much better if there were less comic interludes stopping the main drama in its tracks.

The Undercover Man (Joseph H. Lewis, 1949) 7/10

Gritty noir follows a group of Treasury agents out to get a powerful mob boss on charges of tax evasion. The fictionalized story of Al Capone - the "big fellow" is never shown - is presented like a documentary with a Federal agent (Glenn Ford) risking his life to get past frightened witnesses and corrupt cops to get to the top man. The timeframe is changed from the Prohibition era to the postwar era. Ford gets good support from James Whitmore as a fellow agent and Nina Foch as his wife. Hardhitting crime-busting story is tautly put together with Burnett Guffey's gritty monochrome camerawork a major asset.

[gunnar]

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) - 9/10 - An aging chef lives in a big house in Taiwan with his three adult daughters, having raised them alone since their mother died 16 years before. Time is moving on, though, and the daughters each have new men in their lives and their relationships or work opportunities may take them away from home. We get to see plenty of Chinese cooking and meals shared by the family as they struggle to communicate with each other. It's a very nice film with romance, humor, and lots of food.

[Big Magilla]

Deep Water (Adrian Lyne, 2022) 4/10

Director Lyne ("9 1/2 Weeks", "Fatal Attraction", "Indecent Proposal", "Lolita", "Unfaithful") returns to the screen after 20 long years and tries hard to maintain his lurid reputation. If there's any flaw here its that he is a tad too slow to get to the juicy stuff which unfortunately turns out not to be all that lurid after all. The premise is very promising though. The story, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, was first adapted in 1981 as the French film, "Eaux profondes" with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert. Here Ben Affleck plays the cuckold, desperately in love with his sexy European wife (Ana de Armas), who likes to walk around topless at home and openly indulges in affairs with young men. This listless marriage is tolerated by the husband just as long as the word "divorce" is never mentioned for the sake of their cute precocious daughter. When he decides to start murdering his wife's lovers the dynamic of their relationship shifts but in a surprising direction. The problem with Hollywood has always been to depict sex in a certain squeamish manner, almost as if calling out to the hijab to come and cover up. Lyne, especially during the 1980s, was pretty much no-holds barred when it came to sex and sleaze on the screen. Rip roaring kinky sex was unabashedly on display which made a couple of his films into guilty pleasures. While de Armas bares her body - she's Spanish so nudity is no big deal - the violent aspect of the plot is too softly presented. We want blood, sex and gore. Instead we literally get Disney, which is the studio at the helm, making its first erotic film in a very long while. The studio obviously has no clue about the meaning of the word "erotic". It's no wonder the film's best performance comes from the little tot - Grace Jenkins - who plays the all knowing little daughter. One eagerly awaits Bond girl de Armas' next project - the NC-17 rated film based on Joyce Carol Oates' novel "Blonde" about Marilyn Monroe.

What a horrible piece of crap this one was. I disagree only with your take on the little brat who, like her mother, shows her true colors at the end. Was that kid aware of what she playing? Ben Affleck's worst performance ever, matched by just everyone else in the film.

P.S. Ana de Armis may be of Spanish heritage, but she was born in Cuba. Her character is supposed to be Italian.

[gunnar]

Hedd Wyn (1992) - 9/10 - Ellis Evans was a Welsh farmer who was known locally for his poetry, having won a number of competitions and showing promise in the national competition. He was a pacifist during WWI, but agreed to join the British Army to keep his younger brother from being conscripted. This movie tells his story, starting from just before the outbreak of war. It is a very good anti-war biopic.

The Other Side of Sunday (1996) - 7/10 - Maria is a Norwegian teen growing up in the 1950s with a priest for a father and a strict religious upbringing. She rebels in her thoughts against the dour approach of her father and wants to be free to be happy, wear makeup and earrings, and listen to music. The film shows her journey as she tries to escape the strict code her church and father expect her to live by.

