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

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

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gunnar wrote: I found the Greek chorus to be amusing.
The Greek Chorus is amazing, I just loved it and even though it’s been ages since I last watched it, I remember most of its scenes. F. Murray Abraham is such an underused good actor.

By the way, the “you’re such a Cassandra” exchange is absolutely hilarious.

Far from my favorite Allen film, but I love bits from it.
Last edited by HarryGoldfarb on Sun Jan 24, 2021 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Coming Home (Zhang Yimou, 2014) 8/10

Haunting drama about a family torn apart by the violent Cultural Revolution in the 1970s when Party officials and local police publicly humiliated and harassed people, seized property, tortured some and arbitrarily imprisoned others. A teenage daughter's (Zhang Huiwen) selfish ambition sets the tragedy in motion which results in a wife and mother (Gong Li) losing her professor husband (Chen Daoming) - first to the Red Guards and then to her own failing memory, as Alzheimer's sets in after decades of devotion and self-sacrifice. The tragedy that results is heartbreaking, dividing relatives and friends while the mother dedicates her life to waiting for her husband's return. The story is ultimately one of triumph of the human spirit and the endless love it is capable of as well as the phenomenal power of such love to emancipate and create beauty from the bleakest of circumstances.
What this film may lack in terms of visual flamboyance, it more than makes up for in telling its simple and direct story with a raw, emotional power that doesn't need lavish spectacle in order to get its point across. The film was a celebrated reunion between Zhang Yimou and his favourite actress and one-time partner Gong Li. The pair collaborated on six films between 1987 and 1995, before ending their relationship. They reunited only twice on films of which this one was their last together as a team.

Crime and Passion (Ivan Passer, 1976) 2/10

Utterly bizarre film is based on the potboiler "Ace Up My Sleeve" by James Hadley Chase. A Viennese financier (Omar Sharif), who has a habit of getting horny when he gets bad news, persuades his mistress and business partner (Karen Black) to marry their richest client (Bernhard Wicki) in return for a huge sum of investment by him in the Company. When his Board accuses him of embezzlement and an attempt is made on his life he seeks help from his married girlfriend who is involved in an affair with a young ski instructor (Joseph Bottoms). She suspects her voyeuristic husband of killing his four ex-wives and thinks he may be behind the murder attempts on her partner of which there are more but which he manages to avoid. Peculiar film gets more and more absurd with every major character turning out to be not who they seem. And then there is a huge suit of armor which also plays a ridiculous part in the plot. Sharif spends the entire film dodging murder attempts with a goofy gap-toothed grin on his face while Black's natural squint gets more and more of a workout. This film is absolute rubbish and gets one star for the Austrian Tyrol locations and another for Karen Black who is sexy because of that squint.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Sensations of 1945 (1944) - 7/10 - This is one of those movies where there is a framing storyline that is mainly there to allow various performers to perform. I enjoyed Cab Calloway, Dorothy Donegan, the circus performers, and some of the other acts. W.C. Fields appears in his last movie before he passed away, but unfortunately it wasn't very good. I also wasn't that impressed with Eleanor Powell's pinball machine dance. The framing story was decent enough.

Mighty Aphrodite (1995) - 7/10 - Lenny Weinrib (Woody Allen) is an insecure New York sportswriter whose wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) basically walks all over him. Amanda is working toward getting her own art gallery and talks Lenny into adopting a newborn boy. Their son Max is pretty bright and when he is about to enter school, Lenny decides to track down Max's biological mother, but discovers that Linda (Mira Sorvino) is actually a prostitute and porn star. I didn't really care for the first half hour or so of the film and found both Lenny and Amanda to be insufferable. However, after Linda came into the picture, I thought the movie got better and I was enjoying the film a lot more by the end. Mira Sorvino is pretty good and I found the Greek chorus to be amusing. I still wouldn't rate this as one of Allen's better films, but it isn't his worst either.
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The Train (John Frankenheimer, 1964) 10/10

