Here are a number of the films that I've seen over the past couple of weeks:
Visages d'enfants (1925) - 8.5/10 - Ten year old Jean is devastated when his mother dies. His father seems to have no skill at talking or dealing with Jean or his younger sister. Eventually, the father comes up with the bright idea to marry a recently widowed woman with a daughter about Jean's age so that she can take care of the house and children while he works and doesn't have to deal with it himself. The father also decides to send the son away on a trip with a family friend without telling him of the marriage that will take place while he is away. Jean's relationship with his new step-sister and step-mother gets off to a rocky start and goes downhill from there. The child actors did a very nice job and I enjoyed the film quite a bit.
Spione / Spies (1928) - 8.5/10 - Fritz Lang's followup to Metropolis doesn't approach that movie's level of entertainment, but it is still fun, looks great, and has nice acting performances. The film revolves around a romance between a Russian agent for an international spy ring and a government agent. There is a fair amount of intrigue and action with the last half hour of the film being my favorite part.
The Patsy (1928) - 8/10 - Marion Davies stars as Pat, a young woman whose overbearing mother and selfish sister Grace force her into the background. Her father is on her side, but is often bullied into submission himself. Pat is in love with her sister's boyfriend, Tony. Grace keeps Tony on a string, but also likes to see other men. Pat finally sets out to make a few changes to try and win Tony over and in the process makes her mother and sister think that she has gone crazy. Davies is very good here and is pretty funny with some of her antics after deciding to be more forward.
Brighton Rock (1948) - 8/10 - Pinkie is a violent sociopath who leads a small gang in Brighton. He sets his sights on a reporter who had gotten on his bad side in the past and later starts courting a young woman whose witness testimony could contradict his alibi. It's a nice crime film with a young Richard Attenborough in the lead.
City Girl (1930) - 8/10 - A Minnesota farmer sends his son to Chicago for the first time to sell the family's wheat crop. He insists on not selling below a minimum price per bushel and is real ass when the son returns with a lower price due to a bad market and a wife. It's a nice film, but the son turns really wishy washy when he is back under his father's thumb.
Elemental (2023) - 8/10 - A fire family emigrates the Fire Lands to Element City where members of the various elemental races all live. Years later, they have built a home and shop for themselves with the father looking forward to the daughter taking over the shop. Then fate takes a hand in things. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It has a good romance and very nice animation.
Beggars of Life (1928) - 8/10 - A drifter stops at a house in hope of a meal and discovers that the man of the house has been shot and killed by his adopted daughter. The drifter (Richard Arlen) and the young woman (Louise Brooks) set out on the rails with the aim of making it to Canada, but a group of hobos and the police stand in their way. This was pretty good with nice performances from Arlen and Brooks plus Wallace Beery as the lead hobo.
La Roue / The Wheel (1923) - 7.5/10 - Sisif is a railroad worker who rescues a small girl after a train accident and raises her as his daughter when he discovers that she is now an orphan. He also has a son of a similar age and the two children grow up to be best friends. Sisif never tells the girl her true parentage and this causes a number of problems when she is an adult. It's a pretty good movie, though definitely on the long side. I don't think that I will try seek out the 7 hour version.
Home (2015) - 7.5/10 - Earth is taken over pretty quickly and easily by the Boov and the humans are relocated to towns in Australia. The Boov are on the run from other aliens who have been chasing them across the galaxy. One Boov who doesn't fit in meets a girl who managed to avoid being captured and the two become friends. The film was more fun and entertaining than I was expecting.
The Scarlet Letter (1926) - 7.5/10 - In Puritan Boston, Hester Prynne is punished for having a child out of wedlock. I read the book back in high school and thought it was okay, though I liked Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables quite a bit more. This adaptation seems to leave a number of things out from what I can recall and has a different tone. Still, Lillian Gish is pretty good and I did enjoy the film.
A Taste of Honey (1961) - 7.5/10 - A 16 year old schoolgirl gets pregnant through a brief affair with a sailor and then has to mostly fend for herself as her single mother goes off with her latest boyfriend. She gets some help from a young gay friend. Rita Tushingham gives an excellent performance in the lead role and the supporting cast is also very good.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) - 7.5/10 - Albert Finney plays Arthur, an angry young man who works in a factory and doesn't want to end up like his parents. He goes out drinking and womanizing on weekends. One of the women that he is seeing is a bit older and the wife of a coworker. Another is about his own age and is more resistant to his advances. Finney does a nice job and the film is pretty good.
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From Beyond the Grave (1974) - 7.5/10 - Four customers of an antiques shop find that if they cheat the proprietor (Peter Cushing) in some way, they will have to face the consequences of that later. This is a pretty nice anthology.
My Name is Joe (1998) - 7/10 - Joe is a recovering alcoholic in Glasgow who is out of work and on the dole. He runs an amateur football team with his friends and becomes romantically involved with a health care worker named Sarah. Problems arise which center around Joe's friend Liam and his junkie girlfriend Sabine. It's a decent film, but thank goodness for subtitles.
Nuts in May (1976) - 7/10 - A couple go camping in Dorset, hoping for some peace and quiet plus day trips to various tourist sites. The husband is pretty controlling and officious, not letting his wife hold the guidebook at sites and speaking for his wife on a number of occasions. They end up having some problems with other campers who are a bit more carefree with the campsite rules.
