Really??? I guess 11 Cesar nods don't mean a thing then!Penelope wrote:Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
What is with movies like Rachel Getting Married and this one: a bunch of great actors giving great performances, but at the service of a ridiculous, pretentious script that never really makes any sense, and offers characters that are so distasteful you keep hoping Jason Vorhees will turn up to bring it to a quick end. That said, the last few minutes are breathtaking.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
This movie is maddening. Just an anxiety attack. I'm ashamed to say that despite being bowled over by the force of the thing, I've yet to sit through it in its entirety. In my efforts to fully absorb the post-New Wave French cinema, I've purchased it alongside the Andre Techine box set and I can't get into the thing. It's just too much. I have to finish it but it's like 'Magnolia' where I just want everybody to take a lithium nap.
"How's the despair?"
Four Sons (John Ford, 1928)
Watched because I read that it was Ford heavily influenced by Murnau. This film may use some of the same sets, lighting and camera techniques as Sunrise, but it's the furthest thing from a pale imitation that I can imagine. It puts the German style to a completely different purpose- on that is wholly Ford's; various moments reminded me of other Ford films, from Bucking Broadway to the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Though of course this is not a Western like those films, but rather a World War I weepie set mostly in Europe, it's just as much an examination of the nature of America as anything else Ford made. The final reel or so are absolutely amazing, even if the image quality on the Fox DVD is not so hot in some of the late sequences. I'd love to see this on the big screen some day.
9/10
Watched because I read that it was Ford heavily influenced by Murnau. This film may use some of the same sets, lighting and camera techniques as Sunrise, but it's the furthest thing from a pale imitation that I can imagine. It puts the German style to a completely different purpose- on that is wholly Ford's; various moments reminded me of other Ford films, from Bucking Broadway to the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Though of course this is not a Western like those films, but rather a World War I weepie set mostly in Europe, it's just as much an examination of the nature of America as anything else Ford made. The final reel or so are absolutely amazing, even if the image quality on the Fox DVD is not so hot in some of the late sequences. I'd love to see this on the big screen some day.
9/10
Beloved Enemy (1936; H.C. Potter) 6/10
Romantic melodrama set during the Troubles, as a Michael Collins-like rebel (Brian Aherne) falls for an English lord's snooty daughter (Merle Oberon); stars are out-acted by the supporting players.
Romantic melodrama set during the Troubles, as a Michael Collins-like rebel (Brian Aherne) falls for an English lord's snooty daughter (Merle Oberon); stars are out-acted by the supporting players.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998; Patrice Chéreau) 6/10
What is with movies like Rachel Getting Married and this one: a bunch of great actors giving great performances, but at the service of a ridiculous, pretentious script that never really makes any sense, and offers characters that are so distasteful you keep hoping Jason Vorhees will turn up to bring it to a quick end. That said, the last few minutes are breathtaking.
What is with movies like Rachel Getting Married and this one: a bunch of great actors giving great performances, but at the service of a ridiculous, pretentious script that never really makes any sense, and offers characters that are so distasteful you keep hoping Jason Vorhees will turn up to bring it to a quick end. That said, the last few minutes are breathtaking.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008)
Truly a lovely film. Desplechin adds a Bergman (at his least dour) influence into his mix and it makes for a wonderful dynamic. I had to avert my eyes during some of the most graphic medical/hospital materil because I'm extra-squeamish about that stuff, but I still want to see the film again. And to revisit Kings and Queen, which had rubbed me the wrong way back in 2005.
8/10
Truly a lovely film. Desplechin adds a Bergman (at his least dour) influence into his mix and it makes for a wonderful dynamic. I had to avert my eyes during some of the most graphic medical/hospital materil because I'm extra-squeamish about that stuff, but I still want to see the film again. And to revisit Kings and Queen, which had rubbed me the wrong way back in 2005.
8/10
Santa Claus: the Movie (1985)
A strange film in some ways. On the one hand, it's an elaborately designed and expensive fantasy film. On the other it's a mismash of sweet-natured (but often distant) Santa, a somewhat dialed-down Dudley Moore as an elf and an over-played executive-wants-to-ruin Christmas played by John Lithgow. The wierd thing is that, for all of the visuals and activity, it never feels important. Not a terrible movie, really, but I rarely felt anything for any of the characters who get lost in all the costumes and effects. Also, the songs are lackluster at best. For a family Christmas film, it should have been more lively and charming. More like the much-less expensive Elf or The Santa Clause, which may not have been grandiose, and were somewhat sitcomish, but they had more consistent charm factors than this one does. Miracle on 34th Street it's not.
I'd give it a ** out of four stars.
Edited By criddic3 on 1226554456
A strange film in some ways. On the one hand, it's an elaborately designed and expensive fantasy film. On the other it's a mismash of sweet-natured (but often distant) Santa, a somewhat dialed-down Dudley Moore as an elf and an over-played executive-wants-to-ruin Christmas played by John Lithgow. The wierd thing is that, for all of the visuals and activity, it never feels important. Not a terrible movie, really, but I rarely felt anything for any of the characters who get lost in all the costumes and effects. Also, the songs are lackluster at best. For a family Christmas film, it should have been more lively and charming. More like the much-less expensive Elf or The Santa Clause, which may not have been grandiose, and were somewhat sitcomish, but they had more consistent charm factors than this one does. Miracle on 34th Street it's not.
I'd give it a ** out of four stars.
Edited By criddic3 on 1226554456
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
Yesterday I watched John Ford's They Were Expendable, partially in observance of Veteran's Day, but also because it had been sitting on my shelf for awhile and I wanted to see it again. (It had been over five years.) I still think it's one of Ford's three or four greatest films, even though he said in some interviews with Lindsay Anderson (who was a great admirer of the film) that he didn't like it, although he indicated that he hadn't watched it, and just resented that the film tore him away from his unit. A few years later, he told Anderson that he had watched it and that he (Anderson) was right about it, although several years after that, he claimed not to like it. Either way, it's a masterpiece, one of the most heartbreaking war movies ever made.
Rachel Getting Married (2008; Jonathan Demme) 6/10
Terrific performances by Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie Dewitt barely compensate for the amateurish script and an 8 year old cinematographer who found dad's stash.
Terrific performances by Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie Dewitt barely compensate for the amateurish script and an 8 year old cinematographer who found dad's stash.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Monika (Ingmar Bergman, 1953)
The earliest Bergman film I've seen so far, and one of the better of the dozen or so of his films I've seen. Since I'm currently immersing myself in Murnau, it's hard not to see echoes of Sunrise (and City Girl) in the pastoral scenes, but in throughline it really feels more like Vidor's the Crowd if updated to a pessimistic post-War Europe.
7/10
The earliest Bergman film I've seen so far, and one of the better of the dozen or so of his films I've seen. Since I'm currently immersing myself in Murnau, it's hard not to see echoes of Sunrise (and City Girl) in the pastoral scenes, but in throughline it really feels more like Vidor's the Crowd if updated to a pessimistic post-War Europe.
7/10
