Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

The Beekeeper (David Ayer, 2024) 7/10

Nobody comes close to being as kick-ass on screen than Jason Statham. Not even Bronson, Stallone or all those dweebs from the Marvel & DC Universe. When his old landlady (Phylicia Rashad) gets taken for a ride in a phishing scam and commits suicide, a beekeeper (Jason Statham) living in her barn decides to take revenge. It's a return to form for Statham - the fighting machine - as all hell breaks loose when he puts up his fists, picks up his guns and knives and leaves a bloodbath in his wake. Nothing really new here but pure unadulterated mayhem of the kind where you root for the protagonist even though you know he is breaking all rules and not being fair. Rules be damned as Statham with his familiar deadpan brow goes through his moves. Great fun and the screenplay leaves it open at the end for a sequel.

New in Town (Jonas Elmer, 2009) 4/10

Hotshot city slicker consultant (Renée Zellweger) is sent to Minnesota to oversee the restructuring of a food manufacturing plant. She immediately comes into conflict with the freezing weather, the town inhabitants and the staff at the plant - including the scruffy union leader (Harry Connick Jr) and the plant foreman (J. K. Simmons). It's only a matter of time before they all learn to understand each other, and instead of firing fifty percent of the staff as she was directed to do, she turns the whole enterprise around by marketing and preparing tapioca pudding. Corny predictable plot is uninspiring while Zellweger is extremely annoying throughout.

Ferrari (Michael Mann, 2023) 8/10

There is clearly a sense of doom and gloom that prevades across this film. Could be why a film by Michael Mann failed to get the attention it deserved. It is a look-in at the life of Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) - Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque - a life that is filled with conflict and sadness. The screenplay covers the period during 1957 when he prepares his racing team for the Mille Miglia, an open road, endurance-based race lasting one thousand miles. His life is in a chaotic mess - the Company is facing financial ruin, marriage to his wife (Penélope Cruz) has all but collapsed - both are grieving over the death of their only son a year before and she is fed up with his string of affairs - and his mistress (Shailene Woodley) is pressurizing him to give his name to their illegitimate son. He needs his wife, who holds half the shares in the Company, to hand them over to him so he can negotiate a deal with Ford - she agrees but at a huge cost that not only involves the business but also the matter with his bastard son. Meanwhile during the race he has to contend with his temperamental and flamboyant drivers - British racing car driver Peter Collins (Jack O'Connell) whom he admires and treats like family, Italian racing driver Piero Taruffi (Patrick Dempsey) who wins the Mille Miglia, and the playboy sex symbol Spanish aristocrat, racing driver, Alfonso de Portago (Gabriel Leone), who was famously having an affair with the ex-wife of Tyrone Power - actress Linda Christian, who famously kissed him before the Mille Miglia which got labeled the "kiss of death" as during the race his renowned Ferrari 335 S crashes near the village of Guidizzolo when a tyre burst while driving along a dead straight road at 150 mph, killing him, his navigator, and nine spectators. Ferrari is blamed by the media for de Portago's lethal accident. Superbly produced film brilliantly recreates the era. The casting of American actors is a tad suspect - Driver is coldly aloof in his portrayal which I thought was the right touch to this complex self-absorbed man. Although Shailene Woodley is badly miscast in the thankless and underwritten role of the mistress, the film comes to life with a powerhouse performance by Penélope Cruz who looks ravaged throughout - a woman deeply grieving the loss of her son and marriage but totally in control of her business acumen as she negotiates with her husband completely to her own advantage and which he has the sense (and maybe deep affection) to completely agree to. Mann superbly stages the gritty racing scenes which are riveting, full of dread and suspense, and he captures the beauty of the iconic red vehicles with their bright yellow trademark logo as they growl their way across the winding roads.

The Greatest Night in Pop (Bao Nguyen, 2024) 8/10

Fascinating look at how so many stars came together during one long night and created magic while singing "We are the World". It was written by Lionel Richie & Michael Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones as an American benefit single for African famine. The lyrics and melody were completed a day before the actual recording on January 22, 1985. The documentary follows the singers as they arrive at the studio, are provided the lyrics which they rehearse - some get solo moments during the song while others sing in harmony - and after numerous takes that lasts the whole night the song gets recorded. The song was inspired by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in the UK, and the American entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte decided to organize it as a US equivalent. Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel sing the first verse; Michael Jackson and Diana Ross sing the second chorus; Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau sing the second verse; Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall sing the second chorus; Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kim Carnes sing the bridge. "We Are the World" concludes with Bob Dylan and Ray Charles singing a full chorus, Wonder and Springsteen duetting, and ad libs from Charles and Ingram. The following people sang in the chorus: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer, and Smokey Robinson. The record became the fastest-selling American pop single in history.

Jewel Robbery (William Dieterle, 1932) 9/10

Kay Francis plays a Viennese Baroness whose mantra is, "In the morning, a cocktail. In the afternoon, a man. In the evening, Veronal". Witty pre-code film about the pleasures of the rich - alcohol, sex and drugs. Bored with her latest lover she pleads with her rich husband to buy her a 29-carat diamond ring. While he haggles with the store owner a suave jewel robber (William Powell) enters the store with his gang of crooks and holding them all at the point of a gun not only robs the store but also her ring. While getting robbed she gleefully flirts with him and later encounters him again when he steals into her bedroom, kidnaps her and pleads with her to run away with him. She is tempted but does not want to forsake her society ties. Fast moving fluff relies on the incredible charms of both Powell and the delicious Kay Francis who is sexy and hilarious. And check out all the funny scenes with characters getting stoned on marijuana. The mood here is very Lubitsch.

Night of the Eagle / Burn, Witch, Burn (Sidney Hayers, 1962) 9/10

Superb, eerie film gradually builds suspense and terror and never lets up right till the end. A woman (Janet Blair) practices witchcraft which she learned during her honeymoon in Jamaica. She tells her disbelieving husband (Peter Wyngarde), a psychology professor dealing with superstition, that she has been doing it to help his career advancement and to keep him safe. When he forces her to destroy all her magical paraphernalia things start going terribly wrong for him. He almost gets run over by a van, a hysterical student accuses him of rape and her jealous boyfriend almost shoots him with a gun. In addition the faculty envy him and one of the wives (Margaret Johnston) places a voodoo doll in their house to create harm for him. This low budget B horror film, based upon the 1943 Fritz Leiber novel "Conjure Wife", is atmospheric, superbly directed and photographed, with outstanding performances.

Ride Vaquero! (John Farrow, 1953) 7/10

Nobody was ever more welcome on screen - in and out of the realm of MGM - than Ava Gardner. Always such a gorgeous presence with her lilting voice and perfect diction. Ofcourse she was often miscast, and here too she is so out of place on the prairie - as a ranch owner's wife - but one can easily live to ignore that. A Mexican bandit (Anthony Quinn in full-on boistrous mode) resents settlers on the prairie and burns down their homes with his gang. Newly arrived rancher (Howard Keel), with beautiful wife (Ava Gardner) in tow, faces carnage at the hands of the gang. Since this is MGM we get the full star treatment in the cast with Robert Taylor playing the lead as Quinn's mysterious henchman who leads the gang on their destructive outings. When the rancher captures him during a raid a business deal is struck between the two men much to the disgust of the wife. Needless to say disgust quickly turns to desire as Gardner and Taylor make goo-goo eyes at each other. While Gardner managed to retain all her allure - despite wrinkles & weight gain - right to the end of her life, Taylor completely lost the bloom of youth shockingly early in his career. He was at his peak during the 1930s but by the mid 1940s he started looking old and by the 1950s and beyond he always played scowling mature characters with nary an ounce of that original bloom. He is here glum and scowling - never a great actor it was probably a defence mechanism. The plot revolves around a series of romantic crushes - Keel for Gardner, Gardner for Keel & Taylor, and Taylor maybe for Gardner - but the one that dare not speak its name is the strong one Quinn has for Taylor. It becomes so obvious towards the end that it actually makes this otherwise turgid and very talky Western quite palatable. An over-the-top Quinn is great fun and totally steals the film as the ruthless bandit with a deceptively soft heart for "brother" Taylor.

Le trio infernal (Francis Girod, 1974) 6/10

The plot borders on grand guignol - a French lawyer (Michel Piccoli) and two German sisters (Romy Schneider & Mascha Gonska) engage in a series of insurance-bilking scams. Often the scam involves murder. Old men - preferably ones who are on the verge of death - are seduced in marriage to one of the sisters. Once they die of natural causes an insurance scam results in a big monetary payoff which the trio share. However, if the victim does not die he is helped towards his maker via murder followed by a sulphuric acid bath to dispose of the bones. Elegant macabre black comedy has a witty Schneider looking stunning in 1930s attire and as always she has great chemistry with Piccoli.

Silent Night (John Woo, 2023) 2/10

A major misfire by John Woo. We really did not need yet another vigilante revenge thriller just to see Woo choreograph different ways to attack, kill and die. Over the past decades we have seen enough of such carnage from the likes of Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone. A young child dies in the crossfire of a gang war and his father (Joel Kinnaman) becomes obsessed with trying to wipe out all the gang members along with their leader who shot him in the neck. He destroys whatever relationship he has with his wife (Catalina Sandino Moreno) by turning away from her in order to pursue his revenge. Excessively violent film has minimal dialogue and just a lot of noisy guns blaring and human flesh being torn apart by bullets and knives.

Un amour de pluie / A Love of Rain / Male d'amore (Jean-Claude Brialy, 1974) 3/10

Inconsequential, stupefyingly boring romantic film has shallow characters wafting across the screen moving to the beat of Francis Lai's swooningly dull score. Rich Parisienne matron (Romy Schneider) is accompanied by her teenage daughter at a resort in Vittel. While she has an affair with a mysterious Italian (Nino Castelnuovo) her daughter hopes to lose her virginity to fellow teen working as a cook at their hotel. Even the latter part of the plot is sort of thrown away and we don't get to see or hear of it again. There is actually no plot, no action and nothing happens to the characters - the one lively person in the entire film is the flamboyant hotel owner (Suzanne Flon) who briefly sings a song. And nobody makes love in the rain. Lovely Schneider wafts through this piffle dressed mostly in white by Yves Saint-Laurent, although she wears black while twirling on a staircase of the Grand Hôtel as she sips champagne. Director Brialy, who appears in a cameo flirting with his star, totally wastes her talent.

Max et les ferrailleurs (Claude Sautet, 1971) 8/10

Cold, meticulous, and obsessive cop (Michel Piccoli) plans to trap an acquaintance (Bernard Fresson) who is a small-time crook. The man deals in petty crime and surrounds himself with a coterie of prostitutes. The plan is to lure the man and his gang into a bank robbery, capture them redhanded and get recognition and a promotion within the police force. All goes according to plan as he, posing as a rich banker, manipulates the crook's prostitute girlfriend (Romy Schneider) to get him to rob a bank. However, there is always one slip-up - the cop falls in love with the prostitute which leads to a shocking twist ending. The two stars have crackling chemistry - he plays it understated while she is a gorgeous vision - and work in perfect sync under Sautet's astute direction.

Les Choses de la vie / The Things of Life (Claude Sautet, 1970) 8/10

Images of a car crashing in slow motion are interspersed throughout this film. An architect (Michel Piccoli) drifts in and out of consciousness as his life flashes before his eyes. He is estranged from his wife (Lea Massari), has a grownup son and is now living with his beautiful mistress (Romy Schneider) who he although loves but is not fully committed. They are planning to move to Tunis for a new job but he keeps procrastinating and does not sign the job acceptance documents. He decides to call off their affair in a letter to his mistress but at the last minute decides not to send it. Then the car crash takes place. Piccoli is superbly understated as the man who is caught at an emotional crossroads - happy with his mistress but guilt for being a failure as a husband and father. This was the first of five collaborations between director Sautet and Romy Schneider. Based on the 1967 novel "Intersection" by Paul Guimard which was remade by Hollywood in 1994 with Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and Lolita Davidovich.

