Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2020 1:51 pm
Appointment With Death (Michael Winner, 1988) 5/10
Thirteen at Dinner (Lou Antonio, 1985) 5/10
Les scélérats / The Wretches (Robert Hossein, 1960) 3/10
Bedevilled (Mitchell Leisen, 1955) 4/10
Voici le temps des assassins... / Deadlier Than the Male (Julien Duvivier, 1956) 8/10
The Captive City (Robert Wise, 1952) 6/10
Chair de poule / Highway Pick-Up (Julien Duvivier, 1963) 9/10
James Hadley Chase's pulp novel, "Come Easy-Go Easy", liberally took several points from James Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" which allows Duvivier ample space to create a dark film noir about the extent to which humans will fall while twisted by greed. Two close friends crack a client's safe but the robbery is bungled when they are discovered. They make a run for it but one (Robert Hossein) is shot and injured by the guard while his friend (Jean Sorel) escapes. After a stint in hospital he manages to escape from the cops while on the way to prison and finds refuge with a kindly old man (Georges Wilson) at his isolated mountain-top gas station where he lives with his much younger wife (Catherine Rouvel). He is asked to stay and help at the café. The woman discovers the man's secret and blackmails and seduces him into opening her husband's safe which contains a huge sum of money. Caught once again while opening the safe the old man is killed during a skirmish with his wife. They bury the body and are planning what to do next when his friend arrives. The relentlessly exciting but downbeat plot leads to a fiery conclusion which involves another seduction, a second murder, followed by a shocking betrayal and an ironic finalé. Hossein, who would become famous for directing and often starring in similar pulp thrillers, is solid as the crook with a conscience. Rouvel is perfect as the icy and selfish femme fatale with no redeeming qualities. Sorel, with his pretty-boy looks, is a revelation as possibly the most immoral character of them all. As in most of his films Duvivier once again exposes the blackness of the human soul as his characters descend into depravity with utter abandon.
The Ice Harvest (Harold Ramis, 2005) 1/10
Hideously unfunny black comedy is badly directed with the entire cast floundering as they get to mouth words from the lousy screenplay written by Robert Benton. A Mob lawyer (John Cusack) and a sleazy pornographer (Billy Bob Thornton) steal money from their boss (Randy Quaid) but discover they can't make a run for it as all the streets are icy during Christmas Eve. Trying to avoid the Mob they run into assorted folks with disastrous results - a double-crossing sexy woman (Connie Nielsen) who runs a strip joint and a drunk friend (Oliver Platt). A promising start devolves into unnecessay subplots with jokes that fall totally flat. And somebody please shoot the very annoying Oliver Platt.
Night Train (John Lynch, 1998) 6/10
Quirky, low-key romance between an ex-con (John Hurt) and a spinster (Brenda Belthyn). He is on the run from crooks he swindled money from and moves into a rooming house belonging to an old lady (Pauline Flanagan) who likes to keep a firm hold on her middle-aged daughter. He likes trains and sets up a miniature set of the Orient Express in his room with tracks running round fields and into and over miniature mountains. When the crooks close in on him he asks the woman to run off with him and they end up on the real Orient Express. This is not quite "Brief Encounter" but the film sort of pays homage to Noel Coward's play with an added bizarre subplot about a cross-dressing neigbour who steals women's clothes off people's laundry lines, dresses up with a wig and makeup. Both Hurt and Blethyn are understated as lonely individuals trying to run away from their past.
Shanghai (Mikael Håfström, 2010) 3/10
Convoluted plot has an American spy (John Cusack) arrive in Shanghai to solve the mystery of a friend's murder on the eve of both the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is 1941 and everyone is pretty antsy - the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis - with streets dangerous, violent shootouts in night clubs and the city a simmering pot of immoral barbarity. He is soon involved with the wife (Famke Potente) of a Nazi, falls in love with the sexy wife (Gong Li) of an influential crime lord (Chow Yun-Fat). He also befriends the local Police Captain (Ken Watanabe) who is involved with an opium addict (Rinko Kikuchi) who was the lover of the murdered man. Troubled production was denied a shooting schedule by the Chinese so the production moved to Thailand where spectacular sets were built to resemble the streets of Shanghai. Exotic looking film is let down by the screenplay which lacks tension and crams in far too much plot all of which is presented in a haphazard way. Watanabe, Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat all go through the motion of playing charismatic characters in a bored and listless manner and Cusack proves yet again that he lacks a leading-man sensibility.
Against All Odds (Taylor Hackford, 1984) 7/10
Glossy, sexy reimagining - it's not really a remake - of the 1947 film noir "Out of the Past". The roles played in the classic by Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas are now embodied by Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward and James Woods. A gangster (James Woods) hires his friend (Jeff Bridges), a professional football player, to go in search of his girlfriend (Rachel Ward) who has run off. He finds her down in Mexico, they fall in love, she runs off again followed by him being framed for a couple of murders. The film has many memorable moments and characters - a nail-biting car chase between a Porsche 911SC and a Ferrari 308 on Sunset Blvd, the hot and sweaty sexual encounter between Bridges and Ward inside the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, the femme fatale from the original film, Jane Greer, as Ward's tough-as-nails mother, Richard Widmark as a crooked lawyer and a couple of great songs on the soundtrack - Kid Creole & the Coconuts performing live their hit "My Male Curiosity" and the smash hit Oscar nominated title song by Phil Collins. Pity about the rather murky ending and an overall plot that seems to be paging the shady real estate deals from "Chinatown" but in a rather tired sort of way. Ward is memorable as the sexually charged femme fatale and her pairing opposite a young Bridges creates sparks. The film's spectacular Mexican locations play a great part in creating mood.
Et si on vivait tous ensemble? / And If We All Lived Together? (Stéphane Robelin, 2011) 7/10
This charming, if slight film, explores the theme of ageing and how to live a life of dignity and safety as age eventually descends on everyone. Five old friends have spent a lifetime in and out of each others' lives and have now reached an age which is not kind. Jean (Guy Bedos), an activist and revolutionary long past his active years with impotency part of his life now, lives with his wife Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) in a large luxurious home. Their close friends are Albert (Pierre Richard), suffering from Alzheimers, and his gregarious wife Jeanne (Jane Fonda), who refuses to take any treatment for the cancer she has kept hidden from everyone. Claude (Claude Rich) is a randy widower who suffers a heart attack while on his way to a prostitute. His illness is the catalyst that brings all the friends together and they decide that they should live together under one roof instead of waiting to be put into a home for the elderly. With the help of a young research student (Daniel Brühl) they form a commune and soon long hidden secrets are revealed. The lovely veteran cast - all very famous stars - work together with great affection. This was Fonda's first french film in 40 years and she seamlessly fits into the ensemble while Chaplin, a Brit, was already comfortable acting in the language after over 50 years of starring in Spanish and French films. Nothing much really happens but it's a joy to see these great actors doing what another septuagenarian lot of great stars did in "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" as they face transitions in their lives with varied levels of acceptance.