A Canterbury Tale (1944) - 7/10 - A British sergeant, an American sergeant, and a young woman are on their way to Canterbury and get off at a small village along the way. Somebody dumps glue on the woman's head and runs off leading the three to try and solve the mystery. This is a pleasant and entertaining film, even if there isn't any real conflict and the mystery doesn't amount to much.
The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) - 7/10 - A fur covered skeleton is found buried in a field in an early 1700s village. Soon after, the youth of the village come under Satan's spell and start performing rituals in the woods. While not on the level of the Wicker Man, I thought this was good and the use of music was very good.
Brassed Off (1996) - 6.5/10 - A coal mine is facing closure, but at least some of the miners have their talented brass band and a national competition to take their minds off of things. I did enjoy the film, but it seemed kind of shallow,
The Italian Job (1969) - 6.5/10 - Charlie (Michael Caine) gets out of prison and sets out to meet an old partner about a job. He discovers that the partner was killed by the mafia, but left behind plans for a gold heist. He gathers a team and sets the plan in motion. The first hour of the film meanders about and didn't really hold my interest. However, the last 30-40 minutes was fun with the escape and the chase, etc.
The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954) - 6/10 - The girls at St. Trinian's can pretty much do whatever they like. A scheme is hatched among some of the girls to abduct a talented racehorse while another group of girls plot to rescue the horse. There are all sorts of antics and the movie is occasionally amusing.
The Offence (1973) - 6/10 - Sean Connery stars as a Detective Sergeant who helps locate a missing girl who was abducted and raped. He then has a violent confrontation with the suspect in the interview room and has to deal with the fallout from that. Connery is okay, but the film isn't that great.
Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) - 5.5/10 - In the 1890s British Raj, the Indian fighters are scared to fight the British soldiers because of the stories that they don't wear anything under their 'skirts' when they fight. When evidence arises that this may not be true, a rebellion may be in the works. This is the 16th in a long series of Carry On films and if this is the best of them as some say, then I'm not very eager to watch any of the others,
Under the Skin (1997) - 5.5/10 - When their mother dies, two sisters deal with her death in different ways. Rose is pregnant and married and on the surface seems to be dealing with the death fairly well. Her younger sister, Rose (Samantha Morton), descends into a series of one night stands, drinking, and bad decisions. Morton gives a pretty good performance, but the film itself did little for me.
The Souvenir (2019) - 5.5/10 - A film student is trying to get her first feature film made, but starts dating a heroin addict who proves to be a drain on her finances. A lot of the technical aspects of the film are pretty good - music, cinematography, etc. - but the story and characters are pretty tedious much of the time
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) - 5.5/10 - This was much less interesting than the first film. The revenge motive from the first film is absent and Phibes kind of seemed to be going through the motions.
Radio On (1979) - 5/10 - A man drives from London to Bristol after his brother dies. The film drew me in at the beginning with the David Bowie song, but that soon dissipated since the film was pretty boring and features long stretches with no dialogue. That in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just wasn't that interesting nor were the people in it. I don't think the use of black and white added anything here and it might have even been a bit better if it had been shot in color.
Scream and Scream Again (1970) - 5/10 - A serial killer is loose in London who rapes and drains the blood of his young female victims. There are a number of other mysterious things occurring in different locations. . It's all kind of a mess, though it does come together and get a bit better at the end. Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee each receive prominent billing despite having relatively small roles in the film.
Caravaggio (1986) - 4/10 - A dying Caravaggio looks back on his life. Caravaggio lived a fairly interesting life for what time he had, but I thought the movie was pretty dull and uninteresting.
Bad Timing (1980) - 4/10 - A woman overdoses and is taken to the hospital. Detectives interview her 'friend' and try to piece together what happened. The relationship between the two is slowly revealed through flashbacks. The directing and soundtrack weren't bad. I couldn't get into the story at all, though.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
A Haunting in Venice (Kenneth Branagh, 2023) 7/10
This time its more cerebral - had to closely follow all the dialogue to understand what was happening. Certainly Venice is the star here - found it terribly overrated in real life - at least in pictures and moving images which the film begins and ends with. The picturesque canals, the imposing palazzi, the tiny squares in every nook and corner, the silently moving gondolas and the grand Piazza San Marco. The rest of the film, based on Agatha Christie's mystery novel, "Hallowe'en Party", is set inside a very dark haunted palazzo where the inevitable murders take place. Its 1947 and famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), is enjoying retired life. Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), his crime novelist friend, arrives and forcibly invites him to a halloween party which is to be followed by a séance at the home of a retired opera star (Kelly Reilly). The latter's beloved daughter drowned some time before and she wants to talk to her with the help of a medium (Michelle Yeoh). During the session the seemingly possessed medium is proved to be a fake but not before, while in a trance, she speaks in the dead girl's voice and says she was murdered and accuses someone in the room of the crime. There is an attempt on Poirot's life followed by the medium getting impaled to death. The disbelieving Poirot decides to solve the mystery and since a storm is blowing outside all guests are trapped inside the scary old house for the night with the killer amongst them. As in all Poirot mysteries there is an eclectic list of suspects - Ariadne Oliver, the opera star, her secretary companion, a traumatized doctor (Jamie Dornan), his precocious son, the dead girl's former fiancé, and Poirot's bodyguard. After Venice the second star of the film is the creepy house with its dark, dank rooms and strange noises and apparitions of the ghosts of dead children who were left to die in the basement years before. Helping to create the ominous sounds, look and tone of the story is the striking cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos along with the score by Hildur Guðnadóttir which go a long way to also invoke the horrors of WWII which had recently ended and was still fresh in the mind of some of the characters. The screenplay uses certain plot points from Christie's novel, retains some of the character names but completely changes the look, tone and location to visually dramatic Venice. It is a welcome addition to the series of Branagh directed Poirot stories which deviate from Christie's original interpretation where certain modern sensibilities are inserted to make it palatable for today's audiences. The actors here are fine but are completely overshadowed by the film's sumptuous production values.
