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

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

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Underground (1928) - 8.5/10 - Nell sells scarves in a department store. One day, she meets Bill, a porter in the Underground and the two fall for each other. Bert is a rougher type who works in the powerhouse and he sets his sights on Nell also and will stoop to dirty tricks to get what he wants. This is a very nice film.

It (1927) - 8.5/10 - Clara Bow is very good as sales girl Betty Lou Spence. She works at a department store and falls for the boss. He becomes enchanted with her as well when he sees her at dinner one night, not knowing that she is one of his employees. There's a fair amount of comedy here along with romance and misunderstandings. The plot isn't necessarily the most extraordinary, but Clara Bow really makes it work. She's got 'it'.

Filibus (1915) - 8/10 - Filibus is a female thief who flies around with her crew in a zeppelin, lowering herself down to the scenes of her crimes and then escaping back up to the ship. A detective starts his pursuit of her, but she often appears to be several steps ahead of him, even going so far as to disguise herself as a man in order to woo the detective's sister. It's a pretty entertaining film.

Germinal (1913) - 8/10 - Etienne Lantier is fired from his job for standing up to a supervisor. It isn't long before he gets another job as a miner, but there are problems there as well. This leads to the workers going on strike and protesting conditions there. I read and loved the novel back in high school, though it's been nearly 40 years now since I read the book. I enjoyed the film and it seems modern in a number of ways, not just in the 2.5 hour runtime.

The Devil Rides Out (1968) - 8/10 - Terence Fisher - Christopher Lee and friends battle a group of Satanists. I liked this one a lot.

A Town Called Panic (2009) - 8/10 - Cowboy, Indian, and Horse live together in a rural area. It's Horse's birthday, but Cowboy and Indian forgot so they scramble to get him a birthday present. They screw up an online order which leads to all sorts of mayhem and destruction. This is filled with many crazy scenarios and I thought it was a lot of fun.

Oliver Twist (1948) - 8/10 - This was a nice adaptation of the Dickens classic.

Hobson's Choice (1954) - 8/10 - Charles Laughton portrays a bootmaker during Victorian times. He is a widower who has used his three adult daughters as unpaid workers in his shop for much of their life. The daughters want to get married, but he doesn't want to pay the customary marriage settlement and he also doesn't want to lose the help, especially that of the eldest daughter. Laughton is good in this comedy/drama as is Brenda De Banzie as his eldest daughter, Maggie.

3 Bad Men (1926) - 8/10 - Three outlaws end up helping a young woman whose wagon was attacked by other outlaws. Since her father was killed, they look after her as sort of adopted uncles and protect her from an unscrupulous sheriff. It's a nice western.

Train Birds / Zugvögel – einmal nach Inari (1998) - 7.5/10 - Hannes is a beer truck driver in Germany who is planning to head to Inari in Finland over his upcoming holiday so that he can participate in a competition using his expertise in train schedules. When his new boss tells him that if he goes, he shouldn't bother to come back, he gets mad and leaves anyway. He meets some interesting people along the way. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was pretty entertaining. I also laughed at the randomness of seeing a guy in a Detroit Lions jacket (my hometown football team) during the journey.

Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Large tentacled alien creatures started appearing in Mexico six years before the film takes place after a NASA probe crash landed there. A large part of Mexico is now quarantined as a result. A journalist is sent by his boss to find the boss's daughter in Mexico and get her clear of the infected area and back to the United States. This is easier said than done, but they start out on their journey. This was a nice low budget sf film.

The End of the World (1916) - 7.5/10 - A mine owner elopes with the daughter of one of the families in the town where his mine is situated. Years later, a comet is sighted approaching Earth and predictions are that it will cause a lot of destruction in that part of Europe. The mine owner uses this to try and make a fortune while also having a plan to ride out the devastation underground in his mine. The effects are pretty good here and while some of the acting is definitely old fashioned, the story remains interesting and human nature seems to have remained mostly unchanged in the century since the film was released.

Victory (1919) - 7.5/10 - Heyst likes to keep to himself for the most part. He lives on an otherwise deserted island in the South Seas. He visits a neighboring island and on impulse, helps a young woman escape and takes her back to his island. The woman's employer sends three thugs after them with talk of treasure.

The Blue Lamp (1950) - 7.5/10 - Basil Dearden - This police procedural involves a police officer who is murdered and the search for his killer. It was pretty well done.

Barrabas (1919) - 7/10 - A banker named Strélitz is a criminal mastermind who uses lies, blackmail, and intimidation to get what he wants. A lawyer and several others set out to bring him down, but it isn't easy. This is a good crime thriller. It meanders quite a bit early on, but becomes much better and more interesting in the second half. I would put it about on par with Judex, but well below Tih Minh.

Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Villagers kill a vampire count who had been killing residents, including children. Fifteen years later, his relatives arrive in the form of a circus to take their revenge and to terrorize the villagers anew. They also want to bring the count back. This was more entertaining than I expected.

Shallow Grave (1994) - 7/10 - Danny Boyle - Three flatmates interview potential candidates for a fourth person to join them. They finally rent out the extra room only to have the person die on their first night, leaving behind a suitcase full of money that leads to a number of problems.

Whisky Galore! (1949) - 6.5/10 - A freighter carrying 50,000 cases of whisky hits a reef and sinks off the coast of a Scottish island. Before it sinks, though, the islanders salvage many of the cases and hide the bottles from the excise men. There are some funny bits, mostly revolving around the various places and ways that the islanders hide the whisky, but overall the film was fairly mediocre.

Gandahar (1987) - 6.5/10 - On the planet Gandahar, people live a peaceful life. One day, invaders arrive and start turning people into stone. Sylvain is sent to investigate and find the cause of the problem. The character designs are interesting and we get time travel, mutants, and more. However, the story itself was a bit convoluted and was less interesting. I didn't like this anywhere near as much as Fantastic Planet.

Gozu (2003) - 6/10 - Minami is a yakuza who is ordered to drive his friend and associate to his death since the colleague has become paranoid and a detriment to the organization. The colleague accidentally dies en route, but then body disappears and things get weird. The movie had some strange stuff, but wasn't really as weird as I was given to expect, though the bit with the ladle was definitely out there and what followed was even stranger. I found much of the film to be kind of boring, though.

Theatre of Blood (1973) - 6/10 - Vincent Price stars as a Shakespearean actor who is thought to be dead. He uses a number of disguises to get back at critics that he thinks wrongfully denied him a major award. The humor didn't totally work for me and the film ended up being only mildly interesting.

24 Hour Party People (2002) - 6/10 - The film follows the life of music promoter Tony Wilson starting in the mid-70s. He was part owner of a record label and popular nightclub. The film was okay, but surprisingly boring given the subject matter. I think Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson was a big part of that.

Chicken Little (2005) - 5.5/10 - It was dumb, but I kind of enjoyed it.

Song at Midnight (1935) - 5/10 - This Chinese version of Phantom of the Opera has plenty of music at times, but the story and acting just weren't all that interesting.

Blue (1993) - 5/10 - The audio is well done and the idea is kind of interesting, but this really wasn't my thing.

Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (1989) - 3/10 - This was pretty bad.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

A Lady Mislaid (David MacDonald, 1958) 5/10

Silly black comedy about a body buried in a country house occupied by two spinsters. The police dig up the garden, the basement and the chicken coop where they discover human bones. They suspect the previous owner (Thorley Walters) of murdering his wife who disappeared sometime ago. Screwball situation arises when the police detective, the murder suspect and the spinster (Phyllis Calvert) all spend the night together in the cottage whereby both men develop romantic feelings for her. A surprise ending puts a spanner in the investigation. Obscure British programner, based on a play, runs just one hour and has the delightful Phyllis Calvert around to make it watchable although its all quite forgettable.

River Wild (Ben Ketai, 2023) 7/10

A "re-imagining" of the Meryl Streep-Kevin Bacon thriller - "The River Wild" - from 1994. Siblings (Taran Killam & Leighton Meester) meet up for a whitewater rafting trip along with two female tourists and their childhood buddy (Adam Brody) who has just been released from prison. There is tension between the siblings over something in their past while both are wary of their friend as well. When one of the tourists cracks her skull and she accuses the ex-convict of sexually assaulting her all hell breaks loose with all of them held hostage as they go down the rapids. The body count rises - the injured girl, a sheriff and a hiker - and it becomes a race against time for the three survivors to try and overcome their captor who holds a loaded gun. Effective B-film has suspense and many twists and turns in the plot along with the stunning but eerie location (shot in Slovakia although its supposed to be the USA) of the gorge through which runs the river they are on. A tense ride.

About My Father (Laura Terruso, 2023) 6/10

What started off as a big screen leading role for American stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco sweetly turns into a comedic romp for Robert De Niro. It's De Niro in his, by now very familiar and done to death, curmudgeon persona which he perfected through assorted films - "Midnight Run", the "Anaylyze This" twosome, the "Fockers" threesome and many others. An Italian-American widower and hairstylist (Robert De Niro) decides to crash his son's plans of visiting the house of his WASP girlfriend (Lesley Bibb) by tagging along. The result, predictably, is a culture clash where the disgruntled old man comes up against the girl's parents (David Rasche & Kim Cattrall). Maniscalco (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is fine as the young man in love who has also been raised to respect his often irate father as he has been brought up with the mantra that "family is everything". It's De Niro who unabashadly steals the film using that familiar scowl and upturned lip to wring laughs. Cute comedy has nothing new to say but still manages it in a pleasant way that brings on grins if not outright laughs.

À plein temps / Full Time (Éric Gravel, 2022) 8/10

A harried single mother (Laure Calamy) of two daily commutes from her home in the suburbs to Paris where she works as the head chambermaid of a swanky four-star hotel. During a massive transport strike her life takes on a nail-biting endevour as she struggles to drop off her kids at the babysitter's at the crack of dawn and tries to get to work on time via trains, buses and hitchhiking rides with strangers and then faces many issues at work with co-workers, her boss and hotel guests. Adding further tension is an interview for a better job for which she has to find time from work and sneak out to attend to it. The screenplay takes this woman's mundane life and treats it like a riveting thriller as she goes from one crisis to the next. Helping to create the pulse pounding tension is the film's sharp editing and Irène Drésel's score - both of which won César awards. For her gripping performance Laure Calamy and the film's screenplay received nominations.

I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale / Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973) 7/10

The Italian title of this film literally translates to "The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence". Who is the masked man using a red and black foulard to strangle, stab and then fondle the naked breasts of a bunch of female students at the University of Perugia? A rich student (Tina Aumont), who has vaguely noticed a man wearing a similar scarf as the murderer, invites her fellow student, an American (Suzy Kendall) - who is sexually interested in her professor (John Richardson) - and two other girls (a lesbian couple) to stay with her at a remote country villa built on a cliffside. A stalker (who also wears a similar scarf) and a peeping tom also turn up at the villa. The killer, who has murdered the street vendor who sold him the scarves, comes in pursuit of the girls and there is soon a bloodbath. Fairly riveting gialo has all the hallmarks of the genre - soft core sex scenes with couples making out, a loud music score punctuating every victim's pursuit, followed by the attack and gruesome murder which is topped by the killer unclothing and fondling the victim's bare nipples. The plot has red herrings galore with every man acting suspiciously thus becoming a suspect. The film's last third involving a cat and mouse game at the villa between the killer and one of the surviving girls has led to this film being retrospectively recognised as a "proto-slasher film" championed many years later by director Quentin Tarantino.

Spasmo (Umberto Lenzie, 1974) 5/10

Confused, convoluted gialo doesn't make much sense through most of its running time is followed by a pat explanation at the end which suddenly wraps up the plot. Utterly bizzare film has a charming businessman (Robert Hoffman) in pursuit of a woman (Suzy Kendall) while dead bodies appear that either turn out to be life-like mannequins or not dead at all. Somebody is following and trying to kill him. Random characters appear mouthing inane dialogue, corpses are glimpsed as the lead goes through various disorienting incidents. The mystery comes to its conclusion involving his brother and flashbacks to their childhood. For a gialo the sex and gore quotient is surprisingly rather low with only a couple of female nipples on display and the violence is mostly offscreen. Extremely offbeat psychological thriller.

Love to Love You, Donna Summer (Roger Ross Williams & Brooklyn Sudano, 2023) 7/10

Nostagic lookback at the disco era, the fashions, the hairdos and especially the music and life of disco diva Donna Summer. Documentary on the singer's life is co-directed by her daughter covers her rise as the first lady of disco and goes on to reveal the person behind that great voice. Familiar tropes which most celebrities have endured but the film shines when she takes to the stage and sings the classic songs most of us grew up with. I feel love indeed!!

The Black Demon (Adrian Grünberg, 2023) 4/10

The Meg franchise gets ripped off in this low budget entry. The giant Megalodon shark, hovering around an oil rig, is taken on by a stranded family and two rig workers as they fight to survive. Nothing new here although with such films there is always an element of suspense as one waits to see which human gets eaten before the shark is decimated.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Anees Bazmee, 2022) 6/10

Quirky film is a mixture of slapstick comedy and horror. A con-man (Kartik Aryan) meets and hopes to woo a girl (Kiara Advani) from a rich thakur family. He discovers her family lives in dread of a vicious ghost whom they keep locked up in their derelict haveli. Through convoluted plot points the young man pretends to be a psychic informing the family and townfolk that he is able to see and speak to ghosts. Tabu, in a double role, plays both the vengeful ghost and her sweet sister - the classic good 'n evil twin sisters played by many stars (Bette Davis & Olivia de Havilland) in the past. This section of the plot was inspired by the Agatha Christie novel "Elephants Can Remember". Comic relief is provided by Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra - as two conniving pandits - Govind Namdev as a spirit hunter and Rajesh Sharma as a drunk family member. Tabu runs off with the film playing the contrasting sisters and won a Filmfare award. Also nominated were the film, Kartik Aryan, Anees Bazmee, the screenplay, visual effects, production design, editing, and the choreography of the title song.

Thalaivii (A. L. Vijay, 2022) 6/10

Screen biography of J. Jayalalithaa (Kangana Ranaut) - iconic screen star of Tamil cinema and eventual Chief Minister of the state for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. By the numbers and often ridiculously melodramatic screen biography is nevertheless a facinating look at the star who quickly rose during the 1960s as a film star and dancer at the urging of her mother (Bhagyashree). Her iconic screen pairing with superstar M. G. Ramachandran (Arvind Swamy who absolutely nails the actor-politician's look) resulted in massive hits at the boxoffice, a longtime alleged love affair, and at his urging an entry into politics. He served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987. Her entry into a political career, at the behest of her mentor but against the wishes of most of the party's male members, is fraught with problems. However she perserveres and ruthlessly climbs to the top creating an alliance with Indira Gandhi and the Congress party and eventually becomes Chief Minister. The film superbly evokes the past via striking production and costume design and along with the performances of the two leads and especially the outstanding supporting turn by Raj Arjun as R. N. Veerappan who was a movie producer and screenwriter turned right hand party advisor to MGR who strongly opposes J. Jayalalithaa. Both Kangana Ranaut and Raj Arjun received richly deserved Filmfare Award nominations although hers was rescinded by the awards committee when she got into a heated and very public altercation with them. Also nominated were the film's costume design and visual effects.