Tautly directed action-packed WWII adventure film. Fact based story is loosely based on the non-fiction book "Le front de l'art" by Rose Valland. The author was a French museum curator who secretly kept a record of all works of art looted (from museums and private collections), placed in storage and shipped to Germany by the Nazis during the occupation of Paris. The screenplay, nominated for an Academy Award, follows the cat-and-mouse game played between an art-obsessed German Colonel (Paul Scofield), who plans to transport looted paintings (by Cezanne, Picasso, Monet, Gaugin, Renoir, Miro, Degas, Matisse, Utrillo, Braque) via train to Germany, and the wily station master and member of the French Resistance (Burt Lancaster) who does everything in his power to stop the artwork from reaching its proposed destination. Through a series of complex maneuverings - changing train tracks and names of stations - the Resistance members try to fool the Germans into believing the train is going to Germany when in fact they route it back to Paris after moving it in a circle. With the Allied Army about to enter Paris they keep trying to find different ways to delay the train much to the consternation of the Colonel. The astonishing camerawork, by Jean Tournier and Walter Wottitz, uses long tracking shots and wide-angle lenses, with deep focus photography. The superb special effects are designed to make the action scenes look authentic with Lancaster performing all his own stunts. The distinguished supporting cast play small but vivid roles - the great Michel Simon as a patriotic engine driver, Suzanne Flon as the museum curator who brings the art theft to the notice of the Resistance and Jeanne Moreau as a jaded but quick-witted innkeeper who helps Lancaster out of a tight spot. Paul Scofield, in one of his rare film appearances, is memorable as the sadistic Nazi who is hell bent on getting the stolen goods to Berlin, but the film belongs to Burt Lancaster, who although clearly not French, gives a tightly coiled intense performance. This rousing entertainment is one of the best films about WWII and a must-see.

The Horsemen (John Frankenheimer, 1971) 8/10

This epic adventure, shot on location in Afghanistan, was a total blast from the past having seen it first when I was a kid. This was the film, along with "Mackenna's Gold", "The Burglars" and "Mayerling" that made Omar Sharif a huge boxoffice star in Pakistan during the early 1970s - both "Dr Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia" were re-released later that decade adding to his already burgeoning stature which was most probably also due to the fact that the former Catholic Egyptian star converted to Islam and spoke Arabic. Frankenheimer's film, based on the book by Robert Kessel, is about a stubborn man (Omar Sharif) and his pride, trying to rise above the shadow of his brave and illustrious father (Jack Palance). The old man now lives a retired life as the leader of a small village but was once a longtime champion in the dangerous sport of Buzkashi. It is a game in which a group of horsemen fight to lift the carcass of a headless goat and ride across the field and back to drop it in a chalked circle to win the match. As the rider lifts it off the ground he is chased by the other riders who viciously whip him and claw at the goat to take it away. For the annual match in Kabul to be played before the King the old man gives his son his prized white stallion to ride during the game. When he falls and breaks his leg during a crucial stage of the game - his team still wins when a member jumps on his horse and makes the goal - he returns to his village stubbornly using a death defying route in order to gain a one-upmanship on his father who had never traveled on that dangerous road. Sick and delirious en-route with a gangrenous leg he is almost killed by his trusted servant who is seduced by a whore (Leigh Taylor-Young) to steal his prized horse. The spectacular Buzkashi scenes are memorable with the camera careening in and out between the riders moving at full throttle and remind of the famous chariot race in "Ben-Hur". The film's stunning cinematography by Claude Renoir and James Wong Howe captures the stark beauty of Afghanistan (some bits were shot in Spain) from scenes set on the plains and high up in the snow-capped mountains. Apart from Palance (who does his usual shtick) and Sharif (in an outstanding performance) there is lack of depth in the other characters but the film is highly unusual with many vivid scenes you won't easily forget.
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Capernaum (Nadine Labaki, 2018): A boy of unknown age, around 12 years old, is serving a 5-year sentence after committing a crime, and while serving his sentence, he decides to sue his parents. This beginning serves as a framework for the film, which recounts the events leading up to the trial, including the boy's relationship with an Ethiopian immigrant. This is probably the best film I've seen this year, an instant favorite and just a monumental movie. From the performances to every decision of the director, this is pure perfection for me. A heartbreaking film that is part of an increasingly necessary and scarce cinema. How this film lost to Rome at the Oscars is a mystery to me.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller, 2019): I didn't know about Fred Rogers or his cultural impact in the United States, but this didn't stop the film from quickly making me understand of his scope as an entertainer. Tom Hanks is fascinating, hinting with small gestures that there is much beyond that controlled kindness, which is a life decision, in the psyche of this man. I think Matthew Rhys is one of the best actors of his generation, and this work is a fitting companion to his work on The Americans, a series that I greatly admire. Another movie that I ended up enjoying a lot.

I am a Criminal (Clemente de la Cerda, 1976): A young man, who since childhood has to deal with rampant violence and the drugs, sex and petty thievery of a Caracas slum, gets involved with delinquency, and then moves on to serious gang activity and robberies. This Venezuelan film was a great box office success, surpassing even Jaws (that was released in the country in 1976), and is a gut wrenching portrait of the social decomposition that began to be glimpsed in the poorest neighborhoods of Venezuela and that would end, a few decades later, consuming the country. I am intrigued by how people in Venezuela responded so well to this film as entertainment, without learning anything from what the film showed: a warning of what in reality was already the country under so much opulence and wealth, and the threat of massification of that way of life. The corruption of the police, the blind gaze of the authorities, the inequity in the distribution of resources and social exclusion, in a country where drinking whiskey was not prohibitive for anyone are portrayed harshly and skillfully by the director. The cast is made up of unknown film debutants. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1977, this is one of the best-known examples of the movement called "New Venezuelan Cinema".

Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959): An adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in a favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival, in the late 1950s. The film is intoxicating in portraying the atmosphere of Rio de Janeiro, from its poorest neighborhoods to the, for the time, modern center with its large buildings and wide avenues, at the height of Carnival. A vibrant atmosphere is captured throughout the film and serves as a persistently joyous backdrop for the tragedy we know is about to unfold. It is incredible that the protagonists did not develop a longer career in film, although it is evident that the protagonist here is the director, in love with the vision he had and that he would eventually capture. I wish I had liked it more, but it was excessively long (there is footage of people dancing and dancing and dancing just for the sake of it) and the closing, evocative of the descent into hell, is one of the heaviest scenes I have seen recently. Being a fan of Bossa Nova and MPB, I found the soundtrack quite mesmerizing and enjoyable and it is a marvel that accompanies you even after the film is finished. 8/10

Ideal Home (Andrew Fleming, 2018): A gay couple welcomes a 10-year-old boy, the grandson of one of them, into their home without prior notice. A solid cast including Steve Coogan and Paul Rudd in the lead roles is what makes this formulaic film work. The film is further evidence, as if it was necessary, that Paul Rudd has perfect timing for comedy. 4/10

The Stepford Wives (Frank Oz, 2004): Second big-screen adaptation of the 1972 novel of the same name, this supposed satire is a disaster from start to finish, even though there are few charming touches every now and then and it will get you a laugh or two, but no more. A successful reality television executive producer, whose career suddenly ends, moves with her family from Manhattan to Stepford, a quiet Connecticut suburb in which all women, strangely, look like perfect trophy wives, dedicated to housework while looking flawless. Nicole Kidman, shortly after winning her Oscar, stars in this inconsistent comedy, alongside Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close, a very good cast totally wasted. I understand that the production of the film was plagued by animosity and conflicts between the cast and the director, but that is no excuse to explain the final result. Glenn Close I think was the only one who understood the campiness of the project, and she really shines in most of her scenes. By the way, as a side note, is it not strange that Mathew Broderick, being the actor that he is, very respected in theater, has not landed the role of his life in cinema to date? He's joining that long list of great stage actors without ever getting even an Oscar nomination.

Magic in the Moonlight (Woody Allen, 2014): In the late 1920s, a famous British illusionist, is enlisted by an old friend to go with him to the Côte d'Azur where a rich American family has apparently been taken in by a clairvoyant and mystic (Emma Stone), in order to help him prove she is a fraud. A cool and fun movie, with a wonderful cast that includes Stone, Colin Firth and Elaine May. Firth and Stone are delicious in this comedy, which is a minor Allen, but Allen at last, and this means that in general it is funny, intelligent, situational in the best sense of the word and witty, filled with dialogues to enjoy and a simple central plot. The film was accused of being formulaic, but even if it is, it has been a pleasure for me. Too bad it didn't get more traction in awards season: Stone and Firth could have easily nominated for the Golden Globes, and the costume work and art direction could well have been Oscar nominated. The film doesn't reach greatness, but I do not think it attemps to do so. In the end, I enjoyed it a lot for whta it is: a simple straightforward romantic comedy by Allen.
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Phaedra (1962) - 6.5/10 - This modern Greek tragedy starts with a Greek shipping magnate sending his second wife Phaedra (Melina Mercouri) to try and talk his estranged son Alexis (Anthony Perkins) from his first marriage into coming to Greece and leaving behind his school in London. Phaedra and Alexis have an affair that leads everything on the path to destruction. Alexis tries to distance himself from Phaedra, but she can't let him go. It all comes to a head at the end of the film. The acting was good and the scenes in Greece were beautiful, but I found myself getting bored with the film less and the story seemed kind of predictable and didn't hold my interest.
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Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2020) 8/10

