Cinemanolis wrote:Breaking Away 7/10
I expected to like this film more. I don't get Barbara Barrie's nomination (not to mention that when i started watching it i expected Barbara Harris to be in it), especially since her screen husband Paul Dooley is the one that should be nominated.
I saw this a few months ago and didn't connect with it. Also don't understand Barbara Barries's nomination.
It probabbly was nominated for best picture for it's box office appeal
A Little Romance 5/10
Tender film, with a nice supporting turn by Olivier and interesting score. However the story wasn't conviencing for me.
Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? 7/10
The first half hour of the movie is hilarious, but the rest of the movie doesn't live up to the expectations created by the beginning. Very funny one-liners. Robert Morley steals the show, but Jean Rouchefort and Jean Pierre Cassell are also wonderful. Segal on the other side is monotonous.
Manhattan 7/10
Refreshing like most the early Woody Allen films. Wonderful Manhattan images and Gershwin music. Hemingway is very good, but Keaton's performance was awfully familiar. Certainly in my Woody Allen Top10, but not Top5.
Breaking Away 7/10
I expected to like this film more. I don't get Barbara Barrie's nomination (not to mention that when i started watching it i expected Barbara Harris to be in it), especially since her screen husband Paul Dooley is the one that should be nominated.
Long Good Friday 7/10
Wonderful performances by Hoskins and Mirren. Nice music score, and a memorable last shot.
Secret of Santa Victoria 6/10
It's always nice to see Anna Magniani, and there are some nice moments in this, but it never really delivers as it should have. Anthony Quinn is over the top at times.
84 Charring Cross Road 6/10
I liked the premise of a 'love story' between two people who have never met in person, but somehow the movie didn't work for me. Anne Bancroft was excellent (although i didn't understand why she was talking to the camera, especially since it was happening randomly). And why the hell did they cast Judi Dench when her role was so underwritten? Though i must say that in her one good scene, writting her last letter to Bancroft, she was magnificent.
Act of Violence (Fred Zinnemann, 1948) 6/10
Highlight of the film is Mary Astor as an old and jaded prostitute.
Decoy (Jack Bernhard, 1946) 9/10
Superb, forgotten film noir from the Monogram studio with possibly the best portrayal of a femme fatale (British actress Jean Gillie..who made 2 films only and died at the early age of 34) ever.
Crime Wave (Andre de Toth, 1954) 8/10
Yet another film that proves how underrated Sterling Hayden was. Hard hitting film noir with equally superb performances by Phyllis Kirk and Charles Bronson as a sadistic thug. Warners wanted Bogart and Ava Gardner to star but director de Toth turned them down in favour of Hayden and Kirk.
Cam, have you watched the extras that came with the DVD? They might help explain some of your concerns. Also, Shanley's commentary is very informative.
The sermon about gossip is an old one that goes back centuries.
According to Shanley and the actors the point of the piece is not whether Hoffman's priest was guilty or not, but that we, the audience, should examine our own tendency to be judgmental which is something Sreep's character was plainly guilty of.
Having seen this 3 times now, I have come to interpret the final scene as Streep defending her actions to Adams with her usual defenses up until she has an on camera breakdown after which admits she has doubts, the doubts being about the priest's guilt. This makes more sense within the confines of the piece than my initial interpretation that her doubts were a crisis of faith.
Although Shanley used a real life nun as his inspiration for Adams' character, the piece is a work of fiction spurred by his idea that although no one talked about sexual abuse by priests in the 60s priests were mysteriously moved from parish to parish without warning. Someone had to be reporting them, who else could it be but the nuns?
While he claims not to take sides, Shanley's sympathies are clearly with the nuns. One of the extras is an interview with four elderly members of the Sisters of Charity including the real life Sister James, now in her 70s, who in an old photo is the spitting image of Amy Adams in the film.
THis has been a very bad winter health-wise for me, so we are just getting around to seeing some of last year's films in DVD.
Doubt( 6/10)
Hoffman wasn't very convincng in his big scene.
The film reminded me of what a bunch of hokum the Catholic Church really is worldwide, any in any Catholic Church I have attended, I never heard anything as Folksy as that priest's sermons. The pernicious abuse of priests in the Church could have been served better than this film.
I thought Adams was good, but the ending( for Sr. Adams) left us totally flat: finally Sr. Aloyicious breaks down and says she has "doubts". What doubts? Obviously a play, not a film, and not worth the hype it got, we did not think.
In any case, Streep(who reminded us a bit of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) was better this past year in Mamma Mia!
And --someone help me-- I do not remember transistor radios in 1964. Hell I don't even remember ear-plugs then.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
A complete shambles in just about every department. Thank goodness for the outstanding selection of hit's from the 60's on the soundtrack.
Good (2008) Vincene Amorin 4/10
Viggo Mortensen is the best thing about this sometimes muddled affair. The films climax, which takes place at a Nazi death camp, is filmed in a particularly striking manner.
Puffball (2008) Nicolas Roeg 7/10
It's hard not to be disappointed with this film given my fondness of most of Roeg's work. And whilst this is no Walkabout, Performance, Eureka, Bad Timing, The Witches or The Man Who Fell to Earth it is nevertheless good in it's own right. It could have done with a trim. All of Donald Sutherlands scenes could be removed without disrupting the narrative though despite this the film flows quite beautifully. Like most of Roeg's film one can interpret it anyway one pleases. The film is based on a novel by Fay Weldon.
Edited By Precious Doll on 1239321003
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Extremely old fashioned romantic comedy, not unlike Indiscreet (1958) from way back. The plots of both films rely heavily on the antics of ''mature'' stars and succeed thanks to their charm.....Grant & Bergman in the old film and Hoffman & Thompson here. Pity Eileen Atkins has little to do......although with the right part it would be great to see her eventually win an Oscar.
--HarryGoldfarb wrote:Twilight (2008): 5/10
Some kind of entertaining at the beggining but eneventfull in the end. Is the book that simple, underdeveloped and sketched as the film?
I heard from numerous sources that this is the case for all of the books in the series.
My 14 year old daughter is an absolute fanatic of this series of books......although she did not like the film version of Twillight.