How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) 8/10

Charming fluff which Wyler directs with a very light hand although it is a tad overlong. A detective (Peter O'Toole) is assigned by his boss (Charles Boyer) to investigate an art forger (a delightfully wicked Hugh Griffith) but falls prey to a plan to steal a sculpture on display in a museum. Urging him onto this plan is the forger's chic daughter (Audrey Hepburn) who wants him to lift the statue because she does not want her father to face a jail sentence after the insurance company examines the fake piece of art. The flimsy plot is just an excuse to watch the two stars do their thing which they do with incredible panache. Elegant Hepburn is dressed to her teeth in hip 1960s mod attire by Givenchy - check out her dramatic veil and those white eye glasses. The charismatic O'Toole - tall, sleek, blue-eyed - is a perfect match for her and their incredible chemistry keeps the frothy plot afloat. Like many caper films of the 1960s this too has a dramatic set-piece involving the robbery - a sequence that begins inside a closet where the two stars are amusingly confined in the tight space together. Witty, sophisticated film is utterly predictable but it makes for a delightful time at the movies.


Mashaal (Yash Chopra, 1984) 7/10

Chopra more or less dispenses with romance here and presents a highly melodramatic story - based on a Marathi play by Vasant Kanetkar and adapted by Javed Akhtar (but minus Salim Khan) - about freedom of press. A highly principled reporter (Dilip Kumar) wishes to expose a corrupt politician (Amrish Puri) but finds himself fired from his job and forced to move out of his house. With his ever supportive wife (Waheeda Rehman) he finds shelter in a slum dwelling courtesy of a friend (Saeed Jaffrey). The neighborhood goon (Anil Kapoor) tries to intimidate him but gets won over by his kindness. No Bollywood large scale film would be complete without a Holi song - "O Holi Aayee", lyrics by Javed Akhtar and music by Hridaynath Mangeshkar - with the lead cast dancing in joyous mode. Rati Agnihotri, as Kumar's fellow reporter, plays the improbable love interest to Anil Kapoor - rich, educated and sophisticated pretty lady hobnobbing with an uncouth street smart small town crook. Only in Bollywood. As with all films starring Dilip Kumar we get to see him intone with dramatic dialogue as he goes through the plot's light or amusing moments and ofcourse all the intense and tragic moments which was the actor's forte. This was Kumar and Waheeda Rehman's fourth and last film together and their playful chemistry is evident throughout as a loving couple. Every Bollywood film has stock big moments in the plot - a wedding scene, the Holi dance, an intense moment involving rape or a tragic death scene. The latter is represented here with full dramatic force involving the star couple as through a twist of fate one character emotes a death scene that goes on and on and on while the partner gets to helplessly watch. Dilip Kumar's character arc goes from an honest reporter to vengeful smuggler who eventually becomes a fearful Don, although it suspends belief to see the overweight and ageing (he was 62) actor take on goons in fight scenes. Chopra has assembled a superb cast of character actors - Madan Puri, Gulshan Grover, Mohan Agashe, Iftekhar, Alok Nath - in brief but vivid roles. The role propelled Anil Kapoor to stardom and won for him his first Filmfare award in the supporting category. Dilip Kumar was nominated as lead as was Javed Akhtar for the film's story.

Kaala Patthar (Yash Chopra, 1979) 8/10

Chopra's intense film - with fleeting romantic interludes between three couples - is a multi-star drama based on the Chasnala mining disaster. Critically acclaimed film performed average at the boxoffice despite it's highly touted pedigree - an A-list cast, beloved director, the angry-man script by Salim-Javed, a score by Salil Chowdhury, music by Rajesh Roshan, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, and songs sung by Kishore Kumar, Lata & Usha Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor. Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), a disgraced Merchant Navy captain is branded a coward after abandoning his ship, and becomes a coal miner to atone for his past. He, along with an engineer (Shashi Kapoor), takes on the corrupt mine owner (Prem Chopra) who provides less than sufficient facilities to his workers. Vijay finds romance with a doctor (Raakhee) who wants him to forget the past and move on with life. He makes an enemy of a co-worker (Shatrughan Sinha) whose life he ends up saving. Adding the glamour and romance quotient are Parveen Babi as Shashi Kapoor's reporter friend and Neetu Singh as a gypsy in love with Shatrughan Sinha. The film's action packed climax is set inside the mine which is hit by a flood. All the scenes between Bachchan and Sinha - off-screen rivals - are superbly played by both stars with limited dialogue and mostly silence which instead speaks volumes. Cult film was nominated for 8 Filmfare awards - Best Picture, director Yash Chopra, Bachchan, Sinha, Neetu Singh, Rajesh Roshan's music, Kishore Kumar's playback singing for the song "Ek Raasta Hai Zindagi" and for the Salim-Javed story.

Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023) 9/10

This film in many ways reminded me of David Lean's "Brief Encounter", although the couple here are not meeting for the first time. They met as 12-year old kids in South Korea when they were school friends who develop a crush on each other. She immigrates to Canada with her parents and the kids lose touch with each other. Twelve years later - she (Greta Lee) is living in New York while he (Teo Yoo) has finished military school. By chance they reconnect via Facebook and start chatting on Skype although after sometime she feels her focus on becoming a writer is waning so suggests they move on with their lives and stop speaking. Time goes by and she is now a playwright married to a Jewish-American writer (John Magaro) while he is in China learning Mandarin and with a girlfriend. He visits New York on the pretext of a vacation but in reality to meet her. They connect, go on a sight-seeing jaunt, she introduces him to her husband and they all go out for drinks and dinner. During a conversation the three characters each discovers what the universe planned for them and what plans it has for their future - the Korean belief of "in-yeon" comes into play which says if you meet someone, even briefly, it means you also met in a past life, and lovers are people who have met over and over in their past lives. Deeply felt, humane film has deep currents running through each layer which first-time director Celine Song presents in a very simple matter-of-fact manner. The perceptive screenplay also says a lot about how culture plays such a huge role in a person's psyche. Superbly shot film has many gorgeous moments captured during the outdoors in New York as well as the superbly lit scenes set in the restaurant at the end where the camera placement captures the three characters in both isolation as well as with a syrong sense of intimacy. All three actors are sublime.

The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir, 1982) 9/10

Gritty, highly atmospheric film superbly captures a time and place - 1960s Indonesia under the despotic rule of President Sukarno. Neophyte Australian journalist (Mel Gibson - a shock to see him looking so young here) arrives in Jakarta to cover the chaotic political regime in the country. The screenplay follows his often abrasive association with other foreign journalists, his friendship with a wise, informative and politically connected Chinese-Australian dwarf (Linda Hunt), and his romance with a British embassy official (Sigourney Weaver). Weir's direction gives the film a sense of dangerous urgency while the two stars use their tremendous screen chemistry to create romantic sparks. Hunt walks away with the film as the all-knowing mysterious male photographer and won a well deserved Oscar for her performance. The film was instrumental in propelling Gibson towards screen stardom on the international front.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The Naked Island (1960) - 9/10 - A small family with two young boys live on an island and work hard every day to prepare soil for crops, get water to the crops they have planted, and so on. There are also occasional commutes to the mainland with the boys attending school there. The soundtrack and cinematography are great. There is no dialogue, though we do get a few songs during the film. I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I was expecting.

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) - 8.5/10 - This is very whacky, but also lots of fun. It got better as it went along. I loved the music and the impromptu 'music videos'. Very cool.

Kikujiro (1999) - 8/10 - Masao is being raised by his grandmother. He's never met his mother and she lives far away. During summer vacation, Masao sets off to find her, accompanied by Kikujiro, a loudmouth gambler. They have a number of adventures along the way and meet some interesting people. It wasn't really laugh out loud funny most of the time, but there is a lot of offbeat humor.

Tampopo (1985) - 8/10 - Goro and Gun are truck drivers who visit many ramen noodle shops during their trips. At one such stop, the woman running the shop begs for their help to improve her cooking since she is running the shop in place of her late husband. They visit other shops to steal ideas. There are a number of other food related scenes involving other characters and plenty of humor throughout the film. Some things work better than others, but overall I enjoyed it.

Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly - 8/10 - Four people (Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly) form a family who arranges for people to join them on their estate and then they play games with them. These games can be fairly harmless or deadly with the people being killed off if they try to escape or break the rules too often. One new friend learns his lesson and starts using the game to his own advantage. This is a pretty strange film, but is well acted and fun to watch.

Face / Kao (2000) - 8/10 - Masako works upstairs doing alterations at her mother's dry cleaning shop. She doesn't get along with her abusive younger sister Yukari who only visits when she needs something. When their mother dies, Masako snaps and kills Yukari. She then goes on the run and has a number of jobs and identities along the way. These experiences eventually bring her out of her shell and help her grow as a person, though she still worries about being caught. Naomi Fujiyama is very good as Masako.

Pacchigi! (2005) - 7.5/10 - In Kyoto in 1968, there is a lot of violence between North Korean and Japanese youth. There are constant fights and lots of antagonism. Amidst this, though, one music loving and peaceful Japanese teen falls for the sister of one of the most violent North Korean teens. The movie has a lot of humor and some romance amidst the fighting. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Floating Weeds (1959) - 7.5/10 - This isn't really all that different from the 1934 version, except for the excellent use of color. It's pretty well acted, but isn't quite as compelling as some of Ozu's other films.

The Family Game (1983) - 7.5/10 - This is an odd film and a few parts were kind of annoying with the sound effects, but overall it's a decent film. A family has two sons. The older one studies and does well in school while the younger one ranks near the bottom of the class and slacks off a lot. The parents hire a tutor to get him to start improving his rank, even though other tutors in the past have failed. This tutor is more unorthodox and starts making progress. The dinner scene near the end is pretty funny.

Altered (2006) - 7.5/10 - Five men were kidnapped by aliens with one of them not making it back. Years later, three of the survivors have captured on of the aliens and have some plans for revenge. The acting here is pretty good and while there are a number of things that are only implied or are left unexplained, it works.

The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) - 7.5/10 - A family on vacation sees the site of a bad accident on the side of the side of the road. When they go to the nearest town to report the accident, they are accosted by the local residents. They escape from the town, but are later forced by circumstances to return. There is a lot more going on there that they soon discover. This was a lot better than I expected with a decent story and acting.

Suicide Club (2001) - 7.5/10 - 54 high school girls hold hands and jump in front of a moving train. There are a rash of suicides that seem to be expanding throughout Japan. The police investigate, but have trouble finding any legitimate leads. Does it have anything to do with a popular girl group called Dessert? It's kind of gory, but I thought it was good.

Uzumaki (2000) - 7/10 - One man in town has become obsessed with spirals, but the obsession starts to spread and becomes dangerous. This is a decent adaptation of the Junji Ito manga of the same name, though it's been 20+ years since I read the series. I've read plenty of Ito's other horror works since then and the manga is far superior, but this was a good effort.

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) - 7/10 - A murderer is loose in London and the killer uses a variety of methods to commit the murders. A writer takes a very strong interest in the case and seems to enjoy delving into the cases and writing about them. The writer maintains a macabre museum that he keeps private, except for his assistant. It's old fashioned, but I enjoyed it.

The Deadly Spawn (1983) - 6.5/10 - Alien slugs invade New Jersey. This is a decent low budget horror film. The acting is a bit uneven at times, but the film itself isn't bad.

Blind Beast (1969) - 6.5/10 - A blind artist kidnaps a model and keeps her captive while he works on a sculpture of her. The artist's mother helps him keep her prisoner. The studio is pretty odd with giant size sculptures of body parts and a giant female nude. The movie is uneven - interesting at times and kind of dull at others.

Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) - 6/10 - A sane man in an insane asylum escapes. He later assumes the identity of his dead doppelganger. This is a weird movie and I enjoyed the visual spectacle of it more than the actual story.

A Horrible Way to Die (2010) - 5/10 - An escaped serial killer tracks down his ex-girlfriend, a recovering alchoholic who is trying to start a new life for herself. Unfortunately, the film is pretty boring and I am not a fan of shaky cam.

Madman (1981) - 5/10 - Camp counselors invoke the name of a murderer named Madman Marz and he comes back to start claiming new victims in this slasher film. The story and acting aren't all that good.

Zigeunerweisen (1980) - 4/10 - This is a pretty strange movie. It seems to be well made, but is not one that I could get into and I didn't enjoy the film.

The Rape of the Vampire (1968) - 3/10 - This was pretty bad. Bad acting and a dull story.

Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981) - 3/10 - This was pretty bad. Lots of zombies and gore, but very little story.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Big Magilla »

Reza wrote: Tue Aug 15, 2023 2:25 pm Heart of Stone (Tom Harper, 2023) 6/10

Gal Gadot is no Ethan Hunt but this MI wannabee moves to give the actress her very own franchise. Originality be damned but then with so many clones around it can be very hard to come up with something fresh. This is strictly old wine in that same old bottle but surprisingly quite watchable as the plot follows every familar trope known to spydom being a part of the cycle of films that make up every summer's dumb popcorn flick. We get spectacular action set pieces in exotic locations - sky-diving & skiing down a mountain in the Italian Alps, a car chase through the narrow streets of Lisbon, escaping from an exploding zeppelin and parachuting down to a desert in Morocco (subbing for Senegal), and the plot's last act is set amongst the spectacular scenery of Iceland. The film's McGuffin is the "heart" a complex high-tech system that predicts outcomes for agents of "The Charter" - a shadowy organization that helps when governments fail in their missions. An undercover Charter agent (Gal Gadot), who often scoffs at the high-tech nonsense in favour of her own sharp instincts, helps a team of MI6 agents (Jamie Dornan is one who banters with her) in search of a villain (Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt) who has managed to infiltrate the "heart". The film even manages to cough up a cameo by Glenn Close sporting a severe half bob on her head. Gadot, while no Meryl Streep in the acting department, manages all the action sequences with aplomb. Bhatt manages to hold her own despite an often bewildered look on her face. This franchise - yes there are bound to be sequels - should put to rest all that nonsense about the next Bond being played by a female actor. Well here you have it - Gadot as an answer to both Ethan Hunt and James Bond in her own series of action films.
Really, Reza?

This is the worst piece of garbage I've forced myself to watch in a long time. Gal Gadot can't act, has no taste in projects, and needs to retire on her considerable fortune. What a waste of Jamie Dornan and Sophie Okonedo. And if Glenn Close can't do any better than her cameo in junk like this, she, too, needs to retire.

