Joyland (Saim Sadiq, 2022) 10/10
Heartbreaking look at a lower middle class family enslaved by old-fashioned notions of gender and duty and living within an atmosphere of toxic patriarchy. The family, living jointly together in a tenement inside the walled city of Lahore, consists of an old wheel-chair bound widower (Salmaan Peerzada), his elder son (Sohail Sameer) who is desperate for a son after three daughters, and younger son (Ali Junejo) who is a stay-at-home husband whose wife (Rasti Farooq) works as a beautician in a parlor. When the young man finally finds a job at a third-rate erotic theater as a background dancer to a transgender (Alina Khan) his wife is forced to give up her job and take her place as a homemaker and a hopeful mother. The perceptive screenplay paints each character with exceptional sensitivity - nobody is a villain and in fact they are all at heart good people but with shades of grey with normal desires and disappointments. The relationship between the childless younger couple is full of affection and respect yet both seem stuck in a marriage neither wants. When he finds companionship and love with the transgender - both are in a way outcasts who naturally gravitate towards each other - it has severe repercussion on his wife who was already distraught at having to give up her job and then finding herself pregnant while having no desire to have a child. The film is replete with many lyrical moments scattered throughout - the two young wives enjoying a brief joyous moment together on a fairground ride at Joyland the amusement park; the younger son on a scooter at night carrying a huge cardboard standee of the transgender; a quiet moment of wordless passion between the two lovers sitting across from each other in the dark as the perforations on a light shade casts dancing flashes on their faces and around the room. In fact the most telling aspect of the film are the many moments of reflective silence between characters which gives pause and allows the audience to put their thinking caps on to analyze these flawed and complex yet very relatable characters and their motivations. Superbly acted by the ensemble cast with special kudos to Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq and especially Alina Khan who is alternately ferocious and vulnerable - often at the same time. Also a loud shout-out to Sania Saeed as the lonely widow who has quiet designs on the equally lonely invalid patriarch. Human sexuality is such a huge part of this story just as it is in life for all of us. However, the ridiculous outrage over this film by a section of ill-informed anal religious fanatics in Pakistan is totally uncalled for. Run and watch this very mature film which shows a slice of life steeped in humanity, respect, love, longing and heartbreak.
Green Zone (Paul Greengrass, 2010) 8/10
"Does it make sense to you that we are coming up empty", is a repeated lament voiced by numerous confused characters throughout this riveting film. Did Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? That's the daring political question raised by Greengrass' film - which incidently flopped; wonder why? - and was a question raised by many around the world asking why the United States attacked Iraq. Based on a 2006 non-fiction book, "Imperial Life in the Emerald City", by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life within the Green Zone in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The screenplay follows a US Army Chief Warrant Officer (Matt Damon) who has been assigned to search for Saddam Hussain's hidden weapons but is confused that the majority of intelligence assessment given to him is inaccurate. The CIA (Brendan Gleeson) also suspects the US government (Greg Kinnear) is blocking the true story about the weapons which leads to suspicion that the invasion took place due to ulterior motives. The film is replete with the usual Greengrass style - staccato editing, hurtling hand-held camerawork, which causes equal doses of dizziness and nausea, but seems right for the story at hand as it accurately shows the chaos not only on the streets of Iraq but also within the ranks of the US servicemen who flit about like headless chickens. Facts, as we now know to be true, turns to fiction here as Damon evolves into "Bourne" while being hunted not only by the Iraqis but more shockingly by his own countrymen willing to withold the truth that has been discovered. It's a local Iraqi who tells Damon that "it is not for you to decide what happens here" - words that so many countries America has wrongly interfered with would for certain echo. Excellent conspiracy movie with Damon a supeb action hero (already proved via "Bourne" - the American version of James Bond). Gleeson, Kinnear and Amy Ryan (as a journalist) are all very good in important supporting roles.
The Woman King (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2022) 7/10
Historical action-adventure film is set in 1823 and based on true events about the Agojie who were the all-female military regiment of the West African kingdom of Dahomey (now the Republic of Benin). A fierce General (Viola Davis) trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies - the slave traders from the Oyo Empire and the Portugese - and has a strained relationship with an arrogant young recruit (Thuso Mbedu) about whom she harbors a secret related to her violent past. Epic film has superbly choreographed battle scenes with Davis giving a fierce performance ably supported by Mbedu and Lashana Lynch as another unflinching warrior. Colorful costumes and exceptional production design are also highlights.
Battle: Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebesman, 2011) 3/10
Meteors shoot down on earth and an alien invasion begins. The film focuses on marines, led by Aaron Eckhart, retaliating in Santa Monica. Predictable noisy war film is like a video game as all the action blurs in between a lot of shouting, explosions and the expected mayhem. America wins of course.
Amsterdam (David O. Russell, 2022) 7/10
A David O. Russell film with shades of Wes Anderson has quirk and cult written all over it. A terribly busy hyperactive plot that goes from the battlefields of WWI to Amsterdam and onto New York with the tone shifting suddenly from screwball comedy to a crime thriller as we view murder, race relationships, suspense and a heinous plot to put a fascist government in the United States during the 1930s. A doctor (Christian Bale), a lawyer (John David Washington) and a nurse (Margot Robbie) form a strong bond of friendship as their lives converge during the horrors of WWI and later in Amsterdam. Years later the two men start their careers in New York where an autopsy on a senator reveals he was poisoned. His daughter (Taylor Swift), who suspects foul play, is killed in front of the boys and both are framed for her murder. Reunited with the nurse they learn her brother (Rami Malek) and his wife (Anya Taylor-Joy) are upto something nefarious wherein a General (Robert De Niro) is offered a large sum of money to make a speech advocating removal of President Roosevelt and taking over the country as a puppet head. The screenplay tries to cram in far too much and the film's tone vascilates between farce and drama which after a while becomes exhausting to watch. The incredible cast of stars is game but all their posturings as they try to keep up with the desperate shifts in plot instead end up making them flail about. What shines through it all is the film's outstanding production design by Judy Becker, the lovely costumes by Albert Wolsky and the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki. Confused effort by O. Russell that has a number of magical moments scattered throughout.
Murder at Yellowstone City (Richard Gray, 2022) 6/10
Solidly crafted mystery Western starts off very slow although covers most of the genre's tropes finally picking up pace mid-point onwards. When a gold prospector is shot dead the sheriff (Gabriel Byrne) of a small mining town in Montana automatically accuses and imprisons a stranger (Isaiah Mustafa) who has just come into town. He is a former slave and Shakespeare buff, innocent of the crime, who soon finds a saviour in the town's idealistic clergyman (Thomas Jane) who turns detective trying to prove the man's innocence. Like an Agatha Christie novel there are several more murders and a town full of eclectic characters - two aging gay saloonkeepers (Richard Dreyfuss & John Ales) who pretend they are just good friends, a young Lakota Sioux woman who tends the stables, a Mexican woman who overseers the town prostitutes and the sheriff's surly son. Like all good Westerns the last third of the film has a series of exciting shootouts with the preacher and his equally able wife front and center of all the action.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
I'm not cluttering up the Official Review thread with this one.
I watched The People You Hate at a Wedding, an Amazon Original rom-com/family comedy, and that's the problem. It can't really decide what it is. Or rather, it refuses to be a romantic comedy at every turn in favor of grabbing its "most dysfunctional family ever" brass ring and it's far less successful in that mold. The film has a horribly miscalculated prologue setting up screw-up Mom and two grown kids plus the perfect sibling that Mom had with another guy before they came along, which makes it feel like a fairy tale. Afterwards, the three of them come together to be a part of successful sister's perfect wedding and shenanigans ensue. The film sets itself up like a triptych of romantic comedy stories as Kristen Bell (Sister) is strung along by her married-boss lover about whether or not he will join her at the wedding and proceeds to string along the sweet Midwesterner she's hooking up with about whether or not he can be her plus one. Ben Platt (Brother) is unsure about an open relationship but his boyfriend is interested and without his consent gets them a place with a rich older man who expects a threesome out of it. And Allison Janney (Mom) is high on weed gummies all the time and hooks back up with her ex who ran out on her years ago but eventually stands up for her own worth. And all of this coincides in London over the course of perfect sister/daughter's wedding as they make one lousy impression after another, secrets are revealed, etc.
On paper, the film deserves a fair amount of credit for trying to do something different. To freshen up the romantic comedy genre, it gives us three stories, and they're three varied stories. On paper, there is something for everybody who is a fan of this genre. It goes for a bitter tone and even though it comes off as sitcom-ish that's not a bad idea for this genre or this story. But it really doesn't work right out of the gate. The dysfunctional family stuff and the romantic comedy stuff just don't really go well together. It's a tricky balancing act and they don't pull it off. It needed to be more one or the other. Whatever worked about the book doesn't translate at all. Blame the writers, who are graduates from Bob's Burgers (you can actually really see the animated sitcom tendencies) or blame Claire Scanlon, the director, who helmed the delightful Set It Up but has similar sitcom habits. That material either worked well with or survived them. This material does not. It's a shame. There is something within this film that could've worked but it's something of an endurance test. That said, I'd almost always rather watch a romantic comedy or family story that doesn't work vs. any other genre because they always end up fascinating case studies in what went wrong.
I watched The People You Hate at a Wedding, an Amazon Original rom-com/family comedy, and that's the problem. It can't really decide what it is. Or rather, it refuses to be a romantic comedy at every turn in favor of grabbing its "most dysfunctional family ever" brass ring and it's far less successful in that mold. The film has a horribly miscalculated prologue setting up screw-up Mom and two grown kids plus the perfect sibling that Mom had with another guy before they came along, which makes it feel like a fairy tale. Afterwards, the three of them come together to be a part of successful sister's perfect wedding and shenanigans ensue. The film sets itself up like a triptych of romantic comedy stories as Kristen Bell (Sister) is strung along by her married-boss lover about whether or not he will join her at the wedding and proceeds to string along the sweet Midwesterner she's hooking up with about whether or not he can be her plus one. Ben Platt (Brother) is unsure about an open relationship but his boyfriend is interested and without his consent gets them a place with a rich older man who expects a threesome out of it. And Allison Janney (Mom) is high on weed gummies all the time and hooks back up with her ex who ran out on her years ago but eventually stands up for her own worth. And all of this coincides in London over the course of perfect sister/daughter's wedding as they make one lousy impression after another, secrets are revealed, etc.
On paper, the film deserves a fair amount of credit for trying to do something different. To freshen up the romantic comedy genre, it gives us three stories, and they're three varied stories. On paper, there is something for everybody who is a fan of this genre. It goes for a bitter tone and even though it comes off as sitcom-ish that's not a bad idea for this genre or this story. But it really doesn't work right out of the gate. The dysfunctional family stuff and the romantic comedy stuff just don't really go well together. It's a tricky balancing act and they don't pull it off. It needed to be more one or the other. Whatever worked about the book doesn't translate at all. Blame the writers, who are graduates from Bob's Burgers (you can actually really see the animated sitcom tendencies) or blame Claire Scanlon, the director, who helmed the delightful Set It Up but has similar sitcom habits. That material either worked well with or survived them. This material does not. It's a shame. There is something within this film that could've worked but it's something of an endurance test. That said, I'd almost always rather watch a romantic comedy or family story that doesn't work vs. any other genre because they always end up fascinating case studies in what went wrong.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Devil to Pay! (George Fitzmaurice, 1930) 7/10
A cad (Ronald Colman) returns home and finds a young girl (Loretta Young), engaged to a Duke, fall madly in love with him. When her father threatens to disinherit her the cad promptly proposes marriage. However, there is the issue of the flamboyant actress (Myrna Loy) he is involved with as well which does not bode well with his fiancé. Bright breezy comedy with the stars in perfect sync and Colman at his most charming.
The Unholy Garden (George Fitzmaurice, 1931) 8/10
Not quite the Casbah but a much wanted crook (Ronald Colman) finds refuge on an Arab no-man land in a hotel in the Sahara where he joins a bunch of other crooks. The plan is to rob the blind owner (Tully Marshall) of the hotel who has his loot hidden on the premises. To get to it he first uses a femme fatale (Estelle Taylor) to get to the hotel and then decides to seduce the owner's daughter (Fay Wray). With other crooks breathing down his back there are assorted double crosses and the robbery doesn't quite go according to plan when love comes in the way. Colman is dashing, Taylor is sultry and this is Wray before she screamed before King Kong. Atmospheric early talkie moves at a fast pace with witty dialogue by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht (based on his novel). Unlike many early talkies the camera (courtesy George Barnes) is not static.
Bad Girl (Frank Borzage, 1931) 7/10
Girl (Sally Eilers) meets boy (James Dunn). She gets on his nerves. They go on a date and have a fine time. He proposes. She accepts but her brother throws her out of the house and calls her a bad girl and a tramp. They get married and she finds herself pregnant much to his annoyance. Both misunderstand each other, behave immaturely and have trust issues. The film has a timeless quality and the couple are very relatable as they struggle through their poverty to make ends meet while getting to know one another. Dunn, in his first major role, is outstanding and has superb chemistry with Eilers. Minna Gombell as a wisecracking friend is hilarious. Borzage and the screenplay won Oscars. The film was nominated for best picture.
Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez, 2016) 5/10
True story that was fictionalized in the novel "Every Man Dies Alone", by Hans Fallada. The German couple (Brendan Gleeson & Emma Thompson) in the story are based on Otto and Elise Hampel. When their son dies they start writing cards protesting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. They wrote 285 cards which were distributed around Berlin during the period 1940-1943 and which were collected by the detective (Daniel Brühl) assigned by the Gestapo who painstakingly tries to find the perpetrators. The couple remain stoic through their grief and gradually get closer to each other as the years go by and they continue in their mission. Both Gleeson and Thompson quietly shine in this rather bland and dreary production. While the gesture at the center was enormous it does not quite translate as a screen vehicle.
The White Buffalo (J. Lee Thompson, 1977) 7/10
Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" gets transported to the Wild West as adversaries Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) and Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) team up to go after the beast of their nightmares in this pure fantasy. Producer Dino De Laurentiis followed "King Kong" with another rampaging beast - a hokey mechanical giant buffalo that the film camouflages via a loud score (John Barry) and flashy editing as it charges and creates havoc killing Crazy Horse's daughter. Bronson, wearing dark spectacles courtesy of Hickok's glaucoma, takes on the task of confronting the beast and also gets to cuddle and kiss Kim Novak in one of her few latter-day film appearances. Providing strong support is an outstanding group of character actors - Jack Warden, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman, Clint Walker, Slim Pickens and Cara Williams. The film was a notorious flop but is actually quite good as the man vs beast plot plays out with underlying themes of race at its center as the white man and the Indian become honorary blood brothers.
The Road to Singapore (Alfred E. Green, 1931) 6/10
A notorious cad (William Powell) has an affair with the wife (Doris Kenyon) of a doctor (Louis Calhern) and also attracts his young sister (Marian Marsh). Set in a sultry British colony somewhere on an island in the Indian Ocean - Powell speaks in Urdu with the local Indians. Atmospheric film, with silly jungle drums beating in the distance no less, has an amusing Powell as the man with no scruples who revels in destroying marriages and Calhern spouting dated dialogue about women that would put him in the doghouse in today's climate. A variation on the then-hugely popular W. Somerset Maugham style commonwealth scandal dramas which reveal that white folk are racist (which was true) and that hot sultry weather cause women to react as if on heat with their hormones working overtime. Hilarious to think this was seriously believed to be true once upon a time.
Cry of the Hunted (Joseph H. Lewis, 1953) 7/10
Cop (Barry Sullivan) relentlessly chases crook (Vittorio Gassman) from the streets of New York to the Louisiana bayou. The crime is never mentioned as the chase plays out between the two men who respect each other yet are hell bent on achieving their individual goals. There is a hilarious gay subtext during the opening scene in a prison cell where both men beat each other up and then exhausted sit side by side on the floor and almost as if in a post-coital moment light up and smoke cigarettes. Also memorable are Polly Bergen as the cop's wife whose every dialogue seems like a sexual innuendo and William Conrad as the cop's sadistic junior partner ever looking to take the place of his boss. Solid action film is a real sleeper.
A cad (Ronald Colman) returns home and finds a young girl (Loretta Young), engaged to a Duke, fall madly in love with him. When her father threatens to disinherit her the cad promptly proposes marriage. However, there is the issue of the flamboyant actress (Myrna Loy) he is involved with as well which does not bode well with his fiancé. Bright breezy comedy with the stars in perfect sync and Colman at his most charming.
The Unholy Garden (George Fitzmaurice, 1931) 8/10
Not quite the Casbah but a much wanted crook (Ronald Colman) finds refuge on an Arab no-man land in a hotel in the Sahara where he joins a bunch of other crooks. The plan is to rob the blind owner (Tully Marshall) of the hotel who has his loot hidden on the premises. To get to it he first uses a femme fatale (Estelle Taylor) to get to the hotel and then decides to seduce the owner's daughter (Fay Wray). With other crooks breathing down his back there are assorted double crosses and the robbery doesn't quite go according to plan when love comes in the way. Colman is dashing, Taylor is sultry and this is Wray before she screamed before King Kong. Atmospheric early talkie moves at a fast pace with witty dialogue by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht (based on his novel). Unlike many early talkies the camera (courtesy George Barnes) is not static.
Bad Girl (Frank Borzage, 1931) 7/10
Girl (Sally Eilers) meets boy (James Dunn). She gets on his nerves. They go on a date and have a fine time. He proposes. She accepts but her brother throws her out of the house and calls her a bad girl and a tramp. They get married and she finds herself pregnant much to his annoyance. Both misunderstand each other, behave immaturely and have trust issues. The film has a timeless quality and the couple are very relatable as they struggle through their poverty to make ends meet while getting to know one another. Dunn, in his first major role, is outstanding and has superb chemistry with Eilers. Minna Gombell as a wisecracking friend is hilarious. Borzage and the screenplay won Oscars. The film was nominated for best picture.
Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez, 2016) 5/10
True story that was fictionalized in the novel "Every Man Dies Alone", by Hans Fallada. The German couple (Brendan Gleeson & Emma Thompson) in the story are based on Otto and Elise Hampel. When their son dies they start writing cards protesting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. They wrote 285 cards which were distributed around Berlin during the period 1940-1943 and which were collected by the detective (Daniel Brühl) assigned by the Gestapo who painstakingly tries to find the perpetrators. The couple remain stoic through their grief and gradually get closer to each other as the years go by and they continue in their mission. Both Gleeson and Thompson quietly shine in this rather bland and dreary production. While the gesture at the center was enormous it does not quite translate as a screen vehicle.
The White Buffalo (J. Lee Thompson, 1977) 7/10
Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" gets transported to the Wild West as adversaries Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) and Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) team up to go after the beast of their nightmares in this pure fantasy. Producer Dino De Laurentiis followed "King Kong" with another rampaging beast - a hokey mechanical giant buffalo that the film camouflages via a loud score (John Barry) and flashy editing as it charges and creates havoc killing Crazy Horse's daughter. Bronson, wearing dark spectacles courtesy of Hickok's glaucoma, takes on the task of confronting the beast and also gets to cuddle and kiss Kim Novak in one of her few latter-day film appearances. Providing strong support is an outstanding group of character actors - Jack Warden, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman, Clint Walker, Slim Pickens and Cara Williams. The film was a notorious flop but is actually quite good as the man vs beast plot plays out with underlying themes of race at its center as the white man and the Indian become honorary blood brothers.
The Road to Singapore (Alfred E. Green, 1931) 6/10
A notorious cad (William Powell) has an affair with the wife (Doris Kenyon) of a doctor (Louis Calhern) and also attracts his young sister (Marian Marsh). Set in a sultry British colony somewhere on an island in the Indian Ocean - Powell speaks in Urdu with the local Indians. Atmospheric film, with silly jungle drums beating in the distance no less, has an amusing Powell as the man with no scruples who revels in destroying marriages and Calhern spouting dated dialogue about women that would put him in the doghouse in today's climate. A variation on the then-hugely popular W. Somerset Maugham style commonwealth scandal dramas which reveal that white folk are racist (which was true) and that hot sultry weather cause women to react as if on heat with their hormones working overtime. Hilarious to think this was seriously believed to be true once upon a time.
Cry of the Hunted (Joseph H. Lewis, 1953) 7/10
Cop (Barry Sullivan) relentlessly chases crook (Vittorio Gassman) from the streets of New York to the Louisiana bayou. The crime is never mentioned as the chase plays out between the two men who respect each other yet are hell bent on achieving their individual goals. There is a hilarious gay subtext during the opening scene in a prison cell where both men beat each other up and then exhausted sit side by side on the floor and almost as if in a post-coital moment light up and smoke cigarettes. Also memorable are Polly Bergen as the cop's wife whose every dialogue seems like a sexual innuendo and William Conrad as the cop's sadistic junior partner ever looking to take the place of his boss. Solid action film is a real sleeper.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Prince and the Pauper (Giles Foster, 2000) 6/10
Oft-filmed tale by Mark Twain gets yet another spin - a Hallmark tv production - as street urchin Thomas Canty (Robert Timmins) and Edward Tudor (Jonathan Timmins) - son of King Henry VIII (Alan Bates) - exchange places and both are thwarted in their attempts to attain their rightful positions. The urchin has to deal with the Prince's wicked Uncle who wants to usurp the King and get the throne while the Prince finds an ally on the filthy streets of London in a young man (Aidan Quinn) just returned from Spain. Minor swashbuckler is surprisingly good with Alan Bates having a field day as the rambunctious King. The film was shot in Hungary.
Impossible Object / Story of a Love Story (John Frankenheimer, 1973) 3/10
Frankenheimer who specialized in making political thrillers, came up with this tediously vacuous film when he and his wife settled in France for a while. It is based on the novel by Nicholas Mosley who also wrote the screenplay. The story revolves around a British writer (Alan Bates) with a wife (Evans Evans - Frankenheimer's wife) and three sons, who falls head over heels in love with a married woman (Dominique Sanda) he meets in a museum. But is the affair real or a figment of the writer's imagination? Lushly shot by Claude Renoir with a score by Michel Legrand which accompanies the romance of Bates and lovely Sanda. There is a strange sub-plot involving Lea Massari who plays a rich woman who frolics beside a swimming pool surrounded by nude men and women. Kama Sutra style love making between Bates and Massari are the film's highlight if you would like to call it that because nothing really makes much sense in the film.
Rough Night in Jericho (Arnold Laven, 1967) 4/10
A plot straight out of the western plots of old - nasty villain (Dean Martin), with boys in tow, takes over a town, a gold mine, a ranch full of cattle and a saloon. However, he cannot take over the stagecoach line which is owned by his feisty former lover (Jean Simmons) who brings in a gunfighter (George Peppard) and a grizzled ex-sheriff (John McIntire) to run him out of town. Predictable film even has Slim Pickens who does his usual shtick. The only novelty here is in seeing Martin play his first all-out villain - he viciously thrashes Simmons in one scene - and so sadly doesn't sing while Peppard is a very bland lead. Only Simmons shines bright and is a delight from beginning to end.
Showdown (George Seaton, 1973) 5/10
Sheriff (Rock Hudson) goes after his former friend (Dean Martin) who has robbed a train. The film uses flashbacks to show their close friendship since childhood which broke up over a woman (Susan Clark) who became the Sheriff's wife.
Innocuous old fashioned western with old fashioned stars who by the 1970s were both relics who had seen much better days on the big screen. Hudson comes off better than Martin who is rather long in the tooth. It was the last western for both stars. It was also Seaton's last film and has Ernest Laszlo on camera and a score by David Shire.
The Forgiven (John Michael McDonagh, 2022) 5/10
This adaptation of Lawrence Osborne's highly acclaimed novel has the vibe of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky, Anthony Minghella's The English Patient and some sequences in Brideshead Revisited (1981) that were set in Fez, Morocco. The backdrop of this story is set in Morocco and there are stunning shots of the desert and arid mountains in the interior of the vast country superbly captured by Larry Smith's cinematography. An alcoholic society doctor (Ralph Fiennes) and his wife (Jessica Chastain), in the midst of a marital discord, arrive at a debauched three-day party hosted by a gay couple (Matt Smith & Caleb Landry Jones) at their lavish estate in the desert. En route they run over a young man who is killed and take the body with them. The man's father demands that the doctor accompany him and the body to his village for burial which he reluctantly does. Meanwhile his wife stays back and watches the festivities in progress - lavish food and drinks, cocaine snorting, nude swimming, and has an affair with one of the guests (Christopher Abbott). In the novel all this decadence is weighed subtly against the reaction of the local Moroccans, who both envy and despise the insouciant infidel westerners. However none of that comes across in this lifeless film which is purely seen from the perspective of the white folk. For a story with so much colour and drama it is unfortunately presented in a rather stiff manner. Fiennes brings compexity and depth to his character and the film soars briefly during the sequence where he is driven across the vast desert landscape. Chastain is wasted in an underwritten role.
The Sons of Katie Elder (Henry Hathaway, 1965) 6/10
When Katie Elder dies her four ne'er-do-well sons - an infamous professional gunman (John Wayne), a gambler (Dean Martin), an unsuccessful hardware dealer (Earl Holliman) and the youngest, a reluctant college student (Michael Anderson Jr.) - reunite for the funeral and try to solve the mystery of their father's death by a bullet in his back. Their ranch has been taken over by a gunsmith (James Gregory), who claims he won it from their father in a game of cards, and has brought in a hired gun (George Kennedy) for protection. With the whole town against them they only have each other and their wits to survive. Rugged Wayne is too old for the part but surprisingly robust after having just had his cancerous lung removed. Martin is wasted in a supporting role but Martha Hyer and Dennis Hopper shine in bit roles.
5 Card Stud (Henry Hathaway, 1968) 6/10
A murder-mystery set within the western genre. When a stranger is caught cheating during a poker game he is lynched by the players at the behest of one of the volatile players (Roddy McDowall). A professional gambler (Dean Martin) who sat out during the last round tries to prevent the hanging but is knocked out. One by one the players at the table end up getting strangled. Is the killer the volatile young man or the newly arrived unorthodox preacher (Robert Mitchum) who is also a sharpshooter? The two leads carry the film with Mitchum almost doing a parody of his memorable work in "The Night of the Hunter". McDowell is surprisingly quite effective as the sadistic runt and Yaphet Kotto steals the film as a bartender. Inger Stevens, in one of her last roles, is wasted playing the cliché whore with a heart of gold. One of numerous old fashioned westerns that turned up during the 1960s with the leads often played by two ageing male stars paired opposite each other.
