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

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

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Salvatore Giuliano (Francesco Rosi, 1962) 8/10

The life of the Sicilian bandit is shot by Rosi in a neo-realist documentary style which is as much a portrait of post-war Sicily as it is of the man who managed to elude the police for a number of years. The film opens with the bandit's corpse sprawled in a street face down - shot to death - and tells his story in a non-linear manner with sudden flashbacks. Giuliano is seen numerous times but only as a corpse while the screenplay focuses on the people around him. A petty black marketeer to make ends meet he is caught at a checkpost and shoots a cop and gets away. Later he shoots another cop and goes into hiding in the hills surrounding his small town and gradually turns into a folk hero while briefly also dabbling in Sicily's separatist movement. His downfall began with the massacre of unarmed communist demonstrators at a rally with many factions turning against him until his final betrayal by a close comrade. Rosi's film was the precursor to a slew of hard-hitting political films that came in its wake like Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers (1966) and Costa Gavras’ Z (1969). The screenplay, via a narrator, covers a great deal of historical background which tends to get rather confusing but the film is full of brilliantly staged stark images (courtesy of the great Gianni Di Venanzo) as Rosi uses his cast of non professional actors to enact the dramatic life of Giuliano.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962) 5/10

Lee Marvin steals the film away from his far more famous co-stars, John Wayne and James Stewart, who were both appearing on screen together for the first time. Ford shoots the entire film on sets giving it a stagy feel as he handles a love triangle between a tenderfoot lawyer (James Stewart), a gunslinger (John Wayne) and the woman (Vera Miles) they both love. The story's main conflict lies with the hired killer (Lee Marvin) who tries to break up the town moving towards self governance. There are the usual (corny) comic Ford touches involving a cowardly Marshall (Andy Devine) and an alcoholic newspaper editor (Edmond O'Brien). Stylish but slow film, pining nostalgia, is set in a changing West with the legacy of legend superceding fact. Stewart is badly miscast - he is far too old to be playing a lawyer just starting out and his excessive (natural trademark) drawl begins to get on one's nerves especially coming after a decade worth of tough brutal roles where he spoke in a normal voice. While Wayne is his usual flamboyant heroic self his part merely requires him to sporadically wander in and out of the action. Marvin is the whole show as the mean, vicious killer who has absolutely no redeeming quality. One understands why he went on to win an Oscar three years later. Edith Head's costume designs were nominated for an Oscar.

The Mark of the Hawk (Michael Audley, 1957) 5/10

Like most of Sidney Poitier's films this too was one with a political message. Set in an un-named British colonial African country bristling with hatred for the white man where one soul (Sidney Poitier) speaks out for independence but in a non-violent way. Often preachy film has Poitier in fine form in one of his early lead roles. John McIntire is a preacher who has spent an earlier tragic life in communist China - the film goes off into a tangent with a long flashback although there are similarities in the way countries got invaded and locals became prisoners of the occupiers. Eartha Kitt plays Poitier's wife and gets to sing as well.

Ships With Wings (Sergei Nolbandov, 1941) 7/10

WWII British propaganda film disliked by Churchill who felt it showed far too many British casualties and hence bad for morale. It was also criticized for its lack of realism but the film was a huge hit at the boxoffice for all the derring do on display. The plot revolves around a reckless RAF pilot (John Clements) who is expelled from the Fleet Air Arm (one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy) but redeems himself later during the Battle of Greece in 1940-41. There is a love triangle with him and two women - a sultry nightclub singer (Ann Todd) is madly in love with him while he is in love with the daughter (Jane Baxter) of the Vice Admiral (Leslie Banks). However, she ends up married to another officer (Michael Wilding) after he gets dismissed from service. Despite the incredibly shoddy special effects this is a good war film with espionage thrown in on a greek island and torture and murder by the Nazis. Michael Rennie, Cecil Parker and Hugh Williams appear in brief but vivid roles.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Reza wrote:The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021) 6/10

