Police Python 357 (Alain Corneau, 1976) 8/10
Corneau adapts Kenneth Fearing's novel "The Big Clock" which Hollywood made twice - first as the 1946 film noir with Ray Milland and Charles Laughton and much later as No Way Out (1987) with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. This french version takes the cue from Hollywood's hard boiled police procedures from the early 1970s and in particular the cop thrillers of Clint Eastwood. A cop (Yves Montand), in the midst of an affair with a young woman (Stefania Sandrelli), finds himself assigned to a murder case. He is shocked to discover that the dead woman is his mistress but is unaware that the murderer was his own jealous boss - the Police Chief (François Périer) - who was also her lover. As the cop was the last person to enter the girl's apartment he has left a number of clues in his drunken state which the investigation will eventually lead to him. Both men are nervous about their involvement which is counterbalanced by the murderer's invalid wife (Simone Signoret) who knows about her husband's affair and the murder and is a calm observer as to how it will all pan out. This ironic thriller has stylish cinematography and taut editing with twists and turns that come with lightning speed. Real life husband and wife - Montand & Signoret - have one memorable moment together at the end.
Harry Black and the Tiger (Hugo Fregonese, 1958) 7/10
The setting of the story in India immediately conjures up images of a travelogue with flora and fauna thrown into the mix. And it does. A tiger threatens a small village by killing a woman and a professional hunter (Stewart Granger) arrives to try and kill it. The man has a past that involved a mishap during WWII which lead to his leg being amputated and in the present an awkward reunion with an ex-army buddy (Anthony Steel) who was the cause of the accident. Adding misery to this is the friend's wife (Barbara Rush) who was once the love of his life. The love triangle adds tension and romance to what is basically an adventure story about a man who redeems himself when he is attacked and mauled by the tiger which leads him to cowardice and the bottle. I.S. Johar - highly acclaimed Bollywood character actor and director who made a place for himself in a number of British films (of which David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia was the most famous) - is a delightful presence as the hunter's talkative manservant and conscience. Johar (older brother of Bollywood producer Yash and uncle of director Karan) steals every scene he is in and was rewarded with a nomination for the British Academy Award. Granger made the film strictly for the money to maintain his life on a ranch with his then wife Jean Simmons. Atmospheric film is more than just a B-jungle quickie reminding one of Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".
La vierge du Rhin / The Rhine Virgin (Gilles Grangier, 1953) 8/10
One of many films that had Jean Gabin as the star and because of his presence automatically spelled solid, intriguing and memorable. His forté was the average joe, down to earth, often with a good sense of humour, and many times seething with suppressed anger which he calmly released not with a bang but with a tinge of quiet resignation. A mysterious army officer (Jean Gabin), thought to be dead during WWII, returns incognito to his home to wreak revenge on his two-timing wife (Elina Labourdette) and her lover who took over his business - running transport barges up and down the river Rhine - and are hell bent on squeezing every drop of money out of the business. As the film begins he manages to get on board a barge run by an old man and his daughter (Nadia Gray) who allow him passage down the river in exchange for work on the barge. She is interested in him but he is quietly focused on his plans which go awry when his wife's lover is shot dead and both husband and wife become suspects in the murder. The whodunnit is easy to guess but the fun is in seeing how Gabin manoeuvres himself back into his old life and how justice is eventually served.
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) 5/10
A film with a meditative beat to it as the story unfolds in a deliberately slow but piercing manner. It is a simple, serene, and occasionally humorous film about a subject that is complex, and emotional but usually treated with solemnity. An affluent man (Homayoun Ershadi) drives around the outskirts of Tehran in a Range Rover looking for a stranger to whom he offers a fee to perform a shocking function. The driver interviews a security guard who gathers and sells plastic bags, a timid Kurdish soldier, an Afghan seminarian who quotes from the Quran, and finally an old Turkish taxidermist. Initially, it is not made clear what the driver wants to be done and gradually we discover what his requirement is. The men talk and in the talking, as well as in the eloquent silences, life takes on precious appeal. The film's leisurely shots of the driver's car twisting through the wastelands outside Tehran, crisscrossing a barren industrial landscape of construction sites and shanty towns initially has a harsh effect that gradually segues to a landscape that becomes green with foliage and which takes on a soothing effect reflecting the various moods of the driver as we get totally caught up in the protagonist's psychological and ethical dilemma. Extremely slow, baffling film with an ending that does not give any explanation. What made the Cannes jury award this film the coveted Palme d'Or prize? Kiarostami is a very clever person. In an interview he speaks about censorship in Iran and the many rules and regulations prevalent which mostly hinder filmmakers due to strict Islamic laws. At the same time he strongly defends it and says he is bugged by foreigners asking questions about censorship in his country. With this stance he is playing positively to both galleries - sucking up to his government as he needs them to give permission for his films - and also gaining sympathy from the West. Hence the prize maybe?
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Angel and the Badman (1947) - 7/10 - John Wayne stars as an injured outlaw named Quirt Evans who is nursed back to health by a Quaker family. He and the adult daughter (Gail Russell) hit it off and he is tempted to reform his ways. Evans has a fairly big reputation and also has a few rivals from his past who aren't far away. It's not among Wayne's best westerns, but it is good and fairly entertaining.
Paradise Canyon (1935) - 5/10 - John Wyatt (John Wayne) is a government agent who goes undercover to try and break a counterfeiting group operating near the Mexican border. It's pretty lackluster for the most part.
The Dawn Rider (1935) - 5.5/10 - John Mason (John Wayne) returns home after a long time away to visit his father. After his father is killed in front of his eyes and he is shot during the pursuit, John looks for revenge against the man who killed him. Things are muddled when it turns out that there is a connection between the woman who nursed John back to health and the killer. The acting and script aren't the best, but it's somewhat entertaining.
The Return of Ringo (1965) - 7/10 - A Union officer returns home after the war to find that he is thought to be dead, a gang of Mexican bandits has taken over the town, and the leader of the gang plans to force the officer's wife to marry him. The officer goes undercover to try and find out if his wife has been faithful and what the full situation is in the town. This was good, though unrelated to the first film and different in tone. I liked the first film a little more.
El Puro (1969) - 4/10 - Five bounty hunters are looking for a drunken gunfighter with a reward on his head. He's been staying with a woman at a saloon and cleans up his act when the bounty hunters kill his woman. This was very dull.
Vengeance (1968) - 7.5/10 - A man named Rocco looks for vengeance after a gold robbery goes bad. One of his partners betrayed them to a group of bandits and then had another partner tied by ropes tied to multiple horses and torn apart (not shown). Rocco tracks down the betrayer and then the bandits who killed his friend. The film has a good soundtrack and I thought the story and acting were good.
Kanal (1957) - 7/10 - In 1944 at the end of the Warsaw Uprising, a company of resistance fighters try to escape the approaching Nazis by traveling through the sewer system. It is not an easy journey as the Germans employ gas, boobytraps, blocked exits, and so on. This wasn't bad, but I expected to like it more than I did. I'd rate it slightly ahead of Ashes and Diamonds.
Show Me Love / Fucking Åmål (1998) - 8/10 - Agnes has been at her school for a year and a half, but has no friends, though she has a crush on a younger girl named Elin. Agnes is turning 16 and her mother insists on throwing her a party, expecting lots of friends to show up. Elin and her sister show up to the party out of boredom and play a joke on Agnes, but it bothers Elin and she ends up going back and spending time with Agnes. I thought this was fairly realistic and a good story. The two leads did a nice job. The last 10 minutes or so was my favorite part.
Begotten (1989) - 2/10 - Mother Earth dies I guess? This is a pretty weird movie.
Hangover Square (1945) - 7/10 - In 1903, Laird Cregar stars as a talented composer who is subject to amnesiac moods. During one of these moods, he stabs a man and sets the building on fire. He starts writing songs for an up and coming singer (Linda Darnell) who leads him on for dinner and gifts along with the songs. Cregar is good, though unfortunately he died prior to the release of the film. The film itself doesn't quite rise to greatness, but is still pretty entertaining.
House of Horrors (1946) - 7.5/10 - A sculptor whose work is unappreciated saves a man drowning in the river. The man turns out to be a serial killer named 'The Creeper' who proceeds to kill the sculptor's critics, though suspicion falls on another artist. I thought this was fun and entertaining.
Targets (1968) - 8/10 - Boris Karloff portrays an aging horror film star (essentially himself) who has decided to retire, much to the chagrin of his agent and others who want to see him make more movies. The second storyline involves a disturbed young man who is a good shot. One day, he decides to go on a killing spree, using rifles for long distance sniping. Their two paths eventually intersect. It's a very good film.
Decision at Sundown (1957) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Bart Allison. Allison blames Tate Kimbrough for his wife's suicide and has been tracking him down for the past three years. He happens to arrive in the town of Sundown on the day of Kimbrough's wedding. It's another nice collaboration between Boetticher and Scott.
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) - 8/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Buchanan, a man on his way back home to West Texas who stops in the town of Agry along the way. Unfortunately for him, the town is run by the Agry family and he soon finds himself in jail as an accessory to murder, having his money stolen by the sheriff in the process. I liked this one more than Decision at Sundown. Scott is very good.
Westbound (1959) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as a Union officer who takes charge of a stagecoach line bringing gold shipments from California. He runs into trouble in one town with Confederate sympathies where a wealthy man is a former acquaintance. This is regarded as one of the weakest of the Boetticher/Scott collaborations, but I enjoyed it and think it is a decent film. I do wonder why gold shipments wouldn't be more heavily guarded, though.
The Captain from Köpenick (1931) - 7.5/10 - A man gets out of prison after many years for fairly minor offenses and finds himself unable to get a passport or work. He becomes dispirited and comes up with a scheme to impersonate an officer using a second hand uniform. This version seems to have a harder edge than the 1956 version from what I can remember. Both are very good, but I enjoyed the later version a little bit more.
The Good Boss (2021) - 8/10 - Javier Bardem stars as the owner of factory that makes scales. The company is up for a regional award for excellence and he really wants to win the award, but there are a number of problems with his employees and their lives and he starts meddling to try and get things to go perfectly. A recently fired employee is protesting across the street, one of his managers is distracted due to his wife having an affair, and the attractive new intern also catches the attention of the boss. Bardem is very good here and it's a nice satire.
Lemonade Joe (1964) - 7.5/10 - A singing cowboy/lemonade salesman only drinks lemonade and he comes to a wild west town with the intention of cleaning it up and eliminating the effects of alcohol. There are a number of fun gags and I liked the visual style with the tinted picture. I thought it dragged a little on occasion later in the film, but is still pretty entertaining.
The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) - 7.5/10 - Josephine Monaghan heads out west and finds that being a woman alone isn't a pleasant prospect so she starts dressing and acting as a man and goes by just Jo instead of Josephine. She gets a job, builds a ranch, and fits in well. I thought this was pretty good.
Hej-rup! (1934) - 6/10 - A wealthy man who owns a milk canning factory is swindled out of his fortune and left to wander the streets with one of his workers. He learns the benefits of cooperative actions with the workers as they eventually start up a collectivist dairy. I didn't find the movie to be all that funny. It was okay, though.
Poison (1991) - 4/10 - Three strange stories intermingle here. I didn't like it much.
The Last House on the Left (1972) - 4.5/10 - A girl is kidnapped on her 17th birthday along with her friend. They experience rape and torture from a gang of escaped killers. The acting is pretty bad and the soundtrack is kind of weird. It's sort of a comedy horror film.
Paradise Canyon (1935) - 5/10 - John Wyatt (John Wayne) is a government agent who goes undercover to try and break a counterfeiting group operating near the Mexican border. It's pretty lackluster for the most part.
The Dawn Rider (1935) - 5.5/10 - John Mason (John Wayne) returns home after a long time away to visit his father. After his father is killed in front of his eyes and he is shot during the pursuit, John looks for revenge against the man who killed him. Things are muddled when it turns out that there is a connection between the woman who nursed John back to health and the killer. The acting and script aren't the best, but it's somewhat entertaining.
The Return of Ringo (1965) - 7/10 - A Union officer returns home after the war to find that he is thought to be dead, a gang of Mexican bandits has taken over the town, and the leader of the gang plans to force the officer's wife to marry him. The officer goes undercover to try and find out if his wife has been faithful and what the full situation is in the town. This was good, though unrelated to the first film and different in tone. I liked the first film a little more.
El Puro (1969) - 4/10 - Five bounty hunters are looking for a drunken gunfighter with a reward on his head. He's been staying with a woman at a saloon and cleans up his act when the bounty hunters kill his woman. This was very dull.
Vengeance (1968) - 7.5/10 - A man named Rocco looks for vengeance after a gold robbery goes bad. One of his partners betrayed them to a group of bandits and then had another partner tied by ropes tied to multiple horses and torn apart (not shown). Rocco tracks down the betrayer and then the bandits who killed his friend. The film has a good soundtrack and I thought the story and acting were good.
Kanal (1957) - 7/10 - In 1944 at the end of the Warsaw Uprising, a company of resistance fighters try to escape the approaching Nazis by traveling through the sewer system. It is not an easy journey as the Germans employ gas, boobytraps, blocked exits, and so on. This wasn't bad, but I expected to like it more than I did. I'd rate it slightly ahead of Ashes and Diamonds.
Show Me Love / Fucking Åmål (1998) - 8/10 - Agnes has been at her school for a year and a half, but has no friends, though she has a crush on a younger girl named Elin. Agnes is turning 16 and her mother insists on throwing her a party, expecting lots of friends to show up. Elin and her sister show up to the party out of boredom and play a joke on Agnes, but it bothers Elin and she ends up going back and spending time with Agnes. I thought this was fairly realistic and a good story. The two leads did a nice job. The last 10 minutes or so was my favorite part.
Begotten (1989) - 2/10 - Mother Earth dies I guess? This is a pretty weird movie.
Hangover Square (1945) - 7/10 - In 1903, Laird Cregar stars as a talented composer who is subject to amnesiac moods. During one of these moods, he stabs a man and sets the building on fire. He starts writing songs for an up and coming singer (Linda Darnell) who leads him on for dinner and gifts along with the songs. Cregar is good, though unfortunately he died prior to the release of the film. The film itself doesn't quite rise to greatness, but is still pretty entertaining.