Le Mouton enragé (Michel Deville, 1974) 7/10

Deville's satirical black comedy follows a man's journey towards success in life. Dull, introverted bank teller (Jean-Louis Trintignant) scores with a prostitute (Jane Birkin) and is then trained by his close friend (Jean-Pierre Cassel) - a handicapped failed writer - to become a seducer, social climber and an opportunist who manipulates businessmen to his own advantage. The writer hopes to write a book about his friend's climb up the ladder. Along the way he scores with a bored housewife (Romy Schneider) and a tough corporate head (Florinda Bolkan). However, things don't quite end smoothly for everyone. All five stars are exceptional.

Yeh Vaada Raha (Kapil Kapoor, 1982) 8/10

Bollywood adaptation of Danielle Steele's romantic novel, "The Promise", which Hollywood tackled in 1979. This version has turned out to be an enduring classic of Hindi cinema. It was a combination of the stunning Kashmir locations, the young trio of beautiful stars, and especially the outstanding R.D. Burman score with the iconic song, "Tu Tu Hai Wahi, Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha" - sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle - which played a major part in the often very melodramatic plot. A rich student (Rishi Kapoor), on holiday in Kashmir, meets and falls instantly in love with a poor singer (Poonam Dhillon). They vow to stay together forever but his mother (Rakhee in full-on bitch mode) objects to the union. Enroute to the temple to say their vows they have an accident. He goes into a coma while her face is badly scarred by shattered glass. His mother persuades the girl to go away and in true dramatic fashion a doctor (Shammi Kapoor) "repairs" her face via plastic surgery and she gets a new face (Tina Munim). With two different actresses playing the same role it was decided that they would both be dubbed by one voice - Jaya Bhaduri spoke all the dialogues for the two actresses. The rest of the plot has the girl encountering her lover who does not recognise her until the song they sang together plays a part in their reunion. A smash hit at the boxoffice the film did wonders for the careers of both leading ladies and it further consolidated Rishi Kapoor as the very successful romantic antidote to all the action stars in vogue then - Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna.

Midnight Bayou (Ralph Hemecker, 2009) 6/10

Harlequin novel - actually one by romance novelist Nora Roberts - meets Haunted House ghost mystery. When Harvard-educated lawyer (Jerry O'Connell) buys a New Orleans based renovated plantation he gets more than he bargained for. The walls and rooms literally come alive with the ghosts of the inhabitants from over a hundred years before - empty rooms appear fully furnished, the nasty lady of the house holds sway over her twin sons both of whom have it on for a maid until murder strikes. In the present he falls for a local Cajun barmaid (Lauren Stamile) who, along with her old psychic grandmother (Faye Dunaway), seems to have some connection to the old ghostley inhabitants. Moody story is shot on stunning locations.

Skammen / Shame (1968) - 8.5/10 - Jan and Eva used to be violinists, but now live on a remote farm on an island as a way of avoiding the ongoing civil war in their country. They don't have a working telephone or radio and live somewhat in isolation, hoping the war will just leave them alone. However, it isn't long before trouble arrives for them from both sides of the conflict.

Jalla! Jalla! (2000) - 8/10 - Roro and Mans are best friends who work for the park service. Roro's family wants him to get married and has arranged for him to meet (and marry) a girl named Yasmin who will be sent back to Lebanon if she doesn't marry. Roro is in love with a girl named Lisa, but is afraid to introduce her to his lively family. Mans has been having his own issues with love for a few weeks. This movie was a lot of fun and I found myself laughing quite a bit.

Lilja 4-ever (2002) - 8/10 - Lilya is a 16 year old Russian girl who is excited about moving to the United States with her mother and her mother's boyfriend. Then her mother abandons her, leaving Lilja behind under the authority of an aunt who doesn't care about her. Thus begins a downward spiral. This is a very good movie, though not a happy one most of the time.

River (2023) - 8/10 - Another time loop story from the group that brought us Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. The setting this time is a Japanese Inn where the staff and guests discover that they are repeating the same two minutes over and over again while retaining their memories of each loop. At first it is kind of fun, but soon they would like to get out of the loop. This was a fun outing and I would put it on par with the previous outing. The cast is fun and does a nice job, especially Riko Fujitani who has the lead.

Soldaten og Jenny / Jenny and the Soldier (1947) - 8/10 - Jenny and Robert meet in a bar one night when he comes to her aid. They start to see each other and fall in love, but an incident in Jenny's past comes back to haunt her and threatens their relationship. This was well acted and is a nice film. It won the first Bodil Award for Best Danish Film.

Society of the Snow (2023) - 8/10 - This film about the 1972 Andes flight disaster is pretty well done with good acting and special effects. Surviving a crash high up in the mountains and then having little food while rescuers are unable to find them is pretty daunting. I'm pretty sure that I saw the movie Alive 30 years ago, but didn't remember much from it.

Man on the Roof (1976) - 8/10 - A police officer is murdered while a patient at a hospital and a detective is assigned to the case. He discovers that the police officer was known for brutality, but that it was covered up. The film takes a turn from police procedural to thriller when a sniper using a high powered rifle starts shooting policemen from the roof of a downtown building. It was pretty entertaining throughout.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) - 8/10 - The story of the Osage Murders from the 1920s is told here in what I thought was a very good film, but one that was longer than it needed to be. The film started to lag a bit around midway through. It wasn't bad, but just not quite as compelling as the first 90 minutes or so.

A Hijacking / Kapringen (2012) - 8/10 - A cargo ship in the Indian Ocean is hijacked by Somali pirates. The pirates demand a large ransom from the company and the company responds with a lowball offer. The negotiations continue over a long period of time with the captives suffering some mental and emotional abuse as things drag on. It's a good drama with the Danish cook being one of the focal point as the pirates use him as a middleman at times to try and get what they want.

Polite Society (2023) - 7.5/10 - Ria Khan is a British teenager who wants to be a stuntwoman. She practices martial arts and makes stunt videos with the aid of her older sister, Lena. When Lena seems to be ready to throw away her dreams of being an artist and marry Salim, a man she only recently met, Ria thinks that Lena needs to be saved. Is it only Ria's selfishness at play or something more? There is some decent action and a fair amount of humor here.

Ang.: Lone (1970) - 7.5/10 - Lone is a 16 year old girl who runs away from a girls home because she can't stand it there. She hitchhikes and steals, making her way first to visit her foster parents and then to keep wandering. She falls in with various groups along the way, eventually irritating them or getting irritated herself and leaving. Lone doesn't seem able to conform or fit in. Amateur actors are used here and they generally do a good job. The soundtrack is also used to good effect at times.

Girl with Hyacinths (1950) - 7.5/10 - A young woman named Dagmar commits suicide in her apartment one night. She played the piano, but was kind of a loner and had nobody really close to her. One of her neighbors decides to investigate and try to find out why she committed suicide. He asks people who knew her about what they know of Dagmar. The story rolls out in flashback for the most part as each person tells their tale. It's a pretty good film overall.

Menneskedyret / The Beast Within (1995) - 7.5/10 - This is a pretty strange film. It starts with the baptism of a boy named Frederick and then jumps ahead to when Frederick is in grade school. The father works in a place that butchers cows. The mother works as a masseuse and may have a thing for the boy's teacher. Frederick sees a lot of what goes on around him and when the kids hold a play ritual one holiday where Frederick is to become the human beast, he slowly starts to adopt that role for real. It's weird, but I still liked it.

Gummi-Tarzan / Rubber Tarzan (1981) - 7.5/10 - Ivan is a young boy who is shy, dyslexic, and not very good at most things. He is bullied at school by a small gang of students and is ridiculed at home by his father. The father is obsessed with Tarzan and wants Ivan to be more like Tarzan. Ivan makes a friend in a crane operator at the harbor who helps Ivan change his outlook. This is a decent kids movie.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - 7.5/10 - There is plenty of action and I like Hayley Atwell's character here. The story is decent, but not as entertaining as some of the earlier entries in the series. Still, it is a fun movie.

The Creator (2023) - 7/10 - Set 40+ years in the future, the U.S. is at war against AI and are pursuing the last holdouts in Asia. One of their agents is out to find and destroy 'The Creator', an AI that poses a big threat, but this agent is also searching to see if his wife is still alive. The agent ends up escorting a young AI girl while being pursued by both sides. The visuals are great and the acting of the agent and the girl are pretty good, but the story is a little dull and feels kind of like a missed opportunity. I still liked the film, though.

Clara Sola (2021) - 7/10 - Clara is a 40 year old woman who lives in a remote area of Costa Rica with her mother and niece. Clara is a bit odd, simple in some respects, but in touch with nature. Clara's spine is curved, but her mother refuses to let Clara have surgery to correct it, even though it is free. Clara is treated in many respects like a child. This is a slow watch, but interesting at times.

American Symphony (2023) - 7/10 - Jon Batiste works on composing his American Symphony while also supporting his wife who is undergoing treatment for leukemia. He also has his job as a tv bandleader, the Grammys, and more. The music, people, and story are all interesting, but I thought the pacing and editing were off at times.

Fish Out of Water / De frigjorte (1993) - 7/10 - Viggo is a middle aged man who is worried that he is about to be laid off, but has trouble expressing his feelings at home. He likes to argue in favor of trade unions and socialism when his adult son and daughter are over for dinner. His wife puts up with his crap and also likes to research family genealogy. This is a decent comedy and I enjoyed it.

A Haunting in Venice (2023) - 6.5/10 - Poirot is retired and living in Venice when an author he knows brings him to a Halloween party in a mysterious building where spooky things may be happening. It was adequate, though not great. I liked it about as much as Death on the Nile.

Barnförbjudet (1979) - 6.5/10 - A little girl wants a party for her birthday the next day. Her parents seem to fight a lot, though, and she isn't sure that it is going to happen. This is a strange film, but is also pretty entertaining at times, perhaps more for the unusual costumes and settings than the story. The daycare center has some interesting color schemes and furniture. The apartment the family lives in seems kind of spartan, though there certainly are a lot of empty bottles of alcohol to walk around.

Napoleon (2023) - 6.5/10 - Visually the film is excellent. I think it is lacking narratively, though. It felt like a Cliffs Notes version of Napoleon's story at times. I wasn't that impressed with Phoenix as Napoleon.

The Adventures of Picasso (1978) - 6.5/10 - This surrealist comedy about the life of Pablo Picasso seemed kind of dumb at first, but I soon started to enjoy it and found a number of the antics amusing. It went on too long, though, and I started losing interest in it, though some of the gags did land.

En fremmed banker pa / A Stranger Knocks (1959) - 6.5/10 - In 1947, a woman has lived alone in a home near the sea since her husband died during the war. One day, a stranger knocks on her door and says that he has been walking for some time. She gives him some food and lets him rest. This leads to them getting intimate, but there are secrets that may come out and affect their relationship. The first half of the film is kind of dull, but it gets better after that and has a good ending.

Silent Heart (2014) - 6/10 - A family gathers together to celebrate Christmas early with the understanding that the elderly mother will be committing suicide after they leave due to her terminal disease getting worse. It's a serious subject, but the film is overly melodramatic and the two daughters are kind of annoying.

Force Majeure (2014) - 6/10 - A family of four is at a ski resort when an incident at the resort's restaurant leads the wife to question how her husband reacted to the situation. The film had some nice scenery when it was outside, but the story (and the repetitive nature of it) didn't do much for me.