"Anderson's quirky films really get on my tits", said someone. And I agree.
Some people aren’t into quirk, period, and most of the rest of us strongly prefer some flavors of quirk over others. I totally get how Anderson’s films are not for everyone. I have a friend with generally good taste who can’t stomach his films. To me, his quirk hits the mark. I’m glad you can appreciate aspects of his films if not the overall effect.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021) 6/10

"Anderson's quirky films really get on my tits", said someone. And I agree. However, his use of colour and the witty inventiveness of the production design in his films is almost worth sitting through. Almost. Depends on his screenplays which can often have quite a hit or miss quality. Also worth seeing for the way he uses his star casts, mostly in brief bits, but always presented very vividly. Here we go through different articles in the last issue of an American newspaper (although it seems to be an homage to the New Yorker magazine) in the fictional french city of Ennui-sur-Blasé. The stories come alive through the characters in each news item. The first segment is about an unstable convict (Benicio Del Toro), his prison guard-lover (Léa Seydoux), the abstract nude painting he does of her and the art dealer (Adrien Brody) who pleads for the convict's life and parole. The second item channels the 1968 Paris student protests and features Frances McDormand as a journalist and Timothèe Chalamet as a student revolutionary. The third and last news item deals with a food journalist (Jeffrey Wright) who attends a gourmet dinner at the house of the police Commissaire (Matthieu Amalric) whose son is picked up by kidnappers (Edward Norton & Saoirse Ronan). Many other stars appear in bit parts along with Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Owen Wilson, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman playing members of the newspaper staff. Oddball vignettes playfully highlighting eccentric characters is a loving ode to journalists. A jaunty score by Alexander Desplat accompanies the almost cartoon-like activities on screen.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Michael Showalter, 2021) 6/10

The rise and fall of the garishly made up televangelist Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) and her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield). Starting life from humble beginnings the couple meet at a Bible college, get married and rise up the ladder of success as religious entrepreneurs with a massive broadcasting network empire and theme park. Unlike other evangelists she proposes a message of love for everyone including the LGBT community with compassion for HIV/AIDS patients. The success story ended in disaster with financial improprieties and Jim Bakker's sex scandal which toppled their carefully built empire. Chastain captures the joie de vivre of Tammy with her exuberant personality and motor mouth openly discussing sex, penile implants and other taboo subjects on television. Religion as a business rightfully gets a sound drubbing with both actors perfect as the two hucksters.

Encounter (Michael Peerce, 2021) 7/10

The screenplay takes on the mantle of a thriller as it makes points about PTSD and about America's gun control laws which allow any and all yahoos to act like Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry". A disturbed former marine (Riz Ahmed) imagines that aliens have invaded and reside inside human bodies in the form of micro-organisms. He kidnaps his two sons from his estranged wife and they go on a road trip while he tells them he is saving them from the aliens. Along the way there are skirmishes with a cop, a white supremist and his two yahoo sons where guns are involved and used. Meanwhile his parole officer (Octavia Spencer), the cops and the FBI are in hot pursuit. Uneven film starts off in an interesting menacing way with the camera closely capturing insects feasting on whatever they find and then the mysterious actions of the man evolve into a standard chase film with a couple of nerve wracking moments between the three and the derelicts they meet along the way. Ahmed gives an intense performance and has many wonderful moments along the way with the two young actors who play his sons.
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The Door Into Summer (2021) - 7.5/10 - A young inventor is cheated out of his company and inventions, but doesn't give up in finding a way to make it right. This was a pretty faithful adaptation of the Heinlein novel, though with a Japanese cast. I like most of Heinlein's novels and have read this book several times and also enjoyed the film.