A heavy metal drummer and former heroin addict (Riz Ahmed) suddenly loses his hearing. This puts a tragic tailspin into his concert gigs which he conducts with his girlfriend (Olivia Cooke) while living and touring in his RV. A stint at a rural community run by a deaf and recovering alcoholic (Paul Raci) puts some means of semblance into his life as he learns sign language and begins to interact with deaf children who are part of the program. His desperation to get cochlear implants in order to hear again results in him being asked to leave as the community do not consider deafness to be a handicap. The operation followed by his reunion with his girlfriend in Belgium at the house of her rich father (Mathieu Amalric) brings him to an understanding that finally makes him realize what he wants to do with the rest of his life. The film uses ingenious ways through its outstanding sound design to put the audience into the shoes of the deaf protagonist. It becomes surreal and unsettling to experience the world without one of our senses which we take for granted. Riz Ahmed gives an extremely raw and emotionally nuanced performance which captures his character's rage and despair. Raci as the tough and blunt saviour is also very good. The film's melodramatic, almost contrived, last scene is euphoric yet extremely humbling as it puts into perspective what it means to be deaf. Which maybe is not the handicap we often perceive it to be. Both Ahmed and Raci deserve Oscar nominations for their riveting performances.

News of the World (Paul Greengrass, 2020) 7/10

This stately old-fashioned Western is a far cry from the usually urgent and propulsively charged action films by director Greengrass. Basically a two-hander road trip whereby an ex-infantry man (Tom Hanks), five years after the Civil War, reluctantly decides to deliver a young orphan (Helena Zenfel) to her only living biological relatives. He is a Texan with a sad past who moves from town to town reading aloud newspapers to the townfolk for a small fee while she is a German immigrant and two-time orphan, first kidnapped from her parents by Kiowa Indians and then plucked from her adoptive native parents by the Army. Both lost souls discover a kinship on their journey through trecherous country. Almost elegiac in tone, with shades of John Ford's "The Searchers", the film is superbly shot by Dariusz Wolski with his camera capturing the breathtaking vistas of the vast countryside surrounding the two on their journey as well as capturing the filth and squalor of the towns they pass through. Hanks truly has taken on the spirit of actor James Stewart and creates once again a character who is kind, contemplative and thoroughly decent. Not a stretch for the actor by any means but a character that is full of humanity and fits him like a glove. Zengel holds her own opposite Hanks making her character appropriately feral but also showing a sense of cocky fortitude as she proves to be an able support to her saviour during moments of danger. In brief roles both Mare Winningham and Elizabeth Marvel are effective as characters they meet along the way and who provide them help. The film's leisurely pace is punctuated by a couple of exciting action set-pieces. Lovingly crafted film may not win awards but is a welcome addition to the Western genre.

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Norman Stone, 1992) 7/10

A fading movie star (Claire Bloom), about to make a comeback, arrives in the small town of St. Mary Mead. At a fête, hosted jointly with her director-husband (Barry Newman), a pushy fan dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail meant for the film star. Miss Marple (Joan Hickson), the town's old spinster and amateur sleuth and her nephew the local Inspector of police (John Castle), investigate the death which also involves blackmail and intrigue. As the body count increases Miss Marple has to swiftly find the relentless killer before more innocent people die. Agatha Christie's famous story takes more than a passing glance at the real-life incident involving American movie star Gene Tierney. While pregnant with her first child she was approached by a fan who passed on German measles to the actress which resulted in passing congenital rubella syndrome on to the baby which was born deaf, partially blind and severely mentally disabled. This was the 12th and last of Hickson's memorable portrayals of Miss Marple for television. A handsome production well acted by a superb group of superb British character actors. Bloom is lovely as the insecure aging movie star.
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Night Plane From Chungking (Ralph Murphy, 1943) 5/10

A B-movie derivative of von Sternberg's "Shanghai Express" has a motley group of travelers - a nurse (Ellen Drew) accompanying an old Chinese lady (Soo Yong), a businessman (Otto Kruger), a countess (Tamara Geva), a priest (Steven Geray) and a French officer (Ernst Deutsch) - on a bus en-route from China to India during WWII. When their bus is hit by Japanese bombs they are forced to board a flight to safety piloted by an American (Robert Preston). Matters come to a head when the countess is discovered to be a spy, commits suicide and only the pilot is informed that her superior is on the plane with them. When the plane is forced to make a crash landing after being attacked by Japanese fighter planes the pilot has to try and keep the passengers away from harm and try to figure out the spy amidst them. Typical WWII entry churned out by Hollywood with an interesting cast and enough suspense and intrigue to keep you watching.