Rules of Engagement (William Friedkin, 2000) 5/10
When the U.S. embassy in Yemen is under sniper attack the Ambassador (Sir Ben Kingsley) and his wife (Anne Archer) are evacuated by marines. When three marines are killed the Commanding Officer (Samuel L. Jackson) orders his troops to fire on the crowds below killing over 80 unarmed civilians including women and children. To deflect negative public opinion over the massacre the U.S. National Security Advisor (Bruce Greenwood) puts the blame on the Commander and pushes for a court martial choosing an over zealous prosecutor (Guy Pearce) to do him in. For his defence the accused requests his friend, a retired marine Colonel (Tommy Lee Jones), whose life he had saved years before in Vietnam. The hysterical court case includes perjury on part of the Ambassador and the deliberate hiding of important video evidence in order to make a scapegoat of the accused. Not withstanding the potholes in the screenplay the film allows both Jones and Jackson to give sincere and forceful performances although all the characters lack depth as the script does not explore their motivations - both Greenwood and Pearce are stuck with playing stock villains with no shading. The film is strictly mainstream entertainment and can be enjoyed on that level but it could have been something great with just a few more tweaks to the screenplay.
Douce violence / Sweet Ecstacy (Max Pécas, 1962) 5/10
Aimless young man gets into bad company - a group of hedonistic rich boys and girls - and has great fun but not without suffering first at their hands in between attempts of trying to seduce the hot babe (Elke Sommer) in their midst. European exploitation film, coming in the wake of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita", springs Elke Sommer in full bitch mode and hot to trot but not willing to give her love. She is the star attraction dancing in tight capris, rolling on the beach in a skimpy bikini, making out topless - a scene quite daring for 1962 - and all tied-up with a rope as part of an initiation joke that turns into a nightmare when the yacht they are on catches fire. Sommer, who would become a star soon after, is clearly being presented here as a clone of Bardot. The flimsy plot is just an excuse to oogle the sexy actress along with plenty of sexual titilation, cheap thrills and violence. The exceptional soundtrack has two great songs by Johnny Hallyday with one written by Charles Aznavour.
La chamade (Alain Cavalier, 1968) 5/10
Cavalier's film, based on the novel by Françoise Sagan, charts the conflicting emotions of a beautiful young woman (Catherine Deneuve) who is blissfully unaware of her shallow existence. Mistress of a much older man (Michel Piccoli) who passionately indulges her, she spends her time very comfortably but without much purpose. When she suddenly falls in love with a man her own age she decides to dump her rich lover and move in with her poor one (Roger Van Hool). Life changes as she has to suddenly open her eyes to the world around her. For a while she sustains her lifestyle by selling her jewels but has to eventually find work. Then she gets pregnant and bored with her new lover. Her former lover pays for an abortion and takes her back, no questions asked. Deneuve is absolutely ravishing, dressed in chic Yves Saint Laurent outfits, but her character is so vapid and self-absorbed that it's difficult to care what happens to her. She acts subservient to both men - one who indulges her no end while the other tries to change her - and one is left wondering if she loves either. It is never made clear what attracts Deneuve to Van Hool who comes off equally vapid. Even sex between them lacks heat. Piccoli is superb and his scenes with Deneuve are full of warmth and the only reason to see this rather dull film.
The Phantom President (Norman Taurog, 1932) 6/10
The original "Yankee Doodle Dandy", George M. Cohan, makes his sound film debut in this musical-comedy playing a double role. This pre-code comedy, with a faux-pas or two, would cause a coronary amongst all the politically correct souls out there today. A Presidential candidate (George M. Cohan) is deemed to have too dull a personality with no sex appeal. His close friends are all in agreement about this. Even the vivacious woman (Claudette Colbert) he loves refuses to marry him. Enter a traveling medicine man / stage performer (also played by George M. Cohan) with a nutty partner (Jimmy Durante) in tow. They perform the tunes of Rogers and Hart - offscreen Cohan was most contemptuous of the songwriters calling them Gilbert & Sullivan - as Cohan performs one number in blackface. Since Al Jolson had recently made a huge success of that the producers probably decided to have a go once again. It is decided that the gregarious charlatan lookalike should be put forward as the candidate for office and if he wins the actual one with the drab personality could then move into the White House. Durante has a couple of hilarious moments but as always overstays his welcome. Cohan has great chemistry with Colbert although he was a pain on and off the set. Funny political satire with a rare chance to see the actual Cohan dance on screen - which James Cagney did so memorably a decade later when he played Cohan on screen.
Blood and Money (John Barr, 2020) 4/10
A former marine and war veteran (Tom Berenger) spends his days hunting deer in an icy wilderness. He is a recovering alcoholic whose daughter died in a car accident while he was driving drunk and is now dying of an ailment as he keeps coughing blood. While on a hunt he inadvertently shoots a woman in the woods and next to her is a bag filled with a million dollars. The film becomes a cat-and-mouse game between him and the victim's four partners who stole the money from a casino. He leads them on a deadly chase through the woods. Berenger was once upon a time a promising leading man during the 1980s but never managed to sustain the highs of that decade. He is still active but in B-grade films like this one and the series of "Sniper" films which he keeps churning out. The film's moral message on greed gives it a slight whiff of the Coen's "Fargo" but the screenplay veers off into stale territory in a plot already done to death in many films before this one.
Swashbuckler (James Goldstone, 1976) 6/10
The pirate film, once a highly successful boxoffice staple from the 1930s through to the 1950s, dwindled during the 1960s and completely petered out in the 1970s. The unexpected success of Richard Lester's Musketeer films resurrected once more the pirate genre although it was to be a one-off moment. The production goes all out bringing forth all the familiar tropes starting with a magnificent ship, the obligatory one-legged pirate, men swinging aboard with swords in their teeth, duels to the death, treasure chests and the evil Governor (Peter Boyle) of Jamaica who imprisons an honest nobleman and evicts his fiery daughter (Geneviève Bujold). She seeks help from a pirate (Robert Shaw) who comes to the town's rescue. While Shaw is certainly no Errol Flynn he makes a go of the part and is actually quite good without being hammy. He creates sparks with lovely Bujold and the highlight is their duel with a sword. Raucous, old-fashioned yarn almost manages to recapture the vim and vigor of the Flynn and Burt Lancaster screen adventures. The action scenes are beautifully shot by Phillip Lathrop accompanied by a lively score by John Addison. Giving excellent support to the two leads are James Earl Jones and Anjelica Huston in one of her early film appearances. The film was not a success but is actually quite a worthy successor to the classics of the genre from Hollywood's golden period.