[Reza]

Carson City (André De Toth, 1952) 6/10

An engineer (Randolph Scott), building a railway line in Nevada between Carson City and Virginia City, comes up against stagecoach robbers who plan on hijacking a shipment of gold off the train. Action packed Western. Raymond Massey plays yet another one of his cultured villains - he lays out a sumptuous picnic lunch with champagne for his victims - while Scott gets involved with a young woman who is also loved by his younger brother. It's all very deja vu but helped immensely by the laconic Scott, good direction by de Toth and marvelous colour cinematography.

Close (Vicky Jewson, 2019) 5/10

A kick-ass bodyguard (Noomi Rapace) tries to keep one step ahead of thugs in Morocco who are trying to kill an heiress (Olivia Jewson - younger sister of the director). Convoluted screenplay appears to have been written as they filmed as a lot of it makes no sense. Is it the step-mother (Indra Varma) who is hiring a hit on the young girl or the Chinese company against which she is bidding for a contract? Rapace gets to perform all her own stunts above the ground and underwater and gets her ass kicked in many vicious ways. Run-of-the-mill thriller scores points courtesy of the leading lady. Otherwise there's nothing new here.

Vice Versa (Peter Ustinov, 1948) 5/10

Farce is a precursor to all the father-son ("Big" & "Vice Versa") and mother-daughter ("Freaky Friday" & its remake) mind and body switch films of the 1970s and 1980s. A pompous rich stockbroker (Roger Livesey) and his cheeky son (Anthony Newley) switch bodies after rubbing and wishing on a stone from India. The father, in his son's body, ends up in school where he astounds the cruel headmaster (James Robertson Justice) with his mature talk and gets ragged by the other students. Meanwhile the son, in his father's body, flirts with the maid and avoids the advances of his father's crooked lady friend (Kay Walsh). Little Petula Clark appears as the headmaster's daughter and Newley's crush. Ustinov was only 26 when he directed this rather silly, often absurd overlong comedy which does have a few genuine laughs buried in there.

Vu du pont / A View From the Bridge (Sidney Lumet, 1961) 5/10

Arthur Miller's play gets an odd international co-production between France and Italy - the outdoor scenes were shot on the Brooklyn dockyards while all the interiors were filmed inside a Paris studio. Toxic masculinity goes way overboard in this tale of passion. Tough Italian immigrant (Raf Vallone), a longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks, is no longer interested in his wife (Maureen Stapleton) but secretly harbors an incestuous attraction for his wife's niece (Carol Lawrence) who they have raised as their daughter. Matters come to a boiling point when his wife illegally sponsors her two cousins - the older married family man (Raymond Pellegrin) and his handsome younger single brother (Jean Sorel) - who arrive in New York and move in with them. The young lad takes a shine to the niece and when she also responds the old man goes beserk leading to tragedy. The play's ending involving a gun is switched here to a more dramatic meat hook. Vallone is superb but his character has no redeeming quality so comes off very annoying and unsympathetic. The overwrought plot also caused a sensation in a scene where two men kiss - a first for an American themed film - although the moment is staged as a rebuke. There have been many successful revivals of the play over the years on Broadway. Pity Hollywood has not attempted to improve on this relentlessly downbeat film version.

[gunnar]

Queen Margot (1994) - 7.5/10 - The film starts with the marriage between the Catholic Princess Margot of France and the Protestant King Henri of Navarre in 1572. Tensions are high at the time between Catholics and Protestants and there is plenty of murder and fighting between the groups. There are also a number of plots centered around Margot's mother, Catherine of Medici. I think the film does a pretty good job of making it feel like 16th Century France. The acting, scenery, costumes, etc. are all pretty good.

Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) - 8/10 - Rebels from a mountain village take two Russian soldiers prisoner. One father in the village hopes to trade the two soldiers for his son, a prisoner in the Russian compound. One of the soldiers is a veteran with lots of experience and the other is essentially fresh out of training. There is some bonding with the captors, especially a shepherd with no tongue and the young daughter of the father whose son is a prisoner. I thought it was a very good film.