It Came from Outer Space (1953) - 7.5/10 - An amateur astronomer/author and his girlfriend are watching the stars in the Arizona desert one night when they see a meteor crash. They take a helicopter out to the crash site and the astronomer sees a ship at the bottom of the crater, but it is soon buried by falling rocks. He tells people what he saw, but is not believed...at first. I thought it was a fun film.
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Mass (Fran Kranz, 2021) 7/10

A high school student goes on a rampage and shoots a number of his fellow students and teachers. Six years later his parents (Reed Birney & Ann Dowd) meet with the parents (Jason Isaacs & Martha Plimpton) of one of the victims in the basement of a church. The meeting is meant to enable some form of closure for the grieving parents which starts out awkward and confused, goes on into a passive-aggressive rant followed by some form of understanding about an incident which will never bring forth any conclusive answers. Superbly acted film is a relentlessly downbeat exercise in trying to find some kind of catharsis as frayed human emotions work themselves into a frenzy trying to sort themselves out. Harrowing film is not for the faint of heart even though there is not a single moment of violence on display. However, it can be seen on the gut wrenched faces of these four parents who have lost their children to a violent act.

The King's Man (Matthew Vaughn, 2021) 7/10

Action packed thriller mixes derring-do with actual history (revisionist to its core) as the screenplay churns up a number of historical characters - Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), General Kitchener (Charles Dance), the Austrian charlatan Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl), King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Nicholas (all three played by David Hollander) & Archduke Franz Ferdinand - in a plot set during WWI. Fast-moving prequel to two previous Kingsman installments explains how the secret society was set up by the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) with help from his two servants (Gemma Arteryon & Djimon Hounsou) as they, along with his teenage son (Harris Dickinson), try first to prevent the War and later try their best to stop it by going up against a mysterious mastermind who is using his own nefarious agents to manipulate Germany into taking on Britain while ensuring that Russia and the United States stay out of the War. This is done by getting Lenin to step-in to oust the Tsar while Monica Lewinsky's "cocksmanship" is hilariously referenced by having Mata Hari go down on President Woodrow Wilson which is filmed and used as blackmail. Unlike the later two films this one is less of a spy spoof as the action gets very dark and violent. Fiennes sails through it effortlessly in a highly dramatic and action oriented performance. Matching him every step of the way is a hilarious turn by Rhys Ifans as the Mad Monk - the witty fight scenes with him resemble a Cossack's dance as he twirls around making moaning sounds as he first goes down on Fiennes with his tongue (the writers seem to be very fond of fellatio) followed by trying to kill him. The film has a number of outlandish action set pieces and a lengthy bit in the trenches and on the battlefield which seems like scenes cut out of Sam Mendes' "1917". Enjoyable film is instantly fogettable as soon as you walk out of the cinema.

Tenth Avenue Angel (Roy Rowland, 1948) 5/10

A precocious cloying child (who else but Margaret O'Brien) annoyingly flutters around her adoring pregnant mother (Phyllis Thaxter), the aunt (Angela Lansbury) in love with an ex-con (George Murphy), the blind news-stall vendor (Rhys Williams) as she discovers that grownups often lie although they like to tell kids to only speak the truth. It takes a Christmas miracle for the child to understand about life, her mother to recover after a very bad fall and the ex-con to stay away from trouble. Good cast in typical O'Brien vehicle where the highlights revolve around the child star quivering and snifling through tears at the drop of a hat. Annoying she may be but O'Brien was a scarily good actor.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (Eran Creevy, Joe Perlman & Giorgio Testi, 2022) 9/10

Highly emotional reunion of the cast and crew on the old sets of the Harry Potter films. The three stars reminisce about how they were cast, how they forged friendships and got to work with such superstars like Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris and many others. Also turning up for the reunion are Gary Oldman, Helena Binham-Carter, Robbie Coltrane and Ralph Fiennes. Not a dry eye in the house by the end of this reunion.

U.S. Marshals (Stuart Baird, 1998) 6/10

A spin-off from "The Fugitive" after Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar and his character United States Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard gets his own arc. A formulaic cop-chase flick as the Deputy goes after another fugitive (Wesley Snipes), who attempts to escape government officials following an international conspiracy scandal. Slick action scenes have a deja vu feel to them although there is a spectacular airplane crash sequence that is quite memorable. The laconic Jones is always a welcome presence as are brief appearances by Irène Jacob and Kate Nelligan.