Maestro (2023) - 5.5/10 - Bradley Cooper portrays Leonard Bernstein in this biopic which focuses more on the famous composer/conductor's personal life than his professional life. Unfortunately, I found most of the film to be pretty tedious and I was not enamored with Cooper's performance. There were bits here and there that I liked, but mostly it was a chore getting through the film, even though the production values, etc. seemed fine.

Hvor kragerne vender / Persona non grata (2021) - 5.5/10 - Laura grew up in rural Denmark and had a miserable childhood. She moved away to Copenhagen as soon as she could, changed her name, and never returned. Laura is now Irina and is a pretentious author who finally returns home to attend her brother's wedding only to discover that he is marrying the girl who bullied her when she was growing up. She can't let it go and preaches on it throughout the film. The film feels pretty cliched and while it is somewhat watchable, it isn't really very good.

Golda (2023) - 5/10 - Helen Mirren plays Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and its aftermath. It's not really all that interesting a film.

Holiday (2018) - 5/10 - Sascha is the young girlfriend of a drug kingpin. They are on holiday in Turkey where they spend time just hanging around or out on the water. There isn't a whole lot going on through much of the picture, though a couple of short scenes have some action. Sascha meets a tourist and they seem to hit it off, but her lifestyle could get in the way. I didn't really enjoy this one all that much.

Kira's Reason: A Love Story (2001) - 4/10 - A woman returns home after two years in a psychiatric ward. She finds it difficult to integrate back into her family and life, including with her husband and sons. I'm not a fan of the Dogme 95 style and this story didn't do very much for me, either.

Weekend (1962) - 3/10 - A group of boorish and annoying people (3 couples and a bachelor) gather together for a weekend getaway near a beach.

People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart (1967) - 3/10 - This is a sex comedy about a man who follows a dancer to Brazil. It jumps in and out of role play and fantasies with different characters ending up suddenly in bed. The plot jumps around a lot and is fairly nonsensical. Visually it's fine, but I didn't care for the film.

Reunion (Jerry Schatzberg, 1989) 8/10

The friendship between two teenagers - the son of a jewish doctor (Christien Anholt) and the aristocratic son of an Ambassador (Samuel West) - in Germany during the rise of the Nazis. The film, in flashback, covers their travels within Germany as they discuss their lives, the existence of God, what it means to be jewish, the rise of Hitler and their personal interests. During the present the jewish boy, now an ageing doctor in the United States (Jason Robards), returns to the Germany of his youth in search of the friend he lost touch with as they both went their separate ways once war broke out and the prosecution of the jews began. Harold Pinter's screenplay evokes an elegant period - early 1930s Stutgart - which is superbly produced via outstanding production design and cinematography. The dramatic revelation about the Aryan friend and of his whereabouts comes right at the end. One understands after watching and reading about the jewish experience how as a race they have been reviled as a nation and as individuals throughout history. What the State of Israel is now doing to the country of Palestine and to its people is a direct result of years of abuse. The sad irony, ofcourse, is that their present actions have taken on the semblance of the very same Nazis who condemned, gassed and annihilated them during WWII.

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953) 10/10

Lovely Rome, a charming Princess and a solid as a rock American journalist join to create a classic comedy. A bored, overworked - and under the effects of a sedative - Princess (Audrey Hepburn who is absolutely magical) steals out of the Embassy in Rome and embarks on an incognito adventure through the eternal city. Found asleep on the street side by a journalist (Gregory Peck) she ends up in his tiny apartment. When he discovers who she is he plans on getting her interview and takes her on a tour of Rome accompanied by his photographer friend (a wily Eddie Albert). By the end he gets his scoop while she falls in love with him. The film made Hepburn into an instant star, won her an Oscar and gained the lifelong friendship of co-star Peck. Wyler's light touch to the proceedings created an enduring classic still recognised as one the most romantic films ever to come out of Hollywood. Rome and its sights, ofcourse, also help to a very large extent - Piazza di Spagna at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Pantheon, a ride on a Vespa, and a very funny moment at the Bocca della Verità / Mouth of Truth add to the film's many delights. Edith Head's costumes and the witty story (by Dalton Trumbo) also won Oscars, while the film, Eddie Albert, director Wyler, the screenplay, editing, cinematography and production design were nominated. A must-see.

Romeo and Juliet (Carlo Carlei, 2013) 6/10

Exquisitely produced adaptation of Shakespeare's play - shot almost entirely in Italy, with Mercutio's death shot on the iconic bridge in Verona itself - made the grave mistake of dispensing with the original text - a crime (?) - although truth be told the story still manages to flow quite beautifully. The familiar plot - "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean - concerns a young boy from the Montague clan, Romeo (Douglas Booth), who falls head over heels in love with a young girl from the Capulet clan, Juliet (Hailee Steinfeld). With a plot so heavily influenced by love and romance one wants the young couple to be equally good looking. Unfortunately that "perfect" balance is not maintained here as one actor far outshines the other in the looks department. However, all is forgiven as both have the intense bloom of youth upon them. Unfortunately because the 15-year old Steinfeld was finally cast when the original older choice Lily Collins could not make it, the nude scenes originally planned got nixed. The tragic outcome - spoiler alert - involves suicide by poisoning followed by a stabbing. Writer Julian Fellowes simplifies lines, invents new ones and reconstructs phrases, not really to the detriment of the story, although Shakespeare's original lyrical words do beautifully impact the romantic tone of the story. The two young actors are surrounded by a superb cast of character actors playing the Nurse (Lesley Manville), Lord Capulet (Damian Lewis), Lady Capulet (Natascha McElhone), the Prince (Stellan Skarsgård), Friar Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) - and Kodi Smit-McPhee appears as Romeo's cousin Benvolio. The best screen version of the play was by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968 with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey as the star-crossed lovers.

All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh, 2023) 9/10

Stunning memory piece - a man's journey of self discovery about life and sexuality through relationships with a lover (Paul Mescal), his father (Jamie Bell) and mother (Claire Foy). Nothing is as what is shown yet every moment rings true for him. Words which remain unsaid between family members and between partners gradually fall into place. In life often one is at a loss about speaking openly to loved ones but here we see a man (Andrew Scott) get a second chance which ends up being a cathartic moment for him. Heartfelt, eerie film about loneliness, loss and love, and how redemption and peace is achieved while wafting through what seems like a world where fantasy and reality merge. The film is an adaptation of the Japanese novel "Strangers" by Taichi Yamada. All four actors give exquisite performances.

The Great Escaper (Oliver Parker, 2023) 7/10

An 89-year-old Royal Navy veteran (Michael Caine) sneaks off from his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary of D-day commemorations in France in June 2014. Caine and Glenda Jackson reunite on the big screen after almost 50 years in this heartwarming little fluff as a devoted old couple living out their last years together. Nothing much happens - he makes it across the Channel with help from another veteran (John Standing) as they both share their inner demons while she holds fort back home cleverly hiding his "escape" from the staff at the nursing home. Despite her advanced age the actress is in sharp command as her tart-tongued responses bring forth happy memories of all her past performances. This was Jackson's last film - she died after completing her part - and soon after Caine announced his retirement so their reunion here becomes a poignant farewell to both stars.

The Last Rifleman (Terry Loane, 2023) 5/10

Seems like a remake of the recent Michael Caine-Glenda Jackson film "The Great Escaper" coming just a month after the first. Based loosely on the same true events the story revolves around the stubborn efforts of a Northern Irish World War II veteran (Pierce Brosnan in heavy old-age makeup) who, after his wife passes on, sneaks off from his care home in Ireland to make the difficult journey - with an expired passport - to France in order to participate during the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. He is helped along the way by a french tourist (Clémence Poésy), an American veteran (John Amos), a German veteran (Jürgen Prochnow) and an Irish journalist (Desmond Eastwood) as he comes to terms with the losses he suffered during the War. Brosnan is moving as he struggles through this road adventure while battling ghosts from the very distant past.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (James Wan, 2023) 6/10

First sequel to the 2018 film although I could swear there was another one in between as well....maybe the Hawaiian hulk appeared in one of the other DC films. The sequel takes on climate change as part of its "serious" subject and becomes an action packed buddy comedy with Aquaman (Jason Momoa) teaming up with half brother, Orb (Patrick Wilson), to take down Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who has become possessed by a black trident - which threatens to overheat the world - during his quest to discover and rule the lost seventh kingdom of the seas. Also wants to kill Aqua and family - kidnaps baby Aqua. More colorful nonsense with Momoa the only one around with a relaxed sense of humour. Everyone around him is so tight-assed - even the exotic fishes and monsters. Nicole Kidman makes a brief appearance as his mother most probably pocketing big bucks for her few minutes on screen - but Wtf has this stupid, stupid woman done to her face with all those cheek & lip fillers making her look so fugly. Must have woken up off the right side of my bed as I kinda enjoyed this nonsense which positively strains at the seams with all the CGI. Most disgusting moment - Patrick Wilson munching a live cockroach. Ugh!!

Les bonnes causes / Don't Tempt the Devil (Christian-Jaque, 1963) 8/10

A nurse (Virna Lisi) administers an injection to her patient and he dies. His wife (Marina Vlady) accuses her of murder and later it is revealed that the deceased gifted his nurse an expensive bracelet and has left all his money to her in his will. The woman continues to deny being his mistress as the case goes to trial and she is defended by a lawyer (Umberto Orsini) and a judge (Bourvil) who is not quite convinced that the woman is guilty. The mood of the plot somewhat resembles Billy Wilder and Agatha Christie's "Witness For the Prosecution" although here the murderer is revealed very early on - the bitchy wife who plots against the innocent nurse with help from the cynical prosecuter (Pierre Brasseur) who is also her lover. Superbly played drama - lovely Lisi is more than just a pretty face, Vlady plays her part as completely virtuous while the audience is aware of the raging demon beneath her facade, Bourvil is brilliantly cast against type and is subtle and understated in comparison to the deliciously over-the-top Brasseur who plays to the gallery. And like the classic Wilder film there is a twist ending here as well.

Fool Me Once (David Moore & Nimer Rashed, 2024) 7/10

A British combat pilot (Michelle Keegan), released from service after a traumatic wartime incident, finds herself in the midst of two murders - her sister who is shot dead at her home during a robbery and a month later her beloved husband (Richard Armitage) who is shot dead in front of her by two men in a park. The plot takes on a double twist when it is discovered that both murders were committed by the same gun and a recent video recording that reveals her husband could be still alive. The plot involves a number of eccentric characters - a quirky detective (Adeel Akhtar) who suffers mysterious blackouts, his gay talkative cop partner, an imperious upper class mother-in-law (Joanna Lumley) who may or may not be hiding behind some evil plan, two kids who decide to investigate their mother's murder, and several more deaths from the very distant past that could be related to present events. This 8-part series has one twist after another and the rather ridiculous, but gripping, premise where the pilot starts to investigate the murders like an older version of Nancy Drew. Based on one of many books by Harlan Coben commissioned as movies by Netflix.