[Reza]

The Best Man (Franklin Schaffner, 1964) 8/10

Political machinations behind the nomination of a presidential candidate. Based on the play by Gore Vidal the story revolves around a former President (Lee Tracy) hoping to endorse one of two candidates, both of whom have skeletons in the closet. The present upright Secretary of State (Henry Fonda) has a fondness for the opposite sex and was once diagnosed as manic depressive after a nervous breakdown and despite a collapsing marriage his wife (Margaret Leighton) arrives to offer support while his harried campaign manager (Kevin McCarthy) tries to dig up dirt on his opponent. The shark-like senator (Cliff Robertson), who has risen from poverty, is determined to claw his way to a win while his wife (Edie Adams) and his elder brother and campaign manager (Gene Raymond) try to reign in his ruthless tendencies when an old hint of homosexuality from his past threatens to derail his bid for the Presidency. Lee Tracy, as the wily no-nonsense and dying former President, runs off with the film as he tries to choose which of the two candidates to endorse. It was the actor's last role which he created on Broadway (winning a Tony nomination) and here received a much deserved Academy Award nomination for his swansong. Both Fonda and Robertson are at the top of their game with able support from both Leighton and Adams as their wives. Ann Sothern is hilarious as the garrulously vulgar vice chairperson of the party. The word "homosexual" was for the first time heard in a Hollywood film.

The Wilby Conspiracy (Ralph Nelson, 1975) 6/10

In South Africa, during the Apartheid era, a relentless cop (Nicol Williamson) tracks a black revolutionary (Sidney Poitier) - who is just out of prison - and a white engineer (Michael Caine), who have both beaten up two police officers. They are chased from Capetown to Johannesburg while trying to escape across the border into Botswana while smuggling a big cache of diamonds to be used against the white oppressors. Helping them along the way is the engineer's laywer mistress (Prunella Gee), her estranged husband (Rutger Hauer), an Indian dentist (Saeed Jaffrey), his sexy assistant (Persis Khambatta) - who has it off with Poitier in a cupboard - and assorted colored folk working in the underground. The film almost seems like a re-working of "The Defiant Ones" - Poitier, in handcuffs, on the run with Caine - but changes tracks by switching into an action adventure film with the cops trying to stop them from getting the diamonds out. The eclectic cast do their best with Williamson outstanding as the evil racist cop.

Cuba (Richard Lester, 1979) 4/10

Atmospheric but lackluster story set in Cuba during the last year of U.S.-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista. A British Major (Sean Connery), a mercenary, is hired by a General (Martin Balsam) to train Batista's army against Castro's guerillas. He realizes that he is too late as the Cuban Revolution is just waiting to happen so he takes up with his former lover (Brooke Adams), now married to a sleazy plantation owner (Chris Sarandon) who in turn is involved with a sexy worker (Lonette McKee) at his cigar factory. The disjointed screenplay cannot decide if it wants to be an action adventure, a political exposé or a sweeping romance. It fails on all counts despite a great cast - also standing out in brief roles are Jack Weston as a sweaty American businessman, Hector Elizondo as a cynical cop, and Denholm Elliott as a gunrunner - and dazzling cinematography by David Watkin and Shirley Russell's colorful costumes. Lester does manage to create a sense of underlying chaos as the Batista regime was collapsing all around while people went about their lives as if all was well. Shot in Spain for obvious reasons.

Man in the Saddle (André DeToth, 1951) 6/10

The first of star Scott's six Westerns with director DeToth. A farmer (Randolph Scott) resorts to violence when a ruthless land baron (Alexander Knox) not only wins his ambitious sweetheart (Joan Leslie) but also attempts to usurp his land. Fast paced film has a number of action set pieces - a shootout in a saloon in the dark, a fistfight that destroys a hut and continues down a snowy mountainside and another long drawn shootout at the end. Ellen Drew is very good as the lady who carries a torch for Scott.