Shadows in the Sun (Brad Mirman, 2005) 7/10
This film has every cliché under the sun about eccentric writers living in seclusion in sun-dappled rural Italy. And it also has a clichéd romantic subplot. And I thought it was wonderful but then I could even watch ants crawl across the screen as long as they were doing their walking in gorgeous Italy. A callow young book editor (Joshua Jackson) is sent by his boss on a goose chase to Tuscany to try and get a once-great writer (Harvey Keitel) to start writing again and sign with his agency. The problem is that the writer uses his eccentricity and the death of his wife as a facade to hide behind because he is scared of failure. With the young man in town the writer gradually learns to not only open up but teach the uptight young man a thing or two about not being afraid and to follow his heart. They bond. And the younger man finds romance with the writer's lovely daughter (Claire Forlani). Keitel is a hoot whether berating the young man, sunbathing in the nude, getting jailed, crying while sitting at his typewriter or just being an irascible asshole. Forlani is a real looker with her flowing hair and red lips. And the Italian countryside is to die for with equally eccentric local characters - Giancarlo Giannini is a delight as a priest who likes playing gin rummy with the writer. The tiny rural village somewhere near Siena, with its yellow stone cottages and golden sunsets across rolling fields, takes on the role of a character. A simple story about love and life with great heart.
Take Care of My Little Girl (Jean Negulesco, 1951) 5/10
Colorful but rather silly sorority shenanigans with an appealing cast of female stars all too old to be in college. The screenplay scores points for putting forth a serious message about snobbery, hazing and shallowness which sororities hold onto proudly. The rest of the plot has a pretty freshman (Jeanne Crain) being chased by two young men - a steady student on the GI bill (Dale Robertson) and a pretty-boy fraternity snob (Jeffrey Hunter). Jean Peters is the snooty bitch on campus while other students are played by Mitzi Gaynor, Helen Westcott and Natalie Schafer. Glossy Technicolor Fox production was conceived as a vehicle for the studio's younger stars with the Epstein brothers' screenplay throwing in social criticism.
Les bien-aimés / Beloved (Christophe Honoré, 2011) 7/10
The film takes its cue from Jacques Demy as the characters keep breaking out into song. A charming tale about love, sex, laughter and tragedy that goes on way too long. A woman (Ludvine Sagnier) doesn't mind resorting to a little prostitution on the side to make extra bucks. She meets the man of her dreams - a Czech communist - during a trick, marries him but refuses to go back with him to his country. She gets a divorce, gives birth to his daughter and gets married again. Then her ex-husband returns and she wants him back. Time-spanning film has french movie diva Catherine Deneve play the character during the present with her grown-up daughter played by Chiara Mastroianni. The characters all sing their heart out and wander in and out of different time periods running into their younger or older selves in the past and future. Both Deneuve and Mastroianni - mother-daughter in real life - create sparks in their scenes together. Deneuve is a sensual delight as the audaciously romantic woman who has lived life to the fullest and with her own daring rules and has no regrets about her younger self. Miloś Forman plays her ex-husband. The production and costume design maintains a timeless look throughout even though the story's timeline moves through four decades.
Where There's Life (Sidney Lanfield, 1947) 4/10
The American son (Bob Hope) of a European monarch has to be brought across when the old man is shot. A general (Signe Hasso) is sent to bring him while a terrorist (George Coulouris) and his goons are out to kill him. Typical Hope comedy with the star doing his cowardly shtick and romancing Hasso who does an impersonation of Greta Garbo's "Ninotchka". Frantic farce is silly but moves at breakneck pace with a funny William Bendix as a harrassed cop.
Katyń (Andrzej Wajda, 2007) 5/10
The film depicts the Katyń massacre which was a series of mass executions of Polish officers and intelligentsia carried out by the Soviet Union in 1940. The massacre is named after the Katyn Forest where some of the mass graves were first discovered. The Soviet government suppressed the facts blaming the Germans for carrying out the executions and it was only in 1989 with the fall of communism in Poland that the facts were revealed and acknowledged by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. In the film the events of Katyń are revealed through the eyes of the women, the mothers, wives and daughters of the men executed. The story was particularly a personal one for director Wajda whose father was one of those killed. The story follows his incarceration after being taken prisoner by the Soviet Army. He keeps a diary recording everything he sees. His wife and daughter live with his father, a professor, who is deported and later killed in a camp. When news arrives that thousands of soldiers perished at Katyń, his wife (Maja Ostaszewska) holds hope when his name is not amongst the dead. When his diary is later discovered his death is confirmed. However, it was a bitter moment for the Polish people as they were kept in the dark about the Soviet's involvement. Wajda recreates the massacre at the film's end and actual Polish and German newsreels showing the soldiers being shot in the head are also shown. For such a dramatic event in history the film is surprisingly uninvolving lacking in drama until the shocking scenes at the end. It is a haunting finale in what is otherwise a dull drama. The film, with superb production design and extraordinary cinematography by Pawel Edelman, was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category.
The Human Stain (Robert Benton, 2003) 6/10
Hopkins is badly miscast but despite that this adaptation of Phillip Roth's acclaimed novel, with elements of greek tragedy, makes for good drama. It explores issues of identity and self-invention in America making strong points about racism that remains rampant even today. A tragic chain of events is set in motion when a Classics Professor (Anthony Hopkins) at a New England college is fired from his job when in class uses the word "spooks". He used the word to mean "ghosts" but is accused of using the word as a racial slur and dismissed. In actual fact the man is black but has passed himself off through most of his adult life as a white-jew, even to his own wife and kids. The reason behind his dismissal also underlines how political correctness can often be twisted by today's generation who seem to have forgotten to view things in context. Losing his job and his wife - who dies of a heart attack - he later forms a friendship with a reclusive writer (Gary Sinise) and starts an affair with an illiterate janitor (Nicole Kidman) who is much younger than him and who is estranged from her psychotic husband (Ed Harris). Hopkins' miscasting becomes glaringly evident during the flashback scenes to his youth where his character is played by Wentworth Miller. The two actors come to the role from completely different planes. The film soars during the scenes between Hopkins and Kidman - two lonely people having gone through much despair in lives coming together and finding solace and sexual comfort together even if it is for a brief moment.
Twilight (Robert Benton, 1998) 8/10
Benton's screenplay retreads tropes from far better neo-noirs but the amazing cast gathered here makes it all seem fresh. The story's leisurely pace works to the film's advantage and moves in perfect rhythm to the aged star and the co-stars he banters with. After bringing back the runaway daughter (Reese Witherspoon) of an actor (Gene Hackman), an ex-cop turned private detective (Paul Newman) moves in with him and his femme fatale actress wife (Susan Darandon) on whom he has a crush. He is allowed to stay on their large estate as one of the family. Two years later the actor, now dying of cancer, asks him to run an errand by delivering an envelope of money to an address. He is attacked by a man (M. Emmett Walsh) who has been shot in the stomach and finds himself in over his head in an old case that involves murder and blackmail. He comes across other characters also involved in the mystery - two blackmailers (Liev Schreiber & Margo Martindale) and three other cops from his past, an old flame (Stockard Channing), a buddy (the charming James Garner) and his former inept partner (Giancarlo Espisito). Newman, at age 73, is still as charismatic as ever as he moves through this Raymond Chandler territory tossing off quips with his co-stars. Piotr Sobocinski's muted cinematography adds to the atmosphere. The film uses the old art deco Hollywood home of 1930s star Dolores Del Rio and her husband Cedric Gibbons as one of the main locations. The film also has an astonishing nude scene featuring Reese Witherspoon in one of her very early films. A very underrated film.