The Riddle of the Sands (Tony Maylam, 1979) 7/10

Erskine Childers' 1903 WWI espionage novel is brought memorably to the screen. Old fashioned adventure film has a boat enthusiast (Simon MacCorkindale) and his acquaintance - a Foreign Office officer (Michael York) - tangle with Germans at the exotic location of the Frisian Islands just off the coast of Germany. They untangle a plot of barges being used by the German army to invade Britain's east coast across the North Sea. A retired German officer (Alan Badel) is involved in the plot while his daughter (Jenny Agutter) provides a bit of love interest. The movie's spectacular location filming is a major asset.

Megaboa (Mario N. Bonassin, 2021) 1/10

Classic premise - trap a group of people in a dangerous secluded environment with a monster on the loose and have it pick off members of the cast one by one. However, do make sure you have a solid screenplay and especially actors who can act. Sadly the film fails on all counts despite a former Oscar nominee in the lead who is surrounded by a bunch of non-actors flailing about as they get devoured one by one. A group of college students head onto an island jungle with their professor (former Oscar nominee Eric Roberts who has forgotten how to act and who's only claim to fame now seems to be that he is Julia Roberts' estranged older brother). Anyway the professor gets bitten by a deadly spider, they save a mysterious hunter who informs them that the poison's antidote is within a rare orchid which they need to find by going deep into the jungle where lies await a mega boa constrictor along with many smaller snakes and a giant spider. With two giant monsters in one film there is the inevitable fight to the death between them. A number of the students end up getting swallowed and regurgitated. Terrible film with really bad acting and shoddy CGI effects. Sad to see Eric Roberts involved in dredge like this.

Three For Jamie Dawn (Thomas Carr, 1956) 6/10

A bit like Sidney Lumet's later "12 Angry Men" which mainly purpots to describe how a jury in a murder trial functions in the United States but embelishes it with a melodramatic plot. A rich woman shoots her lover dead and a sleazy defence lawyer (Richard Carlson) vows to prove her innocent. He manages to bribe three jury members to abstain from voting guilty - and they are a down and out actress (June Havoc) desperate for a comeback, an old refugee (Eduard Franz) from Czechoslovakia who is desperate to find his son who got left behind and a jobless man (Ricardo Montalban) who along with his wife (Larraine Day) take the bribe. Regis Toomey is the lawyer's slick partner who manages to con the three jurors. Unlike the Lumet film this one has no scenes set in court. Well acted film which fits into the world of B-grade films which is actually well worth seeking out.

Star Dust (Walter Lang, 1940) 7/10

Charming look at the old studio system in Hollywood through two young hopeful actors from the sticks. A movie studio talent scout (Roland Young) searches for fresh faces at a college town in Arkansas. He chooses a football player (John Payne) and a waitress (Linda Darnell), takes then to Hollywood where they are put through elocution lessons, make-up and costume only for their audition to be rejected by a snarky casting director (Donald Meek) who is favoring another starlet (Mary Beth Hughes). However, just when both youngsters are at their lowest ebb a dramatic coach (Charlotte Greenwood) comes up with a wicked plan for the studio head (William Gargan) to view a secret screen test. Fluff was supposedly based on Darnell's own discovery and has Hoagy Carmichael's classic "Star Dust" sung by Mary Healy playing another hopeful starlet. Both Young and Greenwood steal the film with their delightful antics while Payne and Darnell make a very attractive screen couple. That's Sid Grauman himself talking to Darnell as her prints and signature are put in cement in front of the famous chinese theater in Hollywood.

They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939) 6/10

Boxer (John Garfield), with a clean-cut image, is actually a womanizing, boozing cynic. When he is set up for a murder by his manager he goes on the run and redeems himself when he falls in love and helps a woman (Gloria Dickson), her grandma (May Robson) and a bunch of delinquent kids (The Dead End Kids). Garfield is his usual tough self and Ann Sheridan has a small part as his floozy friend. Claude Rains (with his clipped British accent) is miscast as a tough chain smoking New York cop.