The Drum (Zoltan Korda, 1938) 8/10

The Korda brothers - producer Alexander and director Zoltan - made a series of films, many in early Technicolor - "Elephant Boy", "The Drum", "The Thief of Bagdad", "The Jungle Book" - all starring Sabu, an elephant stable boy, discovered in a Maharaja's palace in Mysore. This thrilling action-adventure film was based on an original story by A.E.W. Mason, the author whose book "The Four Feathers" would become the Korda brothers' next classic film immediately following this one. Set in the North West Frontier Province of India the film was mainly shot in the Welsh countryside but the entire background second unit shoot was done on location in what is now Chitral in Pakistan. The plot is blatant Imperial propaganda, causing riots when released in India, but looked on today as an old fashioned adventure it has many elements that compare to the movies set in the American West. The honorable but "savage" Pathans (the Native Americans) vs the British Colonialists (the Cowboys) in India during a time when the British were going through a rough patch trying to control the mountain tribes. When the pro-Russian Prince (Raymond Massey) of Tokon (actually Chitral), a kingdom high up in the Hindukush mountain range, assasinates his pro-British brother, the state's ruler, he comes into conflict with the British as he wants to oust them out of India. The ruler's son and heir (Sabu) escapes and takes shelter with the Commander of the British garrison (Roger Livesey) and his kindly wife (Valerie Hobson). The film has superbly directed battle scenes and a game cast playing stereotypes - Livesey with a stiff upper lip and Hobson as his memsahib, the quintessential incarnation of the aristocratic English woman. The film also has scenes set in the colonial bungalows of Peshawar where officers are seen planning battle strategies while knocking back gin and tonics. Raymond Massey, in brown face, is delightfully and lip-smackingly evil as the worldly WWI veteran who thinks he can defeat the British and take on the role of Viceroy and Emperor of India. Sabu, here relegated to a supporting role after his lead performance as the "Elephant Boy", gives a winsome performance commanding the screen with effortless grace and humour. The screenplay exaggerates and romanticizes the British Raj, a depiction common to most such films set in India under British rule, but it has enough pomp and action to make it endure as a classic production of a kind that is no longer made.
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Christmas Holiday (1944) - 7.5/10 - Deanna Durbin stars in her first dramatic role as the wife of a convicted killer who sings in a seedy nightclub in New Orleans. She meets a Lieutenant whose plane to San Francisco was forced to land in New Orleans due to bad weather and relates her story in flashback. She is really good in her role and Dean Harens is good in his role as Lieutenant Charlie Mason. I found Gene Kelly to be less convincing in his role as the gambling addict husband with a mother fixation from an aristocratic family. Overall, it was a good noir film.

April Love (1957) - 7/10 - Pat Boone plays Nick Conover, a young man from Chicago who got in trouble by joyriding with friends in a stolen car. As part of his probation, he is sent to his uncle's farm in Kentucky where his aunt is happy to see him, but his uncle isn't. Nick makes friends with Liz Templeton (Shirley Jones), a young woman who lives on a neighboring horse farm. Liz seems interested in Nick, but Nick is much more interested in Liz's sister Fran. There are plenty of songs throughout the film as Nick becomes more acquainted with the farm and rural life. I thought it was a decent film. Not spectacular, but entertaining.

La Guerre est Finie (1966) - 8/10 - Diego is a Spanish Communist who has lived in France since the Spanish Civil War ended. He travels frequently to Spain under false names to work for the underground to try and overthrow the Franco regime. On one such trip, he returns to France after being stopped by police for a passport check. Other operatives have been captured and the current operation seems to be in danger. Diego seems weary of the long and possibly fruitless war. He spends time with his mistress and also with the daughter of the man whose passport he used on his last trip. Another trip to Spain may be necessary, but the Spanish police seem to be active. I thought this was a pretty good drama, well acted by Yves Montand, Genevieve Bujold and the rest.

The Mudlark (1950) - 8.5/10 - Wheeler is a ten year old mudlark, an orphan boy who survives by selling what he can scavenge from the muddy banks of the Thames. One day, he finds a cameo with Queen Victoria's image on it. He's never heard of her, but when told about her, he walks to Windsor Castle to try and see her. He manages to sneak into the castle, but is eventually caught and accidentally ignites fears of a plot against Victoria's life. Andrew Ray is excellent as the boy, Alec Guinness does a nice job as Prime Minister Disreali, and Irene Dunne is very good (and unrecognizable in her makeup) as Queen Victoria. The other supporting actors are also good and I thought this was a charming and entertaining film.
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The Dead (1987) - 6.5/10 - John Huston's final film adapts a James Joyce short story and was released four months after his death. It takes place at a dinner party in Dublin in 1904 held by two elderly sisters and their niece. There is singing, dancing, and conversation. After the party, a married couple that attended the party discuss feelings and memories that were brought to the surface as a result of one of the songs at the party. I thought that it was a decent film, though not totally fulfilling.