No wonder Netflix is losing subscribers left and right.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by gunnar »

Another couple of weeks worth of films

Aimless Bullet (1961) - 8/10 - A fairly bleak look at a family struggling to survive in postwar Korea. An accountant with a constant toothache has to provide for his wife, kids, sister, brother, and mother. His mother appears to be suffering from PTSD and just lies on her mat occasionally exclaiming "Let's Go, Let's Go". The brother is a veteran without luck finding a job. The sister's former fiancé was crippled in the war and won't return to the relationship because he doesn't want to be a burden. It's a downbeat film, but is interesting and well made.

The Ghost Breakers (1940) - 7/10 - When a woman (Paulette Goddard) inherits a supposedly haunted mansion on an island near Cuba, she sets out to see what it is like, even though she receives a mysterious message warning her off. A radio announcer (Bob Hope) ends up tagging along with his partner (Willie Best) and the three of them try to find out what is going on. The film is mildly amusing.

Body Parts (1991) - 5.5/10 - A criminal psychologist loses his arm in a car accident, but a doctor at the hospital talks his wife into an experimental surgery to transplant a donor arm in its place. Things seem to go well until the arm starts to display violent tendencies and the psychologist learns where the arm came from. It's kind of a dumb premise and the film isn't that great, though it does get better toward the end and has a decent finish.

Djeli, conte d'aujourd'hui (1981) - 7/10 - Fanta and Karamoko are in love and want to get married eventually. There is resistance from the elders on both sides due to caste prejudice. They have more sympathy from people their own age. It may seem a bit amateurish or preachy on occasion, but I liked this one.

Twist à Popenguine (1994) - 7.5/10 - A man narrates his story of growing up in a coastal town in Senegal during the 1960s. There are a couple of rival groups of teens, but nothing too serious. One group tries to make money by throwing parties or other events, but something often goes awry. The kids and their interactions and activities are often the focus, but we also have the story of the white school teacher from France who longs to go home, but feels out of place in France and in Popenguine. He does get along pretty well with everybody in town, though. There isn't any high drama and the comedy aspects are somewhat muted, but it's a nice slice of life/coming of age film.

In Search of Mother / Mabuta no haha (1962) - 7.5/10 - Chutaro is a young man who took up the life of a yakuza after being alone in the world and having few options. He decides to change his life and goes off in search of the mother who abandoned him with his father at the age of five, but is pursued by rival yakuza. It's pretty well done.

New Tale of Zatoichi (1963) - 7.5/10 - Zatoichi returns to his home village and meets his old sensei along with old family and friends. People out for revenge track him down, though. This was the first of the series in color.

Tange Sazen: The Mysterious Sword (1960) - 7/10 - There is a shipment of gold coins which is attracting interest from a number of parties. Tange Sazen is in the middle of things, happily cutting down many opponents for a bounty paid per kill. There is plenty of humor here, but also too many characters at times. I did enjoy it, though.

Black Cat (1968) - 8/10 - A mother and her daughter-in-law are gang raped and murdered by soldiers. They return as ghosts to get their revenge. The son/husband was a farmer who was dragged off to warby force years earlier. He is finally able to return home only to find his home in ashes and his wife and mother nowhere to be found. This is a pretty good ghost story.

Sleepy Eyes of Death: Castle Menagerie (1969) - 5/10 - Somebody is impersonating samurai Nemuri Kyoshiro by raping and murdering people and then leaving notes saying that the deeds were done by Kyoshiro. He investigates to find out who is doing this. There is also a plot related to secret Christians plus many people in masks. It's kind of a confusing mess with a few decent parts here and there.

The Trouble with Dick (1987) - 5/10 - A not particularly funny comedy about a writer who has recently finished a book, only to see it rejected by publishers. He rents a room in a house to try and regain his writing mojo. He gets hit on by both his new landlady and her daughter.

The Wedding Waltz / Katsastus (1988) - 4/10 - An immature and unpleasant man and his friends drive around in a piece of crap car acting unpleasantly. I guess it was supposed to be funny.

Pulse (2001) - 5.5/10 - Ghosts return to the world through computers and the internet. They cause a lot of people to die/disappear. The movie is supposed to be suspenseful, but I mostly found it to be kind of boring and not making a lot of sense.

From Beijing with Love (1994) - 8/10 - This Stephen Chow parody of James Bond is pretty funny and entertaining. I thought it lost a bit of steam toward the end, but was still very good overall.

King of Comedy (1999) - 7/10 - Stephen Chow stars as an actor who can't get any role other than extra and he screws those jobs up when he gets them. He also trains others in acting in his spare time and runs the local community center. Some of the scenes are pretty fun, but it also feels a bit random at times.

Encounter of the Spooky Kind (1980) - 6/10 - Sammo Hung stars here as a supposedly fearless man whose wife is cheating on him. He ends up having a number of encounters with the supernatural. This film didn't really do much for me, though I thought it did get a bit better at the end and there were a few things that I liked earlier such as the animated corpse/mummy.

Snow Trail (1947) - 8/10 - Bank robbers make their way into the mountains above Nagano as they try to evade pursuit. They come upon a cabin in the mountains with a girl, her grandfather, and a mountaineer who they 'enlist' to help them cross the mountains. This was Toshiro Mifune's first film role and it is a very nice film.

Hula Girls (2006) - 8/10 - A coal mine is in danger of closing down in 1960s Japan. One man has an idea to create a Hawaiian Cultural Center using the hot springs which have been causing problems in the mine. He brings in a dance teacher to teach local girls how to dance the hula. The film follows the formula used in many sports films, but it is done in a way that I still found very entertaining. I enjoyed the film quite a bit.

Till We Meet Again / Mata au hi made (1950) - 8/10 - Saburo is the youngest of three sons in a well to do family where the father is a respected judge, the oldest son was killed in the war, and the middle son is in the army now. Saburo will be forcibly enlisted in about six months, but is a pacifist and wonders at why people are fighting. He falls for a young woman named Keiko who paints pictures to survive. Their relationship blossoms, but the date of his enlistment is fast approaching. Most of the film is told in flashback as Saburo's departure time has been moved up and he is unable to meet Keiko before he leaves.

Swing Girls (2004) - 8/10 - A group of lazy girls in a remedial summer math class accidentally poison the school's band and then try to take their place. They discover a love for music. Not very realistic in terms of how quickly they improved, but fun, including the concert at the end.

The Last Horror Movie (2003) - 2/10 - A serial killer enlists a friend to make a home movie documenting his thoughts on his activities and also a number of his murders plus some of his life with family and friends. It's pretty bad.

Clownhouse (1989) - 6.5/10 - Casey has a fear of clowns. He visits a circus with his two older brothers and shortly after that, the three are terrorized by clowns who invade their home. It's fairly effective.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943) - 6.5/10 - Sanshiro travels to the city to learn jujutsu, but soon after his arrival witnesses a number of jujutsu masters attacking a master of the new art of judo. Sanshiro becomes a student of the judo master and becomes quite proficient. The film is okay and has some decent moments, but is a far cry from the films that director Akira Kurosawa would make in the future.

The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - 8/10 - Nishi has spent the last five years infiltrating a corrupt company where the upper management has lower employees take the fall (and die) when some aspects of the corruption are uncovered. Nishi's father was one such victim and he has a plan to get his revenge. It's a pretty good film.

Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) - 8/10 - There are a couple of related storylines here. Shinza is a hairdresser who runs underground gambling dens, but runs afoul of criminals who see him as infringing on their territory. His neighbor Unno is an out of work samurai who is trying to meet with his later father's former master in hopes of getting a job, but the master won't see him. Unno's wife supports the family by making and selling paper balloons. This is a very nice film with a good mix of humor and drama.

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) - 7/10
- I didn't like the first Tetsuo movie, but I did enjoy this one. I might rewatch the original at some point to see if I appreciate it more the second time around.

The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (1931) - 4.5/10 - An annoying playwright gets the idea to move to the country, but can't get any work done there. This was more painful to watch than funny.

The Life of Matsu the Untamed / Muhomatsu no issho (1943) - 7.5/10 - Matsugoro is an uneducated, but generally kind rickshaw driver. He is very capable at fighting, festival drumming, and a number of other things. He helps a single mother raise her young son, looking out for the boy and providing a good role model. I enjoyed this one, especially the performance of Tsumasaburô Bandô as Matsugoro. The camerawork was also pretty good.

Ramblers (2003) - 5/10 - The director is probably a fan of Hong Sang-Soo and I had pretty much the same reaction to this as I did to the six Sang-Soo films that I have seen.

Crazed Fruit (1956) - 8/10 - Natsuhisa and his younger brother Haruji spend the summer by the sea, going boating, skiing, and having fun. Haruji gets his first girlfriend in Eri, a young woman that he meets while out in a boat with his brother. However, Natsuhisa knows Eri's secret and uses it to start a relationship of his own. I liked this one quite a bit and the ending was pretty good, even if I did see it coming in advance.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

Daddy Nostalgie / These Foolish Things (Bertrand Tavernier, 1990) 8/10

A gentle pas de trois between an ailing retired English businessman (Sir Dirk Bogarde), his tight-lipped bitter french wife (Odette Laure) and their adult daughter (Jane Birkin) who comes to visit them at their Cote d’Azur home. He has just had heart surgery and to his surprise finds himself responding to his daughter whom they had both neglected while she was growing up. Gentle, elegant film observes the father-daughter dynamic - he is full of himself like he has always been while she hangs onto his every word desperately trying to please and bond with him while nursing a simmering mixture of anger and resentment. He is nostalgic for his youth knowing that he is dying while she is nostalgic for him. Bogarde, in his last role, is charming and understated while Birkin is solid as the daughter hell bent on connecting with her aloof, self-centred father, which she manages to a certian extent via shared revelations and mischievous indulgences like forbidden alcohol and exhausting day trips. Odette Laure is quietly devastating as the wife and mother who is dreading her husband's inevitable death. Wise, heartwarming, and bittersweet film is one of Tavernier's very best. Birkin sings "These Foolish Things" during the closing credits.

Il Successo (Mauro Morassi & Dino Risi, 1963) 6/10

A minor executive (Vittorio Gassman), in a large real estate firm, has an apartment, a lovely wife (Anouk Aimée) and a loyal friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant) but he is not contended with this life. It irks him to see people who have more than him and is aleays on the look-out for a get-rich-quick scheme. Investing in real estate he does not have the money to cover the deal so he makes a frantic effort to obtain funds which result him losing his wife, friend and self respect. Sharply drawn satire is played as a tragi-comedy with Gassman superb as the frustrated intellectual who can't understand why so many stupid people are better off in life than him. His facial expressions throughout the film speak volumes. The screenplay has a strong message about the dangers of uncontrolled ambition. There is a catchy Ennio Morricone score along with Gino Paoli’s hit song “Sapore di Sale” on the soundtrack. This is kind of a sequel to the two stars' previous screen teaming in "Il sorpasso" - despite the ironic ending of the previous film. While Anouk Aimée gets to spout a few barbs at Gassman there is not much for Trintignant to do in what is basically an underwritten part.

Dimenticare Venezia / To Forget Venice (Franco Brusati, 1979) 6/10

Memory piece about a family get together with members wistfully thinking back to the past - the aged actor in the same frame watching his childhood self. After a bit it becomes repititious and rather cloying. The clan gathers at the country home of a former opera singer (Hella Petrie) near Venice. Living with her is her uptight and repressed lesbian niece (Mariangela Melato) and her childhood friend and lover (Elenora Giorgi). Visiting them is the old opera singer's gay brother (Erland Josephson) who arrives with his much younger lover. The sudden death of the old lady jolts the two adults as they drift into the past. The niece recalls her man-hating mother and a father who ran out on them causing her to go into desolate isolation. The brother also retreats into the past. However, Brusati lifts both from their gloom towards a positive outcome as they go through a catharsis leading them to break off from the shackles of their past. Beautifully photographed film was nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign film category.

Timeline (Richard Donner, 2003) 4/10

Science fiction film, based on the novel by Michael Crichton, harks back to H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine" and the old 1960s tv series "The Time Tunnel". An old archaeology professor (Billy Connolly), excavating a site in France, gets stuck back in the year 1357 where he traveled courtesy of his sponsor company's teleportation machine. In the present his students (Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler) find a written note from the old man asking for help so they along with his son (Paul Walker) and a few executives of the company go back in time to rescue him. Slapdash action-adventure film has them running foul of the British (led by Michael Sheen) and helped by the French - a local knight (Lambert Wilson) and a lady (Anna Friel). The plot takes on a series of medieval battles as the group try to survive the attacks while attempting to return to the present world. Noisy film has nothing new to say.

Son of the Gods (Frank Lloyd, 1930) 6/10

The lesson to be learned about racism is to react with tolerance towards the person behaving like an asshole. At least that's what a wise rich old Chinese businessman tells his adopted son (Richard Barthelmess) who encounters it from a woman (Constance Bennett) horrified that she has to be seen in his company and strikes him repeatedly with a riding crop calling him "a cur, a liar and a cheat." In her hysteria she also refers to him as "yellow" and a "chink". Dejected he rails that white folks are liars and hypocrites. While their religion teaches love, brotherhood and equality they worship money and prejudice. Alas things really haven't changed as far as prejudice is concerned. However, the woman changes her tune, stretching credibility, once it is discovered the man is actually white but was a foundling and raised by a Chinese couple. Pre-code film bravely tackles racism head on with both leads in fine form.

La matriarca / The Libertine (Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1968) 7/10

Sexually unfulfilled young widow (Catherine Spaak) discovers her deceased husband maintained a bachelor's pad where he indulged in kinky sexual activity. She decides to fulfil all her own sexual fantasies and explore every possible perversion by using the pad to not only discover her own sexuality but to find a man who can turn her on. As she embarks on this journey of self discovery she encounters the depth of human depravity when she locks horns with her husband's best friend, a dentist, a tennis player, a grinning plumber, a nameless sadist who cuffs her around and a somber radiologist (Jean-Louis Trintignant). Charming, stylish sex comedy has mod 60's fashions and sets, swanky locations, Alfio Contini's oddball camera placements, a lovely score and the stunning charms of the alluring Catherine Spaak at her most beautiful.

Malignant (James Wan, 2021) 5/10

Thunder and lightning, doors opening and closing mysteriously, wet footprints leading to nobody, flashing lights, loud music cues and things literally going bump in the night. All familiar tropes of the horror genre. A strange entity is on a murder rampage and a woman (Annabella Wallis) can see it all happening as if she is at the location. The cops think she may be behind the killings until a cop is directly attacked by the entity and they discover she, as a child, had been part of an experiment watched over by three doctors who fall victim to the entity. A hypnotist tries to pry open her past through her repressed memory to reach some kind of conclusion about the woman's background and her connection to the murderous entity. Then the plot hits the shit fan because a character does something which no real person would ever do for real - take a torch and decide to go inside a spooky abandoned hospital located on an eerie cliff above the sea during a rainstorm at night. The screenplay checks off every creepy thing in the book and puts it all together for shock value. However, the best is saved for the completely over-the-top moment towards the end set inside a prison cell which is a real blood fest as the entity literally smashes every inmate into a pulp which is followed by a similar massacre inside a police precinct with cop entrails the order of the day. But hell hath no fury than a woman who's had her unborn foetuses die in on her. The gratuitous slashings don't hold a candle to that.