House of Horrors (1946) - 7.5/10 - A sculptor whose work is unappreciated saves a man drowning in the river. The man turns out to be a serial killer named 'The Creeper' who proceeds to kill the sculptor's critics, though suspicion falls on another artist. I thought this was fun and entertaining.
Targets (1968) - 8/10 - Boris Karloff portrays an aging horror film star (essentially himself) who has decided to retire, much to the chagrin of his agent and others who want to see him make more movies. The second storyline involves a disturbed young man who is a good shot. One day, he decides to go on a killing spree, using rifles for long distance sniping. Their two paths eventually intersect. It's a very good film.
Decision at Sundown (1957) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Bart Allison. Allison blames Tate Kimbrough for his wife's suicide and has been tracking him down for the past three years. He happens to arrive in the town of Sundown on the day of Kimbrough's wedding. It's another nice collaboration between Boetticher and Scott.
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) - 8/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Buchanan, a man on his way back home to West Texas who stops in the town of Agry along the way. Unfortunately for him, the town is run by the Agry family and he soon finds himself in jail as an accessory to murder, having his money stolen by the sheriff in the process. I liked this one more than Decision at Sundown. Scott is very good.
Westbound (1959) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as a Union officer who takes charge of a stagecoach line bringing gold shipments from California. He runs into trouble in one town with Confederate sympathies where a wealthy man is a former acquaintance. This is regarded as one of the weakest of the Boetticher/Scott collaborations, but I enjoyed it and think it is a decent film. I do wonder why gold shipments wouldn't be more heavily guarded, though.
The Captain from Köpenick (1931) - 7.5/10 - A man gets out of prison after many years for fairly minor offenses and finds himself unable to get a passport or work. He becomes dispirited and comes up with a scheme to impersonate an officer using a second hand uniform. This version seems to have a harder edge than the 1956 version from what I can remember. Both are very good, but I enjoyed the later version a little bit more.
The Good Boss (2021) - 8/10 - Javier Bardem stars as the owner of factory that makes scales. The company is up for a regional award for excellence and he really wants to win the award, but there are a number of problems with his employees and their lives and he starts meddling to try and get things to go perfectly. A recently fired employee is protesting across the street, one of his managers is distracted due to his wife having an affair, and the attractive new intern also catches the attention of the boss. Bardem is very good here and it's a nice satire.
Lemonade Joe (1964) - 7.5/10 - A singing cowboy/lemonade salesman only drinks lemonade and he comes to a wild west town with the intention of cleaning it up and eliminating the effects of alcohol. There are a number of fun gags and I liked the visual style with the tinted picture. I thought it dragged a little on occasion later in the film, but is still pretty entertaining.
The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) - 7.5/10 - Josephine Monaghan heads out west and finds that being a woman alone isn't a pleasant prospect so she starts dressing and acting as a man and goes by just Jo instead of Josephine. She gets a job, builds a ranch, and fits in well. I thought this was pretty good.
Hej-rup! (1934) - 6/10 - A wealthy man who owns a milk canning factory is swindled out of his fortune and left to wander the streets with one of his workers. He learns the benefits of cooperative actions with the workers as they eventually start up a collectivist dairy. I didn't find the movie to be all that funny. It was okay, though.
Poison (1991) - 4/10 - Three strange stories intermingle here. I didn't like it much.
The Last House on the Left (1972) - 4.5/10 - A girl is kidnapped on her 17th birthday along with her friend. They experience rape and torture from a gang of escaped killers. The acting is pretty bad and the soundtrack is kind of weird. It's sort of a comedy horror film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Kasi Lemmons, 2022) 5/10
By-the-numbers screen biography with Naomi Ackie doing a credible job playing the part of the late pop singer and lip syncing her memorable songs. Adding good support is Stanley Tucci as record producer Clive Davis.
The Last of Us (Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson & Ali Abbasi, 2023) 9/10
When the world is engulfed by a mass fungal infection causing humans to turn into ferocious, flesh-eating zombies, a smuggler (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with delivering an immune teenager (Bella Ramsey) to a medical facility across a ravaged post-apocalyptic United States. Riveting 9-part drama series, based on a video game, has outstanding production design, a strong storyline with a couple of highly unusual episodes (one of which was very moving but was censored here), and two compelling lead characters. Apparently a second season has been greenlit.
Shehzada (Rohit Dhawan, 2023) 4/10
Bollywood regurgitates that old chestnut - kids switched at birth - from under a rock and tries to make a go of it. The kid (Kartik Aaryan) of a prosperous couple (Ronit Roy & Manisha Koirala) is switched at birth by a jealous man (Paresh Rawal) who then watches his own son grow up as the pampered son of the man he hates. A sexy lawyer (Kriti Sanon) loves the poor boy but her rich parents want her to marry the rich boy. In between bouts of choreographed action and dancing the truth is revealed. Tired plot should never have seen the light of day. Also a shock to see lovely Manisha Koirala relegated to a supporting role as a mother.
The Mother (Niki Caro, 2023) 4/10
Highly improbable, over-the-top screenplay allows Jennifer Lopez to go into full-on action mode. It could have been believable if the plot was not always one-sided in allowing Lopez (playing a former marine turned assassin) to always win out against the two dastardly villains she is up against - a nasty marine (Joseph Fiennes) and an arms dealer (Gael García Bernal) - both of whom not only her former partners in crime but also her lovers, with one of them the father of her daughter. Turning against both men she becomes an informant for the FBI and is forced to give up the child for her safety. Twelve years pass and both men are after the girl so she comes out of hiding to recover her and offer her protection. Lopez gets to shoot, maim, stab, burn and blow up her opponents with the final encounter taking place in snow-bound Alaska. Both Bernal and Fiennes have underwritten parts playing stock villains while Lopez is one-note throughout - a single anxious expression on her face as she mouths her dialogue in a monotone.
Dahaad (Reema Kagti & Ruchika Oberoi, 2023) 7/10
Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti use their screenplay about a police procedural to expose patriarchy and the divisive caste structure in India. Set in a small village in arid Rajasthan the story focuses on a team of cops trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of 27 low caste women. All of them supposedly ran off with a man who showed them pity, love and understanding. What the cops don't know is that it is one man - a school teacher (Vijay Varma) - who is behind it all as he lures the innocent women and kills them. A local Sub-Inspector (Sonakshi Sinha), the lone female on the force, deduces that the disappearances are linked to a serial killer. She is a rebel and because of her own low caste faces discrimination everywhere including amongst her own colleagues (one cop keeps spraying incense in the room she has been in). At 8 episodes the series is a bit overlong but is tautly directed and acted with important comments on caste and gender discrimination. Sinha is ably supported by Gulshan Devaiah (as her boss who is facing his own demons at home in loggerheads with his "backward" wife), and Sohum Shah (a jealous colleague also in conflict with his wife over her pregnancy - he wants her to have an abortion). The screenplay has a tendency to preach at times with scenes involving the female cop where she berates a high caste man who refuses to let her enter his home and later when she admonishes her mother for trying to set her up with men and marriage. These moments, although important in their message seem artificial as presented, but do reflect in hindsight the dark ills prevalent in the minds of so many. For that the series and the two filmmakers are to be commended for their continued efforts in trying to bring societal change through cinema.
By-the-numbers screen biography with Naomi Ackie doing a credible job playing the part of the late pop singer and lip syncing her memorable songs. Adding good support is Stanley Tucci as record producer Clive Davis.
The Last of Us (Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson & Ali Abbasi, 2023) 9/10
When the world is engulfed by a mass fungal infection causing humans to turn into ferocious, flesh-eating zombies, a smuggler (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with delivering an immune teenager (Bella Ramsey) to a medical facility across a ravaged post-apocalyptic United States. Riveting 9-part drama series, based on a video game, has outstanding production design, a strong storyline with a couple of highly unusual episodes (one of which was very moving but was censored here), and two compelling lead characters. Apparently a second season has been greenlit.
Shehzada (Rohit Dhawan, 2023) 4/10
Bollywood regurgitates that old chestnut - kids switched at birth - from under a rock and tries to make a go of it. The kid (Kartik Aaryan) of a prosperous couple (Ronit Roy & Manisha Koirala) is switched at birth by a jealous man (Paresh Rawal) who then watches his own son grow up as the pampered son of the man he hates. A sexy lawyer (Kriti Sanon) loves the poor boy but her rich parents want her to marry the rich boy. In between bouts of choreographed action and dancing the truth is revealed. Tired plot should never have seen the light of day. Also a shock to see lovely Manisha Koirala relegated to a supporting role as a mother.
The Mother (Niki Caro, 2023) 4/10
Highly improbable, over-the-top screenplay allows Jennifer Lopez to go into full-on action mode. It could have been believable if the plot was not always one-sided in allowing Lopez (playing a former marine turned assassin) to always win out against the two dastardly villains she is up against - a nasty marine (Joseph Fiennes) and an arms dealer (Gael García Bernal) - both of whom not only her former partners in crime but also her lovers, with one of them the father of her daughter. Turning against both men she becomes an informant for the FBI and is forced to give up the child for her safety. Twelve years pass and both men are after the girl so she comes out of hiding to recover her and offer her protection. Lopez gets to shoot, maim, stab, burn and blow up her opponents with the final encounter taking place in snow-bound Alaska. Both Bernal and Fiennes have underwritten parts playing stock villains while Lopez is one-note throughout - a single anxious expression on her face as she mouths her dialogue in a monotone.
Dahaad (Reema Kagti & Ruchika Oberoi, 2023) 7/10
Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti use their screenplay about a police procedural to expose patriarchy and the divisive caste structure in India. Set in a small village in arid Rajasthan the story focuses on a team of cops trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of 27 low caste women. All of them supposedly ran off with a man who showed them pity, love and understanding. What the cops don't know is that it is one man - a school teacher (Vijay Varma) - who is behind it all as he lures the innocent women and kills them. A local Sub-Inspector (Sonakshi Sinha), the lone female on the force, deduces that the disappearances are linked to a serial killer. She is a rebel and because of her own low caste faces discrimination everywhere including amongst her own colleagues (one cop keeps spraying incense in the room she has been in). At 8 episodes the series is a bit overlong but is tautly directed and acted with important comments on caste and gender discrimination. Sinha is ably supported by Gulshan Devaiah (as her boss who is facing his own demons at home in loggerheads with his "backward" wife), and Sohum Shah (a jealous colleague also in conflict with his wife over her pregnancy - he wants her to have an abortion). The screenplay has a tendency to preach at times with scenes involving the female cop where she berates a high caste man who refuses to let her enter his home and later when she admonishes her mother for trying to set her up with men and marriage. These moments, although important in their message seem artificial as presented, but do reflect in hindsight the dark ills prevalent in the minds of so many. For that the series and the two filmmakers are to be commended for their continued efforts in trying to bring societal change through cinema.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) - 8/10 - In 1931, three Aboriginal girls are taken from their home and sent to a camp for re-education. It's all in their best interests of course. They escape and make their way home by following the rabbit-proof fences in the Outback.
Pure S (1975) - 5/10 - Heroin junkies chasing a fix. They don't seem to be very good at it.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - 7.5/10 - Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) and Dorothy (Jane Russell) are showgirls who are best friends. Lorelei likes men for their money while Dorothy likes them for their looks. Lorelei is about to get married in France to the son of a wealthy man, but has to take passage to France separately from the man she is going to marry. Dorothy goes along as chaperone. Russell and Monroe are each very good here and I enjoyed the various musical numbers. The plot is a bit thin, but it doesn't really matter.
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - 6/10 - A small rural town called Paris survives in part by causing accidents for people who drive through their area and then salvaging what they can from the bodies and the wrecks. One person happens to survive, though he now has a fear of driving in cars. The mayor tries to integrate him into the town. The film is a little slow and odd. It's not bad, but doesn't seem to really go anywhere until near the very end when there is a sort of Death Race 2000 feel to it.
The Castle (1997) - 7.5/10 - A man receives notice that the state is using the law to purchase their property whether they agree or not and that they will need to vacate the premises soon. The man takes the case to court to try and stay in their home. The film is a comedy and while it isn't really laugh out loud funny, it was still a decent story and entertaining.
The Efficiency Expert (1991) - 7.5/10 - Anthony Hopkins stars as an efficiency expert who is brought in by the owner of a small moccasin factory that seems to be stuck in the past in the way that they do business. He goes about his job to make recommendations to improve the bottom line, but eventually finds himself being affected by the character of the workers. Toni Collette makes her film debut here and Russell Crowe (who seemed to be in about every Australian movie in the 90s) also appears. I enjoyed it.
Oh, Susanna (1936) - 5/10 - Gene Autry is heading to visit a friend that he hasn't seen in 15 years when he is robbed and thrown off a train by a wanted bandit. When Autry gets to town, he is arrested by the sheriff who thinks he is the notorious bandit who robbed him. The movie is kind of dumb and the acting isn't all that great, but it is watchable and the music is decent.
Across the Wide Missouri (1951) - 7.5/10 - Clark Gable stars as a beaver trapper in the 1830s Northwest. He marries a Native American woman as a means to gain access to their territory, but later falls in love with the woman. There is conflict with a strong warrior who also desires the woman. It was generally fun.
'Neath the Arizona Skies (1934) - 5/10 - John Wayne stars as the guardian of a young half-Native American girl whose mother died in childbirth and whose father left before she was born. Oil has been discovered on her mother's land and a gang of bad guys are after the girl in order to grab the claim which is worth $50,000. Wayne also runs across other bad guys along the way. The acting is generally pretty bad, but the story is watchable at least.
To Kill a Man (2014) - 8/10 - A gang of thugs is harassing people in a somewhat poor part of town. Jorge works hard and tries to keep to himself, but he is mugged, his son is shot, and his daughter is assaulted by the leader of the gang and the authorities do very little to stop it. Jorge is left with having to take matters into his own hands to protect his family, but it goes against his nature and affects him as well. It's a good film.
Braindead / Dead Alive (1992) - 7/10 - In 1957, the bite of a Sumatran rat monkey kills Lionel's domineering mother and turns her into a zombie. The infection spreads, slowly at first, turning others into zombies as well in this horror comedy from Peter Jackson. He certainly does go for the blood and guts here. The movie was kind of disgusting at times, but good.