Hidden Fear (André DeToth, 1957) 4/10

Shoddy B-noir was shot entirely in Copenhagen which gives it a slight european edge. American cop (John Payne) aids the Danish police when his sister is arrested for murder. She is innocent of the charge but is upto her neck with assorted nefarious types (Conrad Nagel & Alexander Knox). An over-weight Payne gets in on the action - assorted shootouts, fist fights and a car chase - as he discovers a counterfeit ring. Low budget film is a bore.

Thunder Over the Plains (André DeToth, 1953) 4/10

Carpetbaggers versus civilians in Texas who are taken advantage of right after the Civil War when Texas had not been readmitted to the Union. A Federal Captain (Randolph Scott), a Texan, has to enforce the law against the violent opposition of his own people. While trying to contain a rebel leader (Charles McGraw) he has to also contend with a newly arrived trigger happy officer (Lex Barker) who makes a move on his wife (Phyllis Kirk). Scott is good in this slow moving B-western but this is an average and rather dull oater.

Crime Wave (André DeToth, 1954) 7/10

Tough B-noir has an ex-con (Gene Nelson) - who now has a wife (Phyllis Kirk) and is leading a straight life - suddenly finds himself upto his neck in trouble when a wounded ex-colleague turns up on his doorstep. When the man dies he is forced to call his parole officer to get him out of the jam which leads the cops to start sniffing around. When the dead man's partners (Ted de Corsia & Charles Bronson) also turn up, a relentless cop (Sterling Hayden) begins to harrass the couple for information. Matters become worse for the couple when they are forced to participate in a bank robbery that gets bungled. Exciting film benefits from its location shoot on the streets of Los Angeles. Nelson and Kirk are very good with Hayden tough as nails as the hard nosed cop who has a surprising twist up his sleeve at the end.

[Reza]

Verdens verste menneske / The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, 2021) 5/10

Rambling and often rather tedious film about a young woman (Renate Reinsve) unsure about her life and about her relationships with two very different men. She cannot make up her mind as she flits from relationship to relationship. She labels herself the worse person in the world as she feels guilty for not making up her mind. This is a rom-com for grownups and unlike the Hollywood variety there is no happy ending in this often gloomy Norwegian film. Just like in life one has to live with whatever decisions, good or bad, one has made. Reinsve is outstanding - she won an acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival - and gives a lovely mature perfomance. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award for its screenplay and in the International Feature category.

[gunnar]

Burnt by the Sun (1994) - 8/10 - During the summer of 1936, Colonel Kotov, a hero of the Bolshevik Revolution, is vacationing with his wife, young daughter, and friends. His wife's former fiance arrives after a 10 year absence and seems friendly at first, but has a hidden agenda involving Stalinist purges. It has nice cinematography and is well acted.

Character (1997) - 7/10 - A prominent bailiff has sex with his housekeeper on one occasion. She leaves when she realizes that she is pregnant and raises her son in poverty on her own. The son has a few unfavorable encounters with his biological father over the years as he works his way up and becomes a lawyer. It's shot very well, but is done in a rather cold and dispassionate manner. The bailiff and the housekeeper fit that mold as well.

I've now seen all of the winners for the Academy Award for Best International Film. I have 22 of the nominees left and hope to have 21 of those finished by the end of May.