The Dance of Death (David Giles, 1969) 8/10
Before Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" there was Swedish playwright August Strindberg's lacerating account of a failed marriage in this adaptation of his play. Albee's play is clearly influenced by Strindberg. This filmed version of the play, first presented by the National Theatre Company, keeps the material totally stagebound as it revolves around - Alice (Getaldine McEwan), a former stage actress who gave up her career after getting married to seedy and egocentric artillery Captain (Laurence Olivier) who suffers from schizophrenia. Their marriage has been extremely difficult and on their 25th anniversary both finally lash out at each other. The catalyst is her divorced cousin (Robert Lang), a quarantine officer, who arrives for a visit and his relationship - as would-be lover - to the wife causes friction between the couple. Matters come to a final head when the cousin's son falls in love with the officer's outspoken daughter. As the young couple observe the power dynamics between their fathers the girl confronts her own which makes it clear that venom very much runs in the entire family and is here to stay. The film remains an important record of Olivier's acclaimed stage performance where he uses all the tricks of his trade to create this egocentric, nasty character who refuses to acknowledge that he has a serious illness. While Olivier is all bluster his co-star, Geraldine McEwan, who was also on stage with him, plays her part with a sly vicious calmness as she digs deep into her husband and proves to be an equal match in spewing venom. Fascinating look at two great actors going full throttle at each other.
Warpath (Byron Haskin, 1951) 7/10
A man (Edmond O'Brien) finds one of three men who killed his fiancé and before a shootout discovers the other two enlisted in the army. Joining the cavalry he immediately clashes with a sergeant (Forrest Tucker) whom he later suspects to be one of the killers. The third killer turns out to be the father (Dean Jagger) of the young woman (Polly Bergen) he is now in love with. Before he can do anything all of them find themselves captured by the Sioux who are planning to go up against General Custer at Little Big Horn. Action packed Western has a simmering hard-bitten O'Brien hell bent on revenge while falling in love with lovely Bergen. The lovely wide-spread Montana locations are superbly photographed by Ray Rennahan in Technicolor.
Candles at Nine (John Harlow, 1944) 6/10
An old dark house. A rich miser who mysteriosly dies with hints of murder. The reading of his will which disturbs all his greedy relatives as nothing goes to them. The beneficiary is a distant relative and in order to inherit his fortune she has to move into the spooky house and stay there for one month. She is a showgirl (Jessie Matthews) who isn't aware that someone is plotting to kill her. The plot - based on the 1943 novel "The Mouse Who Wouldn't Play Ball" by Anthony Gilbert - has been repeated countless times since, and here allows the delightfully buck-toothed charms of Matthews to shine in what was a sort of comeback to the big screen and her last lead role. Her comedic talents are utilized during a very funny drunk scene while her musical talents are on show during an elaborate song and dance number - "I'd Like to Share With You". The rest of the plot has her wide-eyed and screaming as the house takes over with its shadows and creaking floors. Adding to the sinister goings on are a butler and a housekeeper (Beatrix Lehmann in full-on "Mrs Danvers" mode). Adding a touch of romance is John Stuart - silent British star who appeared in three of Alfred Hitchcock's early films. The movie comes to life during the second half as the plot throws Matthews into a series of jump scares.
The Redhead and the Cowboy (Leslie Fenton, 1951) 4/10
It defeats the purpose for this to be in black and white when the film's title mentions the leading lady's redhead. Rather silly Civil War spy thriller where a cowpoke (Glenn Ford) is framed for murder and he gives chase to the glamorous lady (Rhonda Fleming) who was his alibi. She is a Confederate spy who has to deliver a message about a gold shipment. With the Civil War ending both sides are ripe with desperados and guerrilla fighters who end up chasing the two cross country. Also giving chase is a Union officer (Edmond O'Brien) who is pretending to be a cattleman. Low key film ambles along without any excitement whatsoever.
Shield For Murder (Edmond O'Brien & Howard W. Koch, 1954) 8/10
Superb B-noir - crooked cop (Edmond O'Brien) shoots a bookmaker in cold blood and steals a wad of dough from his pocket. He makes the murder look like a case of resisting arrest. The bookies send two thugs after him and harras his girlfriend. When a deaf-mute witness also turns up dead the cop's partner (John Agar) becomes suspicious. Action-packed film has an intense O'Brien showing noir attitude and resorting to cruel violence - the actor won his Oscar the same year but for a different film. A highlight is Carolyn Jones as a boozy blonde barfly who comes onto O'Brien.