The Charge at Feather River (Gordon Douglas, 1953) 6/10

A former soldier (Guy Madison) is tasked by the army with rescuing two white women abducted by the Cheyenne. He is accompanied by a band of misfit soldiers who all eventually accomplish the task and end up getting chased by the Indians. One of the women (Vera Miles) is reluctant at being rescued as she was about to marry the Indian chief. Her sister (Helen Westcott) becomes the love interest for the soldier as they do battle with the harsh elements - heat, lack of water, a snake - and the relentless marauding Indians in hot pursuit. B-Western, initially in 3-D, is a typical action packed Western churned out by the truckload by the Hollywood studios during the 1950s.
Last edited by Reza on Fri Jan 07, 2022 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Portrait of Jennie (1948) - 8/10 - A struggling artist of mediocre ability comes across a girl in a park who seems to be from another time. He comes across her at other times and places and each time she's a bit older than before. He tries to track her down and find out more about her, falling for her more each time they are together. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Altered States (1980) - 5/10 - A scientist is eager to explore realms of consciousness and uses sensory deprivation, drugs, and other practices to try and reach and remember these other states of mind. It turns out to have a dangerous physical effect on him. The visual and sound effects on this film are good, but I didn't care for the story at all and I thought the acting was only so-so.

Nightmare Alley (2021) - 7.5/10 - A man joins a carnival and finds that he has talent as a mentalist. He's got ambition, though, and wants to rise above the carnival circuit. This is a good film and the settings and costumes are excellent. I think that it moves at a little too slow and deliberate pace at times, though, and I don't think of it as among del Toro's best.
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West Side Story (2021) - 8/10 - The film has great set design, costumes, production values, etc. It's been too long since I saw the original to make any real comparisons, but I enjoyed this version a lot. I think Anson Elgort was miscast a bit, though he does a decent job. I liked Rachel Zegler as Maria and the rest of the cast was pretty good as well. My mom liked the movie a lot as well and she saw the original when it came out.
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The Andromeda Strain (1971) - 7/10 - A tiny alien life form kills almost all of the residents in a small town after a satellite returns to Earth. A group of scientists is quickly assembled to find out why a baby and an old man survived. They study the life form and try to figure out how to neutralize it so that it doesn't spread and kill more people. This isn't the most exciting movie, but it's well acted and is interesting.

When Worlds Collide (1951) - 7/10 - A wandering planet is spotted entering our solar system and one scientist predicts that it will pass close enough to Earth to cause devastation and destroy all life on the planet. The only hope is to build a rocket to transport as many people, animals, and supplies as possible to this new world in order to have a chance to survive. It's definitely a bit dated, but it was still entertaining.

Visit to a Small Planet (1960) - 4/10 - Jerry Lewis plays a somewhat simple alien named Kreton who skips class to visit Earth, where he causes a number of problems. I'm not a fan of Jerry Lewis and didn't really enjoy this one much, except for a few bits here and there. Mostly it was just dumb.
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Reza wrote:The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021) 9/10

Leda (Olivia Colman), a well-to-do university professor, takes a seaside rental on a greek island for a few weeks of relaxation. While there an incident on a beach involving a boistrous family, a young mother (Dakota Johnson) who briefly loses her young daughter, and a missing doll make her reflect on her youth and a certain painful but exhilarating decision she took which had a far reaching effect on her life. Gyllenhaal's film, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante, is a lacerating look at motherhood. The conflicting demands of family life versus personal and professional fulfilment which can sometimes lead to painful selfish feelings that surface entwined within the role of the family nourisher. It is acted to perfection by the two superb actors portraying Leda the mother - Olivia Colman as the older now successful woman and in the film's superbly edited flashbacks where young Leda is played by the ravishing Jessie Buckley who conveys a young person's contradictions - love for her two young daughters but also acute exasperation at having to raise them while trying to pursue her own passion in academia, indifference towards her husband and lust for a fellow academic (the sex scenes between Buckley and a full-bearded Peter Sarsgaard are highly erotic although chastefully shot). Thought provoking quiet little film is one of the year's best.
I was going to review this in the Official Review Thread of 2021, but this sums up what I liked but mostly didn't like about this movie.