Twenty Plus Two (Joseph M. Newman, 1961) 6/10
One of numerous failed attempts to make David Janssen into a movie star. He was a huge star but only on television. This murder-mystery is a lot like one of the television detective-cop shows from the 1970s. An investigator (David Janssen) finds a connection to a long lost heiress when a murdered victim is found. He meets assorted suspicious characters along the way including two women - a former lover (Jeanne Crain) who comes onto him again, and her friend (Dina Merrill) who looks suspiciously like a woman he fell in love with years before in Tokyo. Talkative screenplay has two glowing moments as Janssen comes across two veteran actors in brief but memorable parts - Agnes Moorehead as the tart-tongued mother of the missing heiress and William Demarest as a gruff alcoholic former journalist who worked on the missing heiress case years before. The stars and the 1960s atmosphere make this an easy watch.
Oft-filmed tale by Mark Twain gets yet another spin - a Hallmark tv production - as street urchin Thomas Canty (Robert Timmins) and Edward Tudor (Jonathan Timmins) - son of King Henry VIII (Alan Bates) - exchange places and both are thwarted in their attempts to attain their rightful positions. The urchin has to deal with the Prince's wicked Uncle who wants to usurp the King and get the throne while the Prince finds an ally on the filthy streets of London in a young man (Aidan Quinn) just returned from Spain. Minor swashbuckler is surprisingly good with Alan Bates having a field day as the rambunctious King. The film was shot in Hungary.
Impossible Object / Story of a Love Story (John Frankenheimer, 1973) 3/10
Frankenheimer who specialized in making political thrillers, came up with this tediously vacuous film when he and his wife settled in France for a while. It is based on the novel by Nicholas Mosley who also wrote the screenplay. The story revolves around a British writer (Alan Bates) with a wife (Evans Evans - Frankenheimer's wife) and three sons, who falls head over heels in love with a married woman (Dominique Sanda) he meets in a museum. But is the affair real or a figment of the writer's imagination? Lushly shot by Claude Renoir with a score by Michel Legrand which accompanies the romance of Bates and lovely Sanda. There is a strange sub-plot involving Lea Massari who plays a rich woman who frolics beside a swimming pool surrounded by nude men and women. Kama Sutra style love making between Bates and Massari are the film's highlight if you would like to call it that because nothing really makes much sense in the film.
Rough Night in Jericho (Arnold Laven, 1967) 4/10
A plot straight out of the western plots of old - nasty villain (Dean Martin), with boys in tow, takes over a town, a gold mine, a ranch full of cattle and a saloon. However, he cannot take over the stagecoach line which is owned by his feisty former lover (Jean Simmons) who brings in a gunfighter (George Peppard) and a grizzled ex-sheriff (John McIntire) to run him out of town. Predictable film even has Slim Pickens who does his usual shtick. The only novelty here is in seeing Martin play his first all-out villain - he viciously thrashes Simmons in one scene - and so sadly doesn't sing while Peppard is a very bland lead. Only Simmons shines bright and is a delight from beginning to end.
Showdown (George Seaton, 1973) 5/10
Sheriff (Rock Hudson) goes after his former friend (Dean Martin) who has robbed a train. The film uses flashbacks to show their close friendship since childhood which broke up over a woman (Susan Clark) who became the Sheriff's wife.
Innocuous old fashioned western with old fashioned stars who by the 1970s were both relics who had seen much better days on the big screen. Hudson comes off better than Martin who is rather long in the tooth. It was the last western for both stars. It was also Seaton's last film and has Ernest Laszlo on camera and a score by David Shire.
The Forgiven (John Michael McDonagh, 2022) 5/10
This adaptation of Lawrence Osborne's highly acclaimed novel has the vibe of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky, Anthony Minghella's The English Patient and some sequences in Brideshead Revisited (1981) that were set in Fez, Morocco. The backdrop of this story is set in Morocco and there are stunning shots of the desert and arid mountains in the interior of the vast country superbly captured by Larry Smith's cinematography. An alcoholic society doctor (Ralph Fiennes) and his wife (Jessica Chastain), in the midst of a marital discord, arrive at a debauched three-day party hosted by a gay couple (Matt Smith & Caleb Landry Jones) at their lavish estate in the desert. En route they run over a young man who is killed and take the body with them. The man's father demands that the doctor accompany him and the body to his village for burial which he reluctantly does. Meanwhile his wife stays back and watches the festivities in progress - lavish food and drinks, cocaine snorting, nude swimming, and has an affair with one of the guests (Christopher Abbott). In the novel all this decadence is weighed subtly against the reaction of the local Moroccans, who both envy and despise the insouciant infidel westerners. However none of that comes across in this lifeless film which is purely seen from the perspective of the white folk. For a story with so much colour and drama it is unfortunately presented in a rather stiff manner. Fiennes brings compexity and depth to his character and the film soars briefly during the sequence where he is driven across the vast desert landscape. Chastain is wasted in an underwritten role.
The Sons of Katie Elder (Henry Hathaway, 1965) 6/10
When Katie Elder dies her four ne'er-do-well sons - an infamous professional gunman (John Wayne), a gambler (Dean Martin), an unsuccessful hardware dealer (Earl Holliman) and the youngest, a reluctant college student (Michael Anderson Jr.) - reunite for the funeral and try to solve the mystery of their father's death by a bullet in his back. Their ranch has been taken over by a gunsmith (James Gregory), who claims he won it from their father in a game of cards, and has brought in a hired gun (George Kennedy) for protection. With the whole town against them they only have each other and their wits to survive. Rugged Wayne is too old for the part but surprisingly robust after having just had his cancerous lung removed. Martin is wasted in a supporting role but Martha Hyer and Dennis Hopper shine in bit roles.
5 Card Stud (Henry Hathaway, 1968) 6/10
A murder-mystery set within the western genre. When a stranger is caught cheating during a poker game he is lynched by the players at the behest of one of the volatile players (Roddy McDowall). A professional gambler (Dean Martin) who sat out during the last round tries to prevent the hanging but is knocked out. One by one the players at the table end up getting strangled. Is the killer the volatile young man or the newly arrived unorthodox preacher (Robert Mitchum) who is also a sharpshooter? The two leads carry the film with Mitchum almost doing a parody of his memorable work in "The Night of the Hunter". McDowell is surprisingly quite effective as the sadistic runt and Yaphet Kotto steals the film as a bartender. Inger Stevens, in one of her last roles, is wasted playing the cliché whore with a heart of gold. One of numerous old fashioned westerns that turned up during the 1960s with the leads often played by two ageing male stars paired opposite each other.
Twenty Plus Two (Joseph M. Newman, 1961) 6/10
One of numerous failed attempts to make David Janssen into a movie star. He was a huge star but only on television. This murder-mystery is a lot like one of the television detective-cop shows from the 1970s. An investigator (David Janssen) finds a connection to a long lost heiress when a murdered victim is found. He meets assorted suspicious characters along the way including two women - a former lover (Jeanne Crain) who comes onto him again, and her friend (Dina Merrill) who looks suspiciously like a woman he fell in love with years before in Tokyo. Talkative screenplay has two glowing moments as Janssen comes across two veteran actors in brief but memorable parts - Agnes Moorehead as the tart-tongued mother of the missing heiress and William Demarest as a gruff alcoholic former journalist who worked on the missing heiress case years before. The stars and the 1960s atmosphere make this an easy watch.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Plague Dogs (1982) - 8/10 - Two dogs escape from a research facility and struggle to survive in the countryside while also eluding the search teams that are after them. The film is pretty serious and bleak, but is also very good.
When the Wind Blows (1986) - 8/10 - An elderly British couple follows government pamphlets in preparing for a possible nuclear war which the news says may come in only a few days. They think it will be like WWII which they have fond memories of, not realizing the altered nature of war atomic weapons bring. The couple is charming, though this isn't exactly a happy film. It does have a nice soundtrack.
High Sierra (1941) - 8/10 - Humphrey Bogart stars as a man who gets an early release from a prison in Indiana. He heads west and takes part in a jewel theft at a resort. Ida Lupino costars as the lone female member of the gang that robs the resort. Bogart's character shows a softer side at times and is not one dimensional. There's a fair amount of action and good scenery as well.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) - 8/10 - This low budget sci-fi film takes place at a cafe where people discover that two monitors are connected, but are two minutes apart so one is two minutes in the past and the other is two minutes in the future, depending on your perspective. The repetition of scenes from different points of view could have gotten pretty old, but fortunately they mostly moved on from that. It was well acted and funny.
Roujin Z (1991) - 8/10 - The Ministry of Public Welfare chooses an elderly widower to test their new robotic bed which is supposed to provide all the care that a bedridden patient needs. However, he doesn't like it and the student nurse who cared for him previously sets out to help him, but things spiral out of control. There is plenty of humor and action and I thought it was a lot of fun.
I Wake Up Screaming (1941) - 8/10 - A sports promoter (Victor Mature) is a prime suspect in the death of an actress named Vicky (Carole Landis) that he helped promote on a bet with a newspaper friend. The movie flashes back to how he met Vicky and also proceeds in the present as he gets to know Vicky's sister (Betty Grable). Meanwhile, a detective continues to hound the promoter even after he is released from custody. I thought this one was lots of fun. Laird Cregar makes a good foil as the detective who isn't afraid to break a few laws.
Patlabor: The Movie (1989) - 8/10 - Some sort of malfunction is causing Labor robots to go haywire, even if they are unmanned. Members of the police whose own Labor robots are unaffected so far investigate the malfunctions and try to find the reason and a way to stop them. The film has a nice story and sort of fits into the police procedural category as well.
Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) - 8/10 - This movie is much more serious and political than the first entry in the series. In this film, Tokyo is the target of terrorist acts which include blowing up bridges and other activities. Blame is assigned to a rogue air force jet, but there is more to it than that and the police unit from the first film tries to track down the culprit. This is probably a better film than the first one in a number of ways, but I liked the first film more.
Barefoot Gen (1983) - 8.5/10 - The film depicts the life of Gen, a boy living in Hiroshima with his family in 1945. The first part shows their family life before the atomic bomb is dropped and then we see the effects of the bomb and the aftermath. It's very well done. I read the first two Barefoot Gen manga volumes (based on the experiences of the author) back in the late 1980s. I read through all 10 volumes in 2010 after the translation into English was finally completed. It is a very good series.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999) - 8/10 - A member of a counter-terrorism group freezes when a girl carrying a bomb decides to commit suicide rather than being captured. He is disturbed by this and later becomes close with a young woman who may be the sister of the girl who died. There are plots within plots in this alternate history tale and it is a pretty good film.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) - 8/10 - A 17 year old girl named Makoto discovers that she has the ability to leap through time. At first, she uses the ability to enjoy life and make things better for her. She eventually learns that the ability can be a bit more serious than what she has been using it for. The film is a sequel to a novel from the 1960s. I haven't read that book, though I did read the manga adaptation back in 2008. This film was better than the manga, though.
When the Wind Blows (1986) - 8/10 - An elderly British couple follows government pamphlets in preparing for a possible nuclear war which the news says may come in only a few days. They think it will be like WWII which they have fond memories of, not realizing the altered nature of war atomic weapons bring. The couple is charming, though this isn't exactly a happy film. It does have a nice soundtrack.
High Sierra (1941) - 8/10 - Humphrey Bogart stars as a man who gets an early release from a prison in Indiana. He heads west and takes part in a jewel theft at a resort. Ida Lupino costars as the lone female member of the gang that robs the resort. Bogart's character shows a softer side at times and is not one dimensional. There's a fair amount of action and good scenery as well.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) - 8/10 - This low budget sci-fi film takes place at a cafe where people discover that two monitors are connected, but are two minutes apart so one is two minutes in the past and the other is two minutes in the future, depending on your perspective. The repetition of scenes from different points of view could have gotten pretty old, but fortunately they mostly moved on from that. It was well acted and funny.
Roujin Z (1991) - 8/10 - The Ministry of Public Welfare chooses an elderly widower to test their new robotic bed which is supposed to provide all the care that a bedridden patient needs. However, he doesn't like it and the student nurse who cared for him previously sets out to help him, but things spiral out of control. There is plenty of humor and action and I thought it was a lot of fun.
I Wake Up Screaming (1941) - 8/10 - A sports promoter (Victor Mature) is a prime suspect in the death of an actress named Vicky (Carole Landis) that he helped promote on a bet with a newspaper friend. The movie flashes back to how he met Vicky and also proceeds in the present as he gets to know Vicky's sister (Betty Grable). Meanwhile, a detective continues to hound the promoter even after he is released from custody. I thought this one was lots of fun. Laird Cregar makes a good foil as the detective who isn't afraid to break a few laws.
Patlabor: The Movie (1989) - 8/10 - Some sort of malfunction is causing Labor robots to go haywire, even if they are unmanned. Members of the police whose own Labor robots are unaffected so far investigate the malfunctions and try to find the reason and a way to stop them. The film has a nice story and sort of fits into the police procedural category as well.
Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) - 8/10 - This movie is much more serious and political than the first entry in the series. In this film, Tokyo is the target of terrorist acts which include blowing up bridges and other activities. Blame is assigned to a rogue air force jet, but there is more to it than that and the police unit from the first film tries to track down the culprit. This is probably a better film than the first one in a number of ways, but I liked the first film more.