Huis-clos / No Exit (Jacqueline Audry, 1954) 9/10

Hell is an elevator ride to the depths of a building which opens up into a posh hotel lobby to which a group of people descend. So begins this existentialist story adapted from the one-act play by Jean-Paul Sartre depicting the afterlife. Three deceased characters find themselves confined as punishment to a room in hell for eternity. There is no fire or torture. It is the source of Sartre's famous phrase "L'enfer, c'est les autres" or "Hell is other people", whereby all three characters are trapped together and spend time tormenting each other. This is their fate in hell. Inés (Arletty) is a lesbian who makes a sexual play for Estelle (Gaby Sylvia), a murderer, and who in turn throws herself at Joseph (Franc Villard) who refuses to reciprocate her advances much to her anguish. Inés hates Joseph because he has come in between her longing for Estelle. The three bicker and torment each other as flashbacks transport the story away from its theatrical setting - in contrast to the confined setting of one room in which the three characters are trapped on stage - and reveal how all three ended up in hell. Joseph cheated on his wife, deserted from the army during WWII and was executed. Inéz is a manipulative sadist and seduced her cousin's wife (Danièle Delorme) which drove the man to suicide. Guilty over her affair, his wife asphyxiated herself and Inèz by flooding the room with gas while they slept. The married Estelle had an affair with a younger man and killed their child by throwing it over a hotel balcony into the sea below which prompted the man to kill himself. She is guilty of deceit, murder and the cause of a suicide. Despite these revelations the three continue to torment each other realizing their fate which is being condemned to the vicious taunts of each other until eternity. All three actors are at the top of their game, especially the memorable Arletty, cast against type in a rare lead role on screen. A huge movie star before and during the Occupation she ended up in prison right after the War on charges of treason for collaboration - she openly had an affair in Paris with a German officer during WWII. Her alleged comment about the infamous liaison was "My heart is French but my ass is international". Powerful, claustrophobic story was a great influence on many dramatists and in particular Harold Pinter whose sparse sets and characters hark back to this play.

Heart of Stone (Tom Harper, 2023) 6/10

Gal Gadot is no Ethan Hunt but this MI wannabee moves to give the actress her very own franchise. Originality be damned but then with so many clones around it can be very hard to come up with something fresh. This is strictly old wine in that same old bottle but surprisingly quite watchable as the plot follows every familar trope known to spydom being a part of the cycle of films that make up every summer's dumb popcorn flick. We get spectacular action set pieces in exotic locations - sky-diving & skiing down a mountain in the Italian Alps, a car chase through the narrow streets of Lisbon, escaping from an exploding zeppelin and parachuting down to a desert in Morocco (subbing for Senegal), and the plot's last act is set amongst the spectacular scenery of Iceland. The film's McGuffin is the "heart" a complex high-tech system that predicts outcomes for agents of "The Charter" - a shadowy organization that helps when governments fail in their missions. An undercover Charter agent (Gal Gadot), who often scoffs at the high-tech nonsense in favour of her own sharp instincts, helps a team of MI6 agents (Jamie Dornan is one who banters with her) in search of a villain (Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt) who has managed to infiltrate the "heart". The film even manages to cough up a cameo by Glenn Close sporting a severe half bob on her head. Gadot, while no Meryl Streep in the acting department, manages all the action sequences with aplomb. Bhatt manages to hold her own despite an often bewildered look on her face. This franchise - yes there are bound to be sequels - should put to rest all that nonsense about the next Bond being played by a female actor. Well here you have it - Gadot as an answer to both Ethan Hunt and James Bond in her own series of action films.

Meg 2: The Trench (Ben Wheatley, 2023) 6/10

Just as in the original this sequel also has a cute little dog in peril as a giant octopus swoops down on it. However, it's the giant Megalodon - three of them - that create havoc. Scientists explore a deeper part of the Mariana Trench where they find an illegal mining operation along with two male Megs. Trapped below the sea they manage through typically over-the-top methods to return to the surface only to find the giant Megs follow them. Chaos ensues as an island full of holiday makers get the brunt of the attacks. To be one up on the previous film there are other voraciously hungry predators around to add to the mayhem - a swarm of lizard-like creatures known as Snappers and a massive Kraken (giant octopus) also escape the trench and reach the surface. To the rescue is Jason Statham the veteran diver who specializes in deep sea search and rescue. Notwithstanding the tacky CGI effects this is a fun but repititious campfest - a brainless action adventure where you root for the monsters to kill as many stupid humans as possible. Statham is a cool action hero who will no doubt appear in a third film that continues the nonsense on display.

The Formula (John G. Avildson, 1980) 5/10

A cop (George C. Scott) investigates the murders of his boss and his wife (Beatrice Straight) and discovers their deaths are linked to people who are searching for the formula of a synthetic fuel which was developed by the Nazi's during WWII. His investigation leads him to an American oil tycoon (Marlon Brando) who seems to be in a position to control world oil prices. In Germany he contacts one of the scientists who worked on the formula who is then killed. His niece (Marthe Keller) helps him in the investigation but she seems to be hiding something. He manages to get the formula from another scientist (Sir John Gielgud) which he then hopes to keep safe. Convoluted thriller is a talkfest and moves much too slowly. Scott coasts through it with a perpetual grimace on his face while Brando chooses to play his part with a foppish hairstyle and a lopsided lisp. The lovely german locations helped the film get an Academy Award nomination for its cinematography. A misfire considering all the talent involved in front and behind the camera.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

They Call It Sin (Thornton Freeland, 1932) 6/10

Small-town Kansas gal (Loretta Young) arrives in Manhattan in search of young salesman (David Manners) who swept her off her feet. However, he is engaged to be married so takes on a job as a piano player for a slimy theatrical producer (Louis Calhern), rooms with a daffy dancer (the delightful Una Merkel) and catches the eye of a doctor (George Brent). Pre-code film hardly has any scandalous material but is a good showcase for Young who finds herself in trouble when one of the characters accidently dies. Briskly paced breezy film with a good cast.

What's Up Doc? (Peter Bogdanovich, 1972) 10/10

Bogdanovich pays homage to screwball comedy while channeling Howard Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby" with 1930s naive Cary Crant & daffy Katharine Hepburn reincarnated 1970s style as naive Ryan O'Neal & extremely daffy Barbra Streisand. Add to the mix a plot about a collection of plaid bags that keep changing hands, horrendous 70's fashions, and an outrageously funny set-piece - straight out of Chaplin - involving the two leads going up and down and backwards on a delivery bike on a San Francisco street where they encounter a large plate glass. An outstanding supporting cast - Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Michael Murphy, Liam Dunn, Mabel Anderson - play the wacky characters surrounding the two leads. Stealing every scene is Madeline Kahn as Eunice the put-upon fiancé of O'Neal. Hilarious farce still manages to hold up after all these years.

Miss Pinkerton (Lloyd Bacon, 1932) 5/10

A creaky old house. Creepy servants. A dead body. Was it suicide or murder? A detective (George Brent) asks a nurse (Joan Blondell) to keep an eye on things in the house and she takes it upon herself to try and investigate as she believes the man was murdered. The house is full of suspects - an evil-looking doctor, a cloaked man with clutching fingers and a frightened juvenile who was married to the dead man. In-between sleuthing the nurse and detective banter and fall in love. Low budget whodunit is based on the magazine detective serial by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Luxury Liner (Lothar Mendes, 1933) 7/10

A shipload of troubled passengers on a transatlantic ship. A doctor (George Brent) desperately boards the ship to stop his wife (Vivienne Osborne) from running off with a rich financier (Frank Morgan playing against type) who shows an interest in a famous opera singer (Verree Teasdale). A young blonde (Alice White), in third class, wants desperately to be in first class and flirts with a once wealthy textile manufacturer (Sir C. Aubrey Smith). The ship's selfless nurse (Zita Johan) harbors a tragic secret from her past and has a crush on the doctor. A baby is born, the mother takes a turn for the worst, the third class passengers overhear an investment tip and eagerly collect money to invest, there is a shooting, a murder and a suicide. "Grand Hotel" style film is briskly paced with an excellent cast going through various ups and downs.

The Right to Live (William Keighley, 1935) 6/10

Love triangle between a paralyzed man (Colin Clive) , his doting wife (Josephine Hutchinson), and his virile brother (George Brent). Watching from the sidelines is the quiet nurse (Peggy Wood) who insists the invalid was murdered when he turns up dead one fine day. Based on the W. Somerset Maugham play - "The Sacred Flame" - the soap opera plot suddenly turns into a whodunit. Was it a natural death, was he murdered, or was it suicide? The doctor (Leo G. Carroll) and a family friend (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) think it was a natural death but the nurse, secretly in love with the deceased, accuses the wife of killing her husband. His elderly mother (Henrietta Crosman) holds the key to the mystery. The play ended differently to this Hollywood adaptation due to censorship. Amazingly the film is still quite bold with its subject matter especially coming right after the Censor Code came into effect.

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) 10/10

Tense, exciting thriller that has a lot to say about people and human nature and exposes many facets of the loneliness of city life while demonstrating the impulse of morbid curiosity. Recuperating from a broken leg, a professional photographer (James Stewart), is confined to a wheelchair in his apartment in New York. His rear window looks out on a courtyard and other apartments. During an intense heatwave, he uses his binoculars to watch his neighbors, who keep their windows open to stay cool. His sophisticated girlfriend (Grace Kelly) visits him regularly as does a nurse (Thelma Ritter). One night during a thunderstorm he hears a woman scream and later observes a man (Raymond Burr) leaving and carrying a suitcase. The man makes repeated late-night trips carrying the case and is also observed cleaning a large knife and handsaw. The next morning he notices that the man's wife is missing and becomes convinced that the man has murdered his wife. He decides to investigate by sending his girlfriend across to the man's apartment to try and find out what may have happened to the missing woman. Hitchcock makes the audience an accomplice with the protagonist's voyeurism and it is that illusion which holds our attention as the ability to see without being seen has a spellbinding effect. The suspense story is combined with romantic tension in the main plot along with many sub-plots, some humorous and some moving, but all with many psychological overtones. Classic film is regarded as one of the best suspense thrillers ever made and is yet another feather in the cap of the famous director.

The Painted Veil (John Curran, 2006) 7/10

W. Somerset Maugham's classic story about a mismatched couple during the 1925 cholera epidemic in China was first filmed in Hollywood with the great Greta Garbo. This third film version brings a modern sensibility and more realism to the tragic story. On a brief trip to London, an earnest, bookish bacteriologist (Edward Norton) is dazzled by a bored socialite (Naomi Watts). He proposes marriage, she accepts and after a romantic honeymoon in Venice they end up at a medical post in Shanghai where he is stationed in a government lab studying infectious diseases. The couple is ill-suited and she is much more interested in the social life of the British expatriates. When she embarks on an affair with a married British vice consul (Liev Schreiber) her husband threatens divorce for adultery unless she accompanies him to a remote area of China where he has volunteered to treat victims of a cholera epidemic. The story deals in the ways in which marriage in ruins is slowly and inexorably repaired as two disappointed individuals struggle in an alien and dangerous environment to find common ground and the love that has so far eluded them. The film is shot on stunning locations in China with sumptuous cinematography, exquisite period detail and a rousing score accompanying this romantic but tragic love story.

Before the Rains (Santosh Sivan, 2007) 7/10

The story, set in Kerala (South India) during the British Raj, is a dispassionate study of how power, when threatened, ruthlessly exercises its prerogatives. Henry Moore (Linus Roache), an English tea planter in southwestern India during a time of mounting resentment towards British rule, has borrowed heavily to finance the building of a road for the fantastically lucrative spice trade. He has his faithful ''man'', an educated Indian (Rahul Bose), well read and devoted, whom he treats as a friend but only up to a point. Unbeknownst to his wife (Jennifer Ehle), he becomes sexually involved with the housemaid (Nandita Das). He says he loves her and she, married to a man in the village, risks everything to carry on the affair. However, when two boys playing in the woods spot the adulterers, a series of tragic events are set in motion. The luscious scenery, shot by director-cinematographer Santosh Sivan, is gorgeous to behold as his camera captures stunning images of mist rising from tea plantations and angry villagers marching with torches. The film is fervently acted with Nandita Das providing a powerful, emotional force.

The White Countess (James Ivory, 2005) 7/10

The turmoil of the 1937 Japanese Occupation of Shanghai forms the setting for an unlikely friendship between a disillusioned and blind American diplomat (Ralph Fiennes) and a displaced Russian countess (Natasha Richardson) who works as a dance hostess / prostitute in a local bar to support her impoverished family. His ultimate dream is to be a proprietor of the perfect bar, the ideal bar, which he calls ''The White Countess" named after the exotic dancer. The pair nervously come together as she battles her old-school family members - her mother-in-law (Lynn Redgrave), aunt (Vanessa Redgrave), uncle (John Wood) - who look down on her 'profession' while themes of alienation, isolation, and the disenfranchised play with varying success. All these characters find themselves wedged between Japanese invaders and Communist Chinese defenders. This was the last collaboration between the Merchant-Ivory team of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant and is a fitting swan song to their 42-year partnership. As with all their films, this too is a marvelous celebration of period production and costume design stunningly photographed.

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000) 10/10

Visually beautiful and emotionally moving film about an understated romance. The film provides profound and moving reflections on life's fundamentals as it takes on the themes of love, betrayal, loss, missed opportunities, memory, the brutality of time's passage, and loneliness. In 1962 British Hong Kong, Shanghai expatriates, a journalist (Tony Leung), and a secretary (Maggie Cheung) at a shipping company, rent rooms in adjacent apartments. Each has a spouse who works and often leaves them alone on overtime shifts. Although they are initially friendly to each other they grow closer as they realize that their spouses are having an affair. As time passes, they acknowledge that they have developed feelings for each other but are forced to keep their relationship platonic in order to do the 'correct thing'. Stylish and very moving film is sumptuously mounted with gorgeous, sets, costumes and cinematography. Both stars give superb performances in a story about stolen glances and fleeting touches, as they both master this quiet and chaste dance.

Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944) 10/10

Made during WWII the film has many elements of propaganda as did most films coming out of Hollywood during the war years. However, what makes it highly original is the concept of the story being set entirely on a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. And like all films by Hitchcock this too is a murder-mystery but set in the confines of a small space. When a British Merchant ship and a German U-boat sink each other in the Atlantic Ocean several British and American civilians find themselves stuck on a lifeboat. The passengers pull on board a German survivor from the sunk U-boat and debate if he should be thrown back into the sea or allowed to sit with them in the lifeboat. The majority of the survivors vote that he should be allowed to remain on board. Soon things go missing, their water supply is sabotaged and some passengers mysteriously fall overboard. Is there a murderer on board? Can the German man be trusted? The film caused controversy because the film glorifies the German character while denigrating the American and British characters. Hitchcock responded to the criticism by explaining that the film's moral was that the Allies needed to stop bickering and work together to win the war. The film is now viewed more favorably and has been listed by several modern critics as one of Hitchcock's most underrated films. Also receiving rave reviews was stage star Tallulah Bankhead as the sophisticated but acid-tongued journalist who bit by bit loses her glamour as the story progresses.