Dragoon Wells Massacre (Harold D. Schuster, 1957) 7/10
A group of disparate individuals - an army Captain (Dennis O'Keefe), his former lover (Mona Freeman), two convicts (Barry Sullivan & Jack Elam), a renegade gun-and-whisky runner (Sebastian Cabot), an entertainer (Katy Jurado), and an orphan child - find themselves pursued across the Arizona desert by marauding Apaches. Stock Western situation has suspense, is superbly staged and magnificently shot in colour by William Clothier. For a B-film the characterizations are very well shaded in the inventive screenplay.
Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965) 10/10
After decades a review of this classic film after my recent visit to Mother Russia. This is an extraordinary collaboration between Italian producer Carlo Ponti and British director David Lean as they bring the classic Russian novel by Boris Pasternak to the big screen. A tender love story set during the vast expanse of the turbulent Russian Revolution. I love how Robert Bolt's screenplay keeps creating coincidences that connect doctor-poet Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie) throughout the first half of the film until they finally meet as doctor and nurse out in the countryside during WWI. And the significance of the tram car on the Moscow street which is where they first inadvertently touch each other and at the end where he sees her for the last time. Both are married - he to an aristocratic family friend (Geraldine Chaplin) and she to an idealistic revolutionary (Tom Courtenay). The two star-crossed lovers fall deeply in love while the world comes crashing down around them. Lean's epic film - shot in Spain and Finland - is remembered for its iconic music score by Maurice Jarre - especially the now instantly recognizable "Lara's theme", the sumptuous cinematography of Freddie Young where he uses lighting in highly inventive ways, the huge sets depicting Moscow, and the swooningly romantic moments between Sharif and Christie. A topnotch supporting cast - Sir Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, a memorable Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Rita Tushingham, Klaus Kinski - play important characters surrounding the two leads. The film won Oscars for Bolt's screenplay, the production design, music score, costumes, and cinematography. The film, Lean, Tom Courtenay, the film's editing and sound design were nominated.
The Old Man and the Sea (Aleksandr Petrov, 1999) 10/10
Extraordinary Russian animated short film (just 20 minutes) is based on the classic Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning novella by Ernest Hemingway. A poor aging Cuban fisherman battles the elements at sea as he hooks a huge marlin only to be beaten by deadly sharks that feast on the caught fish. It is a story of survival, hope and perseverance. Russian animator Petrov's superb images in the film were created using the technique of pastel oil paintings on glass. Many images were created using his fingertips in addition to various paintbrushes after which each frame was photographed. The stunning result has each frame of the film looking like an oil painting in motion. This was the first animated film shot in IMAX and deservedly won an Academy Award in the animated short-film category.
This time its more cerebral - had to closely follow all the dialogue to understand what was happening. Certainly Venice is the star here - found it terribly overrated in real life - at least in pictures and moving images which the film begins and ends with. The picturesque canals, the imposing palazzi, the tiny squares in every nook and corner, the silently moving gondolas and the grand Piazza San Marco. The rest of the film, based on Agatha Christie's mystery novel, "Hallowe'en Party", is set inside a very dark haunted palazzo where the inevitable murders take place. Its 1947 and famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), is enjoying retired life. Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), his crime novelist friend, arrives and forcibly invites him to a halloween party which is to be followed by a séance at the home of a retired opera star (Kelly Reilly). The latter's beloved daughter drowned some time before and she wants to talk to her with the help of a medium (Michelle Yeoh). During the session the seemingly possessed medium is proved to be a fake but not before, while in a trance, she speaks in the dead girl's voice and says she was murdered and accuses someone in the room of the crime. There is an attempt on Poirot's life followed by the medium getting impaled to death. The disbelieving Poirot decides to solve the mystery and since a storm is blowing outside all guests are trapped inside the scary old house for the night with the killer amongst them. As in all Poirot mysteries there is an eclectic list of suspects - Ariadne Oliver, the opera star, her secretary companion, a traumatized doctor (Jamie Dornan), his precocious son, the dead girl's former fiancé, and Poirot's bodyguard. After Venice the second star of the film is the creepy house with its dark, dank rooms and strange noises and apparitions of the ghosts of dead children who were left to die in the basement years before. Helping to create the ominous sounds, look and tone of the story is the striking cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos along with the score by Hildur Guðnadóttir which go a long way to also invoke the horrors of WWII which had recently ended and was still fresh in the mind of some of the characters. The screenplay uses certain plot points from Christie's novel, retains some of the character names but completely changes the look, tone and location to visually dramatic Venice. It is a welcome addition to the series of Branagh directed Poirot stories which deviate from Christie's original interpretation where certain modern sensibilities are inserted to make it palatable for today's audiences. The actors here are fine but are completely overshadowed by the film's sumptuous production values.