Indochine (Régis Wargnier, 1992) 8/10

Interesting to re-watch this film in the very country it is set in. Epic film recreates a time and era long gone and set against the backdrop of the rising Vietnamese nationalist movement. An imperious French rubber plantation owner (Catherine Deneuve) gets caught up in dramatic events when her adopted Vietnamese daughter (Linh Dan Pham) falls head over heels in love with her own intense lover, a French Naval officer (Vincent Perez). The story covers a period of twenty years from the 1930s to the 1950s when the country finally won its much sought-after independence. Very long, sometimes rambling, but exquisitely produced film - shot by François Catonné - perfectly captures the French colonial era in all its outward elegant beauty and its internal truth steeped in human savagery. The drama covers intense sex, opium addiction, murder, life in the wilderness as part of a theatrical troupe, imprisonment, child birth, and a suspected suicide. At the center of it all stands the stunning Catherine Deneuve - tall, slim, impecably attired - a vision of beauty as tough boss-lady, friend, doting mother, torrid lover, and finally a strong grandmother who survives despite all the odds. Dreamlike film keeps the characters at a remote distance and the screenplay more or less jettisons the actual horrors the local people were subjected to by their French rulers and merely scratches the surface of the horrors inflicted. Deneuve won her second César award and was nominated for an Academy Award. The film won in the Foreign Film category.

The Statement (Norman Jewison, 2003)

Interesting subject - the Catholic Church protecting Nazi collaborators who helped round up and executed jews during the Vichy government in France during WWII - gets a rather bland treatment. One such man (Michael Caine), who betrayed seven jews during the War and escaped capture, is on the run now in present day France with an army cop (Jeremy Northam) and a judge (Tilda Swinton) in close pursuit of not only him but also trying to discover the person high up in government who has allowed him to be provided asylum away from justice. The old man being chased is a guilt-ridden repentant Catholic, who is sick, bitter and hiding in monastries and abbeys while being provided protection by priests. Caine gives a one-note performance as he snivels, grovels and tries to stay alive while being confronted by assassins and cops. He is surrounded by a superb British/Irish supporting cast (all playing french characters but speaking with British accents) - Frank Finlay, Alan Bates, John Neville, Ciarán Hinds. The film's best moment is a brief vignette where he arrives to hide out at the doorstep of his estranged wife (Charlotte Rampling) and the two go at each other with bitter hatred, goading and accusing each other which reveals the true character of the old man as a sadistic bigot. Jewison's last film is adapted by Ronald Harwood from Brian Moore's novel.

Dhak Dhak (Tarun Dudeja, 2023) 6/10

Four disparate women - a young YouTuber (Fatima Sana Shaikh), a spirited Punjabi grandma (Ratna Pathak Shah), a skilled entrepreneur with stifled dreams (Diya Mirza), and an underconfident young woman trying to escape her overbearing mother (Sanjana Sanghi) - join together and embark on a road trip on bikes to Khardung La in the Leh district of the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The women come with predictable baggage but the screenplay allows them to banter in a playful manner as they in turns abet and support each other through the exhilarating journey. Female empowerment is the underlying theme of the plot as each woman comes into her own as they navigate through the spectacular terrain. Dudeja won the debut director Filmfare award and the film's story, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Ratna Pathak Shah were nominated for their performances.

Three of Us (Avinash Arun, 2023) 9/10

If Ingmar Bergman had been Indian this would have been one of the films he would have come up with. This is not to say that director Arun is copying Bergman. He has created here a drama about life, its regrets, memories - both happy and bittersweet - as characters delve into their long suppressed past. A woman in the early stages of dementia (Shefali Shah) suddenly expresses a desire to visit a town where she spent her childhood. She is accompanied by her willing and supportive husband (Swanand Kirkire) and she reconnects with a childhood friend (Kadambari Kadam) who is now married to another friend (Jaideep Ahlawat) on whom she had a crush all those years ago. With her fractured memory she visits places from her past reminiscing about the good and bitter times, reflecting on how much has changed since then. Her gradual proximity towards her crush results in deep conversations where he too expresses life's regrets - the trauma of an abusive father who suddenly walked out on his family never to be seen again. This growing closeness begins to cause a strain with her husband. The reflective screenplay does not wallow in misery but takes the unexpected path of showing the strength of the human spirit as each character discovers the beauty in their everyday life, valuing memories and accepting the often painful roadblocks life often throws. The film ends with the two friends seated on a ferris wheel, symbolizing the circle of life, as they contemplate a future they know cannot be what they desire. As with most choices in life one ends up taking the pragmatic route even if it is not the one that is desired. Both Ahlavat and Shah are quietly devastating. The film, Ahlavat, the screenplay, dialogue, score and sound design received nominations for the Filmfare award. Director Avinash Arun won for his cinematography as did Shefali Shah for her sharply nuanced, yet understated, performance. A must-see.

Animal (Sandeep Reddy Vanga, 2023) 7/10

Toxic Masculinity screws Misogyny and an Animal is born. The subject is nothing new as Vanga displayed it in spades during his previous films - the Telegu "Arjun Reddy" and its Hindi remake "Kabir Singh". Daddy love, or rather lack of it from a busy industrialist (Anil Kapoor), results in posturing progeny (Ranbir Kapoor) behaving like the entitled brat he is while continuing on his quest of hero worshipping his often absent but ever glowering dad. Boy likes to wave and shoot an AK-47 in class when his sister is ragged in school, later gets into a vicious argument with her husband, usurps his childhood sweetheart (Rashmika Mandanna) just as she is getting engaged to a person of her family's choice, gets married to her, and then turning backs on their families they both move to the USA. When his father is threatened he returns to avenge the perpetrators, one of whom is his sister's husband whom he kills. However, the assassin (Bobby Deol) he seeks turns out to be his own distant cousin as the convoluted plot uncovers assorted family intrigues that have been simmering for decades. Over-the-top characters and situations, once the bane of Bollywood during the 1980's, appear to be still in vogue as this incredibly overlong film has not only become one of the year's most successful films in Bollywood but has also won 5 Filmfare awards including one for Ranbir Kapoor's testosterone induced performance - the film, director Vanga, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Tripti Dimri were also nominated. With everyone playing to the gallery it is surprising to see Bollywood veterans Shakti Kapoor and Prem Chopra in very understated roles as the voices of calm. Ranbir totally outdoes Al Pacino in his scenery chewing "Scarface" role as he brandishes the biggest fucking gun that looks like a canon slaying a never-ending army of goons. The screenplay comes up with corny jokes about underwear, cocks of the black variety, several ingenious methods of killing human beings, and last but certainly not least creates a bizarre but memorable cameo role for Bobby Deol who, in a comeback of hysterical proportion, plays a vicious mute killer. He is first seen dancing to the iconic Iranian wedding song "Jamaal Jamaaloo" - but here given the title "Jamal Kudu" - who during his own wedding kills a man and then calmly goes to his bride and proceeds to consummate the marriage in front of all the guests while covered in blood. The film's bloodbath quotient has to be seen to be believed with the final shirtless confrontation taking place between the two protagonists on an airfield which is then followed by yet more brutal violence presented during the end credits which blatantly hint at a sequel.

Scarecrow / Chuchelo (1984) - 9/10 - Lena is a 12 year old girl who is being bullied by her classmates at school. She moved to a msall town to live with her grandfather and tells much of the story in flashback. The bullying started on the first day of school, but got worse when she covered for a boy she liked. The students in her class can be very cruel. It's very well acted, especially by the girl who plays Lena.

We'll Live Till Monday (1968) - 8.5/10 - Ilya is a middle aged high school history teacher who is well respected by students and coworkers, but appears to be suffering a bit of a personal crisis in terms of his profession. He may be disturbed, in part, by the rumors floating around about the young new English teacher, Natalya, who was once one of his students at the school and is thought to be in love with him. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and the performances by the students and the teachers were each pretty good.

Werewolf by Night (2022) - 8/10 - Ulysses Bloodstone is dead and a group of monster hunters have come to compete for the Bloodstone itself. This is a fun, short film, done mostly in black and white.

The Green Knight (2021) - 7.5/10 - It took me a while to warm to this one. It was certainly atmospheric, but it wasn't until almost halfway through that I actually became interested in the story.

Blue Beetle (2023) - 7.5/10 - That was a lot of fun and better than I expected. Jaime, his family, and Jenny were all great. The villains were a bit cardboard and there probably should have been a bit more explanation about One Man Army Corps for those who don't read the comics, but the action and humor were good and I enjoyed it. It would be nice to get a sequel, but that seems pretty unlikely.

Fate of a Man (1959) - 7.5/10 - A Russian father of three has a happy life before WWII. He goes off to fight after the war starts and ends up spending a couple of years as a prisoner of war before escaping. His life back home is forever changed due to the events of the war.

Five Evenings (1979) - 7.5/10 - It's the late 1950s and Sasha is back in his old hometown on business when he recognizes the apartment building where a woman he once loved lived before they got separated by the war. On a whim, he goes to the building to see if she still lives there and the two slowly rekindle their relationship.

Jules (2023) - 7.5/10 - Ben Kingsley stars as Milton, a 78 year old widower who lives alone, frequently attends and speaks at city council meetings, and whose daughter is worried that he may be showing early signs of senility. A spaceship crash lands in his back yard and a friendly, but mute alien starts living with Milton. When Milton tries to tell people about it, his daughter and others see it as a sign of his diminished mental capacity. It's up to Milton and two friends (Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin) to help their new alien friend. This is a pretty laid back comedy and I enjoyed it.

July Rain (1967) - 7.5/10 - Lena is a twenty-something who hangs out with her boyfriend and other friends when she's not at work or home. A man loans her his coat during a rainstorm one day and the two start talking regularly on the phone. It's a good film and the influence of the French New Wave on it is pretty evident.

Nine Days of One Year (1962) - 7.5/10 - Two nuclear physicists are friends, but each loves the same woman. One of the men is close to reaching his goal in experiments involving neutrons, but he has already received large doses of radiation in the past and his health could be further threatened if he does succeed. I enjoyed the scientific background to the film, the characters, and the occasional humor that is mixed in.

The Lady with the Dog (1960) - 7/10 - A banker on holiday in Yalta meets a woman who walks her dog every day. Each is married, but they begin a brief affair before heading to their respective hometowns. The banker can't get her out of his mind, though.

Little Vera (1988) - 7/10 - Vera is a young woman who lives in a small apartment with her parents. Her parents want her to go to university, but she's more interested in hanging out with friends and partying right now. Her life gets more complicated when she gets a new boyfriend who soon moves in with her and her parents, but there is a lot of tension.

Cloud-Paradise (1990) - 6.5/10 - Kolya lives in a small Soviet town. He struggles to make small talk and finds most people to be fairly indifferent about whatever he tries to discuss. He suddenly bursts out to a friend that he plans to move to the far East thaht day and finds himself the center of attention with a lot of people supporting his 'plan' to move. It's an odd film. I liked it more as it went along.

The Red Snowball Tree (1974) - 6/10 - A thief needs to hide out for a while so he heads to the country where a woman lives that he exchanged letters with while he was in prison. He is tired of the criminal life and enjoys life out in the country, but his past life might not be done with him. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this one very much.

Trial on the Road (1971) - 6/10 - In 1942, a former Red Army soldier who went over to fight for the Germans now wants to come back and fight with the partisans against the Germans. I found it difficult to remain engaged with the characters and story at times.

Twenty Days Without War (1977) - 6/10 - A Soviet Major/war correspondent is given a 20 day leave after the Battle of Stalingrad and he uses the opportunity to return to visit Tashkent where a film is being made based on his stories.

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) - 6/10 - This film jumps ahead a few years to a world where dinosaurs are living in the world around us. A genetically altered plague of locusts threatens crops (and people). The film is pretty boring during the first half hour and gets a little better after that when the action starts. It's another step down for the franchise.

My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984) - 5.5/10 - Ivan Lapshin is the head of police in a 1930s Russian town around the time of 'The Great Purge". He is friends with a journalist named Khanin, and even takes him along on a raid in search of the leader of a gang of criminals. Pretty bleak looking at times and only occasionally interesting.