El Infierno (2010) - 8.5/10 - Benny Garcia is deported back to Mexico after 20 years in the U.S. He returns to his hometown and finds that his younger brother was a much feared cartel member before being killed years earlier. Drugs and violence are rampant in the area. Benny doesn't have any interest in that life, but is eventually drawn into it by necessity. The film is very violent, but also very good.
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - 8/10 - After the Mexican War, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) moves to the mountains of Colorado and looks to take up the life of a hermit. He eventually gains a Native American wife and an adopted son and life seems good. However, he eventually comes into conflict with the Crow and wages a one man war against them. The film is pretty scenic and I enjoyed it.
White Sun of the Desert (1970) - 6/10 - A Red Army soldier is wandering through a desert when he comes across a man buried in the sand. He frees him and continues on his way, later encountering and escorting a group of burqa wearing harem girls who were abandoned by their husband. They end up at an old museum by the sea and have to fight off guerrillas led by the husband of the harem girls. It was a mishmash of different genres and the result was just okay.
Lonely Are the Brave (1962) - 8/10 - Kirk Douglas is a cowboy who doesn't have much use for modern society. He has no fixed address and sleeps wherever ends up. When he finds that a friend of his has been placed in jail for two years, he decides to get himself arrested in order to break him out. Douglas is very good here and the movie is pretty entertaining.
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) - 7.5/10 - James Garner stars as a man 'on his way to Australia' who visits a lawless western town undergoing a gold rush. He witnesses a murder in the saloon his first day in town and after he takes the job of sheriff, arrests the murderer (Bruce Dern) and puts him in jail. One problem is that the jail cells don't have bars yet, but that doesn't stop him. The arrested man has a father and brothers who do pretty much whatever they want. This is a fun comedy and Garner is pretty good here. Harry Morgan and Walter Brennan also have supporting roles.
Vera Cruz (1954) - 8/10 - Gary Cooper stars as a soldier who heads to Mexico after the Civil War to fight as a mercenary in the war between France and Mexico. He meets a gunman (Burt Lancaster) and his men soon after arriving in Mexico. They are hired to escort a Countess to Vera Cruz. There is also a subplot about a valuable shipment of gold. Cooper and Lancaster give very nice performances here in a pretty good film.
Meek's Cutoff (2010) - 6.5/10 - A group of settlers in a wagon train get lost in the desert while on the Oregon Trail. It's got nice cinematography, but is pretty slow moving.
Ulzana's Raid (1972) - 7.5/10 - Ulzana is an Apache warrior who breaks out of the reservation with a small band and goes around raiding - killing, raping, stealing from those in the area. A group of U.S. cavalry along with a couple of scouts, one of them Apache, are detailed to capture or kill Ulzana. It's a pretty good film.
They Call Me Trinity (1970) - 7/10 - We first meet Trinity as he is dozing on a travois being pulled by his moving horse. We later learn that he is nicknamed the Right Hand of the Devil due to his incredibly fast draw. His brother is the Left Hand of the Devil. The two team up to help a group of Mormons who are threatened by a greedy landowner who wants the valley that they are occupying. The comedy here generally worked for me and I enjoyed the film.
High Plains Drifter (1973) - 8/10 - A mysterious stranger rides into the mining town of Lago. Word is out that three outlaws are out of prison and likely headed for Lago so the people of the town hire the stranger to protect the town, giving him free rein on whatever he wants. He takes full advantage of this offer.
Junk Mail / Budbringeren (1997) - 6/10 - Roy is a postal carrier who snoops on the people on his route and sometimes goes through their mail. He gets in over his head when he steals keys to a woman's apartment and goes inside. Much of the film was way too dark even for taking place at night I did like the ending.
Rio Bravo (1959) - 9/10 - I watched this multiple times on cable back in the 1980s and loved it. Rewatching it now for the first time in 35+ years hasn't changed my feelings toward the film. John Wayne is an older sheriff who arrests the brother of a prominent rancher for murder. All he has to keep him secure in the jail is the town drunk (Dean Martin) and an old geezer (Walter Brennan). He gets some assistance later from a young gunfighter (Ricky Nelson) and love interest gambler (Angie Dickinson). There's plenty of humor and a fair amount of action and I think the film holds up pretty well.
Rio Lobo (1970) - 7.5/10 - This was another rewatch after 35+ years, but I didn't remember much about this one. I've seen it described as a Rio Bravo remake, but it really only borrows from Rio Bravo toward the end of the film. Even then, it lacks the tension from the earlier film. Still, the train heist at the beginning of the film is pretty good and the film is certainly enjoyable on its own. The supporting cast isn't quite as good this time around, but isn't bad. The film starts at the end of the Civil War and then follows a U.S. Army Colonel (John Wayne) as he travels to Texas in search of the traitor who sold army secrets and caused the death of the Colonel's friend. The Colonel is joined in his hunt by a former Confederate officer that he met during the aforementioned train heist escapade.
Pure S (1975) - 5/10 - Heroin junkies chasing a fix. They don't seem to be very good at it.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - 7.5/10 - Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) and Dorothy (Jane Russell) are showgirls who are best friends. Lorelei likes men for their money while Dorothy likes them for their looks. Lorelei is about to get married in France to the son of a wealthy man, but has to take passage to France separately from the man she is going to marry. Dorothy goes along as chaperone. Russell and Monroe are each very good here and I enjoyed the various musical numbers. The plot is a bit thin, but it doesn't really matter.
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - 6/10 - A small rural town called Paris survives in part by causing accidents for people who drive through their area and then salvaging what they can from the bodies and the wrecks. One person happens to survive, though he now has a fear of driving in cars. The mayor tries to integrate him into the town. The film is a little slow and odd. It's not bad, but doesn't seem to really go anywhere until near the very end when there is a sort of Death Race 2000 feel to it.
The Castle (1997) - 7.5/10 - A man receives notice that the state is using the law to purchase their property whether they agree or not and that they will need to vacate the premises soon. The man takes the case to court to try and stay in their home. The film is a comedy and while it isn't really laugh out loud funny, it was still a decent story and entertaining.
The Efficiency Expert (1991) - 7.5/10 - Anthony Hopkins stars as an efficiency expert who is brought in by the owner of a small moccasin factory that seems to be stuck in the past in the way that they do business. He goes about his job to make recommendations to improve the bottom line, but eventually finds himself being affected by the character of the workers. Toni Collette makes her film debut here and Russell Crowe (who seemed to be in about every Australian movie in the 90s) also appears. I enjoyed it.
Oh, Susanna (1936) - 5/10 - Gene Autry is heading to visit a friend that he hasn't seen in 15 years when he is robbed and thrown off a train by a wanted bandit. When Autry gets to town, he is arrested by the sheriff who thinks he is the notorious bandit who robbed him. The movie is kind of dumb and the acting isn't all that great, but it is watchable and the music is decent.
Across the Wide Missouri (1951) - 7.5/10 - Clark Gable stars as a beaver trapper in the 1830s Northwest. He marries a Native American woman as a means to gain access to their territory, but later falls in love with the woman. There is conflict with a strong warrior who also desires the woman. It was generally fun.
'Neath the Arizona Skies (1934) - 5/10 - John Wayne stars as the guardian of a young half-Native American girl whose mother died in childbirth and whose father left before she was born. Oil has been discovered on her mother's land and a gang of bad guys are after the girl in order to grab the claim which is worth $50,000. Wayne also runs across other bad guys along the way. The acting is generally pretty bad, but the story is watchable at least.
To Kill a Man (2014) - 8/10 - A gang of thugs is harassing people in a somewhat poor part of town. Jorge works hard and tries to keep to himself, but he is mugged, his son is shot, and his daughter is assaulted by the leader of the gang and the authorities do very little to stop it. Jorge is left with having to take matters into his own hands to protect his family, but it goes against his nature and affects him as well. It's a good film.
Braindead / Dead Alive (1992) - 7/10 - In 1957, the bite of a Sumatran rat monkey kills Lionel's domineering mother and turns her into a zombie. The infection spreads, slowly at first, turning others into zombies as well in this horror comedy from Peter Jackson. He certainly does go for the blood and guts here. The movie was kind of disgusting at times, but good.
El Infierno (2010) - 8.5/10 - Benny Garcia is deported back to Mexico after 20 years in the U.S. He returns to his hometown and finds that his younger brother was a much feared cartel member before being killed years earlier. Drugs and violence are rampant in the area. Benny doesn't have any interest in that life, but is eventually drawn into it by necessity. The film is very violent, but also very good.
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - 8/10 - After the Mexican War, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) moves to the mountains of Colorado and looks to take up the life of a hermit. He eventually gains a Native American wife and an adopted son and life seems good. However, he eventually comes into conflict with the Crow and wages a one man war against them. The film is pretty scenic and I enjoyed it.
White Sun of the Desert (1970) - 6/10 - A Red Army soldier is wandering through a desert when he comes across a man buried in the sand. He frees him and continues on his way, later encountering and escorting a group of burqa wearing harem girls who were abandoned by their husband. They end up at an old museum by the sea and have to fight off guerrillas led by the husband of the harem girls. It was a mishmash of different genres and the result was just okay.
Lonely Are the Brave (1962) - 8/10 - Kirk Douglas is a cowboy who doesn't have much use for modern society. He has no fixed address and sleeps wherever ends up. When he finds that a friend of his has been placed in jail for two years, he decides to get himself arrested in order to break him out. Douglas is very good here and the movie is pretty entertaining.
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) - 7.5/10 - James Garner stars as a man 'on his way to Australia' who visits a lawless western town undergoing a gold rush. He witnesses a murder in the saloon his first day in town and after he takes the job of sheriff, arrests the murderer (Bruce Dern) and puts him in jail. One problem is that the jail cells don't have bars yet, but that doesn't stop him. The arrested man has a father and brothers who do pretty much whatever they want. This is a fun comedy and Garner is pretty good here. Harry Morgan and Walter Brennan also have supporting roles.
Vera Cruz (1954) - 8/10 - Gary Cooper stars as a soldier who heads to Mexico after the Civil War to fight as a mercenary in the war between France and Mexico. He meets a gunman (Burt Lancaster) and his men soon after arriving in Mexico. They are hired to escort a Countess to Vera Cruz. There is also a subplot about a valuable shipment of gold. Cooper and Lancaster give very nice performances here in a pretty good film.
Meek's Cutoff (2010) - 6.5/10 - A group of settlers in a wagon train get lost in the desert while on the Oregon Trail. It's got nice cinematography, but is pretty slow moving.
Ulzana's Raid (1972) - 7.5/10 - Ulzana is an Apache warrior who breaks out of the reservation with a small band and goes around raiding - killing, raping, stealing from those in the area. A group of U.S. cavalry along with a couple of scouts, one of them Apache, are detailed to capture or kill Ulzana. It's a pretty good film.
They Call Me Trinity (1970) - 7/10 - We first meet Trinity as he is dozing on a travois being pulled by his moving horse. We later learn that he is nicknamed the Right Hand of the Devil due to his incredibly fast draw. His brother is the Left Hand of the Devil. The two team up to help a group of Mormons who are threatened by a greedy landowner who wants the valley that they are occupying. The comedy here generally worked for me and I enjoyed the film.
High Plains Drifter (1973) - 8/10 - A mysterious stranger rides into the mining town of Lago. Word is out that three outlaws are out of prison and likely headed for Lago so the people of the town hire the stranger to protect the town, giving him free rein on whatever he wants. He takes full advantage of this offer.
Junk Mail / Budbringeren (1997) - 6/10 - Roy is a postal carrier who snoops on the people on his route and sometimes goes through their mail. He gets in over his head when he steals keys to a woman's apartment and goes inside. Much of the film was way too dark even for taking place at night I did like the ending.
Rio Bravo (1959) - 9/10 - I watched this multiple times on cable back in the 1980s and loved it. Rewatching it now for the first time in 35+ years hasn't changed my feelings toward the film. John Wayne is an older sheriff who arrests the brother of a prominent rancher for murder. All he has to keep him secure in the jail is the town drunk (Dean Martin) and an old geezer (Walter Brennan). He gets some assistance later from a young gunfighter (Ricky Nelson) and love interest gambler (Angie Dickinson). There's plenty of humor and a fair amount of action and I think the film holds up pretty well.
Rio Lobo (1970) - 7.5/10 - This was another rewatch after 35+ years, but I didn't remember much about this one. I've seen it described as a Rio Bravo remake, but it really only borrows from Rio Bravo toward the end of the film. Even then, it lacks the tension from the earlier film. Still, the train heist at the beginning of the film is pretty good and the film is certainly enjoyable on its own. The supporting cast isn't quite as good this time around, but isn't bad. The film starts at the end of the Civil War and then follows a U.S. Army Colonel (John Wayne) as he travels to Texas in search of the traitor who sold army secrets and caused the death of the Colonel's friend. The Colonel is joined in his hunt by a former Confederate officer that he met during the aforementioned train heist escapade.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Night Agent (Seth Gordon, Guy Ferland, Ramaa Mosley, Adam Arkin & Millicent Shelton, 2023) 8/10
While the world waits for a new actor to be cast as James Bond and the franchise is revived we get assorted screen imitations in the espionage genre. This one also has a strong whiff of Jason Bourne and may not be completely upto mark but most certainly has enough action packed thrills built into the screenplay that successfully juggles at least four different plots that seem to be leading towards a cohesive whole. A low-level FBI agent (Gabriel Basso), working the night action desk at the White House, receives a call from a lady (Luciane Buchanan) in distress who says her aunt and uncle have been murdered and suspects that certain higher ups at the White House are involved. So begins a cat-and-mouse game as the agent helps the woman stay alive as assassins come after them. Other plots involve detectives guarding the teenage daughter of the Vice President, kinky and deranged assassins trying to navigate a sexual relationship while they shoot, stab and garrotte their victims, and a train bombing that opens this 10-part series where the agent saves a train load of passengers when a bomb goes off. All the plot threads join up during the exciting conclusion. Hong Chau is quietly kick-ass playing a character who is suspected of not being who she pretends to be.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (Chad Stahelski, 2023) 8/10
The film's opening pays homage to the very famous "Match Cut" shot in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia", following which we find John Wick aka Baba Yaga (Keanu Reeves), hell bent on revenge, galloping in the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan. The film is a series of spectacular set pieces, dazzlingly photographed with a neo-noir bent, highlighting the complicated choreography of epic shootouts filmed at famous locations around the world - in Japan there is a stunning fight sequence at the Osaka Continental Hotel where the balletic action is highlighted by an intoxicating flickering of lights as a cat-and-mouse game ensues amongst large samurai portraits, and in Paris we get four detailed set pieces - a head-spinning, breakneck car chase sequence which culminates in an epic martial arts battle in the middle of traffic circling the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a fight scene set in a water-drenched, multi-level nightclub featuring hundreds of revelers who barely notice the face-off between Wick and his gold-toothed adversary, a gun battle between Wick and hordes of deadly killers in an apartment building which is ingeniously filmed from overhead with a floating camera that follows the continuous deadly action, and another fight sequence that takes place up and down the stairs leading up to the Sacré Coeur Basilica - Wick reaches the top only to be kicked all the way down - culminating in a duel to the death with pistols. Wick is surrounded by a gallery of friends and foes - the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Winston Stock (Ian McShane), the manager of the New York Continental hotel, Shimaza (Horoyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental hotel who battles alongside his daughter (singer Rina Sawayama), the blind and dapper assassin Caine (a superb Donnie Yen), the bounty hunter Mr Nobody (Shamier Anderson) and his German Shepherd (who gets the film's biggest laugh), and the deadly Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) who seems to conduct his business in such venues as Versailles, the Paris Opera House and the Louvre, whose position is challenged by Wick which sets the plot in motion. At almost three hours in length the film can be a tad hard on one's ass but this installment, while resembling a video game, is in turns stylish, exhilarating, quite a bit bloated and illogical, but a kick-ass action thriller held together by the deadpan presence of Keanu Reeves at his silent best.