Deconstructing Harry (1997) - 6.5/10 - Woody Allen stars as a successful writer who has been divorced three times and spends a lot of time with prostitutes. His stories are thinly veiled stories from his life and the people around him and this leads to conflict with the people who are depicted. He is about to be honored at the university that expelled him as a student and on the way there he starts having flashbacks to his his stories/life. I was kind of enjoying it for a while, but I started losing interest about halfway through. The themes seemed kind of repetitive.

Napoleon and Samatha (1972) - 7/10 - Johnny Whittaker stars as Napoleon, a young boy who lives with his grandfather. The two of them adopt a tame, but elderly lion named Major whose owner is moving to Europe. Jodie Foster (in her film debut) stars as Samantha, Johnny's best friend. When Johnny's grandfather dies, the two of them trek over the mountains with Major to visit a friend because Johnny is afraid of getting sent to an orphanage. I thought it was a nice family adventure movie. I've read that Jodie Foster was attacked by one of the lions in the film and was left with scarring and a fear of cats.

Gigot (1962) - 7/10 - Jackie Gleason stars as Gigot, a mute janitor who is mocked and harassed by many of the people in the small French town that he lives in. He rescues a woman and her six year old daughter one night when they are stranded in the rain without any shelter. He befriends the girl and delights in entertaining her, but the mother gets upset when she tries to prostitute herself and Gigot gets in the way. Gleason came up with the idea for the story as well and the movie is much different than what I've seen him in before. It's a decent film and has a fair amount of humor, though some of that is of the cruel variety in the abuse that Gigot takes.

That Certain Age (1938) - 7.5/10 - Deanna Durbin stars as Alice Fullerton, the 15 year old daughter of a wealthy newspaper publisher. She and her friends are planning on putting on a musical, but that gets somewhat derailed when a houseguest arrives - star journalist Vincent Bullitt (Melvyn Douglas). They try to get him to leave and he doesn't want to stick around either, but Alice changes her mind when she falls for the older man, much to the chagrin of her best friend (Jackie Cooper). While Durbin does get plenty of chances to sing, the story is pretty decent as well and there is a fair amount of humor. I thought that Douglas was good in his role and Durbin does a nice job as well. It's an entertaining film.
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L'onorevole Angelina / The Honorable Angelina (Luigi Zampa, 1947) 7/10

Zampa's film charts the plight of slum dwellers in post-WWII Italy. A poverty stricken woman (Anna Magnani) lives in a slum in two bedrooms with her husband and five children. Her husband's low salary - he is a cop - cannot sustain the family and they are always short of food. Angry at their situation she, along with the other women in the slum, storm the warehouse of a black marketeer and steal food items. Their plight and her forceful angry voice against injustice brings her to the notice of the local newspapers who hail her actions. During a flood the slum dwellers are forced to vacate their homes and in anger forcefully move into a nearby newly built apartment complex which is still unoccupied. She is arrested but released after she takes on the landlord who has illegally taken the land to construct the building. She is goaded into standing for election to the local legislative body and wins a seat. When her involvement in politics results in neglect of her family she decides to do the right thing. The film takes a raw look at the downtrodden and how corrupt officials misuse their power at the expense of the poor. Magnani, who also had a hand in the screenplay, gives a typically fiery performance and is in almost every scene. Franco Zeffirelli plays the rich landlord's son who shows an interest in Magnani's daughter.

La chair de l'orchidée / The Flesh of the Orchid (Patrice Chéreau, 1975) 4/10

Striking if very strange adaptation of James Hadley Chase's pulp-novel (a sequel to "No Orchids For Miss Blandish") was director Chéreau's film debut. His theme of loneliness, and of fear and insecurity, which would encompass most of his subsequent films, is glaringly presented here helped in great part by the cinematography of Pierre l'homme who creates a dark and bleak visual pallette not unlike German Expressionism. The convoluted plot involves an enigmatic heiress (Charlotte Rampling) held prisoner in a French countryside chateau by her greedy aunt (Edwige Feuillère) for her money. When the game-keeper attempts to rape her she blinds him with a knife and manages to escape. On the run through constant rain and mud she hooks up with a man (Bruno Cremer) who is being chased by two killers. When they get separated the plot turns incredibly bizarre as the screenplay shifts its focus to minor characters, one of whom is a former circus performer (Simone Signoret) who provides brief comfort and allows the tormented woman to escape. These scenes are the best moments in the film. A defiant Rampling has a knack for stabbing people in the eyes and of course no film of hers would be complete without a scene where the star strips down to her birthday suit. Alida Valli makes a very brief appearance mumbling at Rampling in a train station. A rare film but also very disappointing.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Hell and High Water (1954) - 6.5/10 - Richard Widmark stars as a former submarine captain who is hired to head an expedition on a refitted Japanese submarine with a makeshift crew and two scientists. They are to follow a Chinese freighter that has been making suspicious deliveries in the Pacific. The suspicion is that nuclear bombs are involved. The movie is rather pedestrian, though there are a few decent parts. I liked the confrontation with the Chinese submarine, for example.