Romeo Akbar Walter (Robbie Grewal, 2019) 2/10
A slow-burn. VERY slow. A spy yarn trying to take on the mantle of a John Le Carre thriller is supposedly based on true events and set just before the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971. An actor (John Abraham) is hired and trained by RAW to go into Pakistan to try and get information about their preparedness for war. Jackie Shroff is the George Smiley-like spymaster. Monotonous film just goes on and on with only the final scenes between the captured spy and his Pakistani torturer (Sikander Kher) that hold interest. Yet another jingoistic chest thumper from Bollywood and equally boring as the similarly themed Raazi (2018). Based partially on events in the life of RAW undercover agent Ravindra Kaushik who died in jail in Pakistan. According to his family the Indian government refused to recognise him and made no effort to help him.
Uri: The Surgical Strike (Aditya Dhar, 2019) 6/10
If nothing else the silly enmity between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has provided Bollywood with enough material to constantly delve into the war genre. With active government and Armed Forces involvement in these productions it also provides a shout-out to patriotism. The plot is a dramatised account of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack, following Major Vihaan Singh Shergill (Vicky Kaushal) of the Indian Army, who plays a leading role in the events. Superbly produced film has top notch editing, visual effects, cinematography and sound design and uses its screenplay to provide the main protagonist a jingoistic reason and "josh" - his mother suffers from Alzheimers and his brother-in-law, a Major, dies when a terrorist's grenade blows up - to lead the retaliation. This one-sided narrative has ISI behind the terrorist attacks alternating between fact and fiction with well staged combat sequences. Mercifully there are not too many chest thumping moments as in J. P. Dutta's war films in the past, which for a very long time became de rigueur in every Bollywood war-themed film. Kaushal carries the film with steely determination (he was rewarded with a Filmfare award nomination and the National award) and the film deservedly won many awards in the technical categories.
The Last Days on Mars (Ruairi Robinson, 2013) 6/10
A regurgitation of the old "Jaws", "Alien" & "Ten Little Indians" formula set on Mars. On the last day of a 6-month mission on Mars one crew member discovers a mysterious live bacteria. Before he can contain it he falls into a pit and dies. It's only a matter of time before the bacteria infects the crew members one by one as they turn into zombies and start attacking each other. Who will survive to reach the strip where the spaceship sent from earth to bring them back lands? Space horror-thriller is not without interest even though this particular genre has gone through its fair share of similar stories. The eclectic cast - Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams - may not be A-list but they give it their all with some good suspenseful moments. The spectaular Wadi Rum in Jordan subs for Mars.
My Life So Far (Hugh Hudson, 1999) 7/10
Set during the 1920s this charming look at a year in the life of the Pettigrew family, living in their family estate Kiloran House in Scotland, is seen through the eyes of the precocious 10-year old son. The plot is a series of vignettes about the various family members - the eccentric and pious father (Colin Firth) who is obsessed with inventions, his lovely wife (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonia), the imperious but loving grandmother (Rosemary Harris), her son (Malcolm McDowell) and his much younger french fiancé (Irène Jacob). Plodding but sincere drama is held together by the ensemble cast and glorious views of the Scottish countryside. Firth is seen in a typically laid-back star turn and young actor Robert Norman is an absolute delight getting into all sorts of mischief including being inquisitive about "prostitution", "lesbians" and "fellatio", words he has picked up from a book in the library. In contrast to his father's interest in the music of Beethoven the child secretly enjoys listening to jazz which his father has described as the "devil's music". Old fashioned film is adapted from the memoirs of Sir Denis Forman, a British television executive, about his random childhood memories.
Black Water: Abyss (Andrew Trauckie, 2020) 2/10
Take a bunch of humans, put them in a confined space and at the mercy of a set of jaws. Age-old formula is utterly wasted in this rehash of a genre which is usually always great fun to sit through. Five friends decide to explore an underground cave but get trapped when water starts rising after a storm. It also happens to be home to a vicious and very hungry crocodile. Most of the film is shot in darkness with only torch lights showing glimpses of the reptile as it goes in for the kill. Only the last scene is played out in bright sunlight as the survivors once again face sudden danger. Dull characters, a lack of tension and a very low budget makes this a slog to sit through.
Summerland (Jessica Swale, 2020) 6/10
A reclusive researcher (Gemma Arterton), living in the Kent countryside - glorious rolling grass fields running off white cliffs - is suddenly asked to take in a young boy (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from bombed out London. The War is on but in far off London, and the crotchety writer is not at all pleased at the prospect of a young boy intruding into her private space. They first clash and then bond as expected and we get to know why the lady is constantly in a cranky mood. Memory flashbacks to the 1920s reveal a failed love affair with a bohemian lifeforce (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), initially full of passion (although very tamely shot), which they are forced to abandon. This part of the plot - a white woman in a lesbian relationship with a black woman - seems tacked on in order to appease the PC brigade. It's now de rigueur to include a gay and a race element into plots. Cliché-laden story is well cast - both Arterton and Bond are very good, and in brief roles there is excellent support by Tom Courtenay (as a school master), Siân Phillips and Penelope Wilton who plays the older version of the Arterton character during the 1970s. The ending comes with a pleasing twist.
Made in Italy (James D'Arcy, 2020) 4/10
Lovely Tuscan locations sadly do not compensate for a listless plot revolving around an estranged father and son both grieving for the dead woman they both loved. Having a real life father-son actor duo play the characters also does not elevate the material. A bohemian artist (Liam Neeson), lost without his wife who died in a car crash, travels with his estranged son (Micheál Richardson) from London to Italy in order to sell a dilapidated countryside villa in Tuscany. As they make repairs to the crumbling estate they try to come to terms with their loss and reconnect. The central idea is clearly a reference to the death of actress Natasha Richardson, Neeson's wife and Micheál Richardson's mother. The son, going through a bitter divorce, befriends a young divorced single mother (Valeria Bilello) who not only playfully flirts with both men but is also a great cook - her risotto is to die for. Predictable film runs its course without any surprises. A tart-tongued Lindsay Duncan, in a blonde pageboy wig, makes a welcome brief appearance as a realtor trying to help them sell the villa. Mawkish tale of grief and healing. Luckily Tuscany, in all its sun-dappled glory, is a sight for sore eyes.