Barefoot Gen (1983) - 8.5/10 - The film depicts the life of Gen, a boy living in Hiroshima with his family in 1945. The first part shows their family life before the atomic bomb is dropped and then we see the effects of the bomb and the aftermath. It's very well done. I read the first two Barefoot Gen manga volumes (based on the experiences of the author) back in the late 1980s. I read through all 10 volumes in 2010 after the translation into English was finally completed. It is a very good series.
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999) - 8/10 - A member of a counter-terrorism group freezes when a girl carrying a bomb decides to commit suicide rather than being captured. He is disturbed by this and later becomes close with a young woman who may be the sister of the girl who died. There are plots within plots in this alternate history tale and it is a pretty good film.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) - 8/10 - A 17 year old girl named Makoto discovers that she has the ability to leap through time. At first, she uses the ability to enjoy life and make things better for her. She eventually learns that the ability can be a bit more serious than what she has been using it for. The film is a sequel to a novel from the 1960s. I haven't read that book, though I did read the manga adaptation back in 2008. This film was better than the manga, though.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Ryan Coogler, 2022) 5/10
King T'Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman who died in 2020 of colon cancer) is dead leaving his mother (Angela Bassett), sister (Letitia Wright) and kingdom to mourn him. The film painstakingly but unsuccessfully tries to keep the franchise alive despite there being no clear leader. Wright as the heir apparent to the kingdom tries to carry this extremely tedious and overlong film on her slender shoulders and is only halfway successful despite an attempt to don the famous mask and costume and take over from her late brother. Too much time is spent explaining the back history of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) - the king of Talokan, an ancient civilization of underwater dwelling people, who is the main antagonist and who captures a young MIT student who has invented a vibranium-detecting machine. The precious metal found only in Wakanda becomes a bone of contention with various factions (including the CIA) vying for it to use as a deadly weapon. Despite outstanding production values - the film's costumes deserve an Oscar - the film is rather painful to sit through as the battle scenes become repetitious. Bassett is forceful as the Queen while it's a shock to see the botoxed face of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the CIA head. There is a surprise revelation during a mid-credits scene which sets up the franchise on a continuing path where sequels will most probably appear at a steady pace down through the upcoming decades.
King T'Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman who died in 2020 of colon cancer) is dead leaving his mother (Angela Bassett), sister (Letitia Wright) and kingdom to mourn him. The film painstakingly but unsuccessfully tries to keep the franchise alive despite there being no clear leader. Wright as the heir apparent to the kingdom tries to carry this extremely tedious and overlong film on her slender shoulders and is only halfway successful despite an attempt to don the famous mask and costume and take over from her late brother. Too much time is spent explaining the back history of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) - the king of Talokan, an ancient civilization of underwater dwelling people, who is the main antagonist and who captures a young MIT student who has invented a vibranium-detecting machine. The precious metal found only in Wakanda becomes a bone of contention with various factions (including the CIA) vying for it to use as a deadly weapon. Despite outstanding production values - the film's costumes deserve an Oscar - the film is rather painful to sit through as the battle scenes become repetitious. Bassett is forceful as the Queen while it's a shock to see the botoxed face of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the CIA head. There is a surprise revelation during a mid-credits scene which sets up the franchise on a continuing path where sequels will most probably appear at a steady pace down through the upcoming decades.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Bros (Nicholas Stoller, 2022) 2/10
So-called gay rom-com about two commitment-phobe men which has zero romance and even less comedy. The entire film's tone is set by the main character (Billy Eichner) who comes across as rude, obnoxious and a total douche bag constantly whining. Luke Macfarlane who has the clichéd role of the blonde bimbo lover comes off better. At least he smiles which is an emotion Eichner could have tried as well. Extremely boring film is a complete waste of time. Go watch Taxi Zum Klo instead. At least you will experience glimpses of laughter and romance. Harvey Fierstein is fun in a brief appearance while Debra Messing, playing herself, rightfully gives Eichner a deserved mouthful.
Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer, 1979) 5/10
British author H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) uses his time machine to pursue Jack the Ripper (David Warner) who has escaped from 1893 London to 1979 San Francisco. Amusing but far fetched premise has McDowell donning his staid Victorian duds while Warner is the epitome of hip in disco-era Frisco where he continues to slash female throats. Helping Wells and falling in love with him is a prim banker (Mary "annoying-voice" Steenburgen) who ends up a hostage of the Ripper while Wells is detained by the police who find his truth totally unbelievable. Pleasant if silly little fluff became the meeting point for McDowell who ended up married to Steenburgen......for awhile.
The Omega Man (Boris Sagal, 1971) 5/10
Post-apocalyptic thriller is based on the novel, I am Legend, by Richard Matheson which was first filmed in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price and later with Will Smith in 2007. Biological warfare between China and Russia wipes out most of the population of earth. A scientist (Charlton Heston) in Los Angeles saves himself by injecting an experimental vaccine and spends his time talking to himself or hunting down members of "the family" - survivors of the plague who have turned into albino mutants who wish to kill him because to them he is a symbol of all that is evil as science destroyed the world. Later he runs into a woman (Rosalind Cash) and a group of kids who survived but are gradually turning into mutants. As he tries to cure them by injecting them with a serum made from his blood the mutants gang up and are hell bent on destroying him. What starts off as a promising fast paced film quickly devolves into something quite absurd - the mutants (Anthony Zerbe plays their deranged leader), with silly white faces, make lousy villains while the screenplay completely bungles up the ending which is far removed from the book. Heston, gritting his teeth, goes through the motions as a bare-chested action star and gets to perform a sex scene with a black actress (Cash's gratuitous nude scene is totally uncalled for and purely shot in order to tittilate) which was still a daring sight on the big screen back then.
Goodbye, My Fancy (Vincent Sherman, 1951) 5/10
Typical Crawford vehicle during the 1950s where in direct contrast to her strong power/man-hungry female characters of the 1930s she here plays the woman of steel who hides it from men under the facade of a "vulnerable lady". An aggressive congresswoman (Joan Crawford) accepts an invitation from her alma mater to receive an honorary degree. In reality she is more curious to check out the President of the College (Robert Young) with whom she had a fling twenty years before and with whom she hopes to rekindle a relationship. Romantic competition comes in the form of a photo-journalist (Frank Lovejoy) with whom she had an affair between the years she was expelled from college and the start of her political career. The hectic weekend has her parrying with her blunt secretary (Eve Arden), being a role model for the President's daughter (Janice Rule in her film debut with whom Crawford clashed on and off set due to jealousy) and blackmailing the College President when he refuses to show a controversial film she feels every graduating student must see for their future life education. Crawford overdoes it with the "noble lady" persona while both her leading men are boring and annoying. Only Eve Arden comes through with flying colours doing her usual smart-ass shtick which remains hilarious despite that routine being repeated in almost all her films. The ponderous plot was based on a play by Fay Kanin which saw success on Broadway with Madeleine Carroll.
My Policeman (Michael Grandage, 2022) 6/10
Slow-moving rather tedious memory piece is based on a book by Bethan Roberts but which is also partly a fictionalized version of the love life of writer E.M. Forster. A retired school teacher (Gina McKee) allows into her house a long-lost friend (Rupert Everett), now a wheelchair-bound stroke victim, much to the consternation of her husband (Linus Roache) who wants nothing to do with the sick guest. This is surprising considering the trio were the closest of friends four decades before. The story comes alive via numerous flashbacks to the 1950s as the teacher reads the invalid's private diaries. As a young woman (Emma Corrin) she is swept off her feet by a young policeman (Harry Styles) who introduces her to his witty and worldly friend (David Dawson), a musuem curator. At first confused by his lack of sexual attention towards her she nevertheless agrees to marry the policeman. However, his growing friendship with his friend causes confusion in her mind leading her to take a step that has devastating repercussions for all three. The flashback images recall moments from Merchant-Ivory's "Maurice" - based ofcourse on the E.M. Forster novel - and looks into Britain's repressed and dangerous past where homosexuality was a crime and men and women caught faced stiff prison sentences. Of the trio of actors in the flashback sequences Dawson stands out while the weakest link in the present is McKee who doesn't quite click with her younger self as played by Emma Corrin. Unfortunately Rupert Everett has mostly a silent part although the film's last image of him with Roache speaks volumes. It is a brief moment of only a few seconds but vividly manages to encapsulate what love, passion and forgiveness is all about.
Black Rain (Ridley Scott, 1989) 7/10
The film's overall palette and visual style is taken by Scott from his own past career as a director of extremely flashy television commercials and from the futuristic neo-noir Blade Runner (1982). Osaka, in this film, is presented as a neon-lit nightmare - dark, wet and sinister. A New York City police officer (Michael Douglas) and his partner (Andy Garcia) witness a Japanese man (Yūsaku Matsuda) rob and kill a man in a restaurant, give chase and catch him. The cops are asked to accompany the killer to Osaka and hand him over to the Japanese police. However, they inadvertently hand him over to imposters who escape with the prisoner. Forced to stay as mere observers they are both frustrated to see the local cops' by-the-book style of investigation. Gradually the cops manage to convince their local counterpart (Kan Takakura) to let them investigate on their own terms as they receive additional help and information from an American nightclub hostess (Kate Capshaw). Accompanied by a pulsating Hans Zimmer score and Jan de Bont's slick cinematography this fast paced thriller goes through its paces with more style over substance in its plot which reeks of deja vu. Douglas and Garcia have great screen chemistry and they get wonderful support from both Takakura and especially Matsuda as the vicious killer. The latter shot the film without telling anyone that he was suffering from terminal bladder cancer and died shortly after the film's completion. Scott dedicated the film to his memory.
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (Johannes Roberts, 2019) 7/10
Four teenage school friends scuba dive to a sunken Mayan city, only to be trapped by a group of sharks that are swimming in it. One of countless films that came in the wake of "Jaws" with seemingly similar plots that have stupid humans trapped under the sea while letting sharks loose on them. Sistine Stallone (Sylvester's daughter) and Corinne Foxx (Jamie's daughter) make their film debuts. The film manages to create suspense, claustrophobia and horror in equal doses.
So-called gay rom-com about two commitment-phobe men which has zero romance and even less comedy. The entire film's tone is set by the main character (Billy Eichner) who comes across as rude, obnoxious and a total douche bag constantly whining. Luke Macfarlane who has the clichéd role of the blonde bimbo lover comes off better. At least he smiles which is an emotion Eichner could have tried as well. Extremely boring film is a complete waste of time. Go watch Taxi Zum Klo instead. At least you will experience glimpses of laughter and romance. Harvey Fierstein is fun in a brief appearance while Debra Messing, playing herself, rightfully gives Eichner a deserved mouthful.
Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer, 1979) 5/10
British author H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) uses his time machine to pursue Jack the Ripper (David Warner) who has escaped from 1893 London to 1979 San Francisco. Amusing but far fetched premise has McDowell donning his staid Victorian duds while Warner is the epitome of hip in disco-era Frisco where he continues to slash female throats. Helping Wells and falling in love with him is a prim banker (Mary "annoying-voice" Steenburgen) who ends up a hostage of the Ripper while Wells is detained by the police who find his truth totally unbelievable. Pleasant if silly little fluff became the meeting point for McDowell who ended up married to Steenburgen......for awhile.
The Omega Man (Boris Sagal, 1971) 5/10
Post-apocalyptic thriller is based on the novel, I am Legend, by Richard Matheson which was first filmed in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price and later with Will Smith in 2007. Biological warfare between China and Russia wipes out most of the population of earth. A scientist (Charlton Heston) in Los Angeles saves himself by injecting an experimental vaccine and spends his time talking to himself or hunting down members of "the family" - survivors of the plague who have turned into albino mutants who wish to kill him because to them he is a symbol of all that is evil as science destroyed the world. Later he runs into a woman (Rosalind Cash) and a group of kids who survived but are gradually turning into mutants. As he tries to cure them by injecting them with a serum made from his blood the mutants gang up and are hell bent on destroying him. What starts off as a promising fast paced film quickly devolves into something quite absurd - the mutants (Anthony Zerbe plays their deranged leader), with silly white faces, make lousy villains while the screenplay completely bungles up the ending which is far removed from the book. Heston, gritting his teeth, goes through the motions as a bare-chested action star and gets to perform a sex scene with a black actress (Cash's gratuitous nude scene is totally uncalled for and purely shot in order to tittilate) which was still a daring sight on the big screen back then.
Goodbye, My Fancy (Vincent Sherman, 1951) 5/10
Typical Crawford vehicle during the 1950s where in direct contrast to her strong power/man-hungry female characters of the 1930s she here plays the woman of steel who hides it from men under the facade of a "vulnerable lady". An aggressive congresswoman (Joan Crawford) accepts an invitation from her alma mater to receive an honorary degree. In reality she is more curious to check out the President of the College (Robert Young) with whom she had a fling twenty years before and with whom she hopes to rekindle a relationship. Romantic competition comes in the form of a photo-journalist (Frank Lovejoy) with whom she had an affair between the years she was expelled from college and the start of her political career. The hectic weekend has her parrying with her blunt secretary (Eve Arden), being a role model for the President's daughter (Janice Rule in her film debut with whom Crawford clashed on and off set due to jealousy) and blackmailing the College President when he refuses to show a controversial film she feels every graduating student must see for their future life education. Crawford overdoes it with the "noble lady" persona while both her leading men are boring and annoying. Only Eve Arden comes through with flying colours doing her usual smart-ass shtick which remains hilarious despite that routine being repeated in almost all her films. The ponderous plot was based on a play by Fay Kanin which saw success on Broadway with Madeleine Carroll.