Comrade X (1940) - 7/10 - Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr star in this comedy about an American journalist in Moscow who files unflattering stories about Russia under the name 'Comrade X'. The secret police are trying to track him down and place restrictions on all journalists until he is caught. McKinley Thompson (Gable) is Comrade X and is found out by his bumbling valet who wants him to get his communist daughter (Lamarr) out of Russia whether she wants to go or not. The movie is moderately funny at times and I thought Lamarr was pretty good in her role. Gable wasn't bad either.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The New Mutants (2020) - 8/10 - I thought this was really good and wish that we could get the sequels that were planned. I thought it was a good introduction to the characters, which were generally faithful to the comics. Those who aren't as familiar with the characters may not enjoy it quite as much. It's not a film like the regular X-Men films where they are fighting big villains and traveling all over the world. Instead, it's a much smaller and self-contained film where they are mostly fighting their inner demons. Anya Taylor-Joy was great, but Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams and the others were good, too. I liked what they did with Lockheed during the battle scene near the end.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Flight for Freedom (1943) - 5/10 - Rosalind Russell isn't bad as Tonie Carter, a thinly veiled and fictionalized version of Amelia Earhart. Fred MacMurray is kind of insufferable as Randy Britton as a hotshot, but arrogant pilot and Tonie's love interest. Their relationship heats up way too fast to be realistic and then it cools off just as quickly. Tonie sets a cross country flight record and later gets recruited by the government in a plot to spy on the Japanese. There are some decent scenes, but mostly the story is poorly developed and not very believable or particularly interesting.

Orchestra Wives (1942) - 7/10 - Ann Rutherford stars as Connie Ward, a young woman in love with Gene Morrison's big band (played by Glenn Miller and his orchestra), especially the talented trumpet player named Bill Abbott (George Montgomery). The band happens to be in town one night and she attends the concert and meets Abbott, who invites her to their concert the next night in a neighboring town. She attends the next night and soon enough they are married. She finds herself on the road with the band and the other orchestra wives and finds that they enjoy in engaging in undercutting each other. I thought that the marriage plot was pretty ridiculous, but there were other parts of the movie that were decent and the music was good. Cesar Romero has a decent role as the womanizing piano player. Dale Evans, Jackie Gleason, and Harry Morgan each have small roles.

Cimarron (1960)- 7/10 - Glenn Ford and Maria Schell star as a married couple who partake in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. Things don't turn out as they planned and they end up running a newspaper in town. Years go by and they have a son and Yancey (Ford) disappears for long stretches of time without a word to his wife. It's not a great movie, but I definitely enjoyed it more than the 1931 version. There are some decent scenes and it is certainly watchable.

The Other Side of Midnight (1977) - 7/10 - Larry Douglas is an American pilot in the Canadian RAF in 1939. While in Paris, he has an affair with a young woman named Noelle Page. When he goes back to the United States, he tells her that he will be back in a few weeks, but never returns. He goes on to have other affairs and eventually marries. Page becomes the mistress of a wealthy Greek magnate and after the war she hires an investigator to track down Douglas and sabotage his attempts at earning a career through flying. The movie was decent, though not great. It would have benefitted from being shortened in places as some places.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The Heat (Paul Feig, 2013) 6/10

Hollywood likes repeating itself once it finds a money-making formula and the one about buddy cops, already pretty old hat, went through the roof with the "48 Hours", "Lethal Weapon" & "Stakeout" franchises during the 1980s onwards. After various combos we get here one with two females on the beat together - an uptight FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) forced to partner with a foul-mouthed, slovenly Boston cop (Melissa McCarthy) to bring in a drug lord. With McCarthy in the cast the film takes on a riotous route. Totally predictable from start to finish the film relies on the funny chemistry between the two stars and smaller amusing moments with a number of the minor characters - Jane Curtin as McCarthy's equally sarcastic mom. The action scenes also rock as they are more verbal than physical with the f**k word going into overdrive. Repeatedly using that four letter word to get cheap laughs is just one of this film's low-brow genius moments. As Lord Byron once said "always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine".