Thirteen at Dinner (Lou Antonio, 1985) 5/10
Les scélérats / The Wretches (Robert Hossein, 1960) 3/10
Bedevilled (Mitchell Leisen, 1955) 4/10
Voici le temps des assassins... / Deadlier Than the Male (Julien Duvivier, 1956) 8/10
The Captive City (Robert Wise, 1952) 6/10
Chair de poule / Highway Pick-Up (Julien Duvivier, 1963) 9/10
James Hadley Chase's pulp novel, "Come Easy-Go Easy", liberally took several points from James Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" which allows Duvivier ample space to create a dark film noir about the extent to which humans will fall while twisted by greed. Two close friends crack a client's safe but the robbery is bungled when they are discovered. They make a run for it but one (Robert Hossein) is shot and injured by the guard while his friend (Jean Sorel) escapes. After a stint in hospital he manages to escape from the cops while on the way to prison and finds refuge with a kindly old man (Georges Wilson) at his isolated mountain-top gas station where he lives with his much younger wife (Catherine Rouvel). He is asked to stay and help at the café. The woman discovers the man's secret and blackmails and seduces him into opening her husband's safe which contains a huge sum of money. Caught once again while opening the safe the old man is killed during a skirmish with his wife. They bury the body and are planning what to do next when his friend arrives. The relentlessly exciting but downbeat plot leads to a fiery conclusion which involves another seduction, a second murder, followed by a shocking betrayal and an ironic finalé. Hossein, who would become famous for directing and often starring in similar pulp thrillers, is solid as the crook with a conscience. Rouvel is perfect as the icy and selfish femme fatale with no redeeming qualities. Sorel, with his pretty-boy looks, is a revelation as possibly the most immoral character of them all. As in most of his films Duvivier once again exposes the blackness of the human soul as his characters descend into depravity with utter abandon.
The Ice Harvest (Harold Ramis, 2005) 1/10
Hideously unfunny black comedy is badly directed with the entire cast floundering as they get to mouth words from the lousy screenplay written by Robert Benton. A Mob lawyer (John Cusack) and a sleazy pornographer (Billy Bob Thornton) steal money from their boss (Randy Quaid) but discover they can't make a run for it as all the streets are icy during Christmas Eve. Trying to avoid the Mob they run into assorted folks with disastrous results - a double-crossing sexy woman (Connie Nielsen) who runs a strip joint and a drunk friend (Oliver Platt). A promising start devolves into unnecessay subplots with jokes that fall totally flat. And somebody please shoot the very annoying Oliver Platt.
Night Train (John Lynch, 1998) 6/10
Quirky, low-key romance between an ex-con (John Hurt) and a spinster (Brenda Belthyn). He is on the run from crooks he swindled money from and moves into a rooming house belonging to an old lady (Pauline Flanagan) who likes to keep a firm hold on her middle-aged daughter. He likes trains and sets up a miniature set of the Orient Express in his room with tracks running round fields and into and over miniature mountains. When the crooks close in on him he asks the woman to run off with him and they end up on the real Orient Express. This is not quite "Brief Encounter" but the film sort of pays homage to Noel Coward's play with an added bizarre subplot about a cross-dressing neigbour who steals women's clothes off people's laundry lines, dresses up with a wig and makeup. Both Hurt and Blethyn are understated as lonely individuals trying to run away from their past.
Shanghai (Mikael Håfström, 2010) 3/10
Convoluted plot has an American spy (John Cusack) arrive in Shanghai to solve the mystery of a friend's murder on the eve of both the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is 1941 and everyone is pretty antsy - the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis - with streets dangerous, violent shootouts in night clubs and the city a simmering pot of immoral barbarity. He is soon involved with the wife (Famke Potente) of a Nazi, falls in love with the sexy wife (Gong Li) of an influential crime lord (Chow Yun-Fat). He also befriends the local Police Captain (Ken Watanabe) who is involved with an opium addict (Rinko Kikuchi) who was the lover of the murdered man. Troubled production was denied a shooting schedule by the Chinese so the production moved to Thailand where spectacular sets were built to resemble the streets of Shanghai. Exotic looking film is let down by the screenplay which lacks tension and crams in far too much plot all of which is presented in a haphazard way. Watanabe, Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat all go through the motion of playing charismatic characters in a bored and listless manner and Cusack proves yet again that he lacks a leading-man sensibility.
Against All Odds (Taylor Hackford, 1984) 7/10
Glossy, sexy reimagining - it's not really a remake - of the 1947 film noir "Out of the Past". The roles played in the classic by Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas are now embodied by Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward and James Woods. A gangster (James Woods) hires his friend (Jeff Bridges), a professional football player, to go in search of his girlfriend (Rachel Ward) who has run off. He finds her down in Mexico, they fall in love, she runs off again followed by him being framed for a couple of murders. The film has many memorable moments and characters - a nail-biting car chase between a Porsche 911SC and a Ferrari 308 on Sunset Blvd, the hot and sweaty sexual encounter between Bridges and Ward inside the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, the femme fatale from the original film, Jane Greer, as Ward's tough-as-nails mother, Richard Widmark as a crooked lawyer and a couple of great songs on the soundtrack - Kid Creole & the Coconuts performing live their hit "My Male Curiosity" and the smash hit Oscar nominated title song by Phil Collins. Pity about the rather murky ending and an overall plot that seems to be paging the shady real estate deals from "Chinatown" but in a rather tired sort of way. Ward is memorable as the sexually charged femme fatale and her pairing opposite a young Bridges creates sparks. The film's spectacular Mexican locations play a great part in creating mood.
Et si on vivait tous ensemble? / And If We All Lived Together? (Stéphane Robelin, 2011) 7/10
This charming, if slight film, explores the theme of ageing and how to live a life of dignity and safety as age eventually descends on everyone. Five old friends have spent a lifetime in and out of each others' lives and have now reached an age which is not kind. Jean (Guy Bedos), an activist and revolutionary long past his active years with impotency part of his life now, lives with his wife Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) in a large luxurious home. Their close friends are Albert (Pierre Richard), suffering from Alzheimers, and his gregarious wife Jeanne (Jane Fonda), who refuses to take any treatment for the cancer she has kept hidden from everyone. Claude (Claude Rich) is a randy widower who suffers a heart attack while on his way to a prostitute. His illness is the catalyst that brings all the friends together and they decide that they should live together under one roof instead of waiting to be put into a home for the elderly. With the help of a young research student (Daniel Brühl) they form a commune and soon long hidden secrets are revealed. The lovely veteran cast - all very famous stars - work together with great affection. This was Fonda's first french film in 40 years and she seamlessly fits into the ensemble while Chaplin, a Brit, was already comfortable acting in the language after over 50 years of starring in Spanish and French films. Nothing much really happens but it's a joy to see these great actors doing what another septuagenarian lot of great stars did in "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" as they face transitions in their lives with varied levels of acceptance.