[Reza]

È stata la mano di Dio / The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino, 2021) 7/10

The film has a strong whiff of Federico Fellini's "I Viteloni" and "Amarcord" and continues this director's film journey sort of apeing the classic director - I hated Sorrentino's "The Great Beauty" because it seemed like a copycat version of a Fellini, yet I found this film absolutely charming for the exact same reason. Go figure. Highly personal film, with autobiographical elements, the story is about the coming-of-age of a young Maradona-obsessed Neapolitan boy (Filippo Scotti) who lives at home with his parents (Tony Servillo & Teresa Saponangelo - both outstanding) and surrounded by his very large (and eccentric) family members who delightfully embody what is famously remembered as Fellini's grotesquerie - the entire supporting cast, including the extras, seem carefully chosen and are placed purposely in front of the camera like mannequins. They don't have anything much to do but add superb colour to each background shot. The screenplay is a series of vignettes - a family outing where they swim in the Bay of Naples, and on a boat where the boy and all the men oogle an aunt who sunbathes stark naked as the camera zooms in on her naked breasts as she intentionally adjusts her legs to reveal her thick bush to her family audience, the thrill of watching Maradona play football, a visit to an actor's audition, the father's infidelity and reaction of the mother, joyrides with a petty criminal, and general walks around Naples taking in its architecture and moods. And then tragedy strikes followed by his farfetched first sexual encounter between the legs of his most unlikely neighbor who provides valuable advice about his future which he decides is going to be all about becoming a movie director. The last shot has him on a train going to Rome and to a life in and around movies. Charming film is nominated for an Oscar in the International Film category.

The Lost City (Aaron and Adam Nee, 2022) 4/10

Innocuous but formulaic action-adventure is a total rip-off of "Romancing the Stone" and proves once again that Hollywood studios prefer to regurgitate old money-making ideas instead of coming up with something original. Depressed middle-aged romance novelist (Sandra Bullock) finds herself kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who thinks she knows about treasures in a lost city which she wrote about in one of her silly novels. Coming to her rescue is the cover model (Channing Tatum) from her book jackets, a man she detests, and who insists on saving her. He gets a little help from an ex-Navy SEAL (Brad Pitt in a delightful surprise cameo) who manages to shoot his way into the villain's camp, rescue the novelist and ends up with his brains plastered all over Tatum's face. Does he really die? Tired plot has action set pieces far too familiar from other much better films. Radcliffe is badly miscast while Bullock has very little chemistry with dimwit beefcake Tatum. Scoring major points is Brad Pitt who breezes in, effortlessly provides laughs, and breezes out with a bang.

Last Stand at Saber River (Dick Lowry, 1997) 6/10

Selleck brings nothing new to the genre. At least nothing we haven't seen before in countless Westerns from the 1950s. However, its important that the grandeur of the genre stays revived and its to the credit of actors like Selleck, Kevin Costner, Sam Elliott and Clint Eastwood who ensure we get stories both on the big and small screens set in the Old West. After the Civil War is over a returning Confederate veteran tries to reclaim his land and home in Arizona which has been illegally occupied by Yankee carpetbaggers. He is forced to team up with a Union sympathiser (Keith Carradine) to go after the real villain. Rather stale plot is livened up by the cast - Suzy Amis is fiery as Selleck's school teacher wife - and the New Mexico locations subbing for Arizona.

[Reza]

Gangubai Kathiawadi (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2022) 9/10