A Bill of Divorcement (John Farrow, 1940) 7/10
A family's tranquil life turns upside down when Father (Adolphe Menjou) unexpectedly returns after fifteen years from a mental asylum. Mother (Fay Bainter) has divorced him and is about to marry her lover (Herbert Marshall). Judgemental, Bible-thumping aunt (Dame May Whitty) disapproves of everything and everyone. Firebrand daughter (Maureen O'Hara) is also in love but her father's return and interaction with him makes her realize that he was not suffering from WWI shellshock and his "illness" is hereditary. Based on a rather stuffy melodramatic British play by Clemence Dane (out-dated hysteria about insanity and divorce) the film is a remake - the first sound version in 1932 was Katharine Hepburn's film debut and she famously co-starred opposite John Barrymore. Here Menjou hams it up but O'Hara, a lovely presence, is sublime as the scared but sensible daughter who ends up making an unusual sacrifice. Bainter and Whitty offer great support.
The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978) 1/10
A disturbed novelist (Richard Burton) causes disasters - a car accident that kills his adulterous wife (Marie-Christine Barrault), a fire that burns four kids, crashing a Jumbo jet - via telekinetic powers. One of the many films Burton starred in which were absolute rubbish. This one is at the bottom of that heap. Sadly along for the ride with him are Lino Ventura as a cop trying to discover the cause of all the accidents and Lee Remick as a doctor. Awful waste of all the talent.
Summer's Lease (Martyn Friend, 1989) 10/10
Sir John Gielgud's mellifluous voice deliriously moves through this charming little film - based on the novel by John Mortimer - making every moment of its languid pace count. Also helping is the lovely Tuscan location where this story is set. A bored wife (Susan Fleetwood) decides to rent a villa in the Italian countryside for the summer and arrives along with her three young daughters, her staid but philandering husband (Michael Pennington) and her eccentric and randy old father (John Gielgud). While the old man hilariously talks with a blue streak and takes up with an old friend (Rosemary Leach) his daughter gets involved with a local mystery - the disappearance of the villa's owner and a dead body. Quirky film won Gielgud a richly deserved Emmy. This film would make a superb double bill with My House in Umbria (2003) with Dame Maggie Smith's Emmy-winning performance.
God's Country (Julian Higgins, 2022) 7/10
In subtle ways the screenplay highlights how gender and colour plays a part in defining a person and how others perceive him or her in return. At its center the conflict in the story is between a Professor and two men which gradually escalates into a series of confrontations that border on violence. The Professor (Thandiwe Newton) is a woman and is black. She has moved from New Orleans to teach at a small university in a remote part of Montana and lives away from town near a forest. When she finds a car parked in her driveway she politely requests the two white men not to trespass on her property. They return the following day defiantly ignoring her request. The local sheriff gets involved but the two men are not disuaded and the confrontations continue which leads the woman to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile we get glimpses into the psyche of the woman - flashbacks to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and her life there in a different avatar, a difficult relationship with her mother whose funeral opens the film, and confronting racism at the hands of fellow teachers at the university where she teaches. She is fed up and all of life's negative tinkerings finally catches up leading to a final catharsis. Or is there final peace? Newton is solid as the woman who just wants to be left alone but life has left her simmering underneath the placid facade.
The Hustle (Chris Addison, 2019) 2/10
Once upon a time there was a charming, wicked and funny film called "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" about two con men (Michael Caine & Steve Martin) who defraud their prey in sunny South of France. That film was in turn a remake of the moderately funny film "Bedtime Story" also about two con men (Marlon Brando & David Niven). Hollywood, which can never let go of a winning formula, came up with yet another go at the same scenario but instead changed the gender of the crooks. So now we get the tall, slim but flat-chested high class lady (Anne Hathaway) reluctantly teaming up with the short, obese, big-boobed low life (Rebel Wilson) to try and bilk millions from unsuspecting men. And what do you know they came up with an absolute turd of a film totally devoid of laughs. Pick this one up with a barge pole and bury it in your backyard. Along with Hathaway and Wilson.
Smilin' Through (Frank Borzage, 1941) 6/10
Jane Cowl wrote and starred in the play in 1919 on Broadway which then came to the screen first in a silent version in 1922 with Norma Talmadge and followed by the first sound version in 1932 with Norma Shearer. MGM further tailored this piece of schmaltz as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and she ofcourse not only gets to sing (seven songs) but play a double role. In Technicolor she gets to play a tragic lover to Brian Aherne in the past and in the present falls in love with soldier Gene Raymond who has a connection to that tragic past. While Aherne and Ian Hunter, as his close friend, both spend most of the film's running time in white whiskers, MacDonald (dressed by Adrian) is radiant in both her roles getting the studio's full treatment of being lushly photographed through a gauze which makes her look young. The film's underlying message shuns bitter hatred and is an ode to love.
Nice Girl? (William A. Seiter, 1941) 5/10
Ofcourse she is a nice girl. How can Deanna Durbin not be although she does throw herself shamelessly at the suave bachelor publisher (Franchot Tone) who comes to her small town to meet her dad (Robert Benchley) about a book on nutrition he has written. Americana set during the War years - Durbin sings her heart out as she navigates her love life around the older man (weirdly the teenage Durbin made three films with much older Tone) and the car mechanic-soldier (Robert Stack presented like a buffed up pin-up) who loves her. The wonderful supporting cast add colour - Helen Broderick as the housekeeper, Walter Brennan as her love interest and mailman, Elisabeth Risdon, and as Durbin's sisters - Ann Gillis & Anne Gwynne. Wartime propaganda gets a look-in with Durbin singing during the closing moments "Thank You America" and for the British version of the film she sings "There'll Always Be an England". Corny but not without interest.
Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 4/10
Tragedy upon tragedy in this relentlessly grim film about a noble nurse (Carole Lombard) as she goes about her career in hospitals and nursing homes in England. Peter Cushing plays a former beau, Brian Aherne a senior doctor who loves her and Anne Shirley her selfish and silly sister (also a nurse) who gets into trouble when a child in her care dies of diptheria. An attempt by Lombard - one of the great screen comediennes - to show she could do just as well in drama. She did just fine only the film's mood is so heavy that one is totally put off by all the gloom.
Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954) 4/10
Perky Doris Day leads a third rate musical troupe (Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Eddie Foy, Jr.) and tries to find work on stage courtesy of a famous songwriter (Robert Cummings) who in turn convinces the rich father of his fiancé (Martha Hyer) to finance the show. Day and Cummings sing and fall in love while Silvers does his usual comedy shtick. Very minor musical with Day in excellent voice as usual.
H.M. Pulham, Esq. (King Vidor, 1941) 4/10
A lovely career woman (Hedy Lamarr) tries to put some life into the dull man (Robert Young) she loves but he is quite content to coast along in his regimented life as a Boston blueblood with the woman (Ruth Hussy) he grew up with and was always expected by his family to marry and grow old with. For some reason this long and rather dreary film was a favorite of star Hedy Lamarr.
Hot Saturday (William A. Seiter, 1932) 4/10
Gossip in a small town but without the sex as a virtuous bank clerk (Nancy Carroll) finds herself in a compromised position with a rich womanizer (Cary Grant) during a weekend party. She is not only shunned by the townfolk, loses her job and is judged to be a tramp by a man (Randolph Scott) she likes. So she decides to do exactly what she has been accused of and finds her rainbow. Minor film is worth seeing strictly for an early appearance by a dashing Grant (who has bad teeth here) and although he and Scott have no scenes together this is where they first met, became roommates and started their long alleged affair.
Day One (Joseph Sargent, 1989) 7/10
Straight forward, if rightly a bit simplistic, look at the Manhattan Project - the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II. The project was a collaboration between many scientists but at the forefront were three men - the first was Dr. Leo Szilard (Michael Tucker), a physicist and inventor, who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear fission reactor in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote a letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. The second was General Leslie Groves (Brian Dennehy) who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the top secret research project that developed the atomic bomb. The third was Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (David Strathairn) who served as the director of the Laboratory during World War II, and is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project. Historically accurate tv drama goes on to show President Truman's dilemma towards the end of the War - peace talks with Japan, a blockade of Japan, an invasion of Japan or dropping the bomb. The highly controversial latter decision was taken by the President against the advice of General Eisenhower. Critically acclaimed film won an Emmy as the year's most outstanding tv film and is especially worth seeing before the highly anticipated version of the story coming out later this year - Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer".
While the world waits for a new actor to be cast as James Bond and the franchise is revived we get assorted screen imitations in the espionage genre. This one also has a strong whiff of Jason Bourne and may not be completely upto mark but most certainly has enough action packed thrills built into the screenplay that successfully juggles at least four different plots that seem to be leading towards a cohesive whole. A low-level FBI agent (Gabriel Basso), working the night action desk at the White House, receives a call from a lady (Luciane Buchanan) in distress who says her aunt and uncle have been murdered and suspects that certain higher ups at the White House are involved. So begins a cat-and-mouse game as the agent helps the woman stay alive as assassins come after them. Other plots involve detectives guarding the teenage daughter of the Vice President, kinky and deranged assassins trying to navigate a sexual relationship while they shoot, stab and garrotte their victims, and a train bombing that opens this 10-part series where the agent saves a train load of passengers when a bomb goes off. All the plot threads join up during the exciting conclusion. Hong Chau is quietly kick-ass playing a character who is suspected of not being who she pretends to be.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (Chad Stahelski, 2023) 8/10
The film's opening pays homage to the very famous "Match Cut" shot in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia", following which we find John Wick aka Baba Yaga (Keanu Reeves), hell bent on revenge, galloping in the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan. The film is a series of spectacular set pieces, dazzlingly photographed with a neo-noir bent, highlighting the complicated choreography of epic shootouts filmed at famous locations around the world - in Japan there is a stunning fight sequence at the Osaka Continental Hotel where the balletic action is highlighted by an intoxicating flickering of lights as a cat-and-mouse game ensues amongst large samurai portraits, and in Paris we get four detailed set pieces - a head-spinning, breakneck car chase sequence which culminates in an epic martial arts battle in the middle of traffic circling the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a fight scene set in a water-drenched, multi-level nightclub featuring hundreds of revelers who barely notice the face-off between Wick and his gold-toothed adversary, a gun battle between Wick and hordes of deadly killers in an apartment building which is ingeniously filmed from overhead with a floating camera that follows the continuous deadly action, and another fight sequence that takes place up and down the stairs leading up to the Sacré Coeur Basilica - Wick reaches the top only to be kicked all the way down - culminating in a duel to the death with pistols. Wick is surrounded by a gallery of friends and foes - the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Winston Stock (Ian McShane), the manager of the New York Continental hotel, Shimaza (Horoyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental hotel who battles alongside his daughter (singer Rina Sawayama), the blind and dapper assassin Caine (a superb Donnie Yen), the bounty hunter Mr Nobody (Shamier Anderson) and his German Shepherd (who gets the film's biggest laugh), and the deadly Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) who seems to conduct his business in such venues as Versailles, the Paris Opera House and the Louvre, whose position is challenged by Wick which sets the plot in motion. At almost three hours in length the film can be a tad hard on one's ass but this installment, while resembling a video game, is in turns stylish, exhilarating, quite a bit bloated and illogical, but a kick-ass action thriller held together by the deadpan presence of Keanu Reeves at his silent best.
A Bill of Divorcement (John Farrow, 1940) 7/10
A family's tranquil life turns upside down when Father (Adolphe Menjou) unexpectedly returns after fifteen years from a mental asylum. Mother (Fay Bainter) has divorced him and is about to marry her lover (Herbert Marshall). Judgemental, Bible-thumping aunt (Dame May Whitty) disapproves of everything and everyone. Firebrand daughter (Maureen O'Hara) is also in love but her father's return and interaction with him makes her realize that he was not suffering from WWI shellshock and his "illness" is hereditary. Based on a rather stuffy melodramatic British play by Clemence Dane (out-dated hysteria about insanity and divorce) the film is a remake - the first sound version in 1932 was Katharine Hepburn's film debut and she famously co-starred opposite John Barrymore. Here Menjou hams it up but O'Hara, a lovely presence, is sublime as the scared but sensible daughter who ends up making an unusual sacrifice. Bainter and Whitty offer great support.
The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978) 1/10
A disturbed novelist (Richard Burton) causes disasters - a car accident that kills his adulterous wife (Marie-Christine Barrault), a fire that burns four kids, crashing a Jumbo jet - via telekinetic powers. One of the many films Burton starred in which were absolute rubbish. This one is at the bottom of that heap. Sadly along for the ride with him are Lino Ventura as a cop trying to discover the cause of all the accidents and Lee Remick as a doctor. Awful waste of all the talent.