My Policeman (Michael Grandage, 2022) 6/10
Slow-moving rather tedious memory piece is based on a book by Bethan Roberts but which is also partly a fictionalized version of the love life of writer E.M. Forster. A retired school teacher (Gina McKee) allows into her house a long-lost friend (Rupert Everett), now a wheelchair-bound stroke victim, much to the consternation of her husband (Linus Roache) who wants nothing to do with the sick guest. This is surprising considering the trio were the closest of friends four decades before. The story comes alive via numerous flashbacks to the 1950s as the teacher reads the invalid's private diaries. As a young woman (Emma Corrin) she is swept off her feet by a young policeman (Harry Styles) who introduces her to his witty and worldly friend (David Dawson), a musuem curator. At first confused by his lack of sexual attention towards her she nevertheless agrees to marry the policeman. However, his growing friendship with his friend causes confusion in her mind leading her to take a step that has devastating repercussions for all three. The flashback images recall moments from Merchant-Ivory's "Maurice" - based ofcourse on the E.M. Forster novel - and looks into Britain's repressed and dangerous past where homosexuality was a crime and men and women caught faced stiff prison sentences. Of the trio of actors in the flashback sequences Dawson stands out while the weakest link in the present is McKee who doesn't quite click with her younger self as played by Emma Corrin. Unfortunately Rupert Everett has mostly a silent part although the film's last image of him with Roache speaks volumes. It is a brief moment of only a few seconds but vividly manages to encapsulate what love, passion and forgiveness is all about.
Black Rain (Ridley Scott, 1989) 7/10
The film's overall palette and visual style is taken by Scott from his own past career as a director of extremely flashy television commercials and from the futuristic neo-noir Blade Runner (1982). Osaka, in this film, is presented as a neon-lit nightmare - dark, wet and sinister. A New York City police officer (Michael Douglas) and his partner (Andy Garcia) witness a Japanese man (Yūsaku Matsuda) rob and kill a man in a restaurant, give chase and catch him. The cops are asked to accompany the killer to Osaka and hand him over to the Japanese police. However, they inadvertently hand him over to imposters who escape with the prisoner. Forced to stay as mere observers they are both frustrated to see the local cops' by-the-book style of investigation. Gradually the cops manage to convince their local counterpart (Kan Takakura) to let them investigate on their own terms as they receive additional help and information from an American nightclub hostess (Kate Capshaw). Accompanied by a pulsating Hans Zimmer score and Jan de Bont's slick cinematography this fast paced thriller goes through its paces with more style over substance in its plot which reeks of deja vu. Douglas and Garcia have great screen chemistry and they get wonderful support from both Takakura and especially Matsuda as the vicious killer. The latter shot the film without telling anyone that he was suffering from terminal bladder cancer and died shortly after the film's completion. Scott dedicated the film to his memory.
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (Johannes Roberts, 2019) 7/10
Four teenage school friends scuba dive to a sunken Mayan city, only to be trapped by a group of sharks that are swimming in it. One of countless films that came in the wake of "Jaws" with seemingly similar plots that have stupid humans trapped under the sea while letting sharks loose on them. Sistine Stallone (Sylvester's daughter) and Corinne Foxx (Jamie's daughter) make their film debuts. The film manages to create suspense, claustrophobia and horror in equal doses.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Monica O My Darling (Vasan Bala, 2022) 7/10
Monica (Huma Qureshi), who is pregnant, blackmails three men at the Company she works at - the young robotics expert (Rajkumar Rao) who has ass-licked himself up the Corporate ladder and is dating the Boss's daughter, a lowly accountant and the Boss's son (Sikandar Kher). When the latter plans to murder Monica he involves the other two men in the plot as well. However, the dead body turns up to be someone other than Monica who is still alive and kicking. Soon people start dying left right and center as the robotics expert tries to stay one step ahead of the murderer and prove to the suspecting cop (Radhika Apte) that he is not the killer. Black comedy has some hilariously chilling moments along with a blow out fight sequence between Rao and Qureshi that has to be seen to be believed. For the most part it's a fun ride although it begins to drag towards the middle. The iconic Asha Bhosle song - "Monica O My Darling" - is heard on the soundtrack but thankfully nobody dances to it allowing memories of the great Helen to remain from the original film "Caravan".
Tum Mile (Junal Deshmukh, 2009) 5/10
What do you get when you mix a rom-com with a disaster film? This corny romantic film segues into the disaster film genre - the 2005 Mumbai Monsoon floods. A flashback explains how a couple, who through chance, re-connect on a plane to Mumbai after six years. Poor artist (Emraan Hashmi) and rich girl (Soha Ali Khan) meet cute and move into a swanky South African apartment. The relationship soon sours after his ego - she pays for everything - comes in the way. Now years later they meet on a plane which lands in Mumbai during a brewing storm. The disaster aspect of the story leaves much to be desired as the film's budget obviously does no justice to the scenes that involve her trapped in a bus with rising rain water all around. The two leads are better than the project they are stuck in as (during the flashback) they sing, make love and argue.
Awarapan (Mohit Suri, 2007) 6/10
Touted as Emraan Haashmi's best performance until that time although what passes for supposed good acting has him spending most of the film brooding and staring straight into the camera while an intense drama plays around him. A gangster (Ashotosh Rana) asks his henchman (Emraan Hashmi) to keep an eye on his Pakistani sex slave (Mrinalini Sharma) while he is out of town. He suspects her of having a lover. Following her he discovers that the Muslim woman not only strictly follows her religion (hijab, namaz) but also has a playful streak where she frolics around town (in mini skirt and stilleto heels) with her friends - cue to the hit song "Mahiya". Seeing her also triggers in him memories of an affair he had with a Muslim girl (Shriya Saran) which did not end well as her strict orthodox father does not approve of an atheist Hindu chasing his daughter. The screenplay brings a touch of sufism into the plot along with a religious metaphor about releasing caged pigeons - the caged mistress whom he is commanded to kill but who he wants to release instead as related to him in a story by his former lover who spoke about gaining God's favour by releasing caged pigeons. As with most of Hashmi's films there is exceptional music and an exotic backdrop (Hong Kong) while his character struggles with inner demons hoping to find redemption. His leading lady is wooden beyond belief but he is no better despite the positive reviews he indespicably received. This was the first Bollywood film to release in Pakistan after decades of prohibition which two years ago took place yet again.
Monica (Huma Qureshi), who is pregnant, blackmails three men at the Company she works at - the young robotics expert (Rajkumar Rao) who has ass-licked himself up the Corporate ladder and is dating the Boss's daughter, a lowly accountant and the Boss's son (Sikandar Kher). When the latter plans to murder Monica he involves the other two men in the plot as well. However, the dead body turns up to be someone other than Monica who is still alive and kicking. Soon people start dying left right and center as the robotics expert tries to stay one step ahead of the murderer and prove to the suspecting cop (Radhika Apte) that he is not the killer. Black comedy has some hilariously chilling moments along with a blow out fight sequence between Rao and Qureshi that has to be seen to be believed. For the most part it's a fun ride although it begins to drag towards the middle. The iconic Asha Bhosle song - "Monica O My Darling" - is heard on the soundtrack but thankfully nobody dances to it allowing memories of the great Helen to remain from the original film "Caravan".
Tum Mile (Junal Deshmukh, 2009) 5/10
What do you get when you mix a rom-com with a disaster film? This corny romantic film segues into the disaster film genre - the 2005 Mumbai Monsoon floods. A flashback explains how a couple, who through chance, re-connect on a plane to Mumbai after six years. Poor artist (Emraan Hashmi) and rich girl (Soha Ali Khan) meet cute and move into a swanky South African apartment. The relationship soon sours after his ego - she pays for everything - comes in the way. Now years later they meet on a plane which lands in Mumbai during a brewing storm. The disaster aspect of the story leaves much to be desired as the film's budget obviously does no justice to the scenes that involve her trapped in a bus with rising rain water all around. The two leads are better than the project they are stuck in as (during the flashback) they sing, make love and argue.
Awarapan (Mohit Suri, 2007) 6/10
Touted as Emraan Haashmi's best performance until that time although what passes for supposed good acting has him spending most of the film brooding and staring straight into the camera while an intense drama plays around him. A gangster (Ashotosh Rana) asks his henchman (Emraan Hashmi) to keep an eye on his Pakistani sex slave (Mrinalini Sharma) while he is out of town. He suspects her of having a lover. Following her he discovers that the Muslim woman not only strictly follows her religion (hijab, namaz) but also has a playful streak where she frolics around town (in mini skirt and stilleto heels) with her friends - cue to the hit song "Mahiya". Seeing her also triggers in him memories of an affair he had with a Muslim girl (Shriya Saran) which did not end well as her strict orthodox father does not approve of an atheist Hindu chasing his daughter. The screenplay brings a touch of sufism into the plot along with a religious metaphor about releasing caged pigeons - the caged mistress whom he is commanded to kill but who he wants to release instead as related to him in a story by his former lover who spoke about gaining God's favour by releasing caged pigeons. As with most of Hashmi's films there is exceptional music and an exotic backdrop (Hong Kong) while his character struggles with inner demons hoping to find redemption. His leading lady is wooden beyond belief but he is no better despite the positive reviews he indespicably received. This was the first Bollywood film to release in Pakistan after decades of prohibition which two years ago took place yet again.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
April and the Extraordinary World (2015) - 8/10 - In this steampunk world, scientific advancement was essentially halted in the 19th Century as scientists disappear. In 1941, a girl named April is still searching for her scientist parents who disappeared a decade earlier. This was fun and had the feel of a number of European graphic novels that I've read over the years.
Sita Sings the Blues (2008) - 8/10 - Nina relates the story of Sita, Rama's wife in Hindu mythology, along with an autobiographical story with some parallels. The film uses 1920s musical recordings along with a contemporary discussion about Sita and Rama mixed with a variety of animation styles. I thought it was pretty lively and enjoyable.
Tower (2016) - 8.5/10 - An excellent documentary about the University of Texas Tower shooting on August 1, 1966 which features archival footage, rotoscope animation, and contemporary interviews.
Son of the White Mare (1981) - 8/10 - This film is based on Hungarian myths and has an excellent visual style and animation. It took me longer to warm to the story, but I eventually found that interesting as well.
Summer Wars (2009) - 8/10 - Kenji is a high school math whiz who spends much of his time in an online world known as OZ. He does a favor for a girl in his school and accompanies her to a family gathering for her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. There is family drama before he gets drawn into a problem revolving around OZ. I read and enjoyed the manga nearly a decade ago and don't know why it took me so long to watch the movie. I thought it was pretty good.
Gilda (1946) - 8/10 - Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is a small time gambler who gets a job working for the owner of a casino in Argentina. Then one day the boss returns home from a trip with a new wife named Gilda (Rita Hayworth) who happens to be Johnny's old flame. It is soon apparent that Johnny and Gilda hate each other. Ford and Hayworth are each pretty good here and while I wouldn't rank this as one of the very best noirs, it's pretty solid.
Stray Dog (1949) - 9/10 - A rookie detective has his gun stolen from him by a pickpocket. He becomes obsessed with getting it back and is partnered with a veteran detective to track it down. Kurosawa does a great job establishing mood and building tension. We also get a look at postwar Tokyo, including it's seedier side. It's a very nice film.
Sita Sings the Blues (2008) - 8/10 - Nina relates the story of Sita, Rama's wife in Hindu mythology, along with an autobiographical story with some parallels. The film uses 1920s musical recordings along with a contemporary discussion about Sita and Rama mixed with a variety of animation styles. I thought it was pretty lively and enjoyable.
Tower (2016) - 8.5/10 - An excellent documentary about the University of Texas Tower shooting on August 1, 1966 which features archival footage, rotoscope animation, and contemporary interviews.
Son of the White Mare (1981) - 8/10 - This film is based on Hungarian myths and has an excellent visual style and animation. It took me longer to warm to the story, but I eventually found that interesting as well.
Summer Wars (2009) - 8/10 - Kenji is a high school math whiz who spends much of his time in an online world known as OZ. He does a favor for a girl in his school and accompanies her to a family gathering for her great-grandmother's 90th birthday. There is family drama before he gets drawn into a problem revolving around OZ. I read and enjoyed the manga nearly a decade ago and don't know why it took me so long to watch the movie. I thought it was pretty good.
Gilda (1946) - 8/10 - Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is a small time gambler who gets a job working for the owner of a casino in Argentina. Then one day the boss returns home from a trip with a new wife named Gilda (Rita Hayworth) who happens to be Johnny's old flame. It is soon apparent that Johnny and Gilda hate each other. Ford and Hayworth are each pretty good here and while I wouldn't rank this as one of the very best noirs, it's pretty solid.