The role of the prostitute in Bollywood films is either romanticized or gritty. The former category has been a great success through interpretations by Waheeda Rehman ("Pyaasa"), Meena Kumari ("Pakeezah"), Sharmila Tagore ("Mausam"), Rekha ("Muqaddar Ka Sikandar"; "Umrao Jaan"), and Madhuri Dixit ("Devdas"; "Kalank"). Gritty prostitutes were successfully played by Shabana Azmi ("Mandi"), Tabu ("Chandni Bar"), Kareena Kapoor ("Chameli"; "Talaash"), and Vidya Balan ("Begum Jaan"). Bhansali here takes a chance by casting angel-faced Alia Bhatt as the gritty female mafia don and madame of a brothel in Kamathipura, the neighborhood in Mumbai famous for its flesh trade. Bhatt effortlessly rises to the occasion and transforms herself through body language and voice modulation to portray a very gritty prostitute. Bhansali's screenplay is adapted from one of the chapters of Hussain Zaidi's book "Mafia Queens of Mumbai". Sold into prostitution by her husband she, through dint of strong perseverance manages to survive her harsh life. There are clashes with the greedy madam (Seema Pahva) who insists she sleeps with a man who beats and scars her. She seeks help from and befriends a local Don (Ajay Devgn) who becomes her rakhi brother, faces political rivalry from a transgender (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), has a romance with a younger man, successfully stops the brothel from being moved by presenting the case to Prime Minister Nehru and works diligently to solve various issues of orphans and women in the prostitution business. Bhansali's stylized set of the red light area is surprisingly subdued - all muted colours and a far cry from the opulent brothel in "Devdas" - and which appears to be a stepping stone towards his next ambitious project about a cross generational saga set in the famous red light area of Heera Mandi in Lahore. Compared to his other extravagant (and deliciously vulgar and over-the-top) films this one is almost subdued in comparison working more as a character piece. Of course casting the "fair 'n lovely" Alia Bhatt automatically romanticizes the story - the real Gangubai was not the charming creature on display here - but the actress manages to give an approximation of the woman's tough no-holds-barred character while keeping it well within Bollywood film conventions in order to ensure it is a boxoffice success which it has happily become for the entire creative team behind the film. It also allows Bhatt to emerge as a force to reckon with in Bollywood - a female star (without coat-tailing a major male co-star) - at the helm of a big budget film that is a huge success at the boxoffice. Although the supporting cast - Seema Pahwa, Ajay Devgn, Nawazuddin Siddiqui - play equally flamboyant characters they don't get too much of an arc in the story as Bhansali focuses with full concentration on Gangubai and on his new muse who vividly creates the part.

Adorable menteuse / Adorable Liar (Michel Deville,1962) 2/10

An annoying young girl (Marina Vlady) - the "adorable" of the title - can't stop lying. When she falls in love with a much older man she stops lying and only speaks the truth. But nobody believes her as they think she is still lying. Silly film goes on too long.

The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (Richard C. Sarafian, 1973) 4/10

Chase western - rich woman (Sarah Miles) runs from her husband (George Hamilton) and reluctantly takes off with an outlaw (Burt Reynolds) who with his gang has robbed a train. Offbeat film has the oddball casting of the two leads while off-set there was a scandal when Miles' secretary-lover was found dead of an overdose with unexplained injuries to his head and body. The widescreen photography by Harry Stradling Jr. is a plus along with a strong supporting cast in Jack Warden, Bo Hopkins and Lee J. Cobb as the sheriff in pursuit. The total lack of chemistry between the two leads is a detriment and the script (by Eleanor Perry) fails to provide Reynolds with anything to do except mainly stay in the background and emerge sporadically to prevent his men from raping Miles who has many nude scenes scattered throughout. Cat Dancing is the name of Reynold's squaw.

Jesse Stone: Night Passage (Robert Harmon, 2006) 6/10

Series of cop films made for tv and based on the novels of Robert B. Parker. Alcoholic cop, Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck), is asked to resign from the LAPD and accepts a job in a small town in Massachusetts. He soon gets involved in a homicide involving a crooked city official (Saul Rubinek) and a sadistic hood (Stephen Baldwin) who launders money for the mob. Familiar premise - like any of the countless cop shows headed by a major star during the 70s and 80s - with Selleck in full-on laconic mode with a troubled past married life that intrudes via a long distance phone call. Viola Davis plays a bored cop on his beat.

Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (Robert Harmon, 2005) 7/10

Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) is inundated with homicides as he investigates a serial killer who has shot two bullets into each of the four victims' chests. One of the victims is a close friend of Stone. In addition a high school girl is gang raped by three male students and a hotshot lawyer (Mimi Rogers) represents the principal suspect who is put in jail by Stone. Selleck is fine as the perpetually melancholy cop who knows instinctively that something is wrong.

Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (Robert Harmon, 2006) 6/10

Cop Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) investigates the murder of a pregnant High School girl who is found bound and gagged underwater in a lake. The town also reveals a wife beater who holds a supermarket hostage when his wife decides to finally leave him. Stone's chronic drinking problem is addressed by a shrink (William Devane).

Jesse Stone: Sea Change (Robert Harmon, 2007) 3/10

Boring entry in this cop show is more about the alcohol issues of Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) caused by his escalating problems with his ex-wife - all his scenes with her are on the phone where we just hear her voice - and his attempt to open a long dead case. Plus there is an attempted rape which has to be solved. Viola Davis, as the chief dispatcher, gets written out of the show - she was finally hitting the big league in movies - and brusque Kathy Baker joins the cast. Slow and boring episode got Selleck an Emmy nod.

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (Robert Harmon, 2009) 6/10

Slow burn series just like the character of the cop, Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck). The location - fictional Paradise, Massachusetts but shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia - almost gives it a feel of "Murder, She Wrote" except the melancholy rhythm of the plots take it pretty far away from the upbeat Angela Lansbury series. Stone and the police chief (Stephen McHattie) get shot while on a stakeout. A woman (Camryn Manheim) approaches Stone about her kidnapped baby which she feels is still alive even after the case was closed years before. He thinks the child is dead but secretly investigates when his dispatch officer (Kathy Baker) insists she will go ahead alone and look for the child. His boozy binges continue as he wallows in misery courtesy of his ex-wife's phone calls much to the disgust of his pot-smoking shrink (William Devane). The series has a cute Golden Retriever which Stone adopted a few episodes ago after its former owner ended up shot dead at the edge of a lake.

Jesse Stone: No Remorse (Robert Harmon, 2010) 7/10

Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) gets suspended from the police force of Paradise so he helps out a friend with a serial killer case in Boston. He also tries to get acquainted with a cell phone bought to escape the neurotic daily phone calls received from his ex-wife. Meanwhile back in Paradise the dispatcher (Kathy Bates) and Stone's second in command (Kohl Sudduth) try to catch a convenience store robber/murderer. The Paradise town council call Stone in for a meeting at the tail end of the episode. Will he be reinstated?

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (Dick Lowry, 2011) 6/10

After he is forced to retire, Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) investigates the death of an old friend who overdosed and was working as a prostitute. Meanwhile back in Paradise his old colleagues are having a hard time working with the arrogant man who has replaced him as police chief.

Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (Robert Harmon, 2012) 7/10

When the new police chief of Paradise is blown up in his car the town council reinstates Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck). The series formula gets slightly tweaked as only one case remains to be solved with no subsidiary case in sight. Also his usual partners at the office are missing. Finally Stone touches and strokes his dog after ignoring him for the last 7 episodes. He also has a steamy romance with a blues singer (Gloria Reuben) who he credits for helping him through his most troubled times.

Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (Robert Harmon, 2015) 7/10

Last episode in the adventures of small-town cop Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck). It's three years after his last appearance and he is off his shrink and off the blues singer who dumped him for her ex-husband. In Boston he takes on the case of a serial killer (Luke Perry) who, in jail, insists he cannot take credit for the murder of a white woman. He admits to the murders of three black women and maintains the fourth was a copycat killing. Meanwhile back in Paradise he tries to resolve the issues of a young school girl whose mother is a drunk. Stone's last dog died and he adopts the dog belonging to the hooker who was murdered. Stunning locations all around in Nova Scotia substituting for Boston.

[gunnar]

Belle (2021) - 8.5/10 - Suzu lost her mother when she was six years old and has sort of been in a shell since then. She's close to graduating from high school and joins U, an immersive virtual reality world where people can get a fresh start. She becomes an incredibly popular singer in U, though this doesn't affect her real life all that much at first. She becomes interested in helping Beast, a fearsome looking character who is combative and on the run from the self appointed guardians of justice in U. This is a nice version of the Beauty and the Beast fable and the songs are pretty good as well.