Summer's Lease (Martyn Friend, 1989) 10/10
Sir John Gielgud's mellifluous voice deliriously moves through this charming little film - based on the novel by John Mortimer - making every moment of its languid pace count. Also helping is the lovely Tuscan location where this story is set. A bored wife (Susan Fleetwood) decides to rent a villa in the Italian countryside for the summer and arrives along with her three young daughters, her staid but philandering husband (Michael Pennington) and her eccentric and randy old father (John Gielgud). While the old man hilariously talks with a blue streak and takes up with an old friend (Rosemary Leach) his daughter gets involved with a local mystery - the disappearance of the villa's owner and a dead body. Quirky film won Gielgud a richly deserved Emmy. This film would make a superb double bill with My House in Umbria (2003) with Dame Maggie Smith's Emmy-winning performance.
God's Country (Julian Higgins, 2022) 7/10
In subtle ways the screenplay highlights how gender and colour plays a part in defining a person and how others perceive him or her in return. At its center the conflict in the story is between a Professor and two men which gradually escalates into a series of confrontations that border on violence. The Professor (Thandiwe Newton) is a woman and is black. She has moved from New Orleans to teach at a small university in a remote part of Montana and lives away from town near a forest. When she finds a car parked in her driveway she politely requests the two white men not to trespass on her property. They return the following day defiantly ignoring her request. The local sheriff gets involved but the two men are not disuaded and the confrontations continue which leads the woman to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile we get glimpses into the psyche of the woman - flashbacks to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and her life there in a different avatar, a difficult relationship with her mother whose funeral opens the film, and confronting racism at the hands of fellow teachers at the university where she teaches. She is fed up and all of life's negative tinkerings finally catches up leading to a final catharsis. Or is there final peace? Newton is solid as the woman who just wants to be left alone but life has left her simmering underneath the placid facade.
The Hustle (Chris Addison, 2019) 2/10
Once upon a time there was a charming, wicked and funny film called "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" about two con men (Michael Caine & Steve Martin) who defraud their prey in sunny South of France. That film was in turn a remake of the moderately funny film "Bedtime Story" also about two con men (Marlon Brando & David Niven). Hollywood, which can never let go of a winning formula, came up with yet another go at the same scenario but instead changed the gender of the crooks. So now we get the tall, slim but flat-chested high class lady (Anne Hathaway) reluctantly teaming up with the short, obese, big-boobed low life (Rebel Wilson) to try and bilk millions from unsuspecting men. And what do you know they came up with an absolute turd of a film totally devoid of laughs. Pick this one up with a barge pole and bury it in your backyard. Along with Hathaway and Wilson.
Smilin' Through (Frank Borzage, 1941) 6/10
Jane Cowl wrote and starred in the play in 1919 on Broadway which then came to the screen first in a silent version in 1922 with Norma Talmadge and followed by the first sound version in 1932 with Norma Shearer. MGM further tailored this piece of schmaltz as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and she ofcourse not only gets to sing (seven songs) but play a double role. In Technicolor she gets to play a tragic lover to Brian Aherne in the past and in the present falls in love with soldier Gene Raymond who has a connection to that tragic past. While Aherne and Ian Hunter, as his close friend, both spend most of the film's running time in white whiskers, MacDonald (dressed by Adrian) is radiant in both her roles getting the studio's full treatment of being lushly photographed through a gauze which makes her look young. The film's underlying message shuns bitter hatred and is an ode to love.
Nice Girl? (William A. Seiter, 1941) 5/10
Ofcourse she is a nice girl. How can Deanna Durbin not be although she does throw herself shamelessly at the suave bachelor publisher (Franchot Tone) who comes to her small town to meet her dad (Robert Benchley) about a book on nutrition he has written. Americana set during the War years - Durbin sings her heart out as she navigates her love life around the older man (weirdly the teenage Durbin made three films with much older Tone) and the car mechanic-soldier (Robert Stack presented like a buffed up pin-up) who loves her. The wonderful supporting cast add colour - Helen Broderick as the housekeeper, Walter Brennan as her love interest and mailman, Elisabeth Risdon, and as Durbin's sisters - Ann Gillis & Anne Gwynne. Wartime propaganda gets a look-in with Durbin singing during the closing moments "Thank You America" and for the British version of the film she sings "There'll Always Be an England". Corny but not without interest.
Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 4/10
Tragedy upon tragedy in this relentlessly grim film about a noble nurse (Carole Lombard) as she goes about her career in hospitals and nursing homes in England. Peter Cushing plays a former beau, Brian Aherne a senior doctor who loves her and Anne Shirley her selfish and silly sister (also a nurse) who gets into trouble when a child in her care dies of diptheria. An attempt by Lombard - one of the great screen comediennes - to show she could do just as well in drama. She did just fine only the film's mood is so heavy that one is totally put off by all the gloom.
Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954) 4/10
Perky Doris Day leads a third rate musical troupe (Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Eddie Foy, Jr.) and tries to find work on stage courtesy of a famous songwriter (Robert Cummings) who in turn convinces the rich father of his fiancé (Martha Hyer) to finance the show. Day and Cummings sing and fall in love while Silvers does his usual comedy shtick. Very minor musical with Day in excellent voice as usual.
H.M. Pulham, Esq. (King Vidor, 1941) 4/10
A lovely career woman (Hedy Lamarr) tries to put some life into the dull man (Robert Young) she loves but he is quite content to coast along in his regimented life as a Boston blueblood with the woman (Ruth Hussy) he grew up with and was always expected by his family to marry and grow old with. For some reason this long and rather dreary film was a favorite of star Hedy Lamarr.
Hot Saturday (William A. Seiter, 1932) 4/10
Gossip in a small town but without the sex as a virtuous bank clerk (Nancy Carroll) finds herself in a compromised position with a rich womanizer (Cary Grant) during a weekend party. She is not only shunned by the townfolk, loses her job and is judged to be a tramp by a man (Randolph Scott) she likes. So she decides to do exactly what she has been accused of and finds her rainbow. Minor film is worth seeing strictly for an early appearance by a dashing Grant (who has bad teeth here) and although he and Scott have no scenes together this is where they first met, became roommates and started their long alleged affair.
Day One (Joseph Sargent, 1989) 7/10
Straight forward, if rightly a bit simplistic, look at the Manhattan Project - the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II. The project was a collaboration between many scientists but at the forefront were three men - the first was Dr. Leo Szilard (Michael Tucker), a physicist and inventor, who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear fission reactor in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote a letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. The second was General Leslie Groves (Brian Dennehy) who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the top secret research project that developed the atomic bomb. The third was Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (David Strathairn) who served as the director of the Laboratory during World War II, and is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project. Historically accurate tv drama goes on to show President Truman's dilemma towards the end of the War - peace talks with Japan, a blockade of Japan, an invasion of Japan or dropping the bomb. The highly controversial latter decision was taken by the President against the advice of General Eisenhower. Critically acclaimed film won an Emmy as the year's most outstanding tv film and is especially worth seeing before the highly anticipated version of the story coming out later this year - Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer".
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Tangerine (2015) - 7/10 - It's Christmas Eve and Sin-Dee is fresh out of a short stay in jail. Her best friend informs her that her pimp boyfriend cheated on her while she was locked up so she goes on a mission to find the boyfriend that takes the two of them around various parts of LA. She also tracks down the girl that the boyfriend cheated on her with. The film looks low budget and has a pretty thin plot, but is also somewhat compelling.
Love is Colder Than Death (1969) - 3/10 - This one did very little for me.
Sapphire (1959) - 8/10 - Two children find the body of a young woman in a park. The woman had been stabbed to death somewhere else and then the body was dumped there. The police investigate and soon the film follows the various leads as they look into her life and possible suspects. It's a nice police procedural.
Peppermint Candy (1999) - 7.5/10 - Kim Yeong-ho shows up at the 20th reunion party to the surprise of his old friends. Something is clearly not right with him, though, and he looks like he might jump from a set of train tracks. The film then proceeds to go through 7 times in Yeong-ho's life in reverse chronological order. The film is pretty good and while it apparently ties in to certain periods/events in Korea's history, the film can certainly be enjoyed without that knowledge. I'm not well versed in that history and the film worked well enough for me.
Death Wish 3 (1985) - 3/10 - Vigilante Paul Kersey returns to NYC to visit a friend and finds that the friend's neighborhood is under siege from a vicious gang. He gets unofficial permission from the police to do his vigilante thing. The film is ridiculous on a number of levels from the cartoonish bad guys and police, exploding cars, and so on. I don't really get the economics of how the gang survives on such slim pickings and why so many of the residents seem to continue with their daily lives with all of this stuff continually happening. The film is kind of funny for a while, but eventually is just bad.
Watch Out for the Automobile (1966) - 8/10 - An insurance agent disgusted by the bribery and cheating that he sees takes it upon himself to steal cars from those he sees as corrupt and then sell the cars to aid those in need. There are a number of clever gags in the film and one long chase sequence that is pretty funny. The police inspector who is trying to track down the car thief befriends the thief since both are active in an amateur theater troupe. It slows down some toward the end, but is still pretty entertaining.
Assa (1987) - 8.5/10 - In 1980, a young underground musician befriends and falls for the young mistress of a much older mob boss who is under KGB surveillance. There are also occasional scenes which show the last day of Emperor Paul I, based on the book that the mob boss is reading. I thought those scenes were somewhat interesting, but didn't add that much to the overall film. The film itself is very good and has a nice soundtrack as well.
Gentlemen of Fortune (1971) - 6/10 - An archeologist discovers the golden helmet of Alexander the Great, but it is promptly stolen by a thief and his two dimwitted accomplices. They are caught and sentenced to prison, but the helmet is not recovered. A kindergarten teacher happens to be an almost perfect double for the boss of the gang and he is talked into going undercover to try and find the helmet's hiding place. This comedy has a few funny moments scattered throughout, but is mostly just dumb.
Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures (1965) - 8/10 - This film is a collection of three 30 minute shorts featuring a college student named Shurik. The first episode takes place on a construction site and is like a live action cartoon much of the time. The second episode takes place at college while students are preparing for examinations. It's the most lighthearted of the three and my favorite. The third episode takes place at a warehouse that Shurik ends up guarding. It isn't as funny as the first two episodes, though there are still amusing things in it.
Kala Pani (1958) - 8/10 - A young man finds out that his father is not dead, but has been imprisoned for murder these past 15 years. He travels to the city where he is being held to see him and discovers that his father was actually innocent. He then tries to gather evidence to free the father, but runs afoul of those who falsely put him away. I enjoyed this one, including the various songs. The ending was a bit too quick and pat, but maybe they figured after 2.5 hours it was time to wrap it up.
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964) - 8/10 - The film takes place at a Young Pioneers summer camp for kids. Kostja is a bit of a rule breaker and the head of the camp kicks him out and escorts him to the train station to head home for swimming in the wrong place. Kostja decides to stay, though, and sneaks back into the camp. The other kids help him stay hidden and avoid discovery while plenty of hijinx ensue. It's a pretty funny and entertaining film.
Bound (1996) - 6.5/10 - Two women come up with a plot to steal millions of dollars in mob money. I was pretty bored with the film during the first half, but it picked up after that and the second half was more entertaining.
Miami Blues (1990) - 7/10 - Alec Baldwin stars as a man just out of prison (that sounds so familiar) who travels to Miami to start over. He starts a crime spree that includes robbing other criminals, impersonating a police officer, and so on. He also hooks up with a young prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who has dreams of making a home with him. It's off beat and fairly entertaining.
Poetry (2010) - 9/10 - A 66 year old woman is diagnosed as being in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She lives with her teenage grandson, but he isn't very well behaved or appreciative. She also becomes interested in poetry and starts attending classes at the community center. She works hard at writing a poem, but it doesn't come easy to her. Yoon Jeong-hee was very good in this.
Decision to Leave (2022) - 6/10 - A man dies from a fall off of a mountain, but was it an accident, murder, or suicide? A detective looks into the case and starts to suspect the much younger wife of having committed murder. He also finds himself becoming enamored with her. I thought I was going to enjoy this film a lot more than I did. It looks nice, but the way the story was told didn't really work all that well for me.
Buffalo '66 (1998) - 7/10 - Vincent Gallo stars as Billy, a guy who is just out of jail. His first big challenge is finding a bathroom that he can use. He kidnaps a teenage girl named Layla (Christina Ricci) to take home to meet his parents, pretending that she is his wife. Billy is a bit socially awkward, the reasons for which are fairly clear after meeting his parents. Gallo and Ricci each did a nice job and I liked this more than I thought I would early in the film.
Ms .45 (1981) - 7.5/10 - A young mute woman is raped twice in one day. She obtains a gun and starts taking revenge on men who harass women, even going out looking for trouble at night. This is a well made revenge film. The idea is pretty simple, but Zoë Lund is good in the lead role.
Gaetmaeul / The Seaside Village (1965) - 7.5/10 - Hae-sun is a pretty young newlywed who lives in a seaside village. Her husband dies due to fierce storm during a fishing trip. Hae-sun joins the other widows in the village in their daily activities, but soon has to fend off the unwanted advances of her brother-in-law. This had pretty nice cinematography. The women in the film were more interesting characters than the men.
A Pistol for Ringo (1965) - 7.5/10 - Ringo is a young gunman who is locked up after killing four men in self defense. A gang of outlaws then rob the bank and terrorize the town before stopping at an estate and holding all of the people there prisoner, including the sheriff's fiancee. The sheriff recruits Ringo to help rescue the hostages. There was more humor than I had expected and it was a fun film to watch.
And God Said to Cain (1970) - 8/10 - Klaus Kinski stars as a soldier who was falsely imprisoned for 10 years. When he is pardoned, he sets out to get revenge on the man who framed him and those who work for the man. The film has a lot of atmosphere and there is some creativity in how the man goes about the wind-swept town to whittle down the men facing him.
Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10 - A man and two women set out on a road trip through the Australian Outback. Their car breaks down at Wolf Creek National Park with nobody else around. A man in a truck shows up and offers to tow them to his place so that he can fix their car for them. This is the start of their nightmare. It isn't a bad film, though I think I would have liked it a lot more had it stuck to the road trip vibe of the first 10-15 minutes rather than becoming a horror film.
Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967)- 4/10 - A group of thieves steal a shipment of gold, but then one faction of the group turns on the other and kills them. However, one of the men who is thought to be dead actually survives and looks for revenge (and the gold) once he recovers. He catches up to them in a strange town at the edge of the desert. This was pretty bad.