Stray Dog (1949) - 9/10 - A rookie detective has his gun stolen from him by a pickpocket. He becomes obsessed with getting it back and is partnered with a veteran detective to track it down. Kurosawa does a great job establishing mood and building tension. We also get a look at postwar Tokyo, including it's seedier side. It's a very nice film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
This Gun for Hire (1942) - 8/10 - Alan Ladd is excellent as Raven, a hired killer who is looking for revenge when the payment for his last job turns out to be in marked bills. Veronica Lake is a singer whose fiance is a police lieutenant. She is hired by the man that Raven is after and she happens to encounter Raven on a train. Lake isn't as good as Ladd, but was good enough to help make this a nice noir.
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) - 8/10 - A police detective (Dana Andrews) hates criminals due to his upbringing. He often gets violent with them. When he makes a mistake that costs a life, he tries to pin the deed on a known criminal. Gene Tierney co-stars, but this is mostly a vehicle for Andrews and he is pretty convincing in his role.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) - 8/10 - The first part adapts The Wind in the Willows and the second part adapts The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I enjoyed both parts, especially the headless horseman.
Toys in the Attic (2009) - 8/10 - What if Toy Story was fairly dark and done with stop motion? We get a pretty good sense of the answer with this film. It was a bit weird, but I liked it.
Kansas City Confidential (1952) - 8/10 - Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is an ex-con who gets framed for a robbery that netted over a million dollars. He's questioned and roughed up by the police before being let go. He decides to solve the case himself and track down the people who framed him.
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) - 8/10 - A police detective (Dana Andrews) hates criminals due to his upbringing. He often gets violent with them. When he makes a mistake that costs a life, he tries to pin the deed on a known criminal. Gene Tierney co-stars, but this is mostly a vehicle for Andrews and he is pretty convincing in his role.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) - 8/10 - The first part adapts The Wind in the Willows and the second part adapts The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I enjoyed both parts, especially the headless horseman.
Toys in the Attic (2009) - 8/10 - What if Toy Story was fairly dark and done with stop motion? We get a pretty good sense of the answer with this film. It was a bit weird, but I liked it.
Kansas City Confidential (1952) - 8/10 - Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is an ex-con who gets framed for a robbery that netted over a million dollars. He's questioned and roughed up by the police before being let go. He decides to solve the case himself and track down the people who framed him.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Bandolero! (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1968) 6/10
A weak variation of Richard Brooks' The Professionals (1966), the story revolves around a bank robber (Dean Martin) and his gang who are saved from hanging in the nick of time by his elder brother (James Stewart) disguised as the hangman. On the run they are pursued by a posse led by a vengefully relentless sheriff (George Kennedy) who is more interested in getting his lustful hands on the rich rancher's widow (Raquel Welch) who was kidnapped by the gang. Welch was purely used by Hollywood as an enticing piece of meat for the male junta on and off the screen although here she is totally covered up from head to foot like a Muslim matron or a Christian nun until the inevitable moment of an attempted rape where her shirt gets torn and back exposed. Also her hilariously 1960s bouffant hairdo is clearly not appropriate for the film's period. Just as the brothers are confessing about being tired and willing to go straight a group of nasty bandidos attack resulting in a bloodbath. Years later Larry McMurtry, the author of the novel Lonesome Dove, paid homage to this film by using similar names for the characters in his book. Martin is very subdued throughout but Stewart and Welch standout amongst the cast.
The Rare Breed (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1966) 5/10
An erratic screenplay that appears to have suffered in the editing or was made up as they went along with certain characters introduced during the first half (Ben Johnson for one) who then completely disappears. And the romance that is hinted at between the two leads (James Stewart as a crusty cowhand and Maureen O'Hara as an English cow breeder) during the first half sort of meanders during the second half where she spends more screen time with Brian Keith as a Texas rancher - rumors of Stewart and O'Hara not getting along could also have been a reason. Western with silly moments of slapstick comedy and brawls is offset by the main plot where the English widow hopes to introduce Hereford cattle into the American West by breeding it with the local Longhorn cow. Meanwhile her daughter (Juliet Mills) finds romance with Don Galloway and villain Jack Elam causes a deadly stampede. The film is scored by John Williams - one of his early scores when he was still being billed as Johnny.
Payroll (Sidney Hayers, 1961) 8/10
A crook (Michael Craig) plans and executes a robbery of a payroll van with three accomplices. An accountant within the firm provides inside knowledge about the route of the van as he is under pressure to provide a higher standard of living for his wife (Françoise Prévost). However, the van driver is killed during the heist and while the gang lies low with the stolen money the dead man's wife (Billie Whitelaw) wants vengeance. The Kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s gave rise to plots in British films which often concerned the criminal lower classes - a change from the posh lives seen in most films during the previous decades. These themes also played out with an emphasis on greater violence and sexuality which naturally became part of the intense plot here. Craig and Prévost create sexual sparks but its Whitelaw who creates an indelible character who calmly but viciously helps to provide the film's bleak but satisfying conclusion.
Trapped (Luis Mandoki, 2002) 6/10
Plots with children in peril are not entertainment as they always make for a queasy subject. A child (Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped by a gang - the deranged husband (Kevin Bacon) holds the kid's mother (Charlize Theron) hostage, his white trash wife (Courtenay Love) holds the kid's father (Stuart Townsend) hostage while their mentally challenged relative (Pruitt Taylor Vince) holds the asthmatic kid at a secluded place waiting for the ransom to be delivered. Things don't go quite according to plan and the parents almost turn the tables on their captors. The film's absurd climax takes place on a busy highway which also involves a small airplane landing in the midst of heavy traffic. Fast paced thriller is well acted but leaves a nasty taste in one's mouth. Bacon and Theron create unpleasant sparks as they play cat and mouse.
Ticket to Paradise (Ol Parker, 2022) 4/10
Disappointing film in which two huge stars merely coast along. They do have great on screen chemistry but the screenplay seems to have been regurgitated from Blandsville and uses a dream location (Bali) to divert the audience from boredom. Sadly sandy beaches, blue waters, dolphins and stunning views of the sunset do not succeed in keeping one awake. A combative, formerly married couple (George Clooney & Julia Roberts) decide to come together in order to break up their only daughter's sudden nuptials. While on a much needed post-graduation holiday in Bali she meets and falls in love with a local boy whose family is in the seaweed business. The predictable plot plods on with seemingly improvised scenes of the two leads having a ball leading up to a finale you could see coming from a mile away. Fluff that's easy on the eyes but instantly forgettable.
The Legend of Maula Jatt (Bilal Lashari, 2022) 10/10
Watched it again today and it really holds up. Iconic dialogue and characters. The central romance which seems one-sided and rather stilted gets a brief but grand moment set high above on a Ferris wheel under a starry, starry night between Fawad and Mahira. Lashari has created an epic masterpiece mired in blood, gore and violence but not without stunning moments of heart as well. He manages to invoke a mixture of horror, lust and tears, all in equal measure.
A weak variation of Richard Brooks' The Professionals (1966), the story revolves around a bank robber (Dean Martin) and his gang who are saved from hanging in the nick of time by his elder brother (James Stewart) disguised as the hangman. On the run they are pursued by a posse led by a vengefully relentless sheriff (George Kennedy) who is more interested in getting his lustful hands on the rich rancher's widow (Raquel Welch) who was kidnapped by the gang. Welch was purely used by Hollywood as an enticing piece of meat for the male junta on and off the screen although here she is totally covered up from head to foot like a Muslim matron or a Christian nun until the inevitable moment of an attempted rape where her shirt gets torn and back exposed. Also her hilariously 1960s bouffant hairdo is clearly not appropriate for the film's period. Just as the brothers are confessing about being tired and willing to go straight a group of nasty bandidos attack resulting in a bloodbath. Years later Larry McMurtry, the author of the novel Lonesome Dove, paid homage to this film by using similar names for the characters in his book. Martin is very subdued throughout but Stewart and Welch standout amongst the cast.
The Rare Breed (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1966) 5/10
An erratic screenplay that appears to have suffered in the editing or was made up as they went along with certain characters introduced during the first half (Ben Johnson for one) who then completely disappears. And the romance that is hinted at between the two leads (James Stewart as a crusty cowhand and Maureen O'Hara as an English cow breeder) during the first half sort of meanders during the second half where she spends more screen time with Brian Keith as a Texas rancher - rumors of Stewart and O'Hara not getting along could also have been a reason. Western with silly moments of slapstick comedy and brawls is offset by the main plot where the English widow hopes to introduce Hereford cattle into the American West by breeding it with the local Longhorn cow. Meanwhile her daughter (Juliet Mills) finds romance with Don Galloway and villain Jack Elam causes a deadly stampede. The film is scored by John Williams - one of his early scores when he was still being billed as Johnny.
Payroll (Sidney Hayers, 1961) 8/10
A crook (Michael Craig) plans and executes a robbery of a payroll van with three accomplices. An accountant within the firm provides inside knowledge about the route of the van as he is under pressure to provide a higher standard of living for his wife (Françoise Prévost). However, the van driver is killed during the heist and while the gang lies low with the stolen money the dead man's wife (Billie Whitelaw) wants vengeance. The Kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s gave rise to plots in British films which often concerned the criminal lower classes - a change from the posh lives seen in most films during the previous decades. These themes also played out with an emphasis on greater violence and sexuality which naturally became part of the intense plot here. Craig and Prévost create sexual sparks but its Whitelaw who creates an indelible character who calmly but viciously helps to provide the film's bleak but satisfying conclusion.
Trapped (Luis Mandoki, 2002) 6/10
Plots with children in peril are not entertainment as they always make for a queasy subject. A child (Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped by a gang - the deranged husband (Kevin Bacon) holds the kid's mother (Charlize Theron) hostage, his white trash wife (Courtenay Love) holds the kid's father (Stuart Townsend) hostage while their mentally challenged relative (Pruitt Taylor Vince) holds the asthmatic kid at a secluded place waiting for the ransom to be delivered. Things don't go quite according to plan and the parents almost turn the tables on their captors. The film's absurd climax takes place on a busy highway which also involves a small airplane landing in the midst of heavy traffic. Fast paced thriller is well acted but leaves a nasty taste in one's mouth. Bacon and Theron create unpleasant sparks as they play cat and mouse.
Ticket to Paradise (Ol Parker, 2022) 4/10
Disappointing film in which two huge stars merely coast along. They do have great on screen chemistry but the screenplay seems to have been regurgitated from Blandsville and uses a dream location (Bali) to divert the audience from boredom. Sadly sandy beaches, blue waters, dolphins and stunning views of the sunset do not succeed in keeping one awake. A combative, formerly married couple (George Clooney & Julia Roberts) decide to come together in order to break up their only daughter's sudden nuptials. While on a much needed post-graduation holiday in Bali she meets and falls in love with a local boy whose family is in the seaweed business. The predictable plot plods on with seemingly improvised scenes of the two leads having a ball leading up to a finale you could see coming from a mile away. Fluff that's easy on the eyes but instantly forgettable.
The Legend of Maula Jatt (Bilal Lashari, 2022) 10/10
Watched it again today and it really holds up. Iconic dialogue and characters. The central romance which seems one-sided and rather stilted gets a brief but grand moment set high above on a Ferris wheel under a starry, starry night between Fawad and Mahira. Lashari has created an epic masterpiece mired in blood, gore and violence but not without stunning moments of heart as well. He manages to invoke a mixture of horror, lust and tears, all in equal measure.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Paprika (2006) - 8/10 - A device that allows people to enter the dreams of others is stolen. The device was intended to aid in therapy, but is now being used as a weapon. One researcher/doctor enters the dream world in order to track down the missing device and the person who stole it. In the dream world, she becomes Paprika. She also has the assistance of a police detective who is also a patient. The visuals and dream world are very cool and the film is pretty entertaining. It's been too long since I watched Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress to make any comparisons. I probably need to rewatch each of them.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) - 8.5/10 - Three homeless people find an abandoned baby at Christmastime and head out to try and track down the mother. This leads them on an adventure throughout the city. There is plenty of humor mixed in with the adventure and drama. I enjoyed the film quite a bit.
Night and the City (1950) - 8.5/10 - Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian, a small time hustler trying to make it big in London. He tries to set up a wrestling circuit by using an old champion named Gregorius whose son Kristo controls all of the wrestling in the city. The mood is established early and is pretty consistent throughout in a very entertaining film which also features a nice wrestling fight.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - 9/10 - In 1923, Padraic (Colin Farrell) lives with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) on an island off the mainland of Ireland. He has a daily routine of meeting his friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) at 2pm so that they can head to the pub for a pint. However, Colm informs Padraic that he doesn't like him any more and wants to be left alone. There are very nice performances here from Farrell, Gleeson, and Condon plus Barry Keoghan as the dimwitted Dominic. The cinematography is gorgeous and the film is pretty funny much of the time, but also sad.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) - 8.5/10 - Three homeless people find an abandoned baby at Christmastime and head out to try and track down the mother. This leads them on an adventure throughout the city. There is plenty of humor mixed in with the adventure and drama. I enjoyed the film quite a bit.