Moonshot (2022) - 5/10 - Walt is a college student who is hung up on Mars and wants adventure. Mars has been terraformed and colonized, but his applications to go there have been rejected. He sneaks on board a flight to Mars and gets some help from a girl who he convinced to follow her boyfriend to Mars. It's a dumb film, but does get a bit better toward the end.

Family Relations / Rodnya (1982) - 4/10 - A mother comes from the country to visit her daughter in Moscow and to try and help mend her marriage. I suppose the mother is meant to be endearing and funny, but I found her loud and annoying much of the time.

China Moon (John Bailey, 1994) 6/10

Woman (Madeleine Stowe) married to an abusive husband (Charles Dance) meets a cop (Ed Harris) who falls head over heels in love with her and they begin an affair. During an altercation with her husband she shoots him dead in self defence and the cop helps her dump the body and she uses an alibi to clear herself of the homicide. Matters come to a head when the cop's young partner (Benicio del Toro) becomes suspicious during the investigation which leads to a twist ending. Sultry but routine neo-noir has lovely Stowe going the femme fatale route â la Barbara Stanwyck, Lana Turner and Kathleen Turner although she kinda fails to generate much heat as she seems to be sleep walking through most of the film. Steamy Florida is once again the setting and the mood is set by the blues songs sung live by Sam Myers during a sequence in the bar where the two lovers first meet. Harris is superb as the sap who finds himself twisted around the little finger of Stowe.

The Man Who Cheated Himself (Felix E. Feist, 1950) 6/10

Bitchy socialite (Jane Wyatt) kills her fortune-hunter husband and urges her cop lover (Lee J. Cobb) to help her. They dump the body, hide all clues but are pursued by his younger brother (John Dall) who also happens to be a rookie cop and his partner on the murder case. Formulaic B-noir is fairly gripping with a rare romantic lead role for character actor Cobb. Jane Wyatt, one of Hollywood's most wholesome actresses, is here cast totally against type as the femme fatale. The film was later the inspiration for the neo-noir China Moon (1994).

The Pilot's Wife (Robert Markowitz, 2002) 6/10

A woman (Christine Lahti) is informed by an airline employee (Campbell Scott) that the plane her pilot-husband (John Heard) was flying from London to Boston has exploded over the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Ireland. The plane's black box reveals there might have been a bomb in the cockpit. When the FBI arrives and starts asking awkward questions she makes a trip to London where she is shocked to discover another nasty secret he had been hiding from her for over five years. Her marriage appears to have been a sham which she tries to process by making a trip to the site of the crash. Based on a romance novel the film overcomes its soap opera origin and works for the most part due to the understated performance by Lahti and the lovely location filming which is apparently Nova Scotia doubling for both Boston and Northern Ireland.

Nothing But the Truth (Rod Lurie, 2008) 6/10

A government agent (a fiery Vera Farmiga) discovers that the United States wrongfully bombed Venezuela after an assassination attempt on the President. A reporter (Kate Beckinsale) outs the agent and writes the sensational story for her newspaper leaving the government exposed and in an awkward position. She is brought to trial and asked by a special Federal prosecutor (Matt Dillon) to reveal her source as under law if a government employee rats on a covert agent it is treason. When she refuses to divulge the name of her source she is jailed for a year and eventually sentenced to prison for two years. Her action results in the covert agent's divorce and later assassination, followed by her own marriage breaking down and. The film comes to life in all the scenes the two women confront each other but their individual home-life moments border on soap opera and keep bringing the film to a hault. While Angela Bassett is underused as the editor of the paper, the film perks up each time the forceful and relentless Matt Dillon appears, and Alan Alda turns in a great performance as the vain but sensitive attorney for the defence. The film reveals the journalist's source right at the end which is a complete surprise although makes complete sense why she was willing to risk prison and also sacrifice her personal life to hide the name of the person.

Erste Liebe / First Love (Maximillian Schell, 1970) 4/10

The star of this film is the cinematographer Sven Nykvist who creates gorgeous images of not only the actors but of birds, clouds, vast rolling fields, blades of grass and every object that comes in the way of his camera. The plot is strictly out of a Mills & Boon romance novel although it is based on the classic 1860 novella by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. A 16-year old boy (John Moulder-Brown) gets infatuated with a 21-year old woman (Dominique Sanda) who has moved into the farm next door to the country estate belonging to his family. He lives with his father (Maximillian Schell), whom he looks up to, and a disdainful, irritable mother (Valentina Cortese). While the boy is serious in his love for her she merely flirts with him and enjoys his company as she does with a stream of other men around her. As is often the case, most first loves are doomed, but here there is a tragic whammy for the young, gooey-eyed teenager, something he does not see coming. Lovely Sanda was on a roll then playing the object of desire in back to back films - Robert Bresson's "Une femme douce", Bernardo Bertolucci's "Il conformista", Vittorio De Sica's "Il giardino dei Finzi Contini" - in all of which her character is like that of a will-o'-the-wisp. An object of yearning who is difficult to completely grasp. Schell tries a bit too hard to stretch the thin plot creating mood with repetitous scenes of the boy oogling the woman while she annoyingly plays hot and cold with him. There are other characters that float in and out of the main plot - British playwright John Osborne plays a poet who recites to a bunch of pigs and sheep on the estate, Dandy Nichols plays the young woman's eccentric mother, off-screen couple Marius Goring and Lucie Mannheim also make appearances. Schell's debut as a director inexplicably managed to get an Academy Award nomination in the foreign film category. Sitting through this was quite a tedious experience.

Maestro (Bradley Cooper, 2023) 8/10

Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper), one of the most important conductors of his time, often comes off here like a wilful child - wants to have his cake and eat it too. Both male and female - but with a special preference for the male sex. This gorgeous looking film - shot both in black & white and in colour by Matthew Libatique - is not really a straightforward biography of this genius who became the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. It is an intimate (and at times very flamboyant) look at his relationship with people close to him - very briefly with friends, colleagues, lovers (the more the merrier) - but in depth with his very complex and tempestuous marriage to Costa Rican actress, Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), with whom he had three children. Cooper directs this tormented love story and makes it seem like we are watching a ballet on stage with the two main characters swaying and twirling to soaring music as they come together in a duet of clashing cymbals. A complex relationship that is driven to despair, hurt and anger, yet remains unbreakable despite the gross excesses - both sexual and cerebral - that one member indulges himself in while the other bears it with bitter and loving forebearance. Great art doesn't come easily and often a great emotional price has to be paid to achieve it which Cooper presents in vivid strokes through the lives of these two souls - one who is at turns childish and volatile but also extremely magnetic who is provided emotional balance by the other. A love story for the ages brought to the screen painted with bright urgent strokes. Cooper is both jarring and real under the prosthetic makeup - the notorious fake nose caused a lot of silly controversy but it is the body part that actually vividly transforms him into Bernstein. Mulligan, at first appears miscast and seems to initially tread softly around Cooper's edgy performance, but she quickly grows into her character and stands tall creating a strong woman who manages to hold her own next to the genius. She gets a stunning scene where she unleashes years of suppressed anger and verbally goes at him hammer and tongs while he tries to arrogantly defend himself. Despite all his selfish antics Bernstein maintains a deep love for his wife which he tenderly displays when she is gravely ill with cancer. Cooper has dressed his film in topnotch fashion - the outstanding costume and production design, the editing, makeup and hairstyle, the constantly moving camera, and ofcourse the stunning Bernstein music interludes that provide the dramatic backbone to the story. Thankfully the screenplay does not go the route of a standard biopic connecting each dot and moment in his life although it could have maybe spent a wee bit more time on some of the important supporting characters - his lovers and sister, and their children who we get to see so fleetingly. The film is a stunning ode to a narcissist, albeit one who has loads of charm.

The Blacklist (2013-2014) Season One 8/10

Mysterious criminal - Raymond Reddington (James Spader) - gives himself up to the FBI, demands immunity and in return promises to provide information on wanted criminals just as long he has direct access to rookie FBI agent - Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). The series uses the tone of "The Silence of the Lambs" in its interactions between the two leads. Spader takes the role and runs with it creating a hugely compelling character who drips sarcasm and vicious bon mots who is not afraid to kill with steel-eyed precision if the occasion calls for it.

High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood, 1973) 6/10

Eastwood directs his first Western and brings to the genre his apprentice training from his Spaghetti days as he channels Sergio Leone. The silent man with no name, cheroot stuck in his clenched teeth, rides into town, shoots dead three men, gets accosted by the town trollop, who he then rapes after dragging her to a barn and pushing her down onto a haystack. And this is only during the first ten minutes. So politically not correct? Or is it? Well she does start by struggling which quickly turns into a passionate embrace as she pulls him to herself while in the throes of what seem like multiple orgasms. Whatever the case may be this scene would never pass muster in today's over-sensitive woke climate in Hollywood. The stranger is hired by the bickering townfolk to protect them from a bunch of critters who were jailed and are now being released. It also appears the town is guarding a dark secret from the past. Eastwood looks very cool squinting his eyes and makes his gunslinger a mythical combination of Dirty Harry and Jesus Christ.

I recently revisited I Heart Huckabees, a film I hadn't seen in a long time, and shared the experience with my girlfriend, who was watching it for the first time. My initial positive feelings about the movie had evolved into a more favorable memory, particularly in light of director David O. Russell's later works.

EDIT: 01.17.24

On this viewing, what held me at bay was how over-plotted it is. It wants to set everything up within the first act and I don't think it really benefits from that. For example: Jason Schwartzman is an environmental activist-poet leading the Open Spaces coalition to protect a marsh from being destroyed to make room for a new Huckabee's Superstore. He finds a rival in Brad Stand (Jude Law), a PR executive with a wife (Naomi Watts) that Schwartzman becomes obsessed with. But what Schwartzman really thinks is going on is that Stand wants to undermine him and dismantle the coalition. This all happens BEFORE the movie begins. But that's not why Schwartzman goes to see the Existential Detectives. He goes to see them because of a coincidence involving an African man showing up repeatedly in his life.

By any metric, that's a lot. My problem isn't that there's too much going on. My problem is that there's so much going on that I never quite bond emotionally with the characters. And I want to. Ultimately that's what bothers me about the film. It has a very high bar to clear. This is a lark about all the big thoughts in the world but it's also about nothing. That's a high bar to clear and it only does it half of the time. The other times, it's abrasive and annoying.

But honestly, maybe that's okay. It's I Heart Huckabees after all. It doesn't all have to come together. Anyway, I didn't have the transcendent experience I did earlier in my life but it's still a fascinating and unique film within David O. Russell's quixotic oeuvre. It's unlike anything else.

May December (Todd Haynes, 2023) 7/10

An actress (Natalie Portman) comes to observe in close detail the life of a woman (Julianne Moore) who was once involved in a scandal. She has been offered a script to portray the 37-year old married woman who had an affair with a boy in seventh grade. There was a jail sentence but now years later the two are married and have grown up kids and living happily together. The actress is amazed to see that the woman has no guilt but realizes that there is a lot of tension surrounding her when she speaks to other members of her extended family - first husband, kids by him, present husband's father. The film is loosely based on the true story, during the 1990s, of a schoolteacher who had an affair with a sixth grader. The film moves like a delicate memory piece with the actress intruding into the private life of a woman, who although outwardly seems upbeat about the idea, gives off an underlying signal of annoyance. Mid-point Haynes stages a scene between the two women - the actress wants to know what makeup the housewife applies which the latter then proceeds to apply to the face of the actress - which has a startling resemblance to a moment in Ingmar Bergman's 1966 classic "Persona" where the two personalities for an instant merge as one. Charles Melton is quietly devastating as the young husband who while seemingly faithful to his older wife has sound rumblings of doubt years into their relationship. Julianne Moore manages to provide sympathy to her southern belle character who is not quite the monster as portrayed by the tabloids and she brings a touch of gentle naïveté to the part along with a dash of fire simmering beneath the facade. Haynes continues in his streak of melodramas in line with the great Douglas Sirk.