The Manchrian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) 10/10

The title of ''The Manchurian Candidate'' has entered everyday speech as shorthand for a brainwashed sleeper, a subject who has been hypnotized and instructed to act when his controllers pull the psychological trigger. A Korean war veteran (Laurence Harvey) receives the Medal of Honor for having rescued nine men from his platoon. However, when a Major (Frank Sinatra) in the military begins to suffer nightmares that seem to contradict this event, he tries to find the truth. He discovers that the war hero has actually been brainwashed by the communists to assassinate someone - but who, when and where? Tense thriller has an extraordinary performance by Angela Lansbury as the evil mother of the brainwashed veteran who tries to use him to manipulate the political career of her husband, an obnoxious 'right winger' bearing a strong resemblance to Senator Joe McCarthy. Part gripping political thriller, part surrealistic oddball satire, this classic of paranoia is as stimulating and relevant today as it was when it was first released.

Stranded (Frank Borzage, 1935) 4/10

Social worker (Kay Francis) romances an engineer (George Brent). A rare boring Borzage where nothing much happens. Another woman makes a play for Brent, corrupt racketeers try to force him to pay protection from the mob on his bridge construction, and the couple banter over a woman's right to work versus becoming a homemaker after marriage. There is rare stock footage of the Golden Gate bridge when it was under construction.

Hidden Strike (Scott Waugh, 2023) 2/10

Buddy action-comedy with a strong whiff of the Mad Max franchise enveloped in a blanket of CGI. Former US marine (John Cena) joins hands with a special force soldier (Jackie Chan) to save Chinese hostages taken over by mercenaries who want to steal oil from a refinery in Iraq which is owned by China. It's non-stop action of the absurd kind as the two race across the desert and exchange bullets and fisticuffs with a bunch of villains. Shoddy film relies on its action set pieces and low comic banter between the two leads who have zero chemistry. In fact Cena looks like he's been formed by CGI. The Mongolian desert subs for Iraq. Skip this film.

To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin, 1985) 7/10

A hotshot risk-taking secret service agent (William Peterson) relentlessly pursues a counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe - the bloom of youth on his face) who has killed his partner. This was Friedkin's return after several boxoffice failures that came in the wake of his two highly successful early films - "The French Connection" & "The Exorcist". Cynical flashy thriller has the sheen of the hit tv show "Miami Vice" with a similar pulsating score (by Wang Chung) and dazzling cinematography (by Robby Müller) that makes a corrupt Los Angeles positively bloom with beauty. A memorable car chase sequence takes place on a six-lane freeway at the height of the rush hour going against the traffic. There is perverse sex with the agent using a paroled snitch as his sex-slave. A long documentary-like sequence shows how counterfeit money is produced while most of the characters (including the agents) have shades of grey bordering on some form of corruption. Extremely violent cult film has lost some of its power along the way after a wee too many similar cop thrillers came in its wake on both the big and small screen. Peterson is mesmerizing as the tightly coiled detective with only one aim in mind to get his prey by hook or by crook. Pity the actor never made it big despite another 80s pop-art thriller that followed this film - Michael Mann's "Manhunter". Dafoe, in one of his early screen appearances, steals every scene he is in.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Sabin »

I've been riding a high of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem for a few days, both for how entertaining I found it and for how it honored a part of my childhood that I haven't done much investigating. TMNT isn't a rich text but ooking back I'm surprised I didn't have any curiosity to see the Michael Bay-produced live-action films of the last decade. So, I decided to check them out.

The first one directed by Jonathan Liebsman is probably the more cohesive of the two in that it's thoroughly dreadful. It's awkward to accuse the franchise owners at a brazen-attempt at trend-chasing (Michael Bay's Transformers) when the original text is as brazen an attempt at trend-chasing as has ever entered the zeitgeist. But at the end of the day, it's not fun. It's dark, ugly, incoherently-stage, and devoid of character. It doesn't cater to any of the dominant themes of the franchise (brotherhood, acceptance). It's another exhibit in the ongoing case study of why comic book movies shouldn't launch with the franchise Big Bad. My favorite thing about this film is watching them try to streamline the backstory of the turtles and in the process create something even more convoluted. Now, April O'Neil is the protagonist, she has a close personal connection to Shredder (killed her father) and the turtles (they were hers to begin with before they were experimented on) and she holds personal responsibility for turning them into the heroes they because (when she freed them from the burning lab, she taught them bravery which inspired them to become ninjas). I mean, yeah, that's all tied together but it's stupid. It has the failed angsty parent scientist feel of the justly forgotten Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films whose neurotic plots worked overtime to justify the innocence of the original text. Lousy whether you're a fan of the series, comic, or not.

Imagine my surprise when I admit to almost liking TMNT: Out of the Shadows. I don't think it successfully locates the joy of the original property, but it comes closer than one might think. For such an overstuffed film (it intro's Krang, BeBop & Rocksteady, Casey Jones), it's oddly cohesive. And even though the Turtles are still VFX abominations, it almost wrangles them into something charming whose company I actually found myself enjoying, which is something I never thought I'd say after the first one. It boasts a pretty terrific mid-air action set piece. It probably deserved a little better than it got but it shouldn't be remembered more than a curio.
"How's the despair?"
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

The Squeeze (Michael Apted, 1977) 5/10

A woman (Carol White) and her daughter are kidnapped for ransom and while her sly husband (Edward Fox) wonders how he will pay the huge amount her alcoholic ex-husband and former cop (Stacy Keach) tries to look for her. The crooks (David Hemmings & Stephen Boyd - in his last role) hope to rob the rich man's security van full of cash. British gangster film comes to life briefly when Hemmings and a vicious Boyd are on screen but wilts whenever Keach comes on playing a sad sack character who, along with Carol White, gets to perform in the nude. This came in the wake of the classic British gangster film "Get Carter" but despite subsequently gaining a cult reputation it remains an ineffectual little drama.

The Wonderful Country (Robert Parrish, 1959) 6/10

An honorable drifter, pistolero and mercenary (Robert Mitchum) lives in Mexico as bodyguard to a rich landowner (Pedro Armendariz). On an assignment across the border to purchase guns he breaks his leg and is forced to stay in an American frontier town where he befriends a number of the townfolk including an Army major (Gary Merill) and his unhappy wife (Julie London) who want him to stay on. A shootout leading to a killing makes him return to Mexico but an altercation with the landowner - he wants him to kill his brother - has him on tbe run. Slow but atmospheric Western - shot on spectacular Durango locations - finally jerks into action during the last third when the troops listlessly attack the Apaches. Mitchum, as always, underplays in deadpan fashion.

Crossing Over (Wayne Kramer, 2009) 6/10

Earnest if often melodramatic look at the illegal immigration problem in the United States. The screenplay focuses on a potpourri of different stories about illegal residents - from Iran, Nigeria, Mexico, Bangladesh, Australia, South Korea, UK - and the many ways, both illegal and genuine, through which they are hoping to stay on in the country. The plots deal with a suspected suicide bomber and homegrown paranoia, a child who is left all alone when the mother is caught working illegally in a factory, a bunch of Korean teenagers involved in a store hold-up, document fraud, honour killing, asylum, culture clashes, extortion, seeking citizenship through sex with an officer of law. Harrison Ford plays a determined immigration officer with a soft heart and Ray Liotta plays one who uses sex to take advantage of an illegal immigrant. Ashley Judd plays the latter's disenchanted wife trying to adopt a young Nigerian girl who has been kept in detention by the authorities. Contrived but often moving drama about a process that leaves scars all around. One of Harvey Weinstein's films that he all but abandoned which also got no help from critics who compared it to "Crash" and gave it scathing reviews. What it does is present a system which in trying to help people often leads to corruption and heartbreak which here gets an in-your-face presentation. You can either revel in the drama and misery or scoff at the absurdity of its presentation. Either way its something to think about as sometimes it might even be better to stay put where you are instead of clamouring for a place that will still treat you with derision and suspicion. Or not.

High Crimes (Carl Franklin, 2002) 7/10

Nine civilians are massacred in a small village in El Salvador which becomes a military cover up. Charged with the crime is a marine (Jim Caviezel) who is picked up by the FBI in San Francisco while out shopping with his attorney wife (Ashley Judd). She was unaware of this episode in her husband's past as he had concealed it from her and had been on the run from the military. However, he insists he is not guilty. During the military trial she is allowed to defend her husband along with the help of an embittered and alcoholic former military attorney (Morgan Freeman). As the trial progresses she, her sister and the attorney are physically threatened, attacked and coerced into giving up the case. Suspenseful film has shades of Kurosawa's "Rashomon" as the crime is seen in flashback from different perspectives leading up to a twist ending. Freeman's effortless warm performance carries the film and he has wonderful chemistry with Judd who unfortunately goes through the entire film with a grim expression on her face.

Eye of the Beholder (Stephan Elliott, 1999) 3/10

Weird mystery thriller has a British secret agent (Ewan McGregor) surveilling a serial killer (Ashley Judd). Both are psychologically damaged - he mourns the disappearance of his wife and 7-year old daughter many years ago while she was abandoned by her father hence her hatred of all men. While he stakes her out on her many killing sprees he imagines his daughter next to him giving him advice. The plot turns into a road movie as he becomes obsessed by the killer, secretly follows her and saves her from the cops numerous times. Is he in love with her? Does he suspect she is his long lost daughter? No answers are provided. Extremely violent film has an eclectic supporting cast - Jason Priestly as a drug addict who tries to seduce her but ends up beating her to a pulp, Patrick Bergin as a rich blind man with whom she falls in love, and Geneviève Bujold as her former psychiatrist who treated her after she was imprisoned. This nutty story ends up in snowbound Alaska. Nothing makes sense in the plot.

The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall, 2023) 6/10

This live-action remake of the 1989 Disney animated film is an interesting companion piece to the original. It's one of the year's biggest hits at the boxoffice with newer generations flocking to see it. The "novelty" this time round is casting a black actress to play the central role of the mermaid and also have a diverse cast to play the assorted characters surrounding her - so India, the Far East, the Caribbean region, Africa, and any and all other coloured folk also get a representation. Oh yes, there are some white folk too - the free-spirited Prince (Jonah Hauer-King) whose adopted mother is black. At least they had the sense to mention he was adopted and not the actual son - like in a lot of shows where the casting is totally colour blind to please everyone and anyone who has even the remotest need to complain. Curious, headstrong mermaid (Halle Bailey who is very good) defies her father, the King (Javier Bardem), and shows an obsessive curiosity about the human world. She makes a deal with her father's estranged sister - a treacherous and conniving sea witch (Melissa McCarthy) - to become a human but without her voice. She rescues the Prince arrives at his castle and the suspense involves a kiss which he is supposed to give her for the evil spell to break but the witch manages to thwart that romantic moment. All the hit songs from the animated original get played out - the Oscar-winning "Under the Sea", "Kiss the Girl", and "Part of Your World". The mermaid's three companions - a crab, a flounder and a dimwitted northern gannet - are all animated. Shot on location in Sardinia.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by gunnar »

I guess it's been a few weeks since I last posted here.

Shiva (2008) - 5/10 - A (very) large extended family gathers during the Gulf War after one of the brothers in the family dies. The family gathers in a large house for a seven day period of mourning (Shiva). The film is well made, but watching the family argue for nearly two hours isn't all that much fun. I didn't really care about any of the characters.

Late Marriage (2001) - 5.5/10 - Zaza is 31 years old and studying for a doctorate in Humanities. His parents subscribe to an old tradition that he needs to marry a young virgin so they are constantly trying to fix him up for marriage, but he isn't interested since he is already seeing a woman closer to his own age who is divorced with a young daughter, two things his parents would definitely not approve of. The first half hour wasn't bad as we follow the family on one of the visits for a prospective bride. After that, the horrible family behaves very poorly and I didn't enjoy the film very much from that point on.

Late Summer Blues (1987) - 8/10 - Graduation is near for the class of 1970 when word comes that a former schoolmate was killed while serving his mandatory time in the army. The students are generally happy about the end of school, but a few of them are not looking forward to serving their time since they have been drafted. The film takes a more serious turn and the students look for ways to express their feelings about the situation. The music is very good and I enjoyed the film quite a bit.

Hairspray (1988) - 8/10 - Tracy Turnblad wants to join the dancers on the Corny Collins show in 1962 Baltimore. The show is popular, but is still segregated and Tracy and her friend Penny would like to change that. This was a lot of fun. I hadn't realized that Ricki Lake played Tracy.

A Room in Town (1982) - 7/10 - A metalworker who is part of a group going on strike falls for a woman who wants to leave her mercurial husband of a month. All of the dialogue is sung as in Demy's earlier film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). However, I think this gimmick worked better in that film. I was kind of bored with this one for a while, but got drawn into it more as it went along.

Shivers (1975) - 4/10 - A parasite is loose in an apartment building that causes people to become intensely focused on sexual activity. Others are easily infected by those with the parasite. I didn't really enjoy this one. I had some hope for it at the beginning, but it didn't pan out for me.

Terrified / Aterrados (2017) - 7.5/10 - Strange things are happening in a neighborhood outside of Buenos Aires. A police commissioner and several paranormal investigators look into the events, splitting up (not a good idea) to stay in three separate houses where unexplainable events have occurred. This is a pretty nice film overall with a decent level of tension and good performances.

The Eye (2002) - 7.5/10 - Mun is a concert violinist who has been blind since the age of two. A cornea transplant restores her sight, but she finds that she is now able to see more than she should. She is able to see the spirits of the dead and they start to take notice of her as well. This was pretty entertaining.

Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014) - 7/10 - The sequel picks up where the first film ends with the survivor making their escape from the mountain. They end up with a zombie arm that somewhat has a mind of its own. They also have to figure out what the Nazi zombies are trying to do and how to foil their plans. This film leans much more into comedy than just straight horror and it is a fun film, but I didn't think it was quite as good as the first one.

Mother Joan of the Angels (1961) - 6.5/10 - A priest travels to a convent where many of the nuns are supposed to be possessed by demons. Several priests have already tried exorcism without success. The black and white cinematography is nice here and there some fun moments throughout the film, but the film is also kind of odd and I didn't enjoy the film as a whole. Still, there is enough of interest that I don't regret watching it. It was better than The Devils.

Cinema 500 km (2006) - 8/10 - When the film was made, there were no cinemas in Saudi Arabia. The ban has since been listed and there are now nearly 500 screens in the country spread over 50+ cinemas. In this documentary, a film fan is going to travel 500 km to Bahrain with friends in order to see a movie in a theater instead of using a vcr or dvd player or watching it on tv. This is his first time seeing a film in a cinema and we follow his journey and learn about how he first got into watching movies. I thought it was pretty interesting.