Rules of Engagement (William Friedkin, 2000) 5/10
When the U.S. embassy in Yemen is under sniper attack the Ambassador (Sir Ben Kingsley) and his wife (Anne Archer) are evacuated by marines. When three marines are killed the Commanding Officer (Samuel L. Jackson) orders his troops to fire on the crowds below killing over 80 unarmed civilians including women and children. To deflect negative public opinion over the massacre the U.S. National Security Advisor (Bruce Greenwood) puts the blame on the Commander and pushes for a court martial choosing an over zealous prosecutor (Guy Pearce) to do him in. For his defence the accused requests his friend, a retired marine Colonel (Tommy Lee Jones), whose life he had saved years before in Vietnam. The hysterical court case includes perjury on part of the Ambassador and the deliberate hiding of important video evidence in order to make a scapegoat of the accused. Not withstanding the potholes in the screenplay the film allows both Jones and Jackson to give sincere and forceful performances although all the characters lack depth as the script does not explore their motivations - both Greenwood and Pearce are stuck with playing stock villains with no shading. The film is strictly mainstream entertainment and can be enjoyed on that level but it could have been something great with just a few more tweaks to the screenplay.
Douce violence / Sweet Ecstacy (Max Pécas, 1962) 5/10
Aimless young man gets into bad company - a group of hedonistic rich boys and girls - and has great fun but not without suffering first at their hands in between attempts of trying to seduce the hot babe (Elke Sommer) in their midst. European exploitation film, coming in the wake of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita", springs Elke Sommer in full bitch mode and hot to trot but not willing to give her love. She is the star attraction dancing in tight capris, rolling on the beach in a skimpy bikini, making out topless - a scene quite daring for 1962 - and all tied-up with a rope as part of an initiation joke that turns into a nightmare when the yacht they are on catches fire. Sommer, who would become a star soon after, is clearly being presented here as a clone of Bardot. The flimsy plot is just an excuse to oogle the sexy actress along with plenty of sexual titilation, cheap thrills and violence. The exceptional soundtrack has two great songs by Johnny Hallyday with one written by Charles Aznavour.
La chamade (Alain Cavalier, 1968) 5/10
Cavalier's film, based on the novel by Françoise Sagan, charts the conflicting emotions of a beautiful young woman (Catherine Deneuve) who is blissfully unaware of her shallow existence. Mistress of a much older man (Michel Piccoli) who passionately indulges her, she spends her time very comfortably but without much purpose. When she suddenly falls in love with a man her own age she decides to dump her rich lover and move in with her poor one (Roger Van Hool). Life changes as she has to suddenly open her eyes to the world around her. For a while she sustains her lifestyle by selling her jewels but has to eventually find work. Then she gets pregnant and bored with her new lover. Her former lover pays for an abortion and takes her back, no questions asked. Deneuve is absolutely ravishing, dressed in chic Yves Saint Laurent outfits, but her character is so vapid and self-absorbed that it's difficult to care what happens to her. She acts subservient to both men - one who indulges her no end while the other tries to change her - and one is left wondering if she loves either. It is never made clear what attracts Deneuve to Van Hool who comes off equally vapid. Even sex between them lacks heat. Piccoli is superb and his scenes with Deneuve are full of warmth and the only reason to see this rather dull film.
The Phantom President (Norman Taurog, 1932) 6/10
The original "Yankee Doodle Dandy", George M. Cohan, makes his sound film debut in this musical-comedy playing a double role. This pre-code comedy, with a faux-pas or two, would cause a coronary amongst all the politically correct souls out there today. A Presidential candidate (George M. Cohan) is deemed to have too dull a personality with no sex appeal. His close friends are all in agreement about this. Even the vivacious woman (Claudette Colbert) he loves refuses to marry him. Enter a traveling medicine man / stage performer (also played by George M. Cohan) with a nutty partner (Jimmy Durante) in tow. They perform the tunes of Rogers and Hart - offscreen Cohan was most contemptuous of the songwriters calling them Gilbert & Sullivan - as Cohan performs one number in blackface. Since Al Jolson had recently made a huge success of that the producers probably decided to have a go once again. It is decided that the gregarious charlatan lookalike should be put forward as the candidate for office and if he wins the actual one with the drab personality could then move into the White House. Durante has a couple of hilarious moments but as always overstays his welcome. Cohan has great chemistry with Colbert although he was a pain on and off the set. Funny political satire with a rare chance to see the actual Cohan dance on screen - which James Cagney did so memorably a decade later when he played Cohan on screen.
Blood and Money (John Barr, 2020) 4/10
A former marine and war veteran (Tom Berenger) spends his days hunting deer in an icy wilderness. He is a recovering alcoholic whose daughter died in a car accident while he was driving drunk and is now dying of an ailment as he keeps coughing blood. While on a hunt he inadvertently shoots a woman in the woods and next to her is a bag filled with a million dollars. The film becomes a cat-and-mouse game between him and the victim's four partners who stole the money from a casino. He leads them on a deadly chase through the woods. Berenger was once upon a time a promising leading man during the 1980s but never managed to sustain the highs of that decade. He is still active but in B-grade films like this one and the series of "Sniper" films which he keeps churning out. The film's moral message on greed gives it a slight whiff of the Coen's "Fargo" but the screenplay veers off into stale territory in a plot already done to death in many films before this one.
Swashbuckler (James Goldstone, 1976) 6/10
The pirate film, once a highly successful boxoffice staple from the 1930s through to the 1950s, dwindled during the 1960s and completely petered out in the 1970s. The unexpected success of Richard Lester's Musketeer films resurrected once more the pirate genre although it was to be a one-off moment. The production goes all out bringing forth all the familiar tropes starting with a magnificent ship, the obligatory one-legged pirate, men swinging aboard with swords in their teeth, duels to the death, treasure chests and the evil Governor (Peter Boyle) of Jamaica who imprisons an honest nobleman and evicts his fiery daughter (Geneviève Bujold). She seeks help from a pirate (Robert Shaw) who comes to the town's rescue. While Shaw is certainly no Errol Flynn he makes a go of the part and is actually quite good without being hammy. He creates sparks with lovely Bujold and the highlight is their duel with a sword. Raucous, old-fashioned yarn almost manages to recapture the vim and vigor of the Flynn and Burt Lancaster screen adventures. The action scenes are beautifully shot by Phillip Lathrop accompanied by a lively score by John Addison. Giving excellent support to the two leads are James Earl Jones and Anjelica Huston in one of her early film appearances. The film was not a success but is actually quite a worthy successor to the classics of the genre from Hollywood's golden period.