Cadaveri eccellenti / Illustrious Corpses (Francesco Rosi, 1976) 7/10

Political thriller that more or less mirrors what was happening in Italy at the time. A series of high ranking judges are being assassinated and Inspector Rogas (Lino Ventura) is assigned to the case. Slow moving, but thoughtful and intriguing, police procedural with an outstanding supporting cast in bit roles - Marcel Bozzuffi, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny, Tina Aumont, Renato Salvatori, Fernando Rey, Charles Vanel, Max von Sydow - with a shock ending that is in keeping with the corrupt politics in play back then in the country.

The English (Hugo Blick, 2022) 8/10

Revisionist Western swings like a pendulum between Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino. It balances the silences and intense closeups of Leone with a whole lotta talkin' â la Tarantino. Plus we get epic shots of the vast Wild West in all its brutal fury. An Englishwoman (Emily Blunt) travels to the American West in 1890 to take revenge on the man who killed her son. The story turns into a violent road trip when she saves the life of an ex-cavalry scout who is a member of the Pawnee Nation (Chaske Spencer). He is on his way to Nebraska to claim land the army owes him. Both join together on their quest for salvation. Along the way secrets are revealed as they encounter assorted colorful characters - Stephen Rea, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, Ciarán Hinds - under a vast umbrella of violence. For a British production this is a superb effort.

Anima persa / The Forbidden Room (Dino Risi, 1977) 8/10

Young art student arrives at a dilapidated mansion belonging to his aunt (Catherine Deneuve) who is married to a stern controlling man (Vittorio Gassman). He notices that his aunt is totally submissive to her husband who treats her with no respect. Things get sinister when he hears noises in the attic and is forbidden to go into a room upstairs. He is informed by his aunt and the maid that the uncle's twin brother resides in the attic who went mad after the death of the aunt's daughter from a previous marriage. Though the plot appears to be veering towards grand guignol this is not what we discover. Also intriguing to the young student is the weekly arrival of a prostitute who is taken upstairs to the mad man for his pleasure. This is another film that would horrify today's American audiences - a subject so matter of factly put across here - a man's facination and love for a child which he takes to a sinister extent. And it doesn't end there as the man has so much more up his sleeve. The film resembles a giallo but comes off more as a gothic horror mystery with Tonino Delli Colli's camera weaving through the musty rooms. Poor Venice again comes off as very sinister helped in great part by the faded baroque mansion in which the action plays out in an extremely perverse psycho-sexual way. The final twist ending does not come as a total surprise but is highly effective. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Giovanni Arpino, who also wrote "Il buio e il miele", which Dino Risi in 1974 turned into the classic film "Profumo di donna", which has one of Vittorio Gassman's most memorable performances. And he is equally mesmerizing here as well. Truly a great actor. And a star.

Strange Days (1995) - 8/10 - New Year's Eve 1999 is here and Los Angeles is a crime ridden battleground in many areas. Lenny (Ralph Fiennes) is a former cop who now deals in a fairly new type of illegal item which allows people to record memories, feelings, etc. to disc so that others can experience them. When a disc is given to him that contains the murder of someone he knows, his life and the lives of his friends are in danger. His main help comes from his limo driver friend, Mac (Angela Bassett). It took me a bit to get into this, but I liked it more and more as it went along.

Last Night (1998) - 8/10 - The people in Toronto are going about their lives on the last day before some unnamed catastrophe will end the world at midnight. The rioting is in the past and people are dealing with it in a variety of ways. Some are meeting in prayer groups, another is pursuing his sexual goals, and one man just wants to spend the evening alone in his apartment. It's a pretty good film.

Le pays des sourds / In the Land of the Deaf (1992) - 8/10 - This is a very nice documentary about a variety of deaf children and adults. The children are part of a class for the deaf who go on occasional field trips in addition to their classroom work. The adults talk about their experiences with family and growing up deaf and we also get to see them in parts of their regular lives.

King Carnival (1973) - 8/10 - A look at the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, delving into its history as well as showing plenty of action from the 1973 Carnival. The costumes and music are pretty cool and I enjoyed this informative and entertaining doc.

The Circle / Dayereh (2000) - 8/10 - The film follows a number of intersecting stories of women who suffer repression in a number of ways in Iranian society. The birth of a daughter may lead to divorce, a woman just out of prison is ostracized by her family and threatened by her brothers, women can't do a number of things without a man. Bleak, but good.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) - 7.5/10 - This was pretty entertaining with plenty of humor. Nothing really exceptional, but generally fun.

Silicon Cowboys (2016) - 7.5/10 - The film follows the rise of Compaq in the 1980s into a power in the computing industry as they took on IBM. The film uses a mix of interviews and archival footage. The company had a lot of success, though ran into a number of problems at different points and eventually started to decline with the 1990s being tough on the company. I remember this era fairly well and used a variety of different computers while in school. We had an Commodore 64s and Vic-20s in Junior High (1982-1984). We had TRS-80s, an IBM-PC, and Tandy-1000s (an IBM clone) in high school plus a Honeywell Level-62 which was used for our punchcard programs. We later got a Unix system and I used Compaqs at one of the other buildings in the district.

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021) - 7.5/10 - I first became aware of Leonard Cohen's music back in the late 1980s and I liked what I heard. I was more of a casual fan than a dedicated one, but I did enjoy his music. This film takes a look at his career from when he first started singing on stage in the 1960s through his death in 2016. The heavy emphasis is on his best known song, Hallelujah. I've always preferred Cohen's version to the various cover versions which sold better, but my favorite Cohen song is actually Everybody Knows from his 1988 album (and later, the soundtrack to Pump Up the Volume).

The Big One (1997) - 7.5/10 - Michael Moore travels around the US on a book tour in support of his book, Downsize This. Along the way, he talks to workers who have lost their jobs due to profitable corporations that have moved operations to other countries to save money. Moore also pays visits to these companies and tries to see politicians. We also get excerpts from Moore speaking to a large audience, apparently doing a mix of stand up and talking about his book tour. It's fairly entertaining.

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002) - 7.5/10 - This is really three parallel films that take place in a once prosperous industrial area. In the first part, the factories are closing down and the workers who haven't been laid off yet often have a lot of idle time. The second part deals with families that live in a rundown neighborhood that is scheduled for demolition. The families are supposed to be relocated to public housing and have been given a date where they have to be out of their old homes. A lot of time is spent with the teenagers who live there and face an uncertain future. The last part deals with a father and son who live illegally in the railroad yard and eke out a living collecting and selling scrap. The first section was okay, but I think it could have been shortened by about an hour without sacrificing anything important. It seemed kind of repetitive at times. The second section was easily my favorite of the three.

Fires on the Plain (1959) - 7.5/10 - A Japanese soldier with TB is abandoned by his company and left to wander alone in the Philippines near the end of WWII. The film is pretty bleak and meanders at times, but overall is pretty good.

Bitter Berry / Gorkaya yagoda (1975) - 7.5/10 - A nice tale of adolescent relationships one summer in Uzbekistan. I think that I might have liked it even more with proper English subtitles. Hopefully those show up some day.

Davandeh (1984) - 7.5/10 - An orphan boy survives on the streets by collecting bottles from the sea, shining shoes, and other jobs. He sometimes hangs out with a group of boys and occasionally finds time for fun. The boy is also enthralled with planes. I thought it was pretty good.

Mars Attacks! (1996) - 7.5/10 - Sure, it's kind of dumb and way over the top, but it is also fun. I hadn't realized how many big names had roles in the film.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - 7.5/10 - This is a nice cold war thriller where control of the nuclear arsenal of the U.S. is given over to a supercomputer named Colossus designed by Charles Forbin. It soon becomes apparent that not everything has gone as planned when Colossus and its counterpart in the Soviet Union use their respective nuclear weapons as the stick to have their demands met.

Mashenka (1942) - 7.5/10 - A nursing student falls in love with a taxi driver, but he isn't sure if he feels exactly the same way for her. Then war breaks out. I liked Valentina Karavayeva as Masha and the movie was pretty entertaining.

The Lion Hunters (1966) - 7/10 - A tribe prepares itself for a traditional bow and arrow hunt for a lion that is a danger to the tribe. The creation of the arrows and arrowheads is shown which is pretty interesting. We also get to see many other traditional parts leading up to the hunt and then the hunt itself.

The Damned (1962) - 7/10 - A young woman expresses some interest in an older American tourist, but her violent brother jealously guards her from the attention of others. The story shifts midway through as they end up on a remote island where a group of children are being held by the government.

Cinderella (1947) - 7/10 - The Soviet version of the classic fairytale is pretty good.

The Road (2009) - 7/10 - A father and his young son travel across the countryside in a post-apocalyptic world where most plants and animals are dead and there are gangs of cannibals among the surviving humans. It's a decent film, but pretty bleak.

Train of Life (1998) - 7/10 - The residents of a Jewish village in Eastern Europe create their own deportation train as a way to escape from the advancing Nazis and escape to the Soviet Union and Palestine. Kind of silly at times, but not bad.

Primary (1960) - 7/10 - The film follows JFK and Hubert Humphrey as they try to gain the Democratic nomination for President in 1960. It's an interesting look at the time.

The Madoff Affair (2009) - 6.5/10 - This documentary looks into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of billions of dollars. I remember when this was big news back in the day, though it didn't affect me directly.

A Married Couple (1969) - 6.5/10 - Their marriage was failing so of course Billy and Antoinette Edwards agreed to have cameras set up in their home for 10 weeks to capture their daily lives. There is a lot of bickering and arguing without much in the way of love. The film is okay, but kind of unpleasant to watch at times. I think Billy came off looking worse here, especially from a modern perspective.

Asteroid City (2023) - 6.5/10 - The setting is a televised broadcast of a stage play. I generally liked the full color sections in Asteroid City. The 'behind the scenes' scenes in black and white were not as interesting.

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) - 6.5/10 - This is a pretty good adaptation of the book from what I can recall. However, I wasn't a big fan of the book and am also not a big fan of this film, though it was okay.

Urgences (1988) - 6.5/10 - A look at some of the patients in the psychiatric ward of a large French hospital. The film reminded me some of Wiseman, thought the fly on the wall aspect was occasionally broken as the people interacted briefly with the people behind the camera.

From the Other Side / De l'autre côté (2002) - 6/10 - This takes a look at the fate of some Mexicans who crossed the border to go to the United States. Relatives of people who crossed are interviewed along with people who crossed and returned. People on the American side are also interviewed. Crossing over to the U.S. often seems not to have a happy outcome. There is a lot of time where no talking is going on and the camera just rolls on whatever is going on in that area.

Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) - 5.5/10 - A melodrama about the building of a tunnel connecting the United States to the United Kingdom. It is fraught with danger for the people building the tunnel. There are also delays and cost overruns. The engineer who conceived of the plan and oversees the projects makes a number of personal sacrifices as well. This seems like a film that I would enjoy quite a bit, but it came across as fairly dull, though there were a few interesting things here and there, though generally not connected directly with the plot.

The Overcoat (1926) - 5/10 - The film adapts two stories by Gogol. The visuals were decent, but the stories didn't really appeal to me.

Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) - 5/10 - An engineer whose dream has been to travel to Mars has to deal with marital issues and also a mysterious message that may have originated from Mars. It's pretty dull for the most part.