Night and the City (1950) - 8.5/10 - Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian, a small time hustler trying to make it big in London. He tries to set up a wrestling circuit by using an old champion named Gregorius whose son Kristo controls all of the wrestling in the city. The mood is established early and is pretty consistent throughout in a very entertaining film which also features a nice wrestling fight.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - 9/10 - In 1923, Padraic (Colin Farrell) lives with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) on an island off the mainland of Ireland. He has a daily routine of meeting his friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) at 2pm so that they can head to the pub for a pint. However, Colm informs Padraic that he doesn't like him any more and wants to be left alone. There are very nice performances here from Farrell, Gleeson, and Condon plus Barry Keoghan as the dimwitted Dominic. The cinematography is gorgeous and the film is pretty funny much of the time, but also sad.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930) 10/10
A group of German school boys joyfully decide to enlist in the army after being given a pep talk about the glory of war by their jingoistic school teacher. These opening scenes full of hope and excitement soon turn into shock and horror when confronted by the devastation on the battlefield and in the trenches. Erich Maria Remarque's classic anti-war novel is superbly adapted for the big screen in this early Hollywood sound film. The story is mainly centered on one hopeful bright-eyed youth (Lew Ayres) who enlists, goes through boot camp and is shocked to discover the extent of violence and death on the field. As his school mates die one by one it becomes a harrowing journey of survival for the boys still alive. Every harrowing moment here highlights the absolute futility of war and of how so many human lives were snuffed out during WWI. The screenplay maintains its downbeat tone right to the last scene involving a fluttering butterfly. Louis Wolheim is superb as the gruff corporal who takes the boys under his wing and Lew Ayres became a huge star after this film. In fact he was so effected by the film that he turned pacifist which led to many problems in his career in Hollywood when later WWII broke out and he refused to enlist. The film and director Milestone won much deserved Oscars while the screenplay and cinematography received nominations.
Reindeer Games (John Frankenheimer, 2000) 2/10
A convict (Ben Affleck), the girl (Charlize Theron), her psychotic brother (Gary Sinise) and a plan to rob a casino dressed as Santa Claus. Lousy thriller is shockingly bad especially coming from a director like Frankenheimer - it was his last film and a whole lotta studio tampering put a damper on the proceedings. Affleck flounders, Sinise hams it up and Charlize's goes topless but there is just no juice in the plot despite the twist ending.
Week-End Marriage (Thornton Freeland, 1932) 6/10
Interesting pre-code film has the young married couple (Norman Foster & Loretta Young) sharing the marital bed and are shown rolling around smooching. This would change two years later in Hollywood as censorship would only allow screen couples to be seen on single beds separated by a few feet with one or both actors having a foot on the floor. The plot revolves around the wife wanting to work while the husband feels insecure especially when she starts earning more than him. Sexual politics circa 1932 as the screenplay explores the lives of three couples - one scenario has a couple (Roscoe Karns and the brilliant Aline MacMahon) working in successful jobs, the second has a young girl (Vivienne Osborne) who is forced to leave her job and get married to a bootlegger she does not love and the third is the couple where the wife earns more causing a rift in the marriage. Not withstanding the predictable and rather silly ending along with some highly questionable character decisions the film makes some interesting points about marriage and career. George Brent has a small part as a charming cad wanting to break into the broken relationship of the lead couple. Also fascinating to see the camera which is constantly on the move unlike most films from that early sound period where the camera was often static.
The Mountain Road (Daniel Mann, 1960) 3/10
A rare James Stewart film I had somehow missed. It's dull as dishwater and quite a slog to sit through. Set in East China during WWII in 1944. An American army Major (James Stewart) and his group of demolition experts are assigned the task of destroying military installations, bridges, airfields, roads and munitions dumps in order to slow down the advancing Japanese army. In the name of Chinese-American war co-operation he reluctantly agrees to transport the widow (Lisa Lu) of a Chinese colonel. Their never-ending journey is fraught with danger which also includes local Chinese refugees and bandits. Low budget film decides to substitute a lot of dialogue instead of action or visuals so the going gets very tough. The only positive aspect of the film is that it tackles cultural misunderstanding and racial prejudice between the American soldiers and their Chinese allies, subjects mostly missing in most Hollywood war films that came before. It was probably the only reason actor Stewart agreed to star in a war film - his first, as having fought during WWII he felt Hollywood brought zero authenticity to the genre, hence always refused to act in a war film until this boring one. The film was shot in the rugged terrain of Tucson in Arizona which substitutes for China.
The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953) 8/10
Stewart in full-on ferocious mode as a greedy and embittered bounty hunter hell bent on capturing and turning in a murderer (Robert Ryan) for ransom. Coming in the way are an old prospector (a superb Millard Mitchell), a dishonestly discharged Union soldier (Ralph Meeker), and the waif (Janet Leigh) accompanying the killer. He is forced to form a partnership with the two men but greed takes over and each man wants the full ransom for himself. This is one of Stewart's great performances with Ryan matching him every step of the way as the cruel killer with a perpetual smile on his face. The rugged Colorado and Durango locations are stunningly photographed in color by William C. Mellor. Intense psychological western with noir overtones is a battle between man's greed for money and his need for love. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.
Love and Bullets (Stuart Rosenberg, 1979) 4/10
Jill Ireland plays the hillbilly blonde-bewigged moll of a tough gangster (Rod Steiger). Tammy Wynette seems to be the inspiration as we get to hear her listening to "Stand By Your Man". Luckily her annoying persona gets a dressing down by a cop (Charles Bronson) who orders her to get rid of the wig and the garish makeup off her face. Unfortunately with the disappearance of that annoying look Ireland's amateurish performance and whining accent gets accentuated and one is left to look at the Swiss locations as the only means of trying to distract oneself from her over-the-top performance. Bronson is certainly no help as he underplays to the point of almost disappearing into the woodwork. Every once in a while a car explosion manages to jerk some life into this dismal action-thriller. The FBI, in order to get a notorious gangster, gets a cop to go get the man's moll so she can squeal on him. The crook puts a hit on her so a cat-and-mouse game ensues between the assassin and the cop while the moll gets dragged all around Switzerland where she had been holed up. The film has very little dialogue - though allows Steiger to stammer, bark and ham it up - and is merely a collection of chase set pieces on trains, boats, chalets and in hotels. An eclectic supporting cast - Bradford Dillman, Henry Silva, Strother Martin, Michael V. Gazzo, Albert Salmi, Paul Koslo, Val Avery - turn up in bit parts to liven up the proceedings. If it were not for the Swiss travelog sequences this film would have been a complete right-off. However, Lalo Schifrin's lively score has a touch of Ennio Morricone and is pleasing to the ear while the cameras of Fred J. Koenekamp and Tony Richmond capture the superb crystal clear snowy vistas - the Matterhorn gets a very prominent look-in as well.
A group of German school boys joyfully decide to enlist in the army after being given a pep talk about the glory of war by their jingoistic school teacher. These opening scenes full of hope and excitement soon turn into shock and horror when confronted by the devastation on the battlefield and in the trenches. Erich Maria Remarque's classic anti-war novel is superbly adapted for the big screen in this early Hollywood sound film. The story is mainly centered on one hopeful bright-eyed youth (Lew Ayres) who enlists, goes through boot camp and is shocked to discover the extent of violence and death on the field. As his school mates die one by one it becomes a harrowing journey of survival for the boys still alive. Every harrowing moment here highlights the absolute futility of war and of how so many human lives were snuffed out during WWI. The screenplay maintains its downbeat tone right to the last scene involving a fluttering butterfly. Louis Wolheim is superb as the gruff corporal who takes the boys under his wing and Lew Ayres became a huge star after this film. In fact he was so effected by the film that he turned pacifist which led to many problems in his career in Hollywood when later WWII broke out and he refused to enlist. The film and director Milestone won much deserved Oscars while the screenplay and cinematography received nominations.
Reindeer Games (John Frankenheimer, 2000) 2/10
A convict (Ben Affleck), the girl (Charlize Theron), her psychotic brother (Gary Sinise) and a plan to rob a casino dressed as Santa Claus. Lousy thriller is shockingly bad especially coming from a director like Frankenheimer - it was his last film and a whole lotta studio tampering put a damper on the proceedings. Affleck flounders, Sinise hams it up and Charlize's goes topless but there is just no juice in the plot despite the twist ending.
Week-End Marriage (Thornton Freeland, 1932) 6/10
Interesting pre-code film has the young married couple (Norman Foster & Loretta Young) sharing the marital bed and are shown rolling around smooching. This would change two years later in Hollywood as censorship would only allow screen couples to be seen on single beds separated by a few feet with one or both actors having a foot on the floor. The plot revolves around the wife wanting to work while the husband feels insecure especially when she starts earning more than him. Sexual politics circa 1932 as the screenplay explores the lives of three couples - one scenario has a couple (Roscoe Karns and the brilliant Aline MacMahon) working in successful jobs, the second has a young girl (Vivienne Osborne) who is forced to leave her job and get married to a bootlegger she does not love and the third is the couple where the wife earns more causing a rift in the marriage. Not withstanding the predictable and rather silly ending along with some highly questionable character decisions the film makes some interesting points about marriage and career. George Brent has a small part as a charming cad wanting to break into the broken relationship of the lead couple. Also fascinating to see the camera which is constantly on the move unlike most films from that early sound period where the camera was often static.
The Mountain Road (Daniel Mann, 1960) 3/10
A rare James Stewart film I had somehow missed. It's dull as dishwater and quite a slog to sit through. Set in East China during WWII in 1944. An American army Major (James Stewart) and his group of demolition experts are assigned the task of destroying military installations, bridges, airfields, roads and munitions dumps in order to slow down the advancing Japanese army. In the name of Chinese-American war co-operation he reluctantly agrees to transport the widow (Lisa Lu) of a Chinese colonel. Their never-ending journey is fraught with danger which also includes local Chinese refugees and bandits. Low budget film decides to substitute a lot of dialogue instead of action or visuals so the going gets very tough. The only positive aspect of the film is that it tackles cultural misunderstanding and racial prejudice between the American soldiers and their Chinese allies, subjects mostly missing in most Hollywood war films that came before. It was probably the only reason actor Stewart agreed to star in a war film - his first, as having fought during WWII he felt Hollywood brought zero authenticity to the genre, hence always refused to act in a war film until this boring one. The film was shot in the rugged terrain of Tucson in Arizona which substitutes for China.
The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953) 8/10
Stewart in full-on ferocious mode as a greedy and embittered bounty hunter hell bent on capturing and turning in a murderer (Robert Ryan) for ransom. Coming in the way are an old prospector (a superb Millard Mitchell), a dishonestly discharged Union soldier (Ralph Meeker), and the waif (Janet Leigh) accompanying the killer. He is forced to form a partnership with the two men but greed takes over and each man wants the full ransom for himself. This is one of Stewart's great performances with Ryan matching him every step of the way as the cruel killer with a perpetual smile on his face. The rugged Colorado and Durango locations are stunningly photographed in color by William C. Mellor. Intense psychological western with noir overtones is a battle between man's greed for money and his need for love. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.
Love and Bullets (Stuart Rosenberg, 1979) 4/10
Jill Ireland plays the hillbilly blonde-bewigged moll of a tough gangster (Rod Steiger). Tammy Wynette seems to be the inspiration as we get to hear her listening to "Stand By Your Man". Luckily her annoying persona gets a dressing down by a cop (Charles Bronson) who orders her to get rid of the wig and the garish makeup off her face. Unfortunately with the disappearance of that annoying look Ireland's amateurish performance and whining accent gets accentuated and one is left to look at the Swiss locations as the only means of trying to distract oneself from her over-the-top performance. Bronson is certainly no help as he underplays to the point of almost disappearing into the woodwork. Every once in a while a car explosion manages to jerk some life into this dismal action-thriller. The FBI, in order to get a notorious gangster, gets a cop to go get the man's moll so she can squeal on him. The crook puts a hit on her so a cat-and-mouse game ensues between the assassin and the cop while the moll gets dragged all around Switzerland where she had been holed up. The film has very little dialogue - though allows Steiger to stammer, bark and ham it up - and is merely a collection of chase set pieces on trains, boats, chalets and in hotels. An eclectic supporting cast - Bradford Dillman, Henry Silva, Strother Martin, Michael V. Gazzo, Albert Salmi, Paul Koslo, Val Avery - turn up in bit parts to liven up the proceedings. If it were not for the Swiss travelog sequences this film would have been a complete right-off. However, Lalo Schifrin's lively score has a touch of Ennio Morricone and is pleasing to the ear while the cameras of Fred J. Koenekamp and Tony Richmond capture the superb crystal clear snowy vistas - the Matterhorn gets a very prominent look-in as well.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Battle Royale (2000) - 8/10 - I first heard of this film a long time ago, but never sought it out. It was a lot of fun. I didn't like it quite enough to put it on my Top 20 Japan list, but it isn't too far off.
Killer of Sheep (1978) - 8/10 - Stan works in a slaughterhouse and the movie portrays life in Watts during the early 1970s, primarily through the lives of Stan and his family. It's a nice, leisurely paced film that brings you into their world. It also has a very nice soundtrack.
Oscar (2004) - 8/10 - Oscar is a taxi driver in Argentina who carries around paint, glue, posters, and cutouts with him as he drives. He uses these to create street art or to alter advertisements with his own political statements. Some of the work was pretty creative and I enjoyed the documentary.
Head-On (2004) - 8/10 - Cahit is a German Turk who drives his car into a building to try and commit suicide. While in the hospital, he meets a young Turkish woman who wants to escape from her disapproving family and convinces him to marry her in a marriage of convenience, even though he is much older than her and not interested in getting married. I thought the first half of the film was better than the second half, but overall a very nice film.