Shadows in the Sun (Brad Mirman, 2005) 7/10
This film has every cliché under the sun about eccentric writers living in seclusion in sun-dappled rural Italy. And it also has a clichéd romantic subplot. And I thought it was wonderful but then I could even watch ants crawl across the screen as long as they were doing their walking in gorgeous Italy. A callow young book editor (Joshua Jackson) is sent by his boss on a goose chase to Tuscany to try and get a once-great writer (Harvey Keitel) to start writing again and sign with his agency. The problem is that the writer uses his eccentricity and the death of his wife as a facade to hide behind because he is scared of failure. With the young man in town the writer gradually learns to not only open up but teach the uptight young man a thing or two about not being afraid and to follow his heart. They bond. And the younger man finds romance with the writer's lovely daughter (Claire Forlani). Keitel is a hoot whether berating the young man, sunbathing in the nude, getting jailed, crying while sitting at his typewriter or just being an irascible asshole. Forlani is a real looker with her flowing hair and red lips. And the Italian countryside is to die for with equally eccentric local characters - Giancarlo Giannini is a delight as a priest who likes playing gin rummy with the writer. The tiny rural village somewhere near Siena, with its yellow stone cottages and golden sunsets across rolling fields, takes on the role of a character. A simple story about love and life with great heart.
Take Care of My Little Girl (Jean Negulesco, 1951) 5/10
Colorful but rather silly sorority shenanigans with an appealing cast of female stars all too old to be in college. The screenplay scores points for putting forth a serious message about snobbery, hazing and shallowness which sororities hold onto proudly. The rest of the plot has a pretty freshman (Jeanne Crain) being chased by two young men - a steady student on the GI bill (Dale Robertson) and a pretty-boy fraternity snob (Jeffrey Hunter). Jean Peters is the snooty bitch on campus while other students are played by Mitzi Gaynor, Helen Westcott and Natalie Schafer. Glossy Technicolor Fox production was conceived as a vehicle for the studio's younger stars with the Epstein brothers' screenplay throwing in social criticism.
Les bien-aimés / Beloved (Christophe Honoré, 2011) 7/10
The film takes its cue from Jacques Demy as the characters keep breaking out into song. A charming tale about love, sex, laughter and tragedy that goes on way too long. A woman (Ludvine Sagnier) doesn't mind resorting to a little prostitution on the side to make extra bucks. She meets the man of her dreams - a Czech communist - during a trick, marries him but refuses to go back with him to his country. She gets a divorce, gives birth to his daughter and gets married again. Then her ex-husband returns and she wants him back. Time-spanning film has french movie diva Catherine Deneve play the character during the present with her grown-up daughter played by Chiara Mastroianni. The characters all sing their heart out and wander in and out of different time periods running into their younger or older selves in the past and future. Both Deneuve and Mastroianni - mother-daughter in real life - create sparks in their scenes together. Deneuve is a sensual delight as the audaciously romantic woman who has lived life to the fullest and with her own daring rules and has no regrets about her younger self. Miloś Forman plays her ex-husband. The production and costume design maintains a timeless look throughout even though the story's timeline moves through four decades.
Where There's Life (Sidney Lanfield, 1947) 4/10
The American son (Bob Hope) of a European monarch has to be brought across when the old man is shot. A general (Signe Hasso) is sent to bring him while a terrorist (George Coulouris) and his goons are out to kill him. Typical Hope comedy with the star doing his cowardly shtick and romancing Hasso who does an impersonation of Greta Garbo's "Ninotchka". Frantic farce is silly but moves at breakneck pace with a funny William Bendix as a harrassed cop.
Katyń (Andrzej Wajda, 2007) 5/10
The film depicts the Katyń massacre which was a series of mass executions of Polish officers and intelligentsia carried out by the Soviet Union in 1940. The massacre is named after the Katyn Forest where some of the mass graves were first discovered. The Soviet government suppressed the facts blaming the Germans for carrying out the executions and it was only in 1989 with the fall of communism in Poland that the facts were revealed and acknowledged by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. In the film the events of Katyń are revealed through the eyes of the women, the mothers, wives and daughters of the men executed. The story was particularly a personal one for director Wajda whose father was one of those killed. The story follows his incarceration after being taken prisoner by the Soviet Army. He keeps a diary recording everything he sees. His wife and daughter live with his father, a professor, who is deported and later killed in a camp. When news arrives that thousands of soldiers perished at Katyń, his wife (Maja Ostaszewska) holds hope when his name is not amongst the dead. When his diary is later discovered his death is confirmed. However, it was a bitter moment for the Polish people as they were kept in the dark about the Soviet's involvement. Wajda recreates the massacre at the film's end and actual Polish and German newsreels showing the soldiers being shot in the head are also shown. For such a dramatic event in history the film is surprisingly uninvolving lacking in drama until the shocking scenes at the end. It is a haunting finale in what is otherwise a dull drama. The film, with superb production design and extraordinary cinematography by Pawel Edelman, was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category.
The Human Stain (Robert Benton, 2003) 6/10
Hopkins is badly miscast but despite that this adaptation of Phillip Roth's acclaimed novel, with elements of greek tragedy, makes for good drama. It explores issues of identity and self-invention in America making strong points about racism that remains rampant even today. A tragic chain of events is set in motion when a Classics Professor (Anthony Hopkins) at a New England college is fired from his job when in class uses the word "spooks". He used the word to mean "ghosts" but is accused of using the word as a racial slur and dismissed. In actual fact the man is black but has passed himself off through most of his adult life as a white-jew, even to his own wife and kids. The reason behind his dismissal also underlines how political correctness can often be twisted by today's generation who seem to have forgotten to view things in context. Losing his job and his wife - who dies of a heart attack - he later forms a friendship with a reclusive writer (Gary Sinise) and starts an affair with an illiterate janitor (Nicole Kidman) who is much younger than him and who is estranged from her psychotic husband (Ed Harris). Hopkins' miscasting becomes glaringly evident during the flashback scenes to his youth where his character is played by Wentworth Miller. The two actors come to the role from completely different planes. The film soars during the scenes between Hopkins and Kidman - two lonely people having gone through much despair in lives coming together and finding solace and sexual comfort together even if it is for a brief moment.
Twilight (Robert Benton, 1998) 8/10
Benton's screenplay retreads tropes from far better neo-noirs but the amazing cast gathered here makes it all seem fresh. The story's leisurely pace works to the film's advantage and moves in perfect rhythm to the aged star and the co-stars he banters with. After bringing back the runaway daughter (Reese Witherspoon) of an actor (Gene Hackman), an ex-cop turned private detective (Paul Newman) moves in with him and his femme fatale actress wife (Susan Darandon) on whom he has a crush. He is allowed to stay on their large estate as one of the family. Two years later the actor, now dying of cancer, asks him to run an errand by delivering an envelope of money to an address. He is attacked by a man (M. Emmett Walsh) who has been shot in the stomach and finds himself in over his head in an old case that involves murder and blackmail. He comes across other characters also involved in the mystery - two blackmailers (Liev Schreiber & Margo Martindale) and three other cops from his past, an old flame (Stockard Channing), a buddy (the charming James Garner) and his former inept partner (Giancarlo Espisito). Newman, at age 73, is still as charismatic as ever as he moves through this Raymond Chandler territory tossing off quips with his co-stars. Piotr Sobocinski's muted cinematography adds to the atmosphere. The film uses the old art deco Hollywood home of 1930s star Dolores Del Rio and her husband Cedric Gibbons as one of the main locations. The film also has an astonishing nude scene featuring Reese Witherspoon in one of her very early films. A very underrated film.