If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968) - 6/10 - A stagecoach is robbed and the strongbox full of gold is stolen. Somebody has hidden the gold away and several people strive to find it, including a few bad guys and one good guy named Sartana. There's a fair amount of backstabbing and misdirection.
Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10 - Alvin has been irresistible to women since he was a teen. He also has a near insatiable appetite for sex. He eventually sees a psychiatrist for his condition and ends up as a sort of sex therapist. I didn't really find this sex comedy all that amusing much of the time.
Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10 - Bubby is a 30-something year old who has lived his whole life shut in a squalid home with his mother. She has told him that the air outside is poisonous and can't be survived without a gas mask. Then one day his father visits and it eventually leads him to go outside to explore. I hated the first half hour. It did get better after that, though I still didn't like it very much.
Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10 - A girl whose absent father is white and whose mother and stepfather are indigenous leaves home to go in search of her father. She is joined on the road by an indigenous boy who escaped from a low security prison facility so that he could visit his sick mother. The two are somewhat antagonistic toward each other at first, but slowly bond.
¡Matalo! (1970) - 2/10 - That was a strange movie, and not in a good way.
Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10 - A Jesuit priest in the 1630s travels with an Algonquin tribe in an effort to convert them to Catholicism. It was pretty scenic and a decent historical drama.
Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10 - Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman portray a married couple who lose their young child in an accident. They decide to take a trip on their yacht to get away from civilization and try to recover. They come across a disabled boat with a frantic man who rows aboard (Billy Zane). This is the start of their real troubles. I thought this was pretty good and Nicole Kidman in particular was very good in it.
Muriel's Wedding (1994) - 8/10 - Muriel is socially awkward and finds herself put down by her father and friends. She takes some money and uses it for a tropical vacation where she makes a friend and starts making some changes in her life. The film is offbeat, but generally fun. Toni Collette is good in the lead role.
Love is Colder Than Death (1969) - 3/10 - This one did very little for me.
Sapphire (1959) - 8/10 - Two children find the body of a young woman in a park. The woman had been stabbed to death somewhere else and then the body was dumped there. The police investigate and soon the film follows the various leads as they look into her life and possible suspects. It's a nice police procedural.
Peppermint Candy (1999) - 7.5/10 - Kim Yeong-ho shows up at the 20th reunion party to the surprise of his old friends. Something is clearly not right with him, though, and he looks like he might jump from a set of train tracks. The film then proceeds to go through 7 times in Yeong-ho's life in reverse chronological order. The film is pretty good and while it apparently ties in to certain periods/events in Korea's history, the film can certainly be enjoyed without that knowledge. I'm not well versed in that history and the film worked well enough for me.
Death Wish 3 (1985) - 3/10 - Vigilante Paul Kersey returns to NYC to visit a friend and finds that the friend's neighborhood is under siege from a vicious gang. He gets unofficial permission from the police to do his vigilante thing. The film is ridiculous on a number of levels from the cartoonish bad guys and police, exploding cars, and so on. I don't really get the economics of how the gang survives on such slim pickings and why so many of the residents seem to continue with their daily lives with all of this stuff continually happening. The film is kind of funny for a while, but eventually is just bad.
Watch Out for the Automobile (1966) - 8/10 - An insurance agent disgusted by the bribery and cheating that he sees takes it upon himself to steal cars from those he sees as corrupt and then sell the cars to aid those in need. There are a number of clever gags in the film and one long chase sequence that is pretty funny. The police inspector who is trying to track down the car thief befriends the thief since both are active in an amateur theater troupe. It slows down some toward the end, but is still pretty entertaining.
Assa (1987) - 8.5/10 - In 1980, a young underground musician befriends and falls for the young mistress of a much older mob boss who is under KGB surveillance. There are also occasional scenes which show the last day of Emperor Paul I, based on the book that the mob boss is reading. I thought those scenes were somewhat interesting, but didn't add that much to the overall film. The film itself is very good and has a nice soundtrack as well.
Gentlemen of Fortune (1971) - 6/10 - An archeologist discovers the golden helmet of Alexander the Great, but it is promptly stolen by a thief and his two dimwitted accomplices. They are caught and sentenced to prison, but the helmet is not recovered. A kindergarten teacher happens to be an almost perfect double for the boss of the gang and he is talked into going undercover to try and find the helmet's hiding place. This comedy has a few funny moments scattered throughout, but is mostly just dumb.
Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures (1965) - 8/10 - This film is a collection of three 30 minute shorts featuring a college student named Shurik. The first episode takes place on a construction site and is like a live action cartoon much of the time. The second episode takes place at college while students are preparing for examinations. It's the most lighthearted of the three and my favorite. The third episode takes place at a warehouse that Shurik ends up guarding. It isn't as funny as the first two episodes, though there are still amusing things in it.
Kala Pani (1958) - 8/10 - A young man finds out that his father is not dead, but has been imprisoned for murder these past 15 years. He travels to the city where he is being held to see him and discovers that his father was actually innocent. He then tries to gather evidence to free the father, but runs afoul of those who falsely put him away. I enjoyed this one, including the various songs. The ending was a bit too quick and pat, but maybe they figured after 2.5 hours it was time to wrap it up.
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964) - 8/10 - The film takes place at a Young Pioneers summer camp for kids. Kostja is a bit of a rule breaker and the head of the camp kicks him out and escorts him to the train station to head home for swimming in the wrong place. Kostja decides to stay, though, and sneaks back into the camp. The other kids help him stay hidden and avoid discovery while plenty of hijinx ensue. It's a pretty funny and entertaining film.
Bound (1996) - 6.5/10 - Two women come up with a plot to steal millions of dollars in mob money. I was pretty bored with the film during the first half, but it picked up after that and the second half was more entertaining.
Miami Blues (1990) - 7/10 - Alec Baldwin stars as a man just out of prison (that sounds so familiar) who travels to Miami to start over. He starts a crime spree that includes robbing other criminals, impersonating a police officer, and so on. He also hooks up with a young prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who has dreams of making a home with him. It's off beat and fairly entertaining.
Poetry (2010) - 9/10 - A 66 year old woman is diagnosed as being in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She lives with her teenage grandson, but he isn't very well behaved or appreciative. She also becomes interested in poetry and starts attending classes at the community center. She works hard at writing a poem, but it doesn't come easy to her. Yoon Jeong-hee was very good in this.
Decision to Leave (2022) - 6/10 - A man dies from a fall off of a mountain, but was it an accident, murder, or suicide? A detective looks into the case and starts to suspect the much younger wife of having committed murder. He also finds himself becoming enamored with her. I thought I was going to enjoy this film a lot more than I did. It looks nice, but the way the story was told didn't really work all that well for me.
Buffalo '66 (1998) - 7/10 - Vincent Gallo stars as Billy, a guy who is just out of jail. His first big challenge is finding a bathroom that he can use. He kidnaps a teenage girl named Layla (Christina Ricci) to take home to meet his parents, pretending that she is his wife. Billy is a bit socially awkward, the reasons for which are fairly clear after meeting his parents. Gallo and Ricci each did a nice job and I liked this more than I thought I would early in the film.
Ms .45 (1981) - 7.5/10 - A young mute woman is raped twice in one day. She obtains a gun and starts taking revenge on men who harass women, even going out looking for trouble at night. This is a well made revenge film. The idea is pretty simple, but Zoë Lund is good in the lead role.
Gaetmaeul / The Seaside Village (1965) - 7.5/10 - Hae-sun is a pretty young newlywed who lives in a seaside village. Her husband dies due to fierce storm during a fishing trip. Hae-sun joins the other widows in the village in their daily activities, but soon has to fend off the unwanted advances of her brother-in-law. This had pretty nice cinematography. The women in the film were more interesting characters than the men.
A Pistol for Ringo (1965) - 7.5/10 - Ringo is a young gunman who is locked up after killing four men in self defense. A gang of outlaws then rob the bank and terrorize the town before stopping at an estate and holding all of the people there prisoner, including the sheriff's fiancee. The sheriff recruits Ringo to help rescue the hostages. There was more humor than I had expected and it was a fun film to watch.
And God Said to Cain (1970) - 8/10 - Klaus Kinski stars as a soldier who was falsely imprisoned for 10 years. When he is pardoned, he sets out to get revenge on the man who framed him and those who work for the man. The film has a lot of atmosphere and there is some creativity in how the man goes about the wind-swept town to whittle down the men facing him.
Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10 - A man and two women set out on a road trip through the Australian Outback. Their car breaks down at Wolf Creek National Park with nobody else around. A man in a truck shows up and offers to tow them to his place so that he can fix their car for them. This is the start of their nightmare. It isn't a bad film, though I think I would have liked it a lot more had it stuck to the road trip vibe of the first 10-15 minutes rather than becoming a horror film.
Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967)- 4/10 - A group of thieves steal a shipment of gold, but then one faction of the group turns on the other and kills them. However, one of the men who is thought to be dead actually survives and looks for revenge (and the gold) once he recovers. He catches up to them in a strange town at the edge of the desert. This was pretty bad.
If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968) - 6/10 - A stagecoach is robbed and the strongbox full of gold is stolen. Somebody has hidden the gold away and several people strive to find it, including a few bad guys and one good guy named Sartana. There's a fair amount of backstabbing and misdirection.
Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10 - Alvin has been irresistible to women since he was a teen. He also has a near insatiable appetite for sex. He eventually sees a psychiatrist for his condition and ends up as a sort of sex therapist. I didn't really find this sex comedy all that amusing much of the time.
Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10 - Bubby is a 30-something year old who has lived his whole life shut in a squalid home with his mother. She has told him that the air outside is poisonous and can't be survived without a gas mask. Then one day his father visits and it eventually leads him to go outside to explore. I hated the first half hour. It did get better after that, though I still didn't like it very much.
Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10 - A girl whose absent father is white and whose mother and stepfather are indigenous leaves home to go in search of her father. She is joined on the road by an indigenous boy who escaped from a low security prison facility so that he could visit his sick mother. The two are somewhat antagonistic toward each other at first, but slowly bond.
¡Matalo! (1970) - 2/10 - That was a strange movie, and not in a good way.
Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10 - A Jesuit priest in the 1630s travels with an Algonquin tribe in an effort to convert them to Catholicism. It was pretty scenic and a decent historical drama.
Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10 - Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman portray a married couple who lose their young child in an accident. They decide to take a trip on their yacht to get away from civilization and try to recover. They come across a disabled boat with a frantic man who rows aboard (Billy Zane). This is the start of their real troubles. I thought this was pretty good and Nicole Kidman in particular was very good in it.
Muriel's Wedding (1994) - 8/10 - Muriel is socially awkward and finds herself put down by her father and friends. She takes some money and uses it for a tropical vacation where she makes a friend and starts making some changes in her life. The film is offbeat, but generally fun. Toni Collette is good in the lead role.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
I might rewatch it. It’s been about ten years since my last viewing, which was probably my fourth overall. I’ve mentioned that Braveheart was my gateway into film but it started yielding diminishing returns almost immediately. When it arrived on video in 1997, I watched it and recall being instantly disappointed. Being a fourteen year old boy is really the sweet spot demo for that film.Greg wrote
Sabin, if you have one, I would be very interested to read a rewatch/review of Braveheart from this year by you.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Sabin, if you have one, I would be very interested to read a rewatch/review of Braveheart from this year by you.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Significant Other (Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, 2022) 7/10
Nature can be beautiful but also at times creepy, deceptive and dangerous. When you package it with a form-hopping alien it turns into a terror ride. A couple (Jake Lacy & Maika Monroe) goes backpacking in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. They are both in love with each other although there is an underlying tension between them. She appears stressed out and nervous as the hike begins. Soon they are pursued by something which landed courtesy of a meteor and has the ability to shift form. This old formula is regurgitated but has enough thrills - the screenplay even manages to involve a shark into the mix - to keep things moving at breakneck pace. The stunning Oregon location is a character by itself.
Marlowe (Neil Jordan, 2022) 4/10
Why are the mysteries that detective Phillip Marlowe tries to solve always so convoluted? This film is an adaptation of the 2014 novel "The Black-Eyed Blonde" by John Banville, and not by Raymond Chandler who originally created the character in his pulpy novels. Jordan creates the correct 1940s atmosphere via superb production design, costumes and cinematography. An heiress (Diane Kruger) hires Marlowe (Liam Neeson) to search for her missing lover who may or may not be the dead person who gets his skull crushed under a car. Also interested in locating him is her glamorous actress mother (Jessica Lange), and a mobster (Alan Cumming) from whom cocaine was stolen. There are assorted killings, and the two women snarl at everyone around them like perfect femme fatales. Too bad the plot is so confusing and dull.
Nature can be beautiful but also at times creepy, deceptive and dangerous. When you package it with a form-hopping alien it turns into a terror ride. A couple (Jake Lacy & Maika Monroe) goes backpacking in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. They are both in love with each other although there is an underlying tension between them. She appears stressed out and nervous as the hike begins. Soon they are pursued by something which landed courtesy of a meteor and has the ability to shift form. This old formula is regurgitated but has enough thrills - the screenplay even manages to involve a shark into the mix - to keep things moving at breakneck pace. The stunning Oregon location is a character by itself.
Marlowe (Neil Jordan, 2022) 4/10
Why are the mysteries that detective Phillip Marlowe tries to solve always so convoluted? This film is an adaptation of the 2014 novel "The Black-Eyed Blonde" by John Banville, and not by Raymond Chandler who originally created the character in his pulpy novels. Jordan creates the correct 1940s atmosphere via superb production design, costumes and cinematography. An heiress (Diane Kruger) hires Marlowe (Liam Neeson) to search for her missing lover who may or may not be the dead person who gets his skull crushed under a car. Also interested in locating him is her glamorous actress mother (Jessica Lange), and a mobster (Alan Cumming) from whom cocaine was stolen. There are assorted killings, and the two women snarl at everyone around them like perfect femme fatales. Too bad the plot is so confusing and dull.