The Dance of Death (David Giles, 1969) 8/10
Before Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" there was Swedish playwright August Strindberg's lacerating account of a failed marriage in this adaptation of his play. Albee's play is clearly influenced by Strindberg. This filmed version of the play, first presented by the National Theatre Company, keeps the material totally stagebound as it revolves around - Alice (Getaldine McEwan), a former stage actress who gave up her career after getting married to seedy and egocentric artillery Captain (Laurence Olivier) who suffers from schizophrenia. Their marriage has been extremely difficult and on their 25th anniversary both finally lash out at each other. The catalyst is her divorced cousin (Robert Lang), a quarantine officer, who arrives for a visit and his relationship - as would-be lover - to the wife causes friction between the couple. Matters come to a final head when the cousin's son falls in love with the officer's outspoken daughter. As the young couple observe the power dynamics between their fathers the girl confronts her own which makes it clear that venom very much runs in the entire family and is here to stay. The film remains an important record of Olivier's acclaimed stage performance where he uses all the tricks of his trade to create this egocentric, nasty character who refuses to acknowledge that he has a serious illness. While Olivier is all bluster his co-star, Geraldine McEwan, who was also on stage with him, plays her part with a sly vicious calmness as she digs deep into her husband and proves to be an equal match in spewing venom. Fascinating look at two great actors going full throttle at each other.
Warpath (Byron Haskin, 1951) 7/10
A man (Edmond O'Brien) finds one of three men who killed his fiancé and before a shootout discovers the other two enlisted in the army. Joining the cavalry he immediately clashes with a sergeant (Forrest Tucker) whom he later suspects to be one of the killers. The third killer turns out to be the father (Dean Jagger) of the young woman (Polly Bergen) he is now in love with. Before he can do anything all of them find themselves captured by the Sioux who are planning to go up against General Custer at Little Big Horn. Action packed Western has a simmering hard-bitten O'Brien hell bent on revenge while falling in love with lovely Bergen. The lovely wide-spread Montana locations are superbly photographed by Ray Rennahan in Technicolor.
Candles at Nine (John Harlow, 1944) 6/10
An old dark house. A rich miser who mysteriosly dies with hints of murder. The reading of his will which disturbs all his greedy relatives as nothing goes to them. The beneficiary is a distant relative and in order to inherit his fortune she has to move into the spooky house and stay there for one month. She is a showgirl (Jessie Matthews) who isn't aware that someone is plotting to kill her. The plot - based on the 1943 novel "The Mouse Who Wouldn't Play Ball" by Anthony Gilbert - has been repeated countless times since, and here allows the delightfully buck-toothed charms of Matthews to shine in what was a sort of comeback to the big screen and her last lead role. Her comedic talents are utilized during a very funny drunk scene while her musical talents are on show during an elaborate song and dance number - "I'd Like to Share With You". The rest of the plot has her wide-eyed and screaming as the house takes over with its shadows and creaking floors. Adding to the sinister goings on are a butler and a housekeeper (Beatrix Lehmann in full-on "Mrs Danvers" mode). Adding a touch of romance is John Stuart - silent British star who appeared in three of Alfred Hitchcock's early films. The movie comes to life during the second half as the plot throws Matthews into a series of jump scares.
The Redhead and the Cowboy (Leslie Fenton, 1951) 4/10
It defeats the purpose for this to be in black and white when the film's title mentions the leading lady's redhead. Rather silly Civil War spy thriller where a cowpoke (Glenn Ford) is framed for murder and he gives chase to the glamorous lady (Rhonda Fleming) who was his alibi. She is a Confederate spy who has to deliver a message about a gold shipment. With the Civil War ending both sides are ripe with desperados and guerrilla fighters who end up chasing the two cross country. Also giving chase is a Union officer (Edmond O'Brien) who is pretending to be a cattleman. Low key film ambles along without any excitement whatsoever.
Shield For Murder (Edmond O'Brien & Howard W. Koch, 1954) 8/10
Superb B-noir - crooked cop (Edmond O'Brien) shoots a bookmaker in cold blood and steals a wad of dough from his pocket. He makes the murder look like a case of resisting arrest. The bookies send two thugs after him and harras his girlfriend. When a deaf-mute witness also turns up dead the cop's partner (John Agar) becomes suspicious. Action-packed film has an intense O'Brien showing noir attitude and resorting to cruel violence - the actor won his Oscar the same year but for a different film. A highlight is Carolyn Jones as a boozy blonde barfly who comes onto O'Brien.
Dragoon Wells Massacre (Harold D. Schuster, 1957) 7/10
A group of disparate individuals - an army Captain (Dennis O'Keefe), his former lover (Mona Freeman), two convicts (Barry Sullivan & Jack Elam), a renegade gun-and-whisky runner (Sebastian Cabot), an entertainer (Katy Jurado), and an orphan child - find themselves pursued across the Arizona desert by marauding Apaches. Stock Western situation has suspense, is superbly staged and magnificently shot in colour by William Clothier. For a B-film the characterizations are very well shaded in the inventive screenplay.
Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965) 10/10
After decades a review of this classic film after my recent visit to Mother Russia. This is an extraordinary collaboration between Italian producer Carlo Ponti and British director David Lean as they bring the classic Russian novel by Boris Pasternak to the big screen. A tender love story set during the vast expanse of the turbulent Russian Revolution. I love how Robert Bolt's screenplay keeps creating coincidences that connect doctor-poet Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie) throughout the first half of the film until they finally meet as doctor and nurse out in the countryside during WWI. And the significance of the tram car on the Moscow street which is where they first inadvertently touch each other and at the end where he sees her for the last time. Both are married - he to an aristocratic family friend (Geraldine Chaplin) and she to an idealistic revolutionary (Tom Courtenay). The two star-crossed lovers fall deeply in love while the world comes crashing down around them. Lean's epic film - shot in Spain and Finland - is remembered for its iconic music score by Maurice Jarre - especially the now instantly recognizable "Lara's theme", the sumptuous cinematography of Freddie Young where he uses lighting in highly inventive ways, the huge sets depicting Moscow, and the swooningly romantic moments between Sharif and Christie. A topnotch supporting cast - Sir Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, a memorable Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Rita Tushingham, Klaus Kinski - play important characters surrounding the two leads. The film won Oscars for Bolt's screenplay, the production design, music score, costumes, and cinematography. The film, Lean, Tom Courtenay, the film's editing and sound design were nominated.