The Architecture Of Mud (1999) - 7/10 - The documentary crew travels to Wadi Do'An in Yemen and interviews builders of the mud brick buildings there, discussing the process of building and maintaining the structures as well as the history and changes to traditions. They sure can make some nice structures out of mud.

The Ring Seller / Biya el-Khawatim (1965) - 8/10 - A nice musical about a village in Lebanon where the mayor makes up fanciful tales about a bandit named Rajeh. This goes on for some time and even has the villagers concerned until one day, a ring seller named Rajeh actually shows up at the village. The music is good and there is plenty of humor in the film.

Fools' Alley (1955) - 8/10 -Taha is working hard to earn money so that he can marry his beloved Khadija. When good fortune seems to finally come his away and lift the monetary burden, several earlier turns of events come into play and disrupt the entire neighborhood, putting a number of people at odds with one another. This is perhaps a bit predictable, but is still well done.

Neptune Frost (2021) - 7/10 - This africanfuturist tale features great songs and visual style. The plot (taking over the internet in Africa I guess) can be somewhat opaque at times, but just go along with it and enjoy the ride. It did make me think a bit about the writings of Nnedi Okorafor, a science fiction writer (and winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards) who often uses africanfuturism in her work. I recommend checking out her books if you enjoyed this film.

Please Baby Please (2022) - 3/10 - An odd film that I didn't really enjoy.

Pulgasari (1985) - 6/10 - The king and his armies are making it difficult for villagers to survive so the villagers make use of a monster that starts out small, but grows quickly to battle the armies and save the people. It started out fairly well, but got kind of boring after a while.

Tilai (1990) - 8/10 - Saga returns home after a two year absence to find that his father has taken Nogma, the woman Saga loves, as his second wife, making her his mother according to their traditions. Saga is not happy and builds a straw hut outside the village, later resuming his relationship with Nogma. This leads to a number of consequences. This was pretty well acted and is a nice film.

Manila in the Claws of Light (1975) - 8.5/10 - Julio is a young man who has traveled to Manila in search of his girlfriend Ligaya. She was lured to Manila by promises of work and a chance to get an education, but hasn't been heard from since. Julio works low paid construction jobs and searches all over Manila in his quest. We get to see lots of parts of the seedier side of the city. It's not a happy film, but it is very good.

The Travelling Players (1975) - 6.5/10 - A long and meandering tale that mixes in Greek history from 1939-1952 with ancient Greek tales. A troupe of actors traveling around and performing the play 'Golfo the Shepherdess'. Lots of stuff happens along the way, but it all just kind of blended together and I didn't come to care for any of the individual characters at all.

Ekskursante (2013) - 7.5/10 - A 10 year old Lithuanian girl is being sent to Siberia on a train with her pregnant mother after WWII. She escapes from the train and starts making the long journey along the way. She runs into trouble a number of times, but also receives help from some kindly Russians as well and perseveres in her travels. The girl in the lead is very good and it is a nice film.

Atlantics (2019) - 7.5/10 - Ada is about to marry the wealthy Omar in an arranged marriage, but she is in love with Souleimane, a poor construction worker. Souleimane and his coworkers haven't been paid for months so they decide to go to sea to migrate and find a better place to earn money. Strange things start happening on Ada's wedding night. The film is shot nicely and I liked the performances of the lead and her friends.

Let George Do It! (1940) - 6.5/10 - George Formby is a ukulele player who accidentally gets separated from his group, ends up in Norway, and is mistaken for a spy. I preferred Come On George, but this had some fun songs and moments. George even (sort of) gets to punch Hitler. The second half of the film is better than the beginning.

Mascarades (2008) - 7.5/10 - Mounir lives with his wife, son, and sister in an Algerian village. Mounir has a decent life, but his sister's narcolepsy is a thorn in his side in terms of getting the respect he thinks that he deserves. One night when he is drunk, he tells people that he has found a husband for his sister, even though it isn't true. The story ends up getting bigger and bigger and Mounir is reveling in the increased respect and admiration he is receiving from the people of the village. This is a pretty funny romantic comedy.

Wanderers of the Desert (1984) - 5/10 - A new teacher is assigned to a desert village where the children have never been to school. There is supposed to be a treasure buried in the desert and people who wander in the desert. The film is poetical, but didn't really hold my interest very well. I liked The Dove's Lost Necklace quite a bit more than this one.

A Girl in My Room (2022) - 6.5/10 - Hanzawa breaks up with his girlfriend and moves into a new apartment. It turns out that the ghost of a girl named Aisuke lives there. The two eventually become close over time. The film has an interesting premise, but seemed to lack energy. I still kind of liked it, but it was a bit dull.

Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice (1972) - 5/10 - Hanzo is a police inspector with his own unique way of doing things, including self torture to understand what criminals go through when interrogated. There is also plenty of sex and nudity. Unfortunately, the movie isn't very good or interesting, except in a few places.

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) - 7.5/10 - A blind masseur loves to gamble and is also an excellent swordsman. He arrives in a town where a fight between rival yakuza gangs is brewing. This was pretty good and I liked Shintaro Katsu a lot more in this film than in the later Hanzo the Razor films.

Tamako Love Story (2014) - 8/10 - In the sequel to the anime series Tamako Market, Mochizo finally works up the courage to express his feelings to Tamako. The two have been close friends since they were little, but Tamako was unaware of Mochizo's feelings, even though everybody else knew. The series was a lot of fun, but also had a lot more silliness due to the Dera character. This was also nice.

Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955) - 8/10 - A samurai and his two servants are traveling and meet a number of people along the way - an entertainer and her young daughter, a young boy who wants to be a spear carrier like one of the servants, a policeman, and so on. Things take a bit of a serious turn toward the end and it is a nice film overall. The two leads are very good.

Go, Go Second Time Virgin (1969) - 8/10 - A 17 year old girl is gang raped by 4 men on a rooftop. We later learn that this is the second time that he has been gang raped. She befriends a strange young man who watched the rape without interfering. He has his own trauma that has affected him. This was pretty well done and on a low budget as well.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Post by Reza »

Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023) 5/10

This is really much ado about nothing. And silly to boot. Standing out more than the title character is America Ferrera as an employee of Mattel, Inc. (the American multinational toy manufacturing company) who helps Barbie in the real world and gets to make an inspirational speech about society's conflicting expectations of women - which has hit a nerve resulting in huge boxoffice. The plot - "Stereotypical" Barbie (Margot Robbie), enjoying huge popularity in matriarchal Barbie World, suddenly develops flat feet and cellulite for which she travels to the real world in search of the child playing with and controlling her. Ken (Ryan Gosling), who has the hots for her, accompanies her on the journey. She discovers that it is not the child who is the catalyst of her existential crisis but the girl's mother (American Ferrera). Meanwhile Ken discovers patriarchy and hurriedly transports it to Barbie World where he, along with the other Kens, overturns the powers of all the Barbies. With Mattel executives in hot pursuit Barbie returns home and with the help of fellow Barbies battles all the Kens to retrieve their lost power. The fantastic pink production and costume design begins to overpower the plot and not helping things is Margot Robbie who starts out in bimbo mode which soon turns to constant whining. Gosling is very funny as Ken especially when he begins to bask in the delights of macho patriarchy. The screenplay explores themes of existentialism, male objectification and an oppressive patriarchal society versus a matriarchal utopia. Under all the pink bubble gum on display the story comes off as one long tirade of how miserable it is to be a woman.

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani (Karan Johar, 2023) 8/10

Going completely over-the-top is an understatement when it comes to this particular Karan Johar flick. Here he surpasses all previous meanings of that word with the outlandish homes, clothes, and emotions on display. He does, however, hit an absolute home run when it comes to Alia Bhatt and her slinky, Manish Malhotra clad body. The lovely actress completely out does every Yash Chopra heroine wearing one stunning chiffon saree after another - not only during the songs where she dons a colorful assortment of them during the hit romantic number, "Tum Kya Mile", which is shot in snow-clad Kashmir and which also includes a saree drenched in rain - two strikes with one stone - but also throughout in her workday tv anchor avatar she is seen wearing that gorgeous attire. The plot also mirrors countless past Bollywood films of two lovers from completely different backgrounds - she (Alia Bhatt) comes from a literate Bengali family while he (Ranveer Singh) is the heir apparent to a Punjabi Mithaee empire ruled by his grandmother, a sour-faced dragon-like matriarch (Jaya Bachchan). The sub-plot that runs parallel to the main love story is of his amnesiac, wheelchair bound grandfather (Dharmendra) and her sophisticated grandmother (Shabana Azmi) - "Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar" - who reconnect with a delightful liplock decades after they had a six-day extra-marital fling. The younger couple proceed to fall in love too while assisting the older couple to reunite. Knowing they come from completely different backgrounds they decide to live three months in each others' households to see if they can handle life (and eccentric family members) as lived by the other. Karan's lavishly produced film uses songs from Bollywood's golden past both as a delicious twist ("What Jhumka") and as regular ballads during the romantic moments between the grandparents, the younger couple and other assorted characters. Ranveer Singh, true to life, goes completely over-the-top with his flamboyant style as he exclaims, "I look like Prada and Gucci got together to give birth to me" - while emoting and gyrating through songs, where in the film's opening dance number he is joined - a typical KJo cameo moment - by Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Ananya Pandey and Varun Dhawan - the director's favourite nepo babes. The film's first half is mostly replete with crass and corny moments while the second half is about the clash between progressiveness and tradition with the screenplay also touching on cancel culture, the evils of patriarchy in families and other ills in society which are all presented in a preachy manner that is all too important considering how much it is needed as a life lesson. The entire cast is in fine form although Jaya Bachchan is too much of a sourpuss even though her portrayal is a broad wink at the real-life sour persona she unleashes on fans, the photographers and the media. Eye candy film, with its overtly familiar beats, manages to even outdo "Barbie" during the film's kitschy pink closing moments. In summary the film continues to beat to Karan Johar's oft-quoted and familiar mantra of it being "all about loving your family".

Air (Ben Affleck, 2023) 8/10

Never thought I would enjoy a sports themed film so much although it was more because of nostalgia with the story set in 1984 and the film bursting with very familiar product placements, commercials, and the fashions from that era. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite (as producers and stars) playing the head of Nike and his marketing executive respectively. Nike is third in sales after Adidas and Converse and the two decide to do something drastic to increase business. The brainwave is to try and get basketball star Michael Jordan to defect from endorsing Adidas to move to Nike. The team goes into overdrive in creating a special shoe - the "Air Jordan" - as a pitch to the sports star - along with a hefty fee and sports car. When Adidas matches the offer provided by Nike the team think they have lost when suddenly Jordan's mother (Viola Davis) comes back to them with a difficult counter offer in order to get her son to sign up. Smartly written film has many funny moments - the scenes between Damon and Jordan's agent (played by Chris Messina) are a riot - with the entire cast in fine form. Viola Davis, in a brief part, is sensational as the star's backbone and wily strategist. And in addition to enjoying the film that triumphant and emotional moment at the end also managed to bring on tears.

To Catch a Killer (Damián Szifron, 2023) 6/10

The young disturbed female cop in the film somewhat resembles the detective Clairice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs". During New Year's eve in Baltimore a sniper randomly kills many people using a high powered rifle. The chief FBI investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) recruits a rookie cop (Shailene Woodley) suffering from some long suppressed trauma because he finds her very intuitive. When the sniper calmly shoots dead a number of people in a mall along with many cops the two detectives are suspended. However, they pursue the case on their own and she manages to deduce the identity of the man which leads up to a volatile finalé. Mendelsohn stands out as the angry cop hell bent on catching his prey. Over familiar police procedural is an easy watch.

Walking With the Enemy (Mark Schmidt, 2014) 5/10

During the waning years of the War Miklós Horthy (Sir Ben Kingsley) - Hungarian statesman who served as the regent of the Kingdom of Hungary - tries to juggle allegiance first towards the Nazis and when they overrun the country in 1944 he tries to switch sides towards the advancing Russians. Meanwhile the film's backbone centers on a young Hungarian (Jonas Armstrong) jew who escapes a labour camp, returns to his village to find his entire family deported to Auschwitz, joins a Swiss safe house where he secretly helps to save thousands of jews escape into neutral Switzerland. His adventures take on a boys own adventure scenario as he wears the garb of a Nazi and manages to rescue jewish prisoners from within the Nazi headquarters including deceiving the far-right Hungarian Arrow Right Party members who created havoc in the country by killing or deporting jews to the camps. The film depicts these rabid ultranationalists rounding up jews, stripping them off their shoes and shooting and dumped them into the Danube. Budapest today has a memorial erected on the bank of the river to commemorate the victims. The film is a strictly by-the-numbers depiction of the events although there are scattered moving moments along the way.

La strega in amore / The Witch in Love (Damiano Damiani, 1966) 6/10

A womanizer (Richard Johnson) is followed by an old lady (Sarah Ferrati) who lives in a vast, decaying palazzo. She offers him a job to organize her library of books which also includes her late husband's journals along with the casket containing his embalmed body. Intrigued by the set up he is bewitched by her beautiful daughter (Rosanna Schiaffino) who appears to have a crazed lover (Gian Maria Volontè). It soon becomes apparent that the old lady may have lured him to her home for her own ulterior motive of regaining her lost youth and uses her daughter in her diabolical scheme. Is she a witch or is it all a figment of his imagination? And who is the beautiful woman who she passes off as her daughter although everybody says the old woman has no children? Disconcerting film is superbly photographed by Leonida Barboni as his camera captures in deep focus the weird goings on inside the vast rooms and hallways of the palazzo. Schiaffino is an alluring presence. The story is based on the short novel "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) 8/10

Riveting but overlong film about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) - the American theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II who has often been credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in organizing the Manhattan Project. Nolan uses sound, music (by Ludwig Göransson) and rapid editing to bring a sense of desperate urgency to the events in his life - first as a student, then as a professor of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics at Berkeley, his sexual relationship with a neurotic student (Florence Pugh) who is a communist, his marriage to an alcoholic (Emily Blunt), his involvement with the Manhattan Project and the development of the atom bomb, the successful test explosion followed by the government deciding to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his brief celebrity status, his intense guilt afterwards over the loss of lives in Japan and finally his relentless hounding by the Atomic Commission for his one-time communist leanings which takes up a great part of the film. The non-linear screenplay moves backwards and forwards continuously with the story's two major thrusts - the scientist's work on the bomb and his gruelling moments on the stand as he is questioned about being a communist at the urging of Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a staunch anti-communist who held a grudge against him. As with every Nolan project this has superb production values - wonderful sets, costumes and cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. Many familiar actors - Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Tom Conti (as Einstein), Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Gary Oldman (as Truman), Matthew Modine, Tony Goldwyn, Jason Clarke - make brief but vivid appearances. However, the film rests on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy who gives a deeply-felt introspective performance and there are equally good turns by Emily Blunt as his volatile but extremely loyal wife and Robert Downey Jr. as the jealous member of the Atomic Commission who ensures that the security clearance of Oppenheimer is revoked. Nolan adapted this thought provoking film from the 2005 biography "American Prometheus" written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Kohrra (Randeep Jha, 2023) 8/10

A Non-Resident Indian bridegroom-to-be is found with his throat slit and head bludgeoned in a field near his village in Punjab and his best man - a British national - goes missing. The intense police procedural reveals layers of dark secrets amongst all the characters and the hard-hitting screenplay touches on toxic patriarchy, drug abuse in rural Punjab, and the urge to marry off girls to NRIs. The story's vivid characters include the cop leading the investigation who has a calm and workmanlike demeanor at work but is abusive at home - his wife has commited suicide and he beats his rebellious married daughter who refuses to live with her husband. His partner has been having a decade long affair with his brother's wife and wants to dump her for a younger woman. The bride-to-be was in the midst of an affair with a musician who had a physical altercation - caught on CCTV - with the groom and his best man in a restaurant. A drug addict has knowledge about the murder. There is a truck driver who may or may not be involved with the crime and his young helper appears to have seen more than he should have. Finally there is the groom's put-upon cousin who may be involved in the foreigner's kidnapping and has an altercation with a blackmailer. A mixture of comedy, suspense, drama, and pathos runs through all the storylines with lacerating dialogue. The need for sex is a major part of the plot with characters unabashadly making out, giving blowjobs, and humping one another, though they become uneasy when the matter is discussed in the open. They are human and carnal desires need to be fulfilled. Riveting 6-part story is a slow burn as it comes to its satisfying and surprising conclusion.