Last edited by Reza on Sun May 07, 2023 3:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Well, now I'm writing more...Mister Tee wrote
Folks at AwardsWatch are always bitching about "genre bias" when horror or Marvel movies get passed over by critics, but I'd say se7en was an earlier, less defensible example of that. The movie is, of course, visually a masterwork, but it's also narratively fascinating, with a villain who's almost a distillation of the terrifying-to-this-day angry young man (his targets including such societal scapegoats as both the anorexic model and the overweight man), and a pursuer (Pitt) who fits the same profile and ends up destroying himself from the opposite direction. Even just from a plotting point of view, the script is remarkable. In 99% of such serial killer movies, the last reel consists of the detective finding himself the stalked, but turning the tables and bringing the killer to justice. In se7en, from the moment Spacey unexpectedly turns himself in, we have NO IDEA where the movie's going. The tension remains unbearable (I kept expecting Spacey to somehow break free of his cuffs riding in the car's back seat), but the final scene doesn't involve any kind of familiar struggle/shootout. The resolution is, rather, psychological horror: Freeman forced to witness his colleague's surrender to the dark side. It's an extraordinary piece of writing/filmmaking, somehow passed over by Oscar voters for charming lightweights like Il Postino and Babe.
Andrew Kevin Walker's script was the big element that leapt out to me on this viewing. Mike D'Angelo wrote about how the film deliberately downplays the gimmick, citing this example: when Brad Pitt is walking his first crime scene solo, he tells the people there to take a hike, walks around, takes in the scene, and only at the end of the scene does Fincher reveal the sin on the floor. How many other filmmakers would open with it? Fincher makes it feel like another distressing bummer in this horrific world. I hinted at this earlier but it's an interesting take on cynicism vs. idealism. The "detective's last case" trope was decades tired before this film came out but I'm struggling to think of one with this film's exact take on these two visions of the world. On paper, Brad Pitt is the idealist while Morgan Freeman is the cynic. But it's more interesting than that. Brad Pitt thinks the world is a good place with just a few bad people who need to be stopped. But he's also depicted as immature and impatient. He hates reading. He's prone to prejudice statements like calling Dante a "poetry-writing f****t" and easily dismisses their suspect as insane, "masturbating in his own feces." As the film goes on, his idealism seems closed-minded. Morgan Freeman on the other hand is the reasonable one. We expect to see a detective who is exhausted and gets rejuvenated by the younger cop, but Seven shows us the opposite. He tries to grant wisdom to the rookie. When we get to the film's midpoint (right before Spacey's arrival) they have a frank conversation in the bar where Freeman reveals the reason for his cynicism to be "not being able to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was a virtue" and admits to being in on it. He's saying that if that society is going correct itself, it requires everyone to become more active, caring, and understanding. Is he wrong? He's looking at the systemic. All Pitt wants to do is find the bad guys and arrest them. Spacey is a mix of the two. He sees systemic corruption but uses Pitt's tactics.
Astonishing that Seven only picked up one nomination (editing) but Batman Forever got three. A mark of shame that the MTV Movie Awards demonstrated better taste that year than the Academy.
Also saw Richard III. Quite good.
"How's the despair?"
-
Mister Tee
- Tenured Laureate
- Posts: 8648
- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
- Location: NYC
- Contact:
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
I think 1995 had maybe the broadest panoply of good movies of any year in the last 40, but it was never seen as a great year because there was no consensus on what was absolute best of the crop. The year prior, critics agreed on Pulp Fiction (and audiences Forrest Gump); the year before that, Schindler's List was near-unanimous choice. In 1995, the NY/LA critics concurred on Leaving Las Vegas, but it felt like a selection both backed into. Had the multitude of prize groups we have today existed then, I can imagine best film prizes going to a dozen or more films.
And I don't think the passage of time has made that situation any clearer. My top 5 that year would have included Leaving Las Vegas, se7en, Nixon, Heat and To Die For. But if you told me yours were The Usual Suspects, 12 Monkeys, Sense and Sensibility, Dead Man Walking and Crumb, I couldn't say you were dead wrong. We're all going to have movies from that year that just don't work for us, but the sheer volume of titles I remember fondly -- even smaller items like Dolores Claiborne, Smoke, Richard III, The City of Lost Children, Clueless, Rob Roy -- mark it for me a year I'd take back in a millisecond.
Folks at AwardsWatch are always bitching about "genre bias" when horror or Marvel movies get passed over by critics, but I'd say se7en was an earlier, less defensible example of that. The movie is, of course, visually a masterwork, but it's also narratively fascinating, with a villain who's almost a distillation of the terrifying-to-this-day angry young man (his targets including such societal scapegoats as both the anorexic model and the overweight man), and a pursuer (Pitt) who fits the same profile and ends up destroying himself from the opposite direction. Even just from a plotting point of view, the script is remarkable. In 99% of such serial killer movies, the last reel consists of the detective finding himself the stalked, but turning the tables and bringing the killer to justice. In se7en, from the moment Spacey unexpectedly turns himself in, we have NO IDEA where the movie's going. The tension remains unbearable (I kept expecting Spacey to somehow break free of his cuffs riding in the car's back seat), but the final scene doesn't involve any kind of familiar struggle/shootout. The resolution is, rather, psychological horror: Freeman forced to witness his colleague's surrender to the dark side. It's an extraordinary piece of writing/filmmaking, somehow passed over by Oscar voters for charming lightweights like Il Postino and Babe.
Which did lead me to one conclusion about the Oscars: the more choices voters have, the more likely they are to disappoint you with the ones they select.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Last round of these.
The American President (Rob Reiner): third viewing? I still think it deserves credit for being a successful political romantic comedy, but a few bum notes stuck out: Rob Reiner's direction isn't as snappy as it should be, Annette Bening doesn't quite turn Sidney Allen Wade into a three-dimensional character, and it's almost too successful as a male fantasy. Michael Douglas is flawless. Still, I have warm feelings for this film. Why wasn't it a bigger hit back in 1995? I vaguely recall it, Father of the Bride: Part II, and Sabrina all under-performing around the same span of two months.
The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood): if I’m ever asked “What is it a director does?” I might think of this movie. The answer is “Everything and nothing.” This film has some of the strongest directing of Eastwood’s career. There are scenes that are so perfect in this film, so confidently staged, shot, edited, and performed, that I cannot imagine it was a stressful set and yet put anyone else in charge and it would fall apart. The only way you can get coverage like the kind he gets between himself and Streep is confidence, instincts, and trust. On the other hand, this has some of the weakest directing of Eastwood’s career. There’s nothing objectively wrong with this framing device but what community theater did they get these actors? Nice instincts to cast unknowns but they should’ve stayed there. I’m trying to think of another director who would get scenes that are bad in exactly that way and I’m coming up short. With those actors, there needed to be an immediate overhaul of the script to make it work… but I guess tee up was at 3 that day. No matter, they’re easy enough to forget because so much of the rest of the film (as I get older) is just why I go to the movies in the first place. The most important thing you can offer a viewer is to experience the most important passage of a person’s life. No matter how bad this book might have been, it absolutely works on the big screen. When I think of who Meryl Streep is and what she does, increasingly I think of this performance. She’s great. But I think what Clint Eastwood does is incandescent. This part is almost unplayable and he’s just perfect in it.
I go back and forth between B+ and A- because what does work is so wonderful but what doesn’t is dreadful. Also, the film does drag a bit as it makes its way from its sublime midpoint to the climax in the truck which is all time great stuff. In hindsight, I’m not really sure why this film didn’t factor into the Oscar race more. Was it just released too early in the year (as Eastwood films were back then)? If so, why were four other Oscar films summer films. Was it too women-centered in appeal? Explain Sense and Sensibility. I don’t think anyone remembers 1995 as one of the all-time great years for film but there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
Carrington (Christopher Hampton): a good film that probably could’ve benefited from a stronger director’s eye. Michael Nyman’s score works overtime to create a mood but I always felt a slight remove from this curious couple as they hop into the future together, from partner to partner, intrigued but never quite engulfed. Dora Carrington’s evolution from virgin to poly is so matter-of-fact it’s almost admirable, but overall it just feels like a script that’s been filmed at a respectful, admiring distance. To Hampton’s credit, there’s plenty to admire.
Casino (Martin Scorsese): second viewing. Terrific procedural. Really, a doc cast with A-listers. I think Casino is a hinge between Goodfellas and The Irishman. There’s a dark futility to both Casino and The Irishman that these people think they’re going to run the show forever but it’s doomed because they’ve already lost power and they don’t know it. The Irishman just outright says they’re pathetic. Casino says they’re monsters but I don’t think it’s a strong portrait of monsters. Here’s my reasoning: the last hour (90 mins) has one dramatic driver: Sharon Stone wants her money and her divorce and De Niro won’t let her go. The film sort of implies that because De Niro refuses to admit he can’t win her love he destroys Las Vegas. In the last minutes, this is proven not to be true because the FBI discover Piscano’s records, so it undercuts this insane power struggle between these three figures. Which is fine. But the only interesting idea the film has in that period of time is a fascinating subversion of the De Niro archetype that it never commits to at all: that he is the biggest monster of all because of his pride. What did he think would happen? She fucking told him. Can't join the chorus of folks who view it as an escalation of everything that worked in Goodfellas. De Niro and Pesci always feel like filmed actors.
Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen): second viewing probably. It’s slight but fun. My biggest problem is that I don’t think it really has much to say. Also, Allen’s character doesn’t make a lot of sense. I never bought the cognitive dissonance of him trying to discover his adopted child’s true parentage and shape her as a way of avoiding the problems in his marriage. Points for a very creative way of hand-waiving it away with the Greek Chorus. This might seem like a little thing but the ending (the chance re-encounter between Allen and Sorvino and their children) sold it for me. The tradeoff with the gear of Woody Allen storytelling is clarity for tidiness. Also, Sorvino didn’t deserve to win over Allen or Winslet but she would’ve been my choice most years.
Safe (Todd Haynes): second viewing. Horrifying film. I think this is my favorite Todd Haynes film. Even the Haynes films that I love end up feeling a little thesis-y and lacking in dimension. Safe benefits from a narrow focus and a disease of the week rubric that doesn’t need… convincing melodrama, let’s say. From a top level, I just think it’s the best showcase for what Todd Haynes does but that doesn’t convey the sense of rediscovery I had watching it this time around. First of all, some personal life experiences made a big impact. Second, it’s fueled by so much anger and empathy about the world that we live in that I really got worked up watching it. The first hour of Safe is like an elegy for the effects of materialism on society as we’re asked to ponder what is making Carol sick. It’s a satire. Then when she goes to Wrenwood, we realize that the real tragedy of the film is to prevent someone from ending up in a place like this. Beyond anything else, that is the failure. Carol has all the privilege in the world and nobody cares enough to stop this from happening and her non-personality just becomes replaced by another one (Programming Made Simple: The Story of Humanity). There’s a remarkable moment I’ll never forget near the end. It’s when these people throw Carol a birthday party and it’s the first moment of real joy in the film and we’re asked to ponder “Well, this place sucks but maybe she’s found her people.” Carol gives a rambling speech full of crap like how we should be mindful of walking into buildings, and then for a brief moment she stops as if she is processing what has happened to her for the first time and we see her POV out at “her people.” And they look impossibly creepy. We shift back to her and she can’t finish the sentence. Maybe the thought is gone after a moment but she feels it and so do we. Fuck the Wrenwoods of the world. There’s never been more of them.
*First, my mother had a series of confusing, potentially non-existent illnesses during my childhood which nobody could diagnose that left her largely bedridden. It took my sister and I years to realize how weird that all was. Also, after living in Los Angeles now for fifteen years (!), I’ve had more than one friend get sucked into a cult scenario, offering variations on the psychological fascism similar to that of the Peter Friedman. I try to be an optimist but we live in a world where humans are tragically susceptible.
Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow): Bigelow bites off two films more than she can chew. The backdrop just overwhelms the hook. The idea of a black marketeer of video recorded memories that people plug into is such a strong idea (and Fiennes plays him so well) that I’m honestly not sure the hook-y location (Los Angeles at the end of Millennium) was even needed. The best scene is the first one of a snuff recording. Really, I could imagine an entire film around Nero trying to find the source of the snuff recordings and have been perfectly satisfied. The first act is at least 40 minutes of set-up. Credit Ralph Fiennes for turning Lenny Nero into making his squirrel-y huckster come across like a true believer (“The Santa Clause of the Subconscious”). It’s pretty close to being Southland Tales 2.0 except the hook and the backdrop are more palpable and less ironic, so it’s of interest as a curio and a vibe.
Also, I watched A Little Princess which is a very sweet, beautiful movie that I don't have much to say about. It's just a terrific family film that eschews kiddie elements.
Did a rewatch of Seven. Umpteenth viewing. Really regret not seeing this in theaters because it would've been a shattering experience. I still wrestle with the fact that it feels like it takes place in Gotham, like a comic book movie ahead of its time. But Andrew Kevin Walker's script grapples with idealism vs. pragmatism with more nuance than I originally thought. Also, Mike D'Angelo smartly points out that even though this film has a gimmick, it always downplays it and resists revealing it. Oh yeah, brilliant filmmaking as well. Most days I think it's my favorite David Fincher film.
The American President (Rob Reiner): third viewing? I still think it deserves credit for being a successful political romantic comedy, but a few bum notes stuck out: Rob Reiner's direction isn't as snappy as it should be, Annette Bening doesn't quite turn Sidney Allen Wade into a three-dimensional character, and it's almost too successful as a male fantasy. Michael Douglas is flawless. Still, I have warm feelings for this film. Why wasn't it a bigger hit back in 1995? I vaguely recall it, Father of the Bride: Part II, and Sabrina all under-performing around the same span of two months.
The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood): if I’m ever asked “What is it a director does?” I might think of this movie. The answer is “Everything and nothing.” This film has some of the strongest directing of Eastwood’s career. There are scenes that are so perfect in this film, so confidently staged, shot, edited, and performed, that I cannot imagine it was a stressful set and yet put anyone else in charge and it would fall apart. The only way you can get coverage like the kind he gets between himself and Streep is confidence, instincts, and trust. On the other hand, this has some of the weakest directing of Eastwood’s career. There’s nothing objectively wrong with this framing device but what community theater did they get these actors? Nice instincts to cast unknowns but they should’ve stayed there. I’m trying to think of another director who would get scenes that are bad in exactly that way and I’m coming up short. With those actors, there needed to be an immediate overhaul of the script to make it work… but I guess tee up was at 3 that day. No matter, they’re easy enough to forget because so much of the rest of the film (as I get older) is just why I go to the movies in the first place. The most important thing you can offer a viewer is to experience the most important passage of a person’s life. No matter how bad this book might have been, it absolutely works on the big screen. When I think of who Meryl Streep is and what she does, increasingly I think of this performance. She’s great. But I think what Clint Eastwood does is incandescent. This part is almost unplayable and he’s just perfect in it.