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater: One Must Die (Lewis Allen, 1961) 6/10

The old chestnut plot of twins - one good and the other evil - gets sifted out of mothballs to provide Joan Crawford a role on an episode of this famous Western anthology series. A dying rich man (Carl Benton Reid) summons his friend's son (Philip Carey) from Boston to draw up his will. He wants to leave everything to his demure and gentle daughter Sarah (a lady-like Joan Crawford) and completely disinherit his flighty and brash daughter Melanie (also Joan Crawford, dressed in tight jodhpurs and brandishing a whip). Both women lust after the lawyer and he tries to figure out why the twin sisters hate each other so much. An aging Crawford, then relegated to small parts on the big screen, gets to flex her acting chops on a tv show in a plot that seems to have been a leftover from her Warner studio days.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater: Rebel Range (Don Medford, 1959) 6/10

A Confederate widow (Joan Crawford) returns to her home after the war with her young son (Don Grady) only to find it occupied by a man (Scott Forbes) who has bought the place in an auction. When she forcibly tries to move into the house there is a clash with the new owner which almost results in a fatal shootout. Interesting to see Crawford playing a pioneer woman even though she is glaringly miscast. British actor Forbes plays an American West character with conviction. The tv episode manages to work due to good atmosphere.

Fatale (Deon Taylor, 2020) 6/10

Originality in Hollywood be damned just as long as you can make a buck by regurgitating old plots. Better still do a mixup and you come up with a hybrid that reminds you of numerous over-the-top, psycho-from-hell films ("Jagged Edge", "Fatal Attraction" & Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train") from the past. However, I liked the "diversity" angle this script brings to the plot by presenting African-American characters in an affluent environment - doing well at work, living in a fantastic modern apartment and driving expensive cars - although the writers still feel the need to bring in an element of a criminal ghetto past to the main character. A highly successful sports agent (Michael Ealy) has it all - fame, money and a sexy wife, who he suspects may be seeing someone else on the sly. On a trip to Vegas to attend a friend's bachelor party he has a one-night stand with a woman (Hilary Swank) he meets at a club. On his return he tries to repair his relationship with his wife and one night there is a break-in and he almost gets killed by the intruder who manages to escape. The police detective handling the case turns out to be his one-night stand who has serious problems of her own involving a crooked ex-husband not allowing her visitation rights to their daughter. When she reveals a few home truths about his own marriage which links it to the mysterious intruder he finds himself in over his head when two dead bodies are found and he becomes the main suspect. The situation goes from bad to worse when two more dead bodies turn up and he is forced to go along with an absurd plan at the behest of the detective who displays psychotic tendencies. The film is punctuated throughout by very familiar shock scares but manages to maintain suspense right to the end with its important message applying especially to African-Americans during these troubled times in the United States. Its refreshing to see a fantastic cast of unknown (to me at least) black actors headed by Ealy while two-time Oscar winner Swank adds a certain marquee appeal. A guilty pleasure neo-noir thriller well worth watching even if the plot is old hat.

Hot Blood (Nicholas Ray, 1956) 5/10

Colorful look at the Los Angeles gypsy community with its patriarchal rules headed by their King (Luther Adler). When he learns he has a terminal illness he arranges the marriage of his wilful playboy brother (Cornel Wilde) to a tempestuous woman (Jane Russell). He refuses to go along with the plan until he learns from the woman that she and her father planned to back out at the last moment and flee with the dowry money, a con game they have been practicing all along. However, she tricks both him and her father and ends up married to him during the elaborate ceremony. The fun begins when he refuses to abide by his conjugal rights while married to hot-blooded Russell who tries to entice him into accepting her as his wife in bed. This was one of the sexy bombshell's last leading roles and she creates sparks with Wilde. Despite their chemistry the film is a comedown for director Ray who had just made "Rebel Without a Cause". The film has many moments that appear to have been inspiration for scenes in "West Side Story", "From Russia With Love" and "Fiddler on the Roof".

La ragazza che sapeva troppo / The Girl Who Knew Too Much / The Evil Eye (Mario Bava, 1963) 7/10

This stylish labyrinth of shadows, suspense and murder is Bava's homage to Alfred Hitchcock. The Spanish Steps in Rome is the main setting of this murder mystery involving a young woman (Letícia Román) who arrives on holiday and is soon confronted by her ailing aunt dying in front of her, getting mugged in Piazza di Spagna and witnessing the murder of a woman who is stabbed in the back. When nobody believes her she decides to try and solve the mystery on her own with help from her aunt's doctor (John Saxon). She discovers, via old newspaper clippings in the house of her late aunt's friend (Valentina Cortese), that a serial killer is on the loose and an anonymous phone caller informs her that she is to be the next victim. Replete with red herrings this convoluted film gets full marks for managing to maintain suspense right to the end. Considered to be the first gialo the film lacks the genre's typical blood and gore and instead takes on more of a psychological route to the mystery.
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