Colman's performance is great. Colman's performances are always great. Buckley is a chameleon. She's wonderfully different in everything she does. Here she looks and sounds so much like Colman that when the film goes into one of its many flashback scenes it takes a moment to realize you're looking at her and not Colman. It's uncanny. The scenery is phenomenal, it's the Greek Islands, after all.

But the story drags. With that title, you would think it would be about Colman discovering a daughter she abandoned as a child, but no it refers to a little girl who wanders off for a few minutes, who is found by Colman who returns her to her mother but keeps the doll the girl is frantic for losing for no rational reason except to give the story a little suspense.

Written by a pseudo-anonymous female Italian author, it's a highly feminist work in which the men are all weak jerks, and the women are all strong, if flawed, who are better off without them.

Johnson and her "boisterous" family are typical American tourists as seen through the eyes of European natives. They are from "Queens", don't you know, were everyone is perceived to be loud and annoying. Colman has emigrated to America but being a high-class Brit, she lives and teaches in Cambridge, Massachusetts "outside of Boston" because she is a woman of culture.

Paul Mescal, Jack Farthing, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen are wasted in the key male roles, and the less said about Peter Sarsgaard and that horrible Rasputin style beard, the better.

And what was Ed Harris doing in this picture as an emigrant from who knows where with a 50-year-old daughter, making her two years older than Colman's character, who seems to be trying to do his own version of Zorba the Greek?
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Palm Springs (2020) - 8/10 - Nyles is stuck in a time loop and wakes up every day at a motel where there is a wedding happening that night. Sarah is also there for the wedding and accidentally gets dragged into the time loop as well. This was recommended to me a year and a half ago and I finally got around to watching it. It was a lot of fun. I still like Groundhog Day more, but this is a good riff on the theme.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - 7/10 - For all the high tech special effects, this felt like a less ambitious and relatively minor film compared to the earlier trilogy, though I did like it a lot more than either of the other sequels. It wasn't as bad as some of the reviews I saw indicated and it certianly isn't great, but it was watchable and fun in places.
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Madres paralelas / Parallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar, 2021) 9/10

For the first time Almodóvar touches on the past "troubles" of fascist Spain and combines it with a telenovela plot about an unexpectedly shocking story about motherhood and maternal instinct - a constant theme running through all his films. Using jump cuts to propel the story forward - a successful commercial photographer (Penélope Cruz) tries to find closure for her family by locating and exhuming a mass grave into which her great-grandfather and his friends were collectively buried after being shot during the Franco regime. An anthropologist helps her by getting the relevent approvals for the dig and with whom she has a brief affair resulting in pregnancy and the birth of a daughter which her boyfriend refuses to acknowledge since the baby does not resemble either of them. Meanwhile in hospital she shares a room with a teenager (Milena Smit) who also gives birth to a baby girl the same day. Both are single mothers having gone through unplanned pregnancies. The young girl's actress mother (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) promises to help her with the baby but soon abandons her with a maid and takes off on a stage tour. An unexpected encounter later by the two mothers and a heartbreaking discovery about one baby results in a subterfuge which eventually leads to a relationship that promises forgiveness, understanding, peace and love. Almodóvar, as in all his films, explores the emotional bond between women and has at his disposal a trio of marvelous actors - Cruz, Smit and Sánchez-Gijón - who create complex characters held together by the common bond of motherhood. It can be a bond full of love or one that has selfish overtones but its a bond nevertheless that remains universal for all women who have experienced birth. Superb production values compliment this memorable film.