Mediterranee (1963) - 4.5/10 - An experimental documentary that is kind of odd and only occasionally interesting.

Liquid Sky (1982) - 4/10 - The visuals were kind of interesting to look at, but the story and characters didn't do much for me.

The Next Three Days (Paul Haggis, 2010) 5/10

As a thriller this has its moments although the premise is totally unbelievable - especially the latter part. When a woman (Elizabeth Banks) is accused of murder and she gets a life sentence her husband (Russell Crowe) plans to get her out of jail. However, he has to go through hell to achieve it - contemplate a bank robbery, get into assorted skirmishes where he gets beaten up, robs a local drug dealer where he gets into a deadly shootout, and it doesn't end there. Crowe goes through the motions totally deadpan looking very bored.

Thanksgiving (Eli Roth, 2023) 6/10

This harks back to all the slasher films of the 1970s & 1980s, helped in great part by the recent Jamie Lee Curtis Halloween trilogy, so it is most welcome. A small Massachusetts town is terrorized by a killer in a John Carver mask around the Thanksgiving holiday. The killing spree is directly related to a Thanksgiving sale a year before at a superstore where a riot broke out and a number of people were killed. Gruesome methods are applied by the killer who uses an axe, a knife, sleep-inducing darts, and the oven where one victim is literally cooked like a turkey with all trimmings intact. The cast of youngsters are all new while two familiar faces from the past appear as well - Gina Gershon as a housewife and Patrick Dempsey as the local cop trying to save the townfolk. Predictable but very watchable for the obvious thrill involved in seeing people getting massacred. Its like the West enjoying the massacre of innocent Palestinians.

Passages (Ira Sachs, 2023) 8/10

The marriage of a gay couple runs into problems when he dumps his husband, takes off with a woman, impregnates her and then wants to return to his old life. Intense portrait of a highly improbable love triangle between a narcissistic German film director (Franz Rogowski), his British husband (Ben Whishaw) and the French school teacher (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who inadvertently comes between them. Their lives become a cycle of fighting, reconciling and making love - the film has a number of very explicit sex scenes - until the two well-meaning souls both decide to opt out of their toxic relationship with the immature flamboyant fuckboy. The screenplay shows how couples often use sex as a tool to deflect problems in their relationship prefering to be in a toxic cycle of intense fighting followed by guilt and then reconciling through sex. Rogowski creates a character who is a grade-A asshole but manages to imbue him with charm in a pathetic sort of way where you end up feeling sorry for him.

Boy on a Dolphin (Jean Negulesco, 1957) 6/10

The film that brought Sophia Loren to the attention of the world courtesy of a clingy wet dress she is seen wearing as she comes out of the Aegean Sea. The film's highlight is the camera focusing on her ample bosom in glorious technicolor. Apart from being a travelogue across Greece - we get to see the Acropolis, the Meteora monastry, the ancient theatre in Delphi and various islands (Poros, Mykonos, Santorini, Hydra, Rhodes) - the film is rather slow with the main plot involving a statue of a boy on a dolphin discovered by a poor woman (Sophia Loren) on one of her dives to collect sponges. She is torn between two men - a greedy collector (Clifton Webb doing his patented supercilious turn) who plans to steal the statue and an American archaeologist (a wooden Alan Ladd) who wants the statue to be given to the Greek government, with whom she falls in love. In addition to the charms of Sophia Loren two other positive aspects of the film are Milton Krasner's lush colour cinematography and an Oscar-nominated score by Hugo Friedhofer. Ladd famously shot all his scenes next to the statuesque Loren while standing on a box due to his short stature.

Undercover Girl (Joseph Pevney, 1950) 8/10

Riveting B-noir - rookie cop (Alexis Smith) infiltrates a gang of crooks running a narcotics ring by going undercover in order to find the man who shot her father in cold blood. Smith, as the determined cop, creates sparks with Scott Brady who is the L.A. cop who recruits her. Also memorable in small roles are Royal Dano as a low-life underworld type, Connie Gilchrist as a senior policewoman, and Gladys George as an ageing moll who inadvertently helps the cops. Gunplay, blackmail, extortion and murder are all perfectly packed into this forgotten noir gem.

Undertow (William Castle, 1949) 7/10

This excellent little B-noir has all the trappings of the genre - hapless man - a former crook (Scott Brady) - framed for the murder of a Chicago mob boss, gambling, murder, betrayal, a sense of paranoia, a femme fatale, the good girl waiting in the wings (Peggy Dow), and the buddy cop (Bruce Bennett). Brady is very good in the lead and there is an early bit appearance by a future star actor billed simply as Roc Hudson - minus the "k".

Un homme de trop (Costa-Gavras, 1967) 6/10

The film's opening attack on a German prison - somewhere in the Cévennes mountains - to free 12 french prisoners by the resistance is shot in semi-darkness. One can hardly see what is happening as the men swiftly move in, kill the german soldiers and free the prisoners. However, a 13th prisoner (Michel Piccoli) is discovered who is unknown to them and he is suspected to be a spy and informant. Despite his attempts to explain that he is not on the German side the men decide that he must be executed. The film's amazing cast, a who's who of french cinema - Charles Vanel, Jean-Claude Brialy, Bruno Cremer, Gérard Blain, Claude Brasseur, Jacques Perrin, Pierre Clémenti, François Périer - all give vivid performances. Costa-Gavras keeps his cast and the camera in constant motion as the rebels move through villages and towns, into the hills, and culminating with a final battle with the Nazis on a bridge. Sadly the film grinds to a hault during the mid-section as the men, holed up in a hut, bicker, banter, and size up each other. The final deadly assault on the Nazis and their equally swift response is superbly played out on a hillside and on a bridge that leads to the inevitable conclusion.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (William Nigh, 1948) 6/10

B-noir, once thought lost, was rediscovered in 2000. Based on the novella by Cornel Woolrich the screenplay dispenses with the book's dark ending and comes up with a different conclusion here. A hapless couple living hand-to-mouth find a wallet full of money which they decide to keep. However, the man's shoe print outside a murdered victim's house leads the police to him and he gets convicted for theft and murder, and sentenced to be executed. Meanwhile his wife seeks help for her husband from a cop who has been stalking her and has professed his love for her. A poverty row quickie crime drama is briskly paced and competently directed.

Lassiter (Roger Young, 1984) 7/10

American cat burglar (Tom Selleck) is given a choice by Scotland Yard police inspector (Bob Hoskins) - either he goes to prison or he helps them steal a shipment of emeralds from within the German embassy in London. It's pre-war 1939 and the Swastika is proudly flying inside the embassy. The film harks back to the days when William Powell and Cary Grant played elegant jewel thieves only here there is danger of the Nazi kind. Selleck, who has incredible screen charisma, is here at the start of his rather wan film career which sadly always remained on the sidelines of his tv show "Magnum, PI". The screenplay adds on moments of nudity - lovely Jane Seymour is his girlfriend, while Lauren Hutton is the deliciously evil German countess who gets sexually turned on by violence and in bed likes to take charge by grappling her man while on top and has a nasty habit of sometimes impaling a thin steel rod into the neck of disapproved lovers while in the throes of an orgasm. Selleck looks very dapper in and out of his 1930s threads - tuxedo as well as the all-black outfit during his robbing sprees. Sadly this breezy film is let down at the conclusion by a rather pat ending. I expected at the very least a nasty showdown with the femme fatale.

Nyad ( Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, 2023) 7/10

Sports drama about Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) and her five attempts to swim across the Florida Straits from Cuba to Key West - that's 110 miles of unpredictable open ocean - without a shark cage. As with most films about sports it can get a tad repetitious and here there is not much you can do to keep up the interest in the plot - she made a number of attempts before she succeeded and the film throws in one dramatic shark encounter which actually never took place. Most of the running time is of her swimming, taking short stops for food and liquid, and the reactions and constant encouragement of the team accompanying her - coach Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster), all-but-mute captain Dee Brady (Karly Rothenberg), self-sacrificing navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans) and box jellyfish expert Angel Yanagihara (Jeena Yi). Annette Bening gives a ferociously committed performance as the athlete. You can actually feel the great effort she makes during the swim. And she isn't afraid to play the character as abrasive and unlikeable - a woman absolutely driven to achieve her goal. Foster, is quietly superb, as the faithful friend and coach who has her back at all times gently nudging Diana to go on even when she is all but dead in the water from exhaustion. There is a ridiculous CGI moment in the film when Diana hallucinates that she is swimming over the Taj Mahal which should have been omitted. In the end the film is not only a moving tribute to a marathon swimmer but also an ode to female friendship.

Arthur's Whiskey (Stephen Cookson, 2024) 3/10

What quirky casting - Diane Keaton joins Patricia Hodge and the singer Lulu in this tiny little British film. When a small-time inventor is hit by lightning and dies, his widow (Patricia Hodge) and her two buddies (Keaton & Lulu) discover his invention in the garden shed - bottles of home made whiskey which when consumed transforms them into young girls for a period of six hours. Silly beyond belief as the film flits between the older women - moaning and groaning about their aches and pains - and the youthful girls who go in search for some sex and love but have a hard time mixing in with the youth of today. Also popping up are Hayley Mills in an old people's home and the singer Boy George as himself. Cloying, boring film.

Hijack (Jim Field Smith & Mo Ali, 2023) 9/10

A business negotiator (Idris Elba) suddenly finds himself in over his head when he has to try and negotiate with hijackers on a flight from Dubai to London. Riveting 7-part limited series puts the viewer right inside the plane surrounded by frightened passengers and five hijackers brandishing pistols. The running time of the series mirrors the almost 7 hour flight with the story alternating between the tension filled events inside the claustrophobic plane and the air traffic control and anti-terrorism offices on the ground. While the negotiator attempts to parry with the hijackers the city officials try to avert the plane from crashing down over London. Gripping story from beginning to end.

The Vanishing Prairie (James Algar, 1954) 7/10

Before there was the National Geographics channel to show us the wonders of our world we got to see bits of it via this Oscar-winning docementary feature by Walt Disney. A sprawling look at the area east of the Continental divide in the United States - an area of rolling grasslands once solely the haunt of the Native Americans (then referred to as Red (why red?) Indians who roamed, lived and hunted throughout this vast area. Later it was the route used by covered wagons as people migrated West towards Oregon. The camera captures the birds and animals as they migrate, hunt, mate (a sexual dance by cranes) and frolic - assorted birds, deer, jack rabbits, a mountain lion on the hunt, gophers, scuttling prairie dogs, swooping falcons, shuffling bison (also a quick shot of one giving birth - which was a first in a Disney movie). There is facinating use of music which accompanies the wild life as they swim, fly and interact with each other often in balletic mode. The film culminates with a brutal lightning storm which results in a fire and a flood on the prairie - nature at its best & worst, yet truly beautiful.

Good Grief (Dan Levy, 2023) 6/10

This earnest little film sadly comes off like one of those derivative Hallmark tv films - good looking people in lovely settings doing what friends do while one suffers stoically through not one but two traumas. A book illustrator (Dan Levy), married to a very successful author (Luke Evans) of romantic novels, suddenly finds his life collapsing around him due to a tragic event. His two bosom pals - an art dealer and former lover (Himesh Patel) and a boozy neurotic (Ruth Negga) - give him full support until suddenly he discovers his tragedy turning into betrayal. The trio turn up in Paris where the three try to find some meaning in life while trying to navigate fresh relationships. Levy, who starred in and created "Schitt's Creek" on tv, tries his hand on the big screen. While he has good screen presence the film misses several beats when the screenplay tries to push broad comedy into what is basically a bittersweet story about love and loss. The attempt to channel Nora Ephron, Nancy Meyers, and Richard Curtis does not quite work. And why is everything so perfect? - the snazzy clothes they wear, the parties they attend, the gorgeous apartments they live in, the romantic music accompanying every beat of the story, and topping it all there is Paris. In reality life is often too chaotic, messy and downbeat (with happy bubbles punctuating periodically) for all on view here to really seem authentic. The three leads work well together and are very convincing as long-term friends with their comfort level between each other vividly shining through.