Romeo Akbar Walter (Robbie Grewal, 2019) 2/10
A slow-burn. VERY slow. A spy yarn trying to take on the mantle of a John Le Carre thriller is supposedly based on true events and set just before the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971. An actor (John Abraham) is hired and trained by RAW to go into Pakistan to try and get information about their preparedness for war. Jackie Shroff is the George Smiley-like spymaster. Monotonous film just goes on and on with only the final scenes between the captured spy and his Pakistani torturer (Sikander Kher) that hold interest. Yet another jingoistic chest thumper from Bollywood and equally boring as the similarly themed Raazi (2018). Based partially on events in the life of RAW undercover agent Ravindra Kaushik who died in jail in Pakistan. According to his family the Indian government refused to recognise him and made no effort to help him.
Uri: The Surgical Strike (Aditya Dhar, 2019) 6/10
If nothing else the silly enmity between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has provided Bollywood with enough material to constantly delve into the war genre. With active government and Armed Forces involvement in these productions it also provides a shout-out to patriotism. The plot is a dramatised account of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack, following Major Vihaan Singh Shergill (Vicky Kaushal) of the Indian Army, who plays a leading role in the events. Superbly produced film has top notch editing, visual effects, cinematography and sound design and uses its screenplay to provide the main protagonist a jingoistic reason and "josh" - his mother suffers from Alzheimers and his brother-in-law, a Major, dies when a terrorist's grenade blows up - to lead the retaliation. This one-sided narrative has ISI behind the terrorist attacks alternating between fact and fiction with well staged combat sequences. Mercifully there are not too many chest thumping moments as in J. P. Dutta's war films in the past, which for a very long time became de rigueur in every Bollywood war-themed film. Kaushal carries the film with steely determination (he was rewarded with a Filmfare award nomination and the National award) and the film deservedly won many awards in the technical categories.
The Last Days on Mars (Ruairi Robinson, 2013) 6/10
A regurgitation of the old "Jaws", "Alien" & "Ten Little Indians" formula set on Mars. On the last day of a 6-month mission on Mars one crew member discovers a mysterious live bacteria. Before he can contain it he falls into a pit and dies. It's only a matter of time before the bacteria infects the crew members one by one as they turn into zombies and start attacking each other. Who will survive to reach the strip where the spaceship sent from earth to bring them back lands? Space horror-thriller is not without interest even though this particular genre has gone through its fair share of similar stories. The eclectic cast - Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams - may not be A-list but they give it their all with some good suspenseful moments. The spectaular Wadi Rum in Jordan subs for Mars.
My Life So Far (Hugh Hudson, 1999) 7/10
Set during the 1920s this charming look at a year in the life of the Pettigrew family, living in their family estate Kiloran House in Scotland, is seen through the eyes of the precocious 10-year old son. The plot is a series of vignettes about the various family members - the eccentric and pious father (Colin Firth) who is obsessed with inventions, his lovely wife (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonia), the imperious but loving grandmother (Rosemary Harris), her son (Malcolm McDowell) and his much younger french fiancé (Irène Jacob). Plodding but sincere drama is held together by the ensemble cast and glorious views of the Scottish countryside. Firth is seen in a typically laid-back star turn and young actor Robert Norman is an absolute delight getting into all sorts of mischief including being inquisitive about "prostitution", "lesbians" and "fellatio", words he has picked up from a book in the library. In contrast to his father's interest in the music of Beethoven the child secretly enjoys listening to jazz which his father has described as the "devil's music". Old fashioned film is adapted from the memoirs of Sir Denis Forman, a British television executive, about his random childhood memories.
Black Water: Abyss (Andrew Trauckie, 2020) 2/10
Take a bunch of humans, put them in a confined space and at the mercy of a set of jaws. Age-old formula is utterly wasted in this rehash of a genre which is usually always great fun to sit through. Five friends decide to explore an underground cave but get trapped when water starts rising after a storm. It also happens to be home to a vicious and very hungry crocodile. Most of the film is shot in darkness with only torch lights showing glimpses of the reptile as it goes in for the kill. Only the last scene is played out in bright sunlight as the survivors once again face sudden danger. Dull characters, a lack of tension and a very low budget makes this a slog to sit through.
Summerland (Jessica Swale, 2020) 6/10
A reclusive researcher (Gemma Arterton), living in the Kent countryside - glorious rolling grass fields running off white cliffs - is suddenly asked to take in a young boy (Lucas Bond), an evacuee from bombed out London. The War is on but in far off London, and the crotchety writer is not at all pleased at the prospect of a young boy intruding into her private space. They first clash and then bond as expected and we get to know why the lady is constantly in a cranky mood. Memory flashbacks to the 1920s reveal a failed love affair with a bohemian lifeforce (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), initially full of passion (although very tamely shot), which they are forced to abandon. This part of the plot - a white woman in a lesbian relationship with a black woman - seems tacked on in order to appease the PC brigade. It's now de rigueur to include a gay and a race element into plots. Cliché-laden story is well cast - both Arterton and Bond are very good, and in brief roles there is excellent support by Tom Courtenay (as a school master), Siân Phillips and Penelope Wilton who plays the older version of the Arterton character during the 1970s. The ending comes with a pleasing twist.
Made in Italy (James D'Arcy, 2020) 4/10
Lovely Tuscan locations sadly do not compensate for a listless plot revolving around an estranged father and son both grieving for the dead woman they both loved. Having a real life father-son actor duo play the characters also does not elevate the material. A bohemian artist (Liam Neeson), lost without his wife who died in a car crash, travels with his estranged son (Micheál Richardson) from London to Italy in order to sell a dilapidated countryside villa in Tuscany. As they make repairs to the crumbling estate they try to come to terms with their loss and reconnect. The central idea is clearly a reference to the death of actress Natasha Richardson, Neeson's wife and Micheál Richardson's mother. The son, going through a bitter divorce, befriends a young divorced single mother (Valeria Bilello) who not only playfully flirts with both men but is also a great cook - her risotto is to die for. Predictable film runs its course without any surprises. A tart-tongued Lindsay Duncan, in a blonde pageboy wig, makes a welcome brief appearance as a realtor trying to help them sell the villa. Mawkish tale of grief and healing. Luckily Tuscany, in all its sun-dappled glory, is a sight for sore eyes.