La morte negli occhi del gatto / Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (Antonio Margheriti, 1973) 4/10

Gothic gialo immediately sets up its grim tone during the opening credits as a man is killed with a razor followed by rats in the dungeon devouring his face under the watchful eyes of a cat. The castle setting of the story is in the highlands of Scotland although the actual location is Castello Massimo outside Rome. Nubile student (Jane Birkin) arrives at the family castle to visit her neurotic mother, angry young cousin and lecherous uncle (Anton Diffring), and finds herself in the midst of a rare curse involving a cat and a gorilla. More murders ensue, the gorilla all but disappears, the cat is more cute than sinister and Birkin does not take off her clothes. Her off-screen husband, Serge Gainsbourg, plays the local cop investingating the murders. Stiffly acted by all.

Jaws 2 (Jeannot Szwarc, 1978) 4/10

This first sequel, although a huge hit at the boxoffice, does not hold a candle to the original - but then none of the sequels did. This one has annoying teenagers in peril as Chief Brodie (Roy Scheider) and his wife (Lorraine Gary) flail about - both their sons are at sea with other kids and under attack by the great white shark. As in the original film the town of Amity refuses to believe the cop when he tries to warn them about the shark. There is no suspense buildup towards the first sighting of the shark like in the classic original - here we get to see the shark in all its (fake) glory right at the start of the story and through the various attack sequences all of which lack suspense. This was a troubled production with star and director at loggerheads throughout the shoot with the predictable end involving the cop facing off to the shark as they battle to the death.

Jaws 3-D (Joe Alves, 1983) 6/10

Despite getting a bum rap - and 6 Razzie/Worst film award nominations - this is actually a far better sequel than the last one. Chief Brodie is not around in this episode but his grown-up son (Dennis Quaid) gets to tackle the shark in this one. He works as an engineer at a Florida marine park with underwater tunnels and lagoons. He is in love with a marine biologist (Bess Armstrong) who works with performing dolphins at the park. A shark gets into the enclosed lagoon and kills a worker but is then captured and dies. Also lurking in the lagoon is its angry and vicious 35-foot mother who causes mayhem with the performing skiers and the general public who have flocked to the park's opening. Thankfully the fake shark is shown either from the back or the side with brief flashes of its gaping teeth-filled mouth. The ending is hilariously doozy with shoddy effects but overall its not bad at all. Louis Gossett camps it up as the park owner while Simon MacCorkindale as a hunter gets to perform the film's highlight - getting eaten up alive with the camera right inside with him in the mouth of the giant shark as he gets crushed to bloody bits. The film's 3-D effects involve assorted objects, an eel, a lobster, sea spray, falling characters and the shark lunging at the audience.

Jaws: The Revenge (Joseph Sargent, 1987) 5/10

Another sequel that does not deserve its putrid reputation. Chief Brodie's widow (Lorraine Gary) is convinced the shark is out to get her family when her younger son falls prey to the giant fish. To get over her grief she visits her older son - a marine biologist (Lance Guest) - in the Bahamas but unbeknownst to her the shark follows her and is soon upto its usual business. The widow finds romance with a craggy pilot (Michael Caine), her son almost falls victim to the seemingly revengeful shark as does her granddaughter. The hurried ending and sloppy effects are laughable but overall the movie does manage to create suspense.

633 Squadron (Walter Grauman, 1964) 6/10

Generic but fairly exciting WWII mission drama. British fighter-bomber squadron, led by a cynical American Wing Commander (Cliff Robertson), is asked to destroy a German V-2 rocket fuel plant located in an impregnable spot. The de Havilland Mosquito planes need to fly into a narrow Norwegian fjord and bomb the cliff under which stand the anti-aircraft guns guarding the fuel plant. The first half of the film involves the pilots training for the attack in Scotland where there are narrow glens similar to the fjord. Also part of the team is a Norwegian resistance fighter (George Chakiris) whose capture by the gestapo creates a tragic dilemma for the Wing Commander. The Tom Cruise blockbuster, "Top Gun: Maverick", is a loose remake of this film. Fun Trivia - The riverbank where Robertson's character romances Maria Perschy was Hurley Lock on the River Thames and was also used in a similar early scene in From Russia with Love (1963) where Sean Connery romances Eunice Gayson.

The Golden Gate Murders (Walter Grauman, 1979) 6/10

Gruff cop (David Janssen) and nun (Susannah York) investigate the death of a Catholic priest. The cops and everyone believe he committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. However, the nun thinks he was murdered and eventually convinces the cop of the homicide. Typical tv movie from that era - low budget and shot mostly on obvious sets - but scores thanks to the two leads who have great screen chemistry. Janssen died four months after the film came out and looks far from ok but is marvelous as the tired and weary cop who at first is irritated to find himself saddled with a nun. York, with her sexy voice, makes an unusual pairing opposite him but firmly holds her own as his eventual partner in the murder investigation.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Requiem from Java / Opera Jawa (2006) - 5/10 - I think that the film is well made, but I'm not a fan of opera and didn't care for the story here. There were only bits and pieces that I really enjoyed.

Diary (1983) - 7/10 - David Perlov was an Israeli filmmaker ad professor whose ideas for films were getting shot down so he started filming the places and people around him. It eventually started focusing more on his family and on politics as well. This film covers the period from 1973-1983 and is interesting, though perhaps best taken in parts or the narration might get a bit old.

The Big Dig (1969) - 7.5/10 - A lunatic escapes from an asylum and then steals a jackhammer and compressor. He proceeds to dig up a street in Tel Aviv, causing major headaches to nearby residents and those who drive through the area. Everybody assumes that he is on legitimate city business and the police and others even start helping him, turning it into a major project. It's amusing, especially in the big deal it turns into and in the end result.

Applause (1929) - 5/10 - A burlesque dancer has her daughter raised in a convent, hoping that she will have a better life. The daughter grows up and is almost drawn into burlesque as a career, but really wants nothing to do with it. This is a very early talkie and is also very dated. Some of the acting isn't all that good.

True Stories (1986) - 8/10 - David Byrne stars as the narrator who is visiting a small Texas town for its 150th Anniversary celebration. The event is sponsored by a local company that makes microprocessors. What follows is a number of interesting, sometimes odd, but entertaining vignettes. We get a fashion show, a church service, and much more. The music is good and the humor generally worked for me.

Broken Wings (2002) - 8/10 - A midwife and her four children (two older teens, two preteens) are still deeply affected by the death of the father less than a year earlier. All the mother seems to want to do outside of work is sleep. The children show their grief in different ways. I liked this one a lot.

The Band's Visit (2007) - 7.5/10 - A police band from Egypt arrives in a small town in Israel for the opening of a new Arab Cultural Center only to discover that they are in the wrong town with no way to leave until the next day. There is some discomfort at first, but some of the locals make them welcome and give them a place to sleep as they slowly get to know each other. It's a pretty nice film.

Carousel (1956) - 5/10 - Some of the music is decent in this film adaptation of the stage musical, but the story and message that hitting a woman is fine aren't that great. The film itself also in't really all that great either.

Ziegfeld Follies (1945) - 6/10 - This is mostly a collection of skits and song/dance numbers. The skits were mostly kind of dumb while the song and dance numbers were okay. There were a lot of big names in the production.

Come On George (1939) - 7/10 - George Formby stars as an ice cream salesman at a racetrack who is mistaken for a pickpocket. While making his escape, he ends up in a train car with a talented racehorse that also happens to be unmanageable...until it meets George. The film is kind of silly, but fun to watch.

The Pajama Game (1957) - 7/10 - A new superintendent is hired at a pajama factory. Worker aren't happy because management won't give them the 7.5 cent per hour raise that other factory workers have been given. The new superintendent tries to settle things and avert a strike while also becoming close with the head of the worker' grievance committee (Doris Day). It's a decent film and I liked the sets and costumes. I think I liked it better as a stage musical, though.

Homework (1989) - 6.5/10 - A series of young boys from an Iranian school are interviewed and asked about homework, school, being punished, encouraged, and rewarded. Most of their parents seem to be illiterate. They also seem to get far too much homework and most get punished by being hit, often with a belt. Few of them seemed to know what encouragement or rewards were and when questioned whether they preferred homework or cartoons, they chose homework, likely scared of answering otherwise. It is interesting, but also soon become pretty repetitive.

You and Me (1935) - 7.5/10 - Helen (Sylvia Sidney) and Joe (George Raft) are ex-cons who work at a department store owned by a man determined to give people on parole a second chance. Helen and Joe fall for each other and Joe asks her to marry him and she accepts. However, unlike Joe, Helen's parole hasn't ended and she is not allowed to marry. Helen keeps this as a secret from Joe and it eventually causes a rift between them. I enjoyed this one and we even get an economics lesson late in the film.

Ramparts of Clay (1970) - 7/10 - In a small Tunisian village in the desert, the men work in an above ground mine while the women go about their daily chores and lives. One young woman seems to be somewhat of an outcast, not attending school and doing menial tasks such as getting water from the village well on a regular basis. When the colonial administrator of the mine shows up to pay the men their wages, they are unhappy with what is offered and go on strike. The administrator brings in soldiers, but they have little to do since the men just sit down and wait. Their act of rebellion seems to inspire the young woman to go on strike against her own situation. There is little dialogue in the film, but I did like the film, not just for the interesting landscape in and around the village.

Dead Snow (2009) - 7.5/10 - A group of medical students head out to a remote mountain cabin for a winter break. Things start out well with fun and games like tubing behind a snowmobile, snowball fights, and other games. Then the nazi zombies show up and ruin everything. There is a fair amount of humor and gruesome action. It's pretty entertaining overall.

Lovesick on Nana Street (1995) - 5/10 - Victor lives in an apartment with his mother and runs a pirate tv station that seems popular locally. He falls for a young woman that he meets one day and starts stalking her, sending her flowers, trying to see her, etc. When her attempts at discouragement and the police involvement don't work, he is sent to the local insane asylum which is apparently filled with the lovelorn. This is a romantic comedy, I guess, but I didn't find it to be very funny or really all that entertaining.

The Summer of Aviya (1988) - 8/10 - In 1951, Aviya is a little girl who lives with her mother in a village in israel. Aviya is bullied by the other kids, in part because her mother is mentally unstable. Aviya's mother fought as a partisan in Poland during WWII and survived the Nazi concentration camps, but it took a heavy toll on her. Aviya's father died during the war, but Aviya becomes convinced that he did not die after all and is living with his new family in town. The girl who plays Aviya (Kaipu Cohen) was excellent and the woman who stars as Aviya's mother (Gila Almagor) is also very good. The movie is based on a memoir that Almagor wrote about her own life and experiences with Almagor portraying the character based on her own mother.

Life According To Agfa (1992) - 8/10 - The film follows the customers and employees of a bar known as Barbie. We have a group of obnoxious singing soldiers, a suicidal girl, an undercover cop, people working on a drug deal, and more whose lives intersect one night at the bar. It's pretty well done and the use of black and white instead of color seems appropriate in retrospect.

Head (1968) - 6/10 - The Monkees go through a series of mostly unrelated vignettes. This is supposed to be funny, but it doesn't really work. There are a number of interesting bits, but the whole is less than the sum of the pieces. I never watched the Monkees tv show, though I did grow up hearing quite a few of their songs on the radio, none of which was in this film.

Darktown Strutters (1975) - 6.5/10 - Female bikers doing their thing. This movie is both dumb and somewhat entertaining. It is filled with a number of odd things and it did make me laugh at times. The music isn't bad, too.

Forbidden Zone (1980) - 3/10 - This was pretty weird. I also thought it was pretty dumb.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Christopher McQuarrie, 2023) 9/10

The American spy, Ethan Hunt, is the perfect equivalent to the British spy, James Bond, and star Tom Cruise has really grown into the part over the years. Thankfully Cruise has now lost that boyish charm and smirk, and at age 61 has developed a rugged maturity which also finally shows across his face - a major factor which helped his last film - "Top Gun: Maverick" - become a huge blockbuster at the boxoffice. This is the seventh film in the franchise and they keep getting better and better. As with all the films there is a set pattern to the plot - Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) are given an assignment which is followed by a series of action sequences - always jaw-dropping - that are performed on exotic locations as the team is pursued by a set of assorted men (from the IMF: Cary Elwes, Henry Czerny - a former ally turned rogue - Esai Morales) and women (tough love interest Rebecca Ferguson, conniving thief Hayley Atwell, femme fatale arms dealer Vanessa Kirby and ruthless assassin Pom Klementieff) who either help them along the way or try to stop them through every deadly way possible. The assignment here is the retrieval of half a key which when joined to the other half holds the power to stop a rogue A.I. Entity. The action in the film moves swiftly from a Russian submarine (that takes on the Entity resulting in an implosion scarily similar to the fate of the recent OceanGate submersible) and moves onto a skirmish in the Arabian desert, then a nerve-racking chase inside and on top of the Abu Dhabi International Airport, to the streets of Rome, through the canals and inside a futuristic disco in Venice, and finally onto the Orient Express hurtling out of control through the Austrian Alps. Cruise performs an incredible death-defying jump off a cliff while riding a motorbike - most of his scenes on the bike bring back fond memories of Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape" while the screenplay takes an inventive way to show a car chase sequence through the streets of Rome (and down the Spanish Steps) involving a yellow Fiat 500 in a way that is laugh-out-loud hilarious. The film's spectacular set piece at the end involves the train recalling the films "The Cassandra Crossing" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" where a similar situation occured leaving characters literally dangling for their lives. The film also memorably references other classic films from the past - "Battleship Potemkin", "The Italian Job, and "Don't Look Now". Superb production has spectacular visual effects, the familar Lalo Schifrin score and a plot that whizzes by swiftly despite an almost three-hour running time. All credit for the film's success goes to Tom Cruise who holds it all together with his incredible star charisma. And let's not forget lovely Italy which gets a dazzling look-in along the way. A must-see film - with part 2 of the story coming out next year.