The Terminal List (Antoine Fuqua, Ellen Kuras, M.J. Bassett, Frederick E.O. Toye, Tucker Gates & Sylvain White, 2022)

Compelling limited series based on former Navy SEAL officer Jack Carr's thriller novel. When a platoon is ambushed during a covert mission in Syria only two survive - their Commander (Chris Pratt) and his close friend who soon after commits suicide under mysterious circumstances. When the lone survivor's wife and daughter are murdered in cold blood he goes on the run. It appears a pharmaceutical company, his seniors at the Navy, and even the Pentagon may be involved. Helping him on his mission are a journalist (Constance Wu), who is looking for a story, and another close buddy and former teammate (Taylor Kitsch) who is a CIA operative. As he investigates the mystery he makes a list of ten names whom he, one by one, starts to eliminate in true vigilante fashion. Action packed conspiracy thriller is entertaining with enough twists to keep you bingeing through the eight episodes.

Three Pines (Sam Donovan, Tracey Deer & Daniel Grou, 2022) 9/10

Murder mysteries based on the series of novels by Canadian writer Louise Penny. Remarkable how the Agatha Christie formula continues to inspire modern writers - a murder followed by a bunch of suspects whom the detective - here he is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (Alfred Molina) of the Sûreté du Québec police force - who doggedly solves the crime. Not quite Poirot, but pretty close in tone. The stories are all set in an idyllic fictional village - Three Pines - in Quebec, Canada. The series consists of four murder mysteries (two episodes each) along with a secondary storyline about a missing North American Indigenous girl which is spread out throughout the eight episodes. Quirky, atmospheric, often quite macabre and melancholic plotlines, with the detective suffering through his own neurosis which harks back to a childhood trauma. Molina is superb. Sadly the series was cancelled after just one season although there are several more award-winning books by the author which could have been adapted.

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (Arjun Varain Singh, 2023) 7/10

Hallelujah! We actually get to see here a superb performance by Ananya Panday. A tale of friendship set during the era of social media. That is now. Three besties - a stand-up comedian (Siddhant Chaturvedi), an MBA graduate from Harvard (Ananya Panday) who works as a corporate consultant (the screenplay is by Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti & director Singh, and Panday's casting shockingly works) and a personal trainer (Adarsh Gourav) - face the usual life trials twenty-somethings get to face and handle, not always successfully. While the screenplay predictably covers their banter, inner and outer conflicts, acrimony, separation and reunion, there is an honesty in their relationship and how this generation navigates through life using their phone and social media as a means to vent, reflect and get validation. What successfully moves the story forward is the immense chemistry between the three leads who portray their characters with a great deal of honesty. No melodrama here. Just a strong message about the extent to which people have taken to social media which has enveloped them in a lifestyle that is often fake and can swifty bring on heartbreak. The film's outstanding song score goes a long way in creating the perfect mood for what plays across the screen.

A Family Divided (Donald Wrye, 1995) 6/10

A young girl is gang raped by five college students at a frat house. One of the boys confesses to his lawyer father (Stephen Collins) who advises the boys to keep quiet. However, the boy's mother (Faye Dunaway) begins to suspect when the victim disappears and she becomes the moral centerpiece of her middle class family by confronting her son and husband. She refuses to go along with the deception and rages against her family members who are hell bent on hiding the facts. Overwrought drama has Dunaway's outstanding performance as the horror-stricken mother who can't believe how her son and husband could keep quiet over such a tragedy. Like many previous films on social issues American tv once more comes up with a dramatic subject which has a strong message.

The People Next Door (Tim Hunter, 1996) 2/10

Z-grade tv film about child kidnapping has a screenplay full of holes and character emotions that need to be played up. Woman (Nicolette Sheridan) escapes from her abusive husband and moves back with her three young daughters to be near her mother (Faye Dunaway) with whom she has an antogonistic relationship. Her loving neighbours, a childless couple (Michael O'Keefe & Tracey Ellis), help with the kids but later end up kidnapping two of the girls. Sheridan sleepwalks through the ordeal of trying to find her children while a miscast Dunaway blows hot and cold - often berating her daughter and then suddenly showing sympathy. O'Keefe also alternates being a loving kidnapper who in the blink of an eye appears to go off the deep end. Story needs an element of hysteria which is completely missing.

Running Mates (Ron Lagomarsino, 2000) 7/10

Antiseptic film follows the election campaign of a Democratic Party presidential candidate (Tom Selleck) whose most pressing chore is deciding on who yo choose as his Vice President while four women - all of whom he has bedded - try to influence his decision. The clever women surrounding him are three former lovers - his campaign manager (Laura Linney), his shallow Hollywood campaign fundraising manager (Teri Hatcher), and a garrulous Washington socialite (Faye Dunaway) who wants the VP slot for her womanizing husband (Robert Culp); the fourth is his current lover and wife (Nancy Travis). Will these women help him make the right decision or will they be more intent on exerting control over him while trying to win their own personal battles against each other? There is a funny sequence when all four ladies get together in the powder room and discuss his cocksmanship. The attractive cast makes the most of this comedy-drama with Selleck, front and center, making a dashing presidential candidate. Dunaway delightfully steals every scene and was rewarded with a nomination for a Golden Globe.

Blind Horizon (Michael Haussman, 2003) 4/10

If your plot involves an amnesiac you cannot make the mystery stretch to an inordinate length without divulging what the hell is going on especially when the remaining plot merely meanders along. An IRS employee (Val Kilmer) is shot, left for dead, recovers but has accute amnesia. The small-town cop (Sam Shepard) finds no clues and the patient, who keeps having visions - Faye Dunaway appears several times giving him or someone else some sort of instructions - and in a violent and confused state he divulges a confused plot about an assassination attempt on the United States President. The man's fiancée (Neve Campbell) appears and his nurse (Amy Smart) shows continued sympathy. Then the President arrives in this backwater and an assassin's rifle is discovered by the amnesiac. Is he the assassin? Is someone else also attempting to kill? Confused and confusing plot tries to annoyingly overdo the mystery angle. Unnecessarily arty direction, editing, camera movements with the actors posing like models. The excellent cast obviously took this project on for the paycheck. The mystery proves to be quite a bore long before this film ends. The time one wastes to check off yet another film with Faye Dunaway is also one of life's stupefying mysteries.

Elephant Walk (William Dieterle, 1954) 6/10

The plot of this film - based on the novel by Robert Standish - has more than a passing resemblance to Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca". On a visit to England dashing Colonial tea planter (Peter Finch) weds a lovely young lady (Elizabeth Taylor) and takes her to his late father's plantation in Ceylon. As in the du Maurier novel the young woman finds herself in over her head in her new surroundings. The huge bungalow is run by an imposing major-domo (shades of Mrs Danvers) who does not like the new mistress interfering in the household, the overwhelming presence of her husband's dead father who is still treated like god (shades of the dead Rebecca), and her husband's volatile mood swings. Providing some respite is the plantation's manager (Dana Andrews) who offers much needed attention and friendship but who also falls in love with her. Adding to the problems is a rogue male elephant who has been pissed off because his path to the river was blocked when the bungalow was built across it. And then a cholera epidemic breaks out followed by the elephants going on a rampage. Colorful adventure film has the beauty of Elizabeth Taylor front and center and lovely location filming on an actual tea plantation in Ceylon. Initially Vivien Leigh - then Lady Olivier - was cast and actually filmed some scenes (she can be seen in longshot) before her bipolar disorder made her drop out - she and Peter Finch were also in the midst of a torrid affair which added to her problems. Extensive location filming took part in Kandy and Sigiria in Ceylon.

The Heat of the Day (Christopher Morahan, 1989) 7/10

Harold Pinter adapts the novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen. Set during the London Blitz the story revolves around a British intelligence agent (Michael Gambon) who blackmails a middle-aged woman (Patricia Hodge) to become his mistress or he will expose her lover (Michael York) who is revealing government secrets to the Germans. Since we are in Pinter territory it is all played out as if in slow motion with a number of characters populating the plot on the side - a young nymphomaniac (Imelda Staunton), an old lady in a home (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) whose husband drops dead and leaves his Irish estate to a distant nephew. Genteel drama acted to perfection by the distinguished cast.

Butcher's Crossing (Gabe Polsky, 2023) 6/10

The star of the film is the spectacular location in Glacier National Park in Montana. During the early 1870s an idealistic young Harvard dropout (Fred Hechinger) travels out West to the plains of Kansas and hooks up with a buffalo hunter (Nicolas Cage) collecting hides for a price. Their journey to a remote valley in Montana is fraught with danger and coupled with the reckless massacre of the bison herd and the sudden arrival of winter puts a total damper on their plans. After sitting out eight months of freezing weather the group return to find that the price of bison hides has dropped. Based on the 1960 novel by John Edward Williams which covers the exploration of the Wild West, confronting and surviving the brutal realities of nature, and a contemplation of man's purpose in life with respect to nature.

Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995) 10/10

Such a happy marriage between two quite different auteurs - a director from Taiwan and a British actor/screenwriter - who join hands to bring to the screen this delightful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel. When their father dies the Dashwood Sisters - Elinor (Emma Thompson), reserved, practical, and a thoughful young woman representing "sense", and Marianne (Kate Winslet), spontaneous, a lover of nature, idealistically romantic, representing "sensibility" - find themselves, along with their mother (Gemma Jones) and younger sister in genteel poverty. A cousin (Robert Hardy) and his mother-in-law (the delightful Elizabeth Spriggs) provide them a cottage as shelter. No romantic fiction would be complete without dashing male lovers coming along and sweeping the women off their feet. Elinor is smitten by a shy but affectionate young man (Hugh Grant) who is informed by his mother that he shall be disinherited if he gets married to someone below his station. It's love at first sight for rich melancholic old bachelor (Alan Rickman), but Marianne instead falls head over heels in love with a very handsome but deceitful and selfish Byronic young man (Greg Wise). Matters of the heart do not run smoothly and it takes a whole lot of anguish and heartache before there is a semblance of happiness in sight. The entire cast is a miracle (including Imogen Stubbs, Hugh Laurie, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton) with Emma Thompson's Oscar winning screenplay a warm and witty delight. The film, both Thompson and Winslet (for their acting), the score, cinematography and costumes were nominated for the Academy award. Ang Lee's elegant direction was shockingly overlooked for a nomination although he absolutely nails Austen's stinging social observation and satire. And he does this thankfully without overloading the film with unnecessary period frills instead letting the screenplay provide its magic on screen in all its simplicity.

Reza wrote: ↑Tue Dec 26, 2023 7:07 am
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell, 2023) 5/10

Keoghan, who is often filmed in extreme close-up, rightfully plays his character totally deadpan but fails to convey why every character so easily confides in him. He is physically not the kind of person anyone would easily cozy up to. And that is the film's major failure.

They confided in him because he was a good listener who also knew how to play them.

I didn't see the Waugh reference but maybe a little of The Loved One slips in. However, I did think this was a deft blend of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Teorema as well as Kind Hearts and Coronets and Something for Everyone (itself a takeoff on Teorema).

I liked it a lot. Compared to Maestro, which was a big letdown for me, this was the more interesting film. My reviews of both will be up on Cinema Sight at 11 a.m. EST.