The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021) 9/10

Leda (Olivia Colman), a well-to-do university professor, takes a seaside rental on a greek island for a few weeks of relaxation. While there an incident on a beach involving a boistrous family, a young mother (Dakota Johnson) who briefly loses her young daughter, and a missing doll make her reflect on her youth and a certain painful but exhilarating decision she took which had a far reaching effect on her life. Gyllenhaal's film, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante, is a lacerating look at motherhood. The conflicting demands of family life versus personal and professional fulfilment which can sometimes lead to painful selfish feelings that surface entwined within the role of the family nourisher. It is acted to perfection by the two superb actors portraying Leda the mother - Olivia Colman as the older now successful woman and in the film's superbly edited flashbacks where young Leda is played by the ravishing Jessie Buckley who conveys a young person's contradictions - love for her two young daughters but also acute exasperation at having to raise them while trying to pursue her own passion in academia, indifference towards her husband and lust for a fellow academic (the sex scenes between Buckley and a full-bearded Peter Sarsgaard are highly erotic although chastefully shot). Thought provoking quiet little film is one of the year's best.
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Mothering Sunday (Eva Husson, 2021) 5/10

Memory piece involving a successful author (Glenda Jackson) who looks back at her life during two different phases - with two very different men - where, along with great pleasure, she suffered intense grief and bereavement which made her strong and resilient. As a young orphan girl (Odessa Young), right after the Great War, she is in service as a maid at the home of an aristocratic couple (Colin Firth & Olivia Colman) who are both living a life of intense grief after losing three sons during the war. She is sexually involved with a young well-born squire (Josh O'Connor) and has been receiving money in exchange for sex which she refuses to take anymore. He is about to get married to a woman of his own class which she has no choice but to accept. However, a sudden tragic event causes a life shift which similarly repeats later during her life when as a budding writer she is living with her black lover. Based on the novel by Graham Swift this exquisitely filmed period piece has echoes of L. P. Hartley's "The Go-Between" where also an illicit secret relationship simmered in a grand country estate during the summer month. Slow paced film marginally compensates with lushly shot nude scenes as both Young and O'Connor unabashedly frolic nude in and out of bed although the tone of the story is unbearably mired in grief. The film's main attraction is the return - albeit very brief - of the great Glenda Jackson to the big screen after 29 years at the age of 85. One hopes to see more of her now despite her advanced age.

A Man Alone (Ray Milland, 1955) 6/10

Lone gunslinger (Ray Milland) arrives in town during a terrible dust storm and finds himself wrongly accused of the massacre of passengers on a stagecoach. As the town goes into a lynch-frenzy looking for him he hides out in the house of the local sheriff (Ward Bond) who's daughter (Mary Murphy) shelters him. Set bound thriller is well directed by Milland and Raymond Burr makes an effective sleazy villain.

A Slight Case of Murder (Lloyd Bacaon, 1938) 6/10

Edward G. Robinson sends up his gangster image in this comedy about a former beer baron who finds himself broke once prohibition lifts since nobody wants to buy his foul tasting booze. It all comes to a head for him one day as the bank forecloses on his brewery, he is forced to pull his daughter (Jane Bryan) out of her posh college in Paris, her fiancé turns out to be a cop just as a cache of stolen money is found in a room at his summer home in Saratoga with four dead bodies in the closet. Amusing fast-paced screwball romp has the great Ruth Donnelly as Robinson's rubber-faced mistress.

New Mexico (Irving Reis, 1951) 6/10

A peace treaty brokered with Indians by President Abraham Lincoln is later broken by racist army officers resulting in an all-out battle. During the course of the skirmish a group of people on a stagecoach find themselves trapped by Indians. Lew Ayres is the gallant officer trying desperately to make peace with the angry Indian Chief who's son they hold as a prisoner. Sexy Marilyn Maxwell is an arrogant showgirl who finds herself in the thick of battle.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

Mister Tee wrote:Of course, by 1974, Murder on the Orient Express was viewed as throwback, old-fashioned entertainment, an alternative to tougher-minded films like Chinatown, Lenny, and Godfather II. But in this particular way, it, too, was a product of its time: made in a way it couldn't have been in the 30s, when the book was crying out to be filmed.
Although the technicians behind the camera superbly created the 1930s era - costumes and production design were spot on. Loved the opening credits on pink satin and the sumptuous Geoffrey Unsworth cinematography. And the memorable Richard Rodney Bennett score that is timed to the sound of the moving train.

I agree Cortese should have won but Bergman, Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts and John Gielgud are all very good, managing to convey so much about their very distinct characters in such brief time on screen. Finney hams it up and is amusing in a grotesque way.