The Frozen Ground (Scott Walker, 2013) 6/10

Nicolas Cage and John Cusack reunite after their previous teaming in Con Air (1997). However, this time round they don't play allies and instead take on the roles of an Alaskan State Trooper and a serial killer in this thriller which is based on fact. When a young woman - a prostitute and drug addict - manages to get away from her abducter she accuses a family man of kidnapping, raping and holding her prisoner. When he comes up with a strong alibi the cops cannot get the D.A. to issue a search warrant without proper proof. When another dead female is found buried in the snow the cops begin to suspect that many missing women could all be victims of a serial killer. By-the-numbers police procedural goes through all the usual tropes of the genre. What makes it unusual is the subtle performance by Cage and the continuing head-scratching one does looking at Cusack and wondering what the fuck went wrong with his career which once upon a time seemed so promising.

Train d'enfer / Operation Double Cross (Gilles Grangier, 1965) 5/10

One of numerous sub-par James Bond imitations that flooded the 1960s and beyond alongside the original. 1950s Swashbuckler Jean Marais is a bit long in the tooth as a secret agent going after a Nazi scientist. The film is buffed up with all the usual suspects - a boat chase, fist fights, a silver Alpha Romeo, a statuesque beauty-vamp (Marisa Mell) and stunning locations in the Balearic islands of Spain. However, it remains a low budget imitation of the original despite the spiffy trappings. And did I mention how old Marais looks here?

Le grand jeu / Flesh and the Woman (Robert Siodmak, 1954) 6/10

A lawyer (Jean-Claude Pascal) goes bankrupt keeping his high
maintenance mistress (Gina Lollobrigida) in fur and jewels. He escapes his creditors and runs away to Algeria but his mistress does not join him as planned. Depressed he joins the Foreign Legion and after four years of the drudgery of warfare comes across a prostitute (also Lollobrigida) provided by the local hotel propreitress (Arletty). The girl resembles his former girlfriend and during a session with tarot cards he is told that he will fall in love with her, kill a friend over her and finally lose her again. The film is a remake of the 1934 Jacques Feyder classic which defined romantic despair in French cinema while allowing many subsequent films to use the French Foreign Legion as a colourful background. The ravishing Gina Lollobrigida is the whole show here although the supporting cast - Raymond Pellegrin, Peter van Eyck (as the two Legionnaire buddies), the always striking Arletty and Lila Kedrova as another tart - are all very good too.

Bheed (Anubhav Sinha, 2023) 6/10

Fictional story about the first COVID-19 lockdown in India which led to the exodus of 10 million migrant workers from cities to their villages and hometowns. The screenplay focuses on a few characters who find themselves stranded on roadsides and in open fields due to government imposed police blockades between the Delhi-UP border without any arrangements for food and shelter. Tense film captures in documentary fashion - shot in black and white - the misery and agony of thousands of men, women and children. A low-caste cop (Rajkummar Rao) is assigned by his upper-caste boss (Ashutosh Rana) at a blockade which proves to be a nightmare when he tries to prevent poor workers from returning to their families in order to curb the spread of the virus. A doctor (Bhumi Pednekar) helps the sick, an obnoxious rich upper-caste woman (Dia Mirza) tries to break the blockade using her position, an elderly Brahmin security guard (Pankaj Kapur) sides with a politician, a maid tries to get her alcoholic father home. Many amongst the people have flu-like symptoms and as time passes the mob becomes impatient leading to explosive caste prejudice with hindus accusing muslims of spreading the virus with the screenplay pinpointing crucial points about the old problems that modern India is still unable to shake off.

Afwaah /Rumour (Sudhir Mishra, 2023) 6/10

A rising politician (Sumeet Vyas) goads his goons to resort to violence during a rally and many people are injured and one man brutally killed. His fiancé (Bhumi Pednekar) is horrified and walks out on him. His goons capture her and while being manhandled her life is saved by a passerby (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) in whose car she escapes from the mob. The two go on the run with the politician, his goons, and crooked cops in pursuit. The screenplay is an hysterical indictment of politics that thrives on building divides amongst communities. It also shows how social media can be used to create negative rumours against people - the politician creates a fake video showing his hindu fiancé eloping with the muslim passerby which goes viral creating mob hysteria wanting blood. Extremely violent film - the death count keeps rising - goes completely over-the-top during the film's climax as the screenplay crams in every possible ill in Indian society. The attack on civilians during the rally with victims begging for their lives is a direct reference to the 2002 Gujrat riots. A lot of the dialogue comes off preachy with characters playing to the gallery as they pinpoint wrongs in society - the dialogue speaks directly to the public in a heavy handed way in order to drive in each point.

The Ambassador (J. Lee Thompson, 1984) 6/10

Idealistic American Ambassador (Robert Mitchum) to Israel hopes to initiate peace in troubled Middle East by getting young jews and muslims to sit down and talk. Meanwhile his bored wife (Ellen Burstyn) is followed as she meets secretly with her Palestinian lover (Fabio Testi). When a film of the two having sex is used to blackmail the Ambassador it falls to the American chief security officer (Rock Hudson) to try and find who is the group that wants peaceful negotiations disrupted. This was a troubled production - Hudson was ill and gaunt with AIDS and Mitchum was drinking heavily and only took on the project after getting accused of being anti-semitic and a holocaust denier. The film was loosely based on Elmore Leonard's novel "52 Pick-up". This is strictly a potboiler made palatable via it's A-list cast, an important political theme as its backdrop and the authentic on location filming in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Najev Desert.

Tobruk (Arthur Hiller, 1967) 5/10

Fictionalized story set during the North African Campaign of World War II as the combined unit of the British Army and the SIG (German-speaking Jewish volunteers from Mandatory Palestine) attempt to destroy german fuel bunkers at Tobruk. "Operation Agreement" was the code name of the attack - a failure at the time but here depicted as a success. Leading the group is a Canadian Major (Rock Hudson) who is familiar with the desert topography and has to be lifted out of jail where he has been ensconsed by Vichy French forces. His rescuer is leader (George Peppard) of the SIG and the two men along with the Commander of the British Army (Nigel Bruce) join forces for the mission. The screenplay follows the unit's trek across the dangerous desert as they try to avoid airplane attacks, minefields, Berber tribesmen and personal differences while pretending to be POWs being escorted by the SIG. Sporadically exciting film however does not stand up to far superior films in the genre of which one of the best was "The Guns of Navarone". Hudson is dull, Peppard tries an accent while Nigel Bruce as the supercilious British officer runs off with the film.

Un taxi pour Tobrouk / Taxi For Tobruk (Denys de La Patellière, 1961) 7/10

The film is basically very similar to the plot of the classic 1958 British film "Ice Cold in Alex". Instead of British soldiers we have here four french commandos (Lino Ventura, Charles Aznavour, Maurice Biraud, Germán Cobos) who destroy a german oil depot in the North African desert at the Battle of El Alamein during WWII. Escaping in the desert they get lost but happen to come across a group of german soldiers whom they kill. One survivor (Hardy Kruger) is captured and joins them on their long jeep ride through the deadly desert as they face getting stuck in sand dunes, avoiding german truck convoys, minefields and allied bombings. Anti-war elements in the screenplay deal with the dilemma of what to do with the german soldier who has proved to be a helpful comrade during the arduous journey. An unexpected ending raises the film a notch or two above many similar run-of-the-mil war stories.

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (Luv Ranjan, 2023) 6/10

Amusing romantic comedy where rich spoiled boy (Ranbir Kapoor) has a side business of helping couples break-up by working on one partner against the other. His best friend (Anubhav Singh Bassi) gets cold feet and hires him to break up his upcoming marriage to his fiancé (Monica Chaudhry). At the bachelor party in Spain - yes they are all very rich and travel at the drop of a hat - rich boy meets cute with fiance's best friend (Shraddha Kapoor). She in return meets him back in full-on sassy mode, on and off the dance floor (the song "Maine Pi Rakhi Hai" is their foreplay). The lead pair, both looking like a million dollars - fit bodies dressed to their teeth in designer wear - have incredible screen chemistry. Ranbir with his boyish, mischievous charm and Shraddha with her witty repartee create romantic sparks even though the screenplay follows the usual Bollywood tropes from time immemorial. The fun begins when the boy's boistrous Punjabi family - Dimple Kapadia plays it at full pitch as the loving mother - prove too suffocating for the girl and she wants out of the relationship. So she puts in a call to the breakup expert to help her dump the boy. In typical movie illogic the boy fails to recognise his own girlfriend's voice and proceeds to help her break up. A fun watch as the couple first move away from each other followed by the corny but hilarious manner in which they predictably reunite. Dimple playing Ranbir's Mom has special significance - her first film back in 1973 - "Bobby" - was opposite Rishi Kapoor (Ranbir's late Dad) and her comeback film after a break of 12 years was the 1985 film - "Saagar" - also opposite Rishi Kapoor. Charming film coasts on a heavy dose of joie de vivre brought to the project by the two leads, a great song score, lovely locations and a supporting cast with great comic timing.
Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, 2023) 7/10

We get two Indiana Jones here for the price of one - a younger, slick and robust version of Harrison Ford (courtesy of visual effects) during the film's opening sequence set during the Allied liberation of Europe in 1944. Indy with fellow Oxford professor & archaeologist (Toby Jones) grapple (in a bombed out collapsing building and then on a train) with an evil Nazi (Mads Mikkelsen) over an ancient artifact which they manage to retrieve. Jump to the present - 1960s New York - and we have an old grouchy and decrepit Indy who is suddenly confronted by his goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who becomes the catalyst for Indy to don his fedora and clasp his whip as she takes him on a wild ride after stealing that same old artifact (which her late dad had sent to Indy) with the Nazi from his past (now with serious delusions of grandeur to be one-up on Hitler) in hot pursuit. Chases galore - one involving a rickshaw in Tangiers - and with countless references to the past films - dark caves hiding creepy crawlies that cover their bodies, giant attacking eels (substitute for snakes) under the ocean, wild sequences on an airplane, discovering the tomb of Archimedes which allows them to travel through a time warp which finds them literally flying into the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC. Par for the course is the film's over-the-top plot where we also get to witness their young sidekick (Ethann Isidore) - a teenager - easily fly a plane through the time warp in time for a quick rescue. And for added pleasure we get three cameos - two from Indy's past - Sallah (John Rhys-Davies, his old friend, and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Young), his wife, along with a new friend (Antonio Banderas) who comes to his rescue but ends up paying a heavy price. This fifth and (supposedly) last installment is certainly better than the last episode - the one with a kinky Cate Blanchett - as it does everything familiar by paying homage to the first three films (all directed by Steven Spielberg) and allowing it to be a pretty decent send-off for Harrison Ford who now (at age 81) stands officially retired as Indiana Jones. So until we get a reboot this concludes the series originally conceived by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman.

Satyaprem Ki Katha (Sameer Vidwans, 2023) 7/10

A mostly corny and boistrous first half segues into a thoughtful very moving drama during post-interval. The film's very important social message feels preachy as it literally plays to the gallery but is very necessary considering the tragic seriousness of the topic. Satyaprem (Kartik Aryan), a goofy Gujju layabout, lives with his equally layabout dad (Gajraj Rao), his sister and disapproving mother (Supriya Pathak) who, courtesy of their dance school, are both the breadwinners in the family. A failure in law school he falls in love with Katha (Kiara Advani), a beautiful young woman from a rich home, when he sees her dancing during the Navritri festival. She rejects him and when a year later he hopes to see her again at the festival finds she has attempted suicide and manages to save her life. Soon after her parents offer her hand in marriage to him. No questions asked. Thus begins the couple's married life with the conjugal bed becoming a very distant item in their lives. How both navigate towards it involves a lot of bitter tears which are shed along the way. The template for the screenplay clearly recalls "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" which still remains the forerunner of all modern Bollywood romances with the two leads here bringing forth flashes of Raj and Simran from the classic film. Aryan and Advani both give highly emotional performances as the star-crossed couple bringing a lot of depth to their characters. Aryan has brilliant comic timing in his scenes with the delightful Gujraj Rao and there is a magical moment between him and Supriya Pathak as she comes around to her son after years of disdain - a beautiful moment played out superbly by both actors. Notwithstanding a few holes in the script the film has topnotch production values and a great music score with colorful songs and dances. A paisa vasool movie with a message that hits home.

Lust Stories (Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee & Karan Johar, 2018) 6/10

Second in a series of anthalogy films from Bollywood and the first to explore female sexuality - a concept (three, four or five short films) made famous initially by the Brits and later by the wicked Italians who often explored the comic and serious joys of sex. Kashyap's bit follows a bat-shit crazy woman (Radhika Apte) - a college teacher married to a much older experienced man-of-the-world who encourages her to explore her sexuality. So she has an affair with a much younger student followed by a disastrous affair with a fellow colleague with whom sex is dull. The screenplays suddenly veers off into strange territory as she starts stalking the student who is dating a young classfellow and starts chasing and browbeating him into confessing his affair. None of this rings true despite the funny abrupt payoff at the end. Akhtar's vignette explores the sexual relationship between a bachelor and his nubile maid (Bhumi Pednekar) who feels great disappointment when he decides to get into an arranged marriage with someone else. Banerjee looks at a woman (Manisha Koirala), in a long term aduterous affair with a lover (Jaideep Ahlawat), and the husband (Sanjay Kapoor) who suspects she is involved with someone else. Johar's film is a funny look at the relationship between a woman (Kiara Advani) and her vibrator with the object finding itself providing intense pleasure just as she is being watched by her husband (Vicky Kaushal), his mother and sister. Kudos to the team for presenting sex in a contemporary context which goes against cultural norms but allows the audience to judge if the different forms on view are something to emulate or avoid.

Cairo (Wolf Rilla, 1963) 5/10

British criminal (George Sanders), just out of prison, plans an elaborare heist at the Cairo museum. He rounds up a team (Richard Johnson, John Meillon, Eric Pohlmann) and after making a clean entry inside the museum - a sign of the times as there are no guards inside nor any cameras - an alarm goes off which results in an escape but not before some get shot or die. How to get out of the country is the backbone of the plot with the police in close pursuit. Shot on location but surprisingly lackluster film lacking suspense and the cast just going through the motions. The great Egyptian star Faten Hamama (once married to Omar Sharif) plays a belly dancer and lover to Johnson (who is completely miscast as an Arab). This was the only time she appeared in an english language film. Remake of John Huston's 1950 classic heist film "The Asphalt Jungle".
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