Winter Sleep (2014) - 8/10 - A wealthy former actor owns a tourist hotel on a mountain plus other properties. He spends time writing a column for a local paper and is fairly detached from the day to day running of his business, leaving it instead to his head employee. He is seemingly unaware that he is not very popular. His wife feels smothered by him and involves herself with charity work. The film also focuses on a poor family of tenants who are also very prideful. The characters don't seem capable of truly understanding each other. It's a pretty good film.
The Black Phone (2021) - 8/10 - In 1978, a serial killer is abducting young boys. Finn is the latest abductee and he has to try to escape the trap he is in. Fortunately he has some supernatural help. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. They did a good job capturing the feel of the era and the lead performances of the kids playing Finn and his sister Gwen each gave a very nice performance.
Niagara (1953) - 8/10 - A couple on a delayed honeymoon (Jean Peters and Max Showalter) arrive at Niagara Falls to find that their cabin is still occupied by a couple having some marital problems (Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten). The backdrop of Niagara Falls works really well here and Jean Peters is excellent. Cotten is also good as the troubled and jealous husband.
Pompo: The Cinephile (2021) - 8.5/10 - Pompo runs a movie studio and has been directing/producing quite a few popular B-movies. She has written a script with a couple of actors in mind - an experienced pro and a newbie - and assigns her assistant to direct the film in his first directing role. The film shows a respect and love for cinema and also spins a pretty entertaining story.
The Old Man Movie (2019) - 8.5/10 - When the farmer's grandchildren come to visit, it disrupts his milking routine and the cow goes missing. They have 24 hours to track down the cow or it will explode. This movie is crazy (in a good way) and I was laughing throughout much of it. We get all sorts of things in here - chainsaws, hippies, tree sex, rock and roll, a mechanical cow, and lots of shit.
The Crossing (2021) - 9/10 - A brother and sister are separated from their family in a war torn country as the family seeks to cross the border into the relative safety of a neighboring country. They face hardships and continue to make the journey, hoping one day to be reunited with the rest of their family. The girl keeps a sketchbook with her during the journey, adding to it as she goes along. The story is told from the girl's point of view and is very well done. The art is gorgeously painted on glass.
Killer of Sheep (1978) - 8/10 - Stan works in a slaughterhouse and the movie portrays life in Watts during the early 1970s, primarily through the lives of Stan and his family. It's a nice, leisurely paced film that brings you into their world. It also has a very nice soundtrack.
Oscar (2004) - 8/10 - Oscar is a taxi driver in Argentina who carries around paint, glue, posters, and cutouts with him as he drives. He uses these to create street art or to alter advertisements with his own political statements. Some of the work was pretty creative and I enjoyed the documentary.
Head-On (2004) - 8/10 - Cahit is a German Turk who drives his car into a building to try and commit suicide. While in the hospital, he meets a young Turkish woman who wants to escape from her disapproving family and convinces him to marry her in a marriage of convenience, even though he is much older than her and not interested in getting married. I thought the first half of the film was better than the second half, but overall a very nice film.
Winter Sleep (2014) - 8/10 - A wealthy former actor owns a tourist hotel on a mountain plus other properties. He spends time writing a column for a local paper and is fairly detached from the day to day running of his business, leaving it instead to his head employee. He is seemingly unaware that he is not very popular. His wife feels smothered by him and involves herself with charity work. The film also focuses on a poor family of tenants who are also very prideful. The characters don't seem capable of truly understanding each other. It's a pretty good film.
The Black Phone (2021) - 8/10 - In 1978, a serial killer is abducting young boys. Finn is the latest abductee and he has to try to escape the trap he is in. Fortunately he has some supernatural help. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. They did a good job capturing the feel of the era and the lead performances of the kids playing Finn and his sister Gwen each gave a very nice performance.
Niagara (1953) - 8/10 - A couple on a delayed honeymoon (Jean Peters and Max Showalter) arrive at Niagara Falls to find that their cabin is still occupied by a couple having some marital problems (Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten). The backdrop of Niagara Falls works really well here and Jean Peters is excellent. Cotten is also good as the troubled and jealous husband.
Pompo: The Cinephile (2021) - 8.5/10 - Pompo runs a movie studio and has been directing/producing quite a few popular B-movies. She has written a script with a couple of actors in mind - an experienced pro and a newbie - and assigns her assistant to direct the film in his first directing role. The film shows a respect and love for cinema and also spins a pretty entertaining story.
The Old Man Movie (2019) - 8.5/10 - When the farmer's grandchildren come to visit, it disrupts his milking routine and the cow goes missing. They have 24 hours to track down the cow or it will explode. This movie is crazy (in a good way) and I was laughing throughout much of it. We get all sorts of things in here - chainsaws, hippies, tree sex, rock and roll, a mechanical cow, and lots of shit.
The Crossing (2021) - 9/10 - A brother and sister are separated from their family in a war torn country as the family seeks to cross the border into the relative safety of a neighboring country. They face hardships and continue to make the journey, hoping one day to be reunited with the rest of their family. The girl keeps a sketchbook with her during the journey, adding to it as she goes along. The story is told from the girl's point of view and is very well done. The art is gorgeously painted on glass.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Im Westen nichts Neues / All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger, 2022) 10/10
Disturbing anti-war film is based on the classic German novel by Erich Maria Remarque which first came to the screen in an Oscar winning Hollywood adaptation in 1930. This harrowing German remake takes the audience and puts them right into the trenches with the film's young protagonist, Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer). Like many young boys at the time he excitedly joins up to fight by lying about his age. Pumped up by romanticized patriotic notions his rite of passage will prove to be devastating and an eye opener. Hollywood has often broached the subject of WWI, and as recently in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011) and Sam Mendes' 1917 (2019), where it was the Americans and the Allies as the heroes against Germany, but this version is purely from the perspective of the German soldier. The film's outstanding cinematography highlights the disparity between the wealthy elite who directed the war from comfortably lush surroundings dictating to young boys fighting in squalid trenches and on the bloody battlefield. Offices and plush railway cars from where senior military officials operate are brightly lit highlighting colorful uniforms while the scenes on the front are shot with a blue-grey hue. Paul's coming-of-age journey is a relentless and never-ending crawl through violence and death which Berger depicts in graphic detail. This is one of the year's best films and must be seen to realize just how futile all wars are and a lesson for humanity that peaceful existence is the only way out in life.
The Good Nurse (Tobias Lindholm, 2022) 5/10
A serial killer murders patients in hospitals by spiking IV bags with insulin and another drug. A nurse (Jessica Chastain), with a congenitive heart ailment, finds herself at the center of patients dying as she and a sympathetic new recruit (Eddie Redmayne) at the hospital try to figure out the situation. Well acted film is based on the 2013 non-fiction book "The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder" by Charles Graeber about the serial killer Charles Cullen who murdered patients in hospitals while disguised as a nurse.
Vikram Vedha (Pushkar & Gayathri, 2022) 7/10
Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) is an honest cop who sees good and evil strictly in terms of black and white. Vedha (Hrithik Roshan) is a dreaded criminal who understands that both good and evil have nuances of grey. Desperate to nab the criminal the whole police department is shocked when he walks into the precinct and hands himself over to the police. During the interrogation Vedha insists on relating three stories to Vikram which gradually shifts the cop's perception about the villain and instead exposes corruption where least expected. This is a rare Hrithik Roshan film that bombed at the boxoffice but its not without interest. A remake of an acclaimed award-winning Tamil film the convoluted plot is like a jigsaw puzzle which the cop unravels but with the bemused help of the villain. Roshan, his familiar looks hidden under mounds of facial hair, still manages his usual star turn using his twinkling light coloured eyes to great effect. He is perfectly matched in the acting stakes by Saif Ali Khan as the relentless cop who gradually wakes up to a scenario that was clearly evident under his nose all along. Sometimes being overly righteous can cause a person to lose perspective of the truth.
This out-and-out masala film has good production values - cinematography, production design and music score. And there is a good supporting turn by Radhika Apte as the cop's wife who becomes the villain's defence attorney. Roshan even gets to show his dance moves which is a de rigueur crowd-pleasing moment of every film with this particular star.
Le Magnifique / The Man from Acapulco (Philippe de Broca, 1973) 6/10
Belmondo teams up again with de Broca in this rather corny spoof of James Bond thrillers - especially B-series espionage films and the men who write them. Accompanying them is the magnificent Jacqueline Bisset who here is in danger of losing one breast to the villain. A writer (Jean-Paul Belmondo) imagines himself to be the suave secret agent Bob Sinclar of his pulpy novels, imagines a sociology student (Jacqueline Bisset) to be his paramour Tatiana and transforms his rich publisher (Vittorio Caprioli) into the dastardly villain of his spy stories. In reality he is a dull and clumsy divorced man barely making a living with a crush on the sociology student who lives in his building. Typical madcap situations ensue as the overactive imagination of the writer allows him to be the dashing super hero. Belmondo has a high time and here delights in playing the two contrasting roles - he excels more in the action-packed sequences where he performs his own stunts. Bisset also has great fun with the part where she plays the imaginary gun-toting female agent with a bikini covering her voluptuous body and contrasts it with the straitlaced student wearing a pair of studious spectacles. She gets to ride out the cliché of a sexy woman running on a beach in slow motion dressed in a bra and long skirt and needless to say she nails it. Raucous farce almost seems like a precursor to the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films of the 1980s.
Disturbing anti-war film is based on the classic German novel by Erich Maria Remarque which first came to the screen in an Oscar winning Hollywood adaptation in 1930. This harrowing German remake takes the audience and puts them right into the trenches with the film's young protagonist, Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer). Like many young boys at the time he excitedly joins up to fight by lying about his age. Pumped up by romanticized patriotic notions his rite of passage will prove to be devastating and an eye opener. Hollywood has often broached the subject of WWI, and as recently in Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011) and Sam Mendes' 1917 (2019), where it was the Americans and the Allies as the heroes against Germany, but this version is purely from the perspective of the German soldier. The film's outstanding cinematography highlights the disparity between the wealthy elite who directed the war from comfortably lush surroundings dictating to young boys fighting in squalid trenches and on the bloody battlefield. Offices and plush railway cars from where senior military officials operate are brightly lit highlighting colorful uniforms while the scenes on the front are shot with a blue-grey hue. Paul's coming-of-age journey is a relentless and never-ending crawl through violence and death which Berger depicts in graphic detail. This is one of the year's best films and must be seen to realize just how futile all wars are and a lesson for humanity that peaceful existence is the only way out in life.
The Good Nurse (Tobias Lindholm, 2022) 5/10
A serial killer murders patients in hospitals by spiking IV bags with insulin and another drug. A nurse (Jessica Chastain), with a congenitive heart ailment, finds herself at the center of patients dying as she and a sympathetic new recruit (Eddie Redmayne) at the hospital try to figure out the situation. Well acted film is based on the 2013 non-fiction book "The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder" by Charles Graeber about the serial killer Charles Cullen who murdered patients in hospitals while disguised as a nurse.
Vikram Vedha (Pushkar & Gayathri, 2022) 7/10
Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) is an honest cop who sees good and evil strictly in terms of black and white. Vedha (Hrithik Roshan) is a dreaded criminal who understands that both good and evil have nuances of grey. Desperate to nab the criminal the whole police department is shocked when he walks into the precinct and hands himself over to the police. During the interrogation Vedha insists on relating three stories to Vikram which gradually shifts the cop's perception about the villain and instead exposes corruption where least expected. This is a rare Hrithik Roshan film that bombed at the boxoffice but its not without interest. A remake of an acclaimed award-winning Tamil film the convoluted plot is like a jigsaw puzzle which the cop unravels but with the bemused help of the villain. Roshan, his familiar looks hidden under mounds of facial hair, still manages his usual star turn using his twinkling light coloured eyes to great effect. He is perfectly matched in the acting stakes by Saif Ali Khan as the relentless cop who gradually wakes up to a scenario that was clearly evident under his nose all along. Sometimes being overly righteous can cause a person to lose perspective of the truth.
This out-and-out masala film has good production values - cinematography, production design and music score. And there is a good supporting turn by Radhika Apte as the cop's wife who becomes the villain's defence attorney. Roshan even gets to show his dance moves which is a de rigueur crowd-pleasing moment of every film with this particular star.
Le Magnifique / The Man from Acapulco (Philippe de Broca, 1973) 6/10
Belmondo teams up again with de Broca in this rather corny spoof of James Bond thrillers - especially B-series espionage films and the men who write them. Accompanying them is the magnificent Jacqueline Bisset who here is in danger of losing one breast to the villain. A writer (Jean-Paul Belmondo) imagines himself to be the suave secret agent Bob Sinclar of his pulpy novels, imagines a sociology student (Jacqueline Bisset) to be his paramour Tatiana and transforms his rich publisher (Vittorio Caprioli) into the dastardly villain of his spy stories. In reality he is a dull and clumsy divorced man barely making a living with a crush on the sociology student who lives in his building. Typical madcap situations ensue as the overactive imagination of the writer allows him to be the dashing super hero. Belmondo has a high time and here delights in playing the two contrasting roles - he excels more in the action-packed sequences where he performs his own stunts. Bisset also has great fun with the part where she plays the imaginary gun-toting female agent with a bikini covering her voluptuous body and contrasts it with the straitlaced student wearing a pair of studious spectacles. She gets to ride out the cliché of a sexy woman running on a beach in slow motion dressed in a bra and long skirt and needless to say she nails it. Raucous farce almost seems like a precursor to the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films of the 1980s.