I prefer the Lumet version to the recent remake by Kenneth Branagh. I'm dreading his upcoming remake of Death on the Nile which seems tightly bound by the forced dictum prevalent today. I can't wait to see black characters traveling in a first class steamer (shoulder to shoulder with posh white folk) down the Nile during the 1930s. The "authenticity" of that imagery is akin to watching Superman fly. I suppose if I can accept the latter could I maybe also accept the former? Most certainly not especially if the era being depicted is the 1930s. Rich white folk during the 1930s (actually all white folk) wouldn't be caught dead traveling with any black person unless it was a servant who would be housed in third class quarters on board a ship.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Big Magilla »

I could never bring myself to watch the Frank Stallone version of And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians. The Christie film nadir for me was the horrid Tony Randall version of The ABC Murders.

I loved the Margaret Rutherford Marple films, especially the first two, but they were crafted to fit Rutherford's personality rather than provide a faithful adaptation of Marple, so I could see Christie disapproving of them.

As to Murder on the Orient Express, I don't know what Damien's issue was with Lumet. He apparently had insider information about his working style, but actors genuinely liked him, so I don't know where that came from.

The book hadn't been adapted until Lumet's film but has been adapted many times since. The 2010 version David Suchet did for the long-running Poirot series is even better in terms of storytelling with Jessica Chastain in the Vanessa Redgrave role the standout. Barbara Hershey and Eileen Atkins in the Lauren Bacall and Wendy Hiller roles were also quite good. The 2001 TV movie with Alfred Molina was the worst. The 2017 Kenneth Branagh version was stylish but second-rate and totally unnecessary.

In none of the other versions was the character Ingrid Bergman played at all interesting. Bergman had been offered the part that eventually went to Hiller but asked to play the one she did. You notice her because she is played by the greatest actor in the film. She doesn't overdo it. While others are putting on grand performances, she is just quietly playing her part, haltingly telling her story.

Valentina Cortese was a marvel in Day for Night. Had foreign film release patterns been different in those days, she might have easily walked away with the 1973 Oscar but a year later, her film was old news, lucky enough to be nominated for three awards having already won the Best Foreign Film Oscar the year before. Bergman was the rightful winner at the right time.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by OscarGuy »

The answer is found on Wikipedia talking about the film:
Dame Agatha Christie had been quite displeased with some film adaptations of her works made in the 1960s, and accordingly was unwilling to sell any more film rights. When Nat Cohen, chairman of EMI Films, and producer John Brabourne attempted to get her approval for this film, they felt it necessary to have Lord Mountbatten of Burma (of the British royal family and also Brabourne's father-in-law) help them broach the subject. In the end, according to Christie's husband Max Mallowan, "Agatha herself has always been allergic to the adaptation of her books by the cinema, but was persuaded to give a rather grudging appreciation to this one."
Sure And Then There Were None was well regarded (I don't care a lot for it myself) and so too was Witness for the Prosecution, but the 1960s saw the following: The Spider's Web (an adaptation of a play Christie wrote that wasn't based on any book), Murder She Said, Murder at the Gallop, Murder Most Foul, Murder Ahoy!, Ten Little Indians (set in the mountains), and The Alphabet Murders. There were two Bollywood-era pictures in that time, Chupi Chupi Aashey and Gumnaam (which is barely an adaptation), but those are the films she's referring to. The Marple films (Murder She Said through Murder Ahoy!) were passable, but not great. I haven't heard anything positive about the Tony Randall-led Alphabet Murders.

I liked the Hugh O'Brien/Shirley Eaton version, but I am partial to the story of And Then There Were none, though the 1989 adaptation with Stallone's brother and Brenda Vaccaro was a nadir in terms of adaptations (it was set on safari for some unknown reason). I still need to see the 1974 version and there are two more Indian adaptations of the film I could probably check out, but I digress. That said, I suspect it was the combo of Ten Little Indians, the Rutherford Marple films and the Alphabet Murders that most frustrated her.
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