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

[inky]

Inky's weekly update (watched a few European Union Film Festival screeners over the weekend):

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009; USA) - 4/10
The Way We Are (2008; HK) - 7/10
Star Trek Zero (2009; USA) - 5.5/10
Fireflies in the Garden (2008; USA) - 5.5/10
The Stud and the Nympho (1980; HK) - 3/10
Arabian Nights (2007; Luxembourg) - 5.5/10
Black and White (2008; Italy) - 5.5/10
The Meerkats (2008; UK) - 5/10
Magnus (2007; Estonia) - 6.5/10
Adultery, Chinese Style (1973; HK) - 3/10
Wolf (2007; Sweden) - 5.5/10
Playing Solo (2007; Finland) - 5/10

[Big Magilla]

So This Is Love (Gordon Douglas, 1953) 6/10

Kathryn Grayson as Grace Moore in biopic of her early life. Standard biopic oddly ends in 1927 when Moore makes her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, before her great success in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 and her Oscar nominated performance in 1934's One Night of Love.

Maybe they were planning a sequel which never got made that would have followed her life to its tragic end in a plane crash in January, 1947.

Interesting supporting cast includes Merv Griffin, Douglas Dick, Joan Weldon, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeff Donnell and Margaret Field (Sally's mom).

[Zahveed]

Wilby Wonderful - 7/10

[Sabin]

La Vie en Rose - 4

See my comments elsewhere. Had I seen this film upon release, I'd have predicted Cotillard for the Oscar. Had I seen this film upon release, I'd be complaining about her inevitable triumph over Christie for about as long.

[mlrg]

The Apostle (1997) - Robert Duvall

6.5/10

A true labour of love by Robert Duvall, with a fantastic performance as the Apostle. However, I think the script lacks some character development.

[Zahveed]

Bedtime Stories - 5/10

I don't loathe Adam Sandler like most members of the board and this flick has its moments, even if the best ones come from Russel Brand and the prolific use of Deux Ex Machina. Definitely lacks subtlety in the dialogue department though: "So the kid's control the story", "something's going to happen", "so that's how it connects, fire!"

[Big Magilla]

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies, I caught two films this weekend I had never heard of, but that have their hidden charms:

So Long at the Fair (1950) - A neat little thriller with great performances from Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde. Simmons is a young woman in Paris for the first time whose brother mysteriously disappears. No one will believe her that he came, and it quickly turns into a Lady Vanishes-esque film, but contains an interesting twist at the end. Worth seeing.

Those Lips, Those Eyes (1980) - A wonderful little film about the wonders of the theatre (a personal favorite) with a fantastic leading performance by Frank Langella. Langella plays the leading man at an Ohio summer stock, with Tom Hulce as the neophyte prop boy who has his eyes opened. It is a little cliche-ridden, but the script is charming enough and the performers all wonderful.

I've had So Long at the Fair on an imported DVD on the shelf for a while, but put off watching it as it is one of those with bright yellow Spanish subtitles that can't be turned off. Anyway I finally watched it for the first time in more years than I care to remember.

I remembered so little of it that it was like watching it for the first time. It's a neat Hitchcockian thriller with superlative performances from the entire cast, Simmons and Bogarde, for sure, but also David Tomlinson, Honor Blackman, Felix Aylmer and especially Cathleen Nesbitt as the steely hotel-keeper.

[mlrg]

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) - Gilbert Cates

4/10

Small independent film with a dated direction by Gil Cates, only worth watching for Joanne Woordward and Sylvia Sidney's performances.

[Precious Doll]

Appalling screenplay with lots of corny dialogue and stereotyped characterisations. It's inspired by true events and the brothers played by Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber & Jamie Bell are based on real people but the whole project feels very phony. Zwick's direction is as usual plodding.

I took a look at his filmography and confirmed that I have seen a film directed by him that was better the mediocre.

[Big Magilla]

Defiance (2008) Edward Zwick 1/10

Ouch! That bad, huh?

[Precious Doll]

Closed For Winter (2009) James Bogle 5/10

Defiance (2008) Edward Zwick 1/10

Revanche (2008) Gotz Spielmann 7/10

[mlrg]

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) - Robert Altman

9/10

Brilliantly shot movie with a tremendous direction by Robert Altman. Although Julie Christie is good, the real standout, once again, is Warren Beatty. Vilmos Szgimond was ROBBED of a nomination.

Another masterpiece from 1971

[Precious Doll]

Getting Any? (1995) Takeshi Kitano 4/10

Ciao (2008) Yen Tan 6/10

Overlord (1975) Stuart Cooper 7/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Gavin Hood 2/10

[flipp525]

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (dir. Jack Hofsiss, 1982)

At times, unintentionally hilarious while at some points, deeply and profoundly sick, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can takes a fairly conventional Lifetime movie plot of "drugs are bad" and stretches it into a full-length feature, sacrificing several fine actors in the process. Among those in the field of carnage are Geraldine Page who manages what she can with a somewhat compelling dying poetess, the subject of the main character documentary maker's current piece and a young Dianne Wiest who almost seems to be acting in a different film as her psychiatrist in a mental ward later on in the film.

Jill Clayburgh turns in an uneven, showboaty portrayal which, at the time, she must've thought would earn her an Academy Award nomination (her flapping and flailing on the beach during a seizure was a particular high point). Barbara Gordon has few layers and Clayburgh's performance doesn't manange to fill in the gaps in the script when it comes to answering the questions of who this woman is and why she has descended into madness. And it's based on a true story! A 1979 autobiography, to be precise. It's not like there was no available research on what drove this woman to a life of drug addiction.

It's the creepy (perhaps, accidentally vile) performance of Scottish actor Nichol Williamson as Clayburgh's alcoholic, manipulative and psychotic boyfriend at the black heart of this spectacle. He decides that his girlfriend's withdrawal from Valium is the perfect time to began beating the **** out of her in addition to keeping her imprisoned in her own home. Truly some of the most disturbing scenes of domestic violence I've ever encountered on film. Only for the strongest of constitutions.

3/10.



Edited By flipp525 on 1240983163

[mlrg]

Carnal Knowledge (1971) - Mike Nichols

8/10

Great film with a tremendous performance by Jack Nicholson, who really is the stand-out here. Another slick direction by Mike Nichols with a subject matter common to his other films.

1971 is fastly becoming one of my favourite years