I go back and forth between B+ and A- because what does work is so wonderful but what doesn’t is dreadful. Also, the film does drag a bit as it makes its way from its sublime midpoint to the climax in the truck which is all time great stuff. In hindsight, I’m not really sure why this film didn’t factor into the Oscar race more. Was it just released too early in the year (as Eastwood films were back then)? If so, why were four other Oscar films summer films. Was it too women-centered in appeal? Explain Sense and Sensibility. I don’t think anyone remembers 1995 as one of the all-time great years for film but there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
Carrington (Christopher Hampton): a good film that probably could’ve benefited from a stronger director’s eye. Michael Nyman’s score works overtime to create a mood but I always felt a slight remove from this curious couple as they hop into the future together, from partner to partner, intrigued but never quite engulfed. Dora Carrington’s evolution from virgin to poly is so matter-of-fact it’s almost admirable, but overall it just feels like a script that’s been filmed at a respectful, admiring distance. To Hampton’s credit, there’s plenty to admire.
Casino (Martin Scorsese): second viewing. Terrific procedural. Really, a doc cast with A-listers. I think Casino is a hinge between Goodfellas and The Irishman. There’s a dark futility to both Casino and The Irishman that these people think they’re going to run the show forever but it’s doomed because they’ve already lost power and they don’t know it. The Irishman just outright says they’re pathetic. Casino says they’re monsters but I don’t think it’s a strong portrait of monsters. Here’s my reasoning: the last hour (90 mins) has one dramatic driver: Sharon Stone wants her money and her divorce and De Niro won’t let her go. The film sort of implies that because De Niro refuses to admit he can’t win her love he destroys Las Vegas. In the last minutes, this is proven not to be true because the FBI discover Piscano’s records, so it undercuts this insane power struggle between these three figures. Which is fine. But the only interesting idea the film has in that period of time is a fascinating subversion of the De Niro archetype that it never commits to at all: that he is the biggest monster of all because of his pride. What did he think would happen? She fucking told him. Can't join the chorus of folks who view it as an escalation of everything that worked in Goodfellas. De Niro and Pesci always feel like filmed actors.
Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen): second viewing probably. It’s slight but fun. My biggest problem is that I don’t think it really has much to say. Also, Allen’s character doesn’t make a lot of sense. I never bought the cognitive dissonance of him trying to discover his adopted child’s true parentage and shape her as a way of avoiding the problems in his marriage. Points for a very creative way of hand-waiving it away with the Greek Chorus. This might seem like a little thing but the ending (the chance re-encounter between Allen and Sorvino and their children) sold it for me. The tradeoff with the gear of Woody Allen storytelling is clarity for tidiness. Also, Sorvino didn’t deserve to win over Allen or Winslet but she would’ve been my choice most years.
Safe (Todd Haynes): second viewing. Horrifying film. I think this is my favorite Todd Haynes film. Even the Haynes films that I love end up feeling a little thesis-y and lacking in dimension. Safe benefits from a narrow focus and a disease of the week rubric that doesn’t need… convincing melodrama, let’s say. From a top level, I just think it’s the best showcase for what Todd Haynes does but that doesn’t convey the sense of rediscovery I had watching it this time around. First of all, some personal life experiences made a big impact. Second, it’s fueled by so much anger and empathy about the world that we live in that I really got worked up watching it. The first hour of Safe is like an elegy for the effects of materialism on society as we’re asked to ponder what is making Carol sick. It’s a satire. Then when she goes to Wrenwood, we realize that the real tragedy of the film is to prevent someone from ending up in a place like this. Beyond anything else, that is the failure. Carol has all the privilege in the world and nobody cares enough to stop this from happening and her non-personality just becomes replaced by another one (Programming Made Simple: The Story of Humanity). There’s a remarkable moment I’ll never forget near the end. It’s when these people throw Carol a birthday party and it’s the first moment of real joy in the film and we’re asked to ponder “Well, this place sucks but maybe she’s found her people.” Carol gives a rambling speech full of crap like how we should be mindful of walking into buildings, and then for a brief moment she stops as if she is processing what has happened to her for the first time and we see her POV out at “her people.” And they look impossibly creepy. We shift back to her and she can’t finish the sentence. Maybe the thought is gone after a moment but she feels it and so do we. Fuck the Wrenwoods of the world. There’s never been more of them.
*First, my mother had a series of confusing, potentially non-existent illnesses during my childhood which nobody could diagnose that left her largely bedridden. It took my sister and I years to realize how weird that all was. Also, after living in Los Angeles now for fifteen years (!), I’ve had more than one friend get sucked into a cult scenario, offering variations on the psychological fascism similar to that of the Peter Friedman. I try to be an optimist but we live in a world where humans are tragically susceptible.
Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow): Bigelow bites off two films more than she can chew. The backdrop just overwhelms the hook. The idea of a black marketeer of video recorded memories that people plug into is such a strong idea (and Fiennes plays him so well) that I’m honestly not sure the hook-y location (Los Angeles at the end of Millennium) was even needed. The best scene is the first one of a snuff recording. Really, I could imagine an entire film around Nero trying to find the source of the snuff recordings and have been perfectly satisfied. The first act is at least 40 minutes of set-up. Credit Ralph Fiennes for turning Lenny Nero into making his squirrel-y huckster come across like a true believer (“The Santa Clause of the Subconscious”). It’s pretty close to being Southland Tales 2.0 except the hook and the backdrop are more palpable and less ironic, so it’s of interest as a curio and a vibe.
Also, I watched A Little Princess which is a very sweet, beautiful movie that I don't have much to say about. It's just a terrific family film that eschews kiddie elements.
Did a rewatch of Seven. Umpteenth viewing. Really regret not seeing this in theaters because it would've been a shattering experience. I still wrestle with the fact that it feels like it takes place in Gotham, like a comic book movie ahead of its time. But Andrew Kevin Walker's script grapples with idealism vs. pragmatism with more nuance than I originally thought. Also, Mike D'Angelo smartly points out that even though this film has a gimmick, it always downplays it and resists revealing it. Oh yeah, brilliant filmmaking as well. Most days I think it's my favorite David Fincher film.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Oh yes ofcourse he is Irish.Mister Tee wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:33 pmAhem...I know us white guys are all alike, but Ireland claims him pretty emphatically.
-
Mister Tee
- Tenured Laureate
- Posts: 8648
- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
- Location: NYC
- Contact:
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
65 (Scott Beck & Bryan Woods, 2023) 6/10
A critic correctly stated this film does not have the cheesy quotient of the Raquel Welch dinosaur epic nor the awe inspiring wonder of Spielberg's classic foray into that same territory. However, we do get to see Adam Driver in full-on action mode. An astronaut, on a two-year space mission to pay for the cure of his daughter's terminal disease, crash lands on an unchartered planet. It turns out to be earth 65 million years ago when it was populated by all types of dinosaurs. It becomes a battle of wits for him and the only other survivor - a young girl / substitute daughter - as they try to stay one step ahead of death while trying to make it to the escape pod just as the infamous giant asteroid that annhilated the dinosaurs decides to make contact with earth. Pulpy B-movie has enough thrills to carry it through to the end.
Scream VI (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2023) 6/10
It's more of the same, still has the thrill of watching people die in extremely gruesome fashion, and one waits patiently for the next installment. For the first time we get to see two masked killers attack in tandem with each other but two plucky sisters are hell bent on surving their attacks and preferably killing them off.
Boston Strangler (Matt Ruskin, 2023) 4/10
Straightforward but rather dull rendering of the notorious strangler who killed 13 women in Boston during the 1960s. Filmed before with Tony Curtis as the strangler and Henry Fonda as the cop in pursuit. This version concentrates on the two female journalists - rookie Loretta McLaughlin (Kiera Knightley) and methodical Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) - who first broke the news after connecting the series of murders. Ruskin creates superb atmosphere - shot mostly in colour palettes of green and brown - taking in the sexist attitudes prevalent during the 1960s which the two female journalists have to sift through to get their views across. However, the screenplay lacks tension and suspense and the investigation becomes simply a series of knocking on doors, interviewing possible leads, and shuffling papers. The two actresses are very good though with Knightley ably disguising her Brit accent.
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022) 8/10
Jennifer Lawrence returns to her Indie roots where she first made a raw but stunning appearance in Winter's Bone in 2010. Then life quickly changed for her. An Oscar and a high profile career of hits with a succession of Oscar nominations and a lead role in a huge boxoffice franchise capped what turned out to be a rocky road leading towards a collapse. This quiet little film is clearly an antidote to her quick fame which all but fizzled for her - including high profile relationships that crashed along with exposure of highly personal photographs in the media that got leaked. A U.S. soldier (Jennifer Lawrence), recovering from a brain injury during a shootout in Afghanistan, returns to her hometown in New Orleans to be with her wayward mother. The screenplay is a series of low key vignettes played out with characters around her - a caregiver/nurse, her doctor, her mother with whom she has a tense relationship, her hearing impaired drug addict brother in prison and her friendship with an auto mechanic (Brian Tyree Henry) who appears to be nursing even more deep rooted wounds than her. Gentle subdued film deals with trauma, recovery and forgiveness. Lawrence and especially Tyree Henry (he received an Oscar nomination) are phenomenal with their quietly anguished but understated performances helped no doubt by director Neugebauer who reigns in both actors to act with their eyes and faces instead of flailing their bodies to go the obvious dramatic route. Quietly mesmerizing film is well worth checking out.
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022) 7/10
Bittersweet memory piece. A divorced dad (Paul Mescal) is on a cheap turkish vacation with his 11-year old daughter (Frankie Corio). They bond together. Nothing dramatic happens. In fact the film is a series of vignettes as they swim, talk, take photographs of each other, the child mixes with kids her own age at the resort. However, something is amiss as he is hiding something which troubles him - financial difficulties, depression - which she senses but he does not reveal. Coming of age drama has at its center the remarkable chemistry between the two actors and the telling fact that memories can be deceptive and one often misjudges people when recalling events and people from the past. The screenplay has the adult daughter thinking about that brief vacation and time spent with her dad who remains evasive - he disappeared from her life never to be seen again which a deceptively harrowing scene in the film foretells. The Scottish Mescal received an Oscar nomination for his internally complex character.
A critic correctly stated this film does not have the cheesy quotient of the Raquel Welch dinosaur epic nor the awe inspiring wonder of Spielberg's classic foray into that same territory. However, we do get to see Adam Driver in full-on action mode. An astronaut, on a two-year space mission to pay for the cure of his daughter's terminal disease, crash lands on an unchartered planet. It turns out to be earth 65 million years ago when it was populated by all types of dinosaurs. It becomes a battle of wits for him and the only other survivor - a young girl / substitute daughter - as they try to stay one step ahead of death while trying to make it to the escape pod just as the infamous giant asteroid that annhilated the dinosaurs decides to make contact with earth. Pulpy B-movie has enough thrills to carry it through to the end.
Scream VI (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2023) 6/10
It's more of the same, still has the thrill of watching people die in extremely gruesome fashion, and one waits patiently for the next installment. For the first time we get to see two masked killers attack in tandem with each other but two plucky sisters are hell bent on surving their attacks and preferably killing them off.
Boston Strangler (Matt Ruskin, 2023) 4/10
Straightforward but rather dull rendering of the notorious strangler who killed 13 women in Boston during the 1960s. Filmed before with Tony Curtis as the strangler and Henry Fonda as the cop in pursuit. This version concentrates on the two female journalists - rookie Loretta McLaughlin (Kiera Knightley) and methodical Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) - who first broke the news after connecting the series of murders. Ruskin creates superb atmosphere - shot mostly in colour palettes of green and brown - taking in the sexist attitudes prevalent during the 1960s which the two female journalists have to sift through to get their views across. However, the screenplay lacks tension and suspense and the investigation becomes simply a series of knocking on doors, interviewing possible leads, and shuffling papers. The two actresses are very good though with Knightley ably disguising her Brit accent.
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022) 8/10
Jennifer Lawrence returns to her Indie roots where she first made a raw but stunning appearance in Winter's Bone in 2010. Then life quickly changed for her. An Oscar and a high profile career of hits with a succession of Oscar nominations and a lead role in a huge boxoffice franchise capped what turned out to be a rocky road leading towards a collapse. This quiet little film is clearly an antidote to her quick fame which all but fizzled for her - including high profile relationships that crashed along with exposure of highly personal photographs in the media that got leaked. A U.S. soldier (Jennifer Lawrence), recovering from a brain injury during a shootout in Afghanistan, returns to her hometown in New Orleans to be with her wayward mother. The screenplay is a series of low key vignettes played out with characters around her - a caregiver/nurse, her doctor, her mother with whom she has a tense relationship, her hearing impaired drug addict brother in prison and her friendship with an auto mechanic (Brian Tyree Henry) who appears to be nursing even more deep rooted wounds than her. Gentle subdued film deals with trauma, recovery and forgiveness. Lawrence and especially Tyree Henry (he received an Oscar nomination) are phenomenal with their quietly anguished but understated performances helped no doubt by director Neugebauer who reigns in both actors to act with their eyes and faces instead of flailing their bodies to go the obvious dramatic route. Quietly mesmerizing film is well worth checking out.
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022) 7/10
Bittersweet memory piece. A divorced dad (Paul Mescal) is on a cheap turkish vacation with his 11-year old daughter (Frankie Corio). They bond together. Nothing dramatic happens. In fact the film is a series of vignettes as they swim, talk, take photographs of each other, the child mixes with kids her own age at the resort. However, something is amiss as he is hiding something which troubles him - financial difficulties, depression - which she senses but he does not reveal. Coming of age drama has at its center the remarkable chemistry between the two actors and the telling fact that memories can be deceptive and one often misjudges people when recalling events and people from the past. The screenplay has the adult daughter thinking about that brief vacation and time spent with her dad who remains evasive - he disappeared from her life never to be seen again which a deceptively harrowing scene in the film foretells. The Scottish Mescal received an Oscar nomination for his internally complex character.