The Old Man and the Sea (Aleksandr Petrov, 1999) 10/10
Extraordinary Russian animated short film (just 20 minutes) is based on the classic Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning novella by Ernest Hemingway. A poor aging Cuban fisherman battles the elements at sea as he hooks a huge marlin only to be beaten by deadly sharks that feast on the caught fish. It is a story of survival, hope and perseverance. Russian animator Petrov's superb images in the film were created using the technique of pastel oil paintings on glass. Many images were created using his fingertips in addition to various paintbrushes after which each frame was photographed. The stunning result has each frame of the film looking like an oil painting in motion. This was the first animated film shot in IMAX and deservedly won an Academy Award in the animated short-film category.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
La donna della domenica / The Sunday Woman (Luigi Comencini, 1975) 7/10
Comencini, one of the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre, comes up with this murder-mystery - a satire of Turin's upper classes - which has faint echoes of a giallo although the screenplay moves more in the direction of a sunny comedy of very dry manners. A slimy architect is found bludgeoned to death with a giant wooden penis sculpture. Chief amongst the suspects is a wealthy married lady (Jacqueline Bisset) who, in a letter to her gay friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant), discusses eliminating him. The letter is given to the police inspector (Marcello Mastroianni) by her two servants who were both fired from their jobs recently. The detective finds his investigation constantly interrupted by the lady who takes a perverse delight in the case despite being a suspect - a visit to the factory that manufactures the outrageous murder weapon is quite hilarious as the detective has to not only put up with her prying questions but can't quite tell if she is trying to seduce him as well. Meanwhile her friend's lover starts acting like a sleuth on his own which does not end well. Breezy, laid back scenario is greatly helped by the three stars (all dubbed) who seem to be having a great time with their parts - the chemistry between Mastroianni and Bisset sizzles. The film, which tackles themes of adultery and prostitition, is also ahead of its time in its matter-of-fact portrayal of the gay couple who are presented without the exaggerated affectations attributed then to such characters in films where they were presented merely to provoke laughter. The drama is played out to an excellent score by Ennio Morricone.
Cover Up (Alfred E. Green, 1949) 7/10
Sharply written B-noir (courtesy of the leading man) mixes suspense and folksy charm. An insurance detective (Dennis O'Keefe) arrives in a small Mid-Western town to investigate the suicide of an old man. Beneficiary of his insurance policy is his niece. However, no gun was found near the body and nor does the town sheriff (William Bendix) provide any information when questioned. In fact most of the town folk are hostile towards him as he begins to suspect that a murder is being covered up. The screenplay sets the plot during Christmas with a romance thrown in with a young girl (the stunningly beautiful Barbara Britton) whose father becomes his chief murder suspect. Charming little film, with doses of wry humour, keeps you guessing to the very end.
Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951) 6/10
Offbeat Western mixes a dose of religiosity with the genre's usual tropes. A gang of six convicts intercept a California-bound wagon train and forcibly attach themselves in order to escape detention by the law. The head crook (John Payne) clashes with the preacher (Dennis O'Keefe) leading the wagon train but has an epiphany at the end of the trail leading to a sacrifice when a gold mine is discovered and the convicts go on a rampage. Arleen Whelan is a feisty mourner in black who can use a whip, changes from her black outfit to something frilly and comes between the two virile men. Slow moving but interesting film is shot in gorgeous colour by Loyal Griggs. A surprise hit at the boxoffice.
The Fake (Godfrey Grayson, 1953) 6/10
Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" painting arrives at the Tate gallery in London for exhibition. However, it turns out to be a fake and an American investigator (Dennis O'Keefe) is assigned to discover its whereabouts. Already in search of two other stolen masterpieces he falls in love with an employee (Coleen Gray) at the Gallery whose father is an expert at drawing duplicates of famous paintings. Interesting B-film keeps up the suspense right till the end. An appealing cast of Brutish character actors - Guy Middleton, John Laurie, Hugh Williams - appear in support. Many scenes are actually filmed inside the Tate Gallery.
Night of the Fox (Charles Jarrott, 1990) 5/10
A US Army colonel (David Birney), who knows details about the planned D-Day landings, is washed up on the island of Nazi-occupied Jersey. A former academic and now a covert operator and ruthless killer (George Peppard) is recruited along with a nurse (Deborah Raffin) to go in and get the colonel out. However, their plans are thwarted when Field Marshall Rommel (Michael York) arrives on the island on an inspection visit. Based on the espionage thriller novel by Jack Higgins this tv miniseries goes through the paces with a cast of familiar actors now slumming on television - a pudgy Peppard at the tail end of his career, York who still had the bloom of youth which would later turn ugly courtesy of a series of relentless face lifts, and a typecast Sir John Mills as a Military senior. Pretty Deborah Raffin, who was in a lot of familiar films during the 1970s but never managed to break out as a star, provides the obligatory romantic angle in the film.
Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, 2002) 10/10
An unnamed narrator and a European (both often rather annoying) wander through the Winter Palace (The Hermitage) encountering three centuries of Russian history but not in chronological order. This ambitious film was shot in one take (?) in its entirety as the camera eavesdrops on events among royalty and the aristocricy in different rooms of the huge palace. And in doing so the film explores the famous Hermitage Museum room-by-room with its glorious treasures. Dream-like film looks in on Peter the Great, the stunning operas and plays shown during the era of Catherine the Great, an audience with Tsar Nicholas I, a close-up view of the family life of Tsar Nicholas II, people touring the museum, a peep during the Stalin era when the palace needed repairs, followed by the period when Leningrad was under the 900-day siege during World War II. Sumptuous production has eye-popping sets and costumes with a grand orchestra playing during a ball followed by guests exiting the palace via the spectacular main staircase of the palace. Mesmerizing film goes beyond its technical brilliance to present a time and era in all its flamboyant glory.
I Was an Adventuress (Gregory Ratoff, 1940) 6/10
A ballerina (Vera Zorina), turned jewel thief, cons unsuspecting rich men of their jewels with the help of two accomplices (Erich von Stroheim & Peter Lorre). When she falls in love with their next target (Richard Greene) she decides to give up her career as a thief but finds resistance from her two partners. Solid little B-film somewhat steals the plot of "The Last of Mrs Cheyney" and has the delightful bantering between von Stroheim and Lorre which the latter would enhance in his films during the decade with Sydney Greenstreet. Greene is a serviceable leading man but his co-star Vera Zorina is quite stiff throughout. However, she comes alive during the film's climax in an excerpt from Tchaikovski's ballet "Swan Lake" where she dances the role of the Black Swan choreographed by her then husband the great George Balanchine who also dances with her. Ratoff's feather-light direction is a chip off the Lubitsch block. Or at least he tries in that direction.
Pick Up (Marion Gering, 1933) 5/10
A woman's "scarlet past" - she (Sylvia Sidney) is innocent but gets convicted with her crooked husband - catches up with her after she is released from prison. Given shelter by a cab driver (George Raft) she falls in love with him but matters turn deadly when her husband busts out of jail and involves her in further dirty activities. Pre-code crime drama has nothing original plotwise but the two leads sparkle as they gently fall in love and look after each other. In fact the noisy violent sequence with the convict husband and an encounter Raft has with a loud-mouthed golddigger becomes an ugly intrusion into the easy going plot involving the two leads.
La grande strada azzurra / The Wide Blue Road (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1957) 8/10
Renegade fisherman (Yves Montand) uses illegal tactics to provide a comfortable life for his family. While the rest of the village fisherman use nets he uses dynamite. While his friends don't resent him the coast guard suspects but cannot catch him in the act. Capitalist ingenuity pitting against communist collectivism is the underlying theme in Pontecorvo's screenplay. The scenes set on the ocean have an extraordinary beauty with the magnetic Montand at his brooding best - equivalent to both Brando and Dean in star charsima. Apparently the star could not swim yet he bravely attempts all the scenes set in the water. As his wife the lovely Alida Valli appears totally deglamorized while future star Terence Hill has a small part as his daughter's suitor.
Comencini, one of the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre, comes up with this murder-mystery - a satire of Turin's upper classes - which has faint echoes of a giallo although the screenplay moves more in the direction of a sunny comedy of very dry manners. A slimy architect is found bludgeoned to death with a giant wooden penis sculpture. Chief amongst the suspects is a wealthy married lady (Jacqueline Bisset) who, in a letter to her gay friend (Jean-Louis Trintignant), discusses eliminating him. The letter is given to the police inspector (Marcello Mastroianni) by her two servants who were both fired from their jobs recently. The detective finds his investigation constantly interrupted by the lady who takes a perverse delight in the case despite being a suspect - a visit to the factory that manufactures the outrageous murder weapon is quite hilarious as the detective has to not only put up with her prying questions but can't quite tell if she is trying to seduce him as well. Meanwhile her friend's lover starts acting like a sleuth on his own which does not end well. Breezy, laid back scenario is greatly helped by the three stars (all dubbed) who seem to be having a great time with their parts - the chemistry between Mastroianni and Bisset sizzles. The film, which tackles themes of adultery and prostitition, is also ahead of its time in its matter-of-fact portrayal of the gay couple who are presented without the exaggerated affectations attributed then to such characters in films where they were presented merely to provoke laughter. The drama is played out to an excellent score by Ennio Morricone.
Cover Up (Alfred E. Green, 1949) 7/10
Sharply written B-noir (courtesy of the leading man) mixes suspense and folksy charm. An insurance detective (Dennis O'Keefe) arrives in a small Mid-Western town to investigate the suicide of an old man. Beneficiary of his insurance policy is his niece. However, no gun was found near the body and nor does the town sheriff (William Bendix) provide any information when questioned. In fact most of the town folk are hostile towards him as he begins to suspect that a murder is being covered up. The screenplay sets the plot during Christmas with a romance thrown in with a young girl (the stunningly beautiful Barbara Britton) whose father becomes his chief murder suspect. Charming little film, with doses of wry humour, keeps you guessing to the very end.
Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951) 6/10
Offbeat Western mixes a dose of religiosity with the genre's usual tropes. A gang of six convicts intercept a California-bound wagon train and forcibly attach themselves in order to escape detention by the law. The head crook (John Payne) clashes with the preacher (Dennis O'Keefe) leading the wagon train but has an epiphany at the end of the trail leading to a sacrifice when a gold mine is discovered and the convicts go on a rampage. Arleen Whelan is a feisty mourner in black who can use a whip, changes from her black outfit to something frilly and comes between the two virile men. Slow moving but interesting film is shot in gorgeous colour by Loyal Griggs. A surprise hit at the boxoffice.
The Fake (Godfrey Grayson, 1953) 6/10
Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" painting arrives at the Tate gallery in London for exhibition. However, it turns out to be a fake and an American investigator (Dennis O'Keefe) is assigned to discover its whereabouts. Already in search of two other stolen masterpieces he falls in love with an employee (Coleen Gray) at the Gallery whose father is an expert at drawing duplicates of famous paintings. Interesting B-film keeps up the suspense right till the end. An appealing cast of Brutish character actors - Guy Middleton, John Laurie, Hugh Williams - appear in support. Many scenes are actually filmed inside the Tate Gallery.
Night of the Fox (Charles Jarrott, 1990) 5/10
A US Army colonel (David Birney), who knows details about the planned D-Day landings, is washed up on the island of Nazi-occupied Jersey. A former academic and now a covert operator and ruthless killer (George Peppard) is recruited along with a nurse (Deborah Raffin) to go in and get the colonel out. However, their plans are thwarted when Field Marshall Rommel (Michael York) arrives on the island on an inspection visit. Based on the espionage thriller novel by Jack Higgins this tv miniseries goes through the paces with a cast of familiar actors now slumming on television - a pudgy Peppard at the tail end of his career, York who still had the bloom of youth which would later turn ugly courtesy of a series of relentless face lifts, and a typecast Sir John Mills as a Military senior. Pretty Deborah Raffin, who was in a lot of familiar films during the 1970s but never managed to break out as a star, provides the obligatory romantic angle in the film.
Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, 2002) 10/10
An unnamed narrator and a European (both often rather annoying) wander through the Winter Palace (The Hermitage) encountering three centuries of Russian history but not in chronological order. This ambitious film was shot in one take (?) in its entirety as the camera eavesdrops on events among royalty and the aristocricy in different rooms of the huge palace. And in doing so the film explores the famous Hermitage Museum room-by-room with its glorious treasures. Dream-like film looks in on Peter the Great, the stunning operas and plays shown during the era of Catherine the Great, an audience with Tsar Nicholas I, a close-up view of the family life of Tsar Nicholas II, people touring the museum, a peep during the Stalin era when the palace needed repairs, followed by the period when Leningrad was under the 900-day siege during World War II. Sumptuous production has eye-popping sets and costumes with a grand orchestra playing during a ball followed by guests exiting the palace via the spectacular main staircase of the palace. Mesmerizing film goes beyond its technical brilliance to present a time and era in all its flamboyant glory.
I Was an Adventuress (Gregory Ratoff, 1940) 6/10
A ballerina (Vera Zorina), turned jewel thief, cons unsuspecting rich men of their jewels with the help of two accomplices (Erich von Stroheim & Peter Lorre). When she falls in love with their next target (Richard Greene) she decides to give up her career as a thief but finds resistance from her two partners. Solid little B-film somewhat steals the plot of "The Last of Mrs Cheyney" and has the delightful bantering between von Stroheim and Lorre which the latter would enhance in his films during the decade with Sydney Greenstreet. Greene is a serviceable leading man but his co-star Vera Zorina is quite stiff throughout. However, she comes alive during the film's climax in an excerpt from Tchaikovski's ballet "Swan Lake" where she dances the role of the Black Swan choreographed by her then husband the great George Balanchine who also dances with her. Ratoff's feather-light direction is a chip off the Lubitsch block. Or at least he tries in that direction.
Pick Up (Marion Gering, 1933) 5/10
A woman's "scarlet past" - she (Sylvia Sidney) is innocent but gets convicted with her crooked husband - catches up with her after she is released from prison. Given shelter by a cab driver (George Raft) she falls in love with him but matters turn deadly when her husband busts out of jail and involves her in further dirty activities. Pre-code crime drama has nothing original plotwise but the two leads sparkle as they gently fall in love and look after each other. In fact the noisy violent sequence with the convict husband and an encounter Raft has with a loud-mouthed golddigger becomes an ugly intrusion into the easy going plot involving the two leads.
La grande strada azzurra / The Wide Blue Road (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1957) 8/10
Renegade fisherman (Yves Montand) uses illegal tactics to provide a comfortable life for his family. While the rest of the village fisherman use nets he uses dynamite. While his friends don't resent him the coast guard suspects but cannot catch him in the act. Capitalist ingenuity pitting against communist collectivism is the underlying theme in Pontecorvo's screenplay. The scenes set on the ocean have an extraordinary beauty with the magnetic Montand at his brooding best - equivalent to both Brando and Dean in star charsima. Apparently the star could not swim yet he bravely attempts all the scenes set in the water. As his wife the lovely Alida Valli appears totally deglamorized while future star Terence Hill has a small part as his daughter's suitor.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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
Really, Reza?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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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.
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.