Cape Fear (1962) - 8.5/10 - Max Cady is released from prison after an eight year term for rape. He's out for revenge on attorney Sam Bowden and his family. Bowden was the witness who got him convicted. Cady stalks the Bowden family, but does so in a way that stays within the letter of the law. The remake was good, but I liked this one a little bit more.
Carnival Night (1956) - 8/10 - A New Year's Eve party is planned at the Economics Institute with a lot of singing, a jazz band, a magician, and other fun acts. The new director arrives and wants to replace this with boring speeches and no fun whatsoever. The organizers of the show do what they can to circumvent the director and keep him from spoiling the fun. This would not have been out of place as a Hollywood production of the time and I thought it was fun and entertaining.
El Mariachi (1992) - 8/10 - A young mariachi player travels through a town with his guitar case trying to find work so that he can earn a living and do what he loves. Unfortunately for him, there is a killer who recently escaped from jail traveling around town with a guitar case full of weapons and the mariachi player is mistaken for the killer by the drug lord's men who want him out of the way. A very entertaining film.
Anand (1971) - 8/10 - A doctor is being celebrated for his new novel. He then tells the audience how the book is about a real man and the story unfolds from there. Anand has a rare form of cancer which leaves him around 6 months to live. He is determined to stay active and keep a sunny outlook, bringing happiness to those around him even as he gets closer to dying. The doctor finds himself affected in a number of ways by Anand. Nice performances and a pretty good movie.
Intruder in the Dust (1949) - 8/10 - In 1940s Mississippi, a black man is found holding a gun and standing over the body of a white man who was just shot. It's up to a lawyer, two teenage boys, and an old woman to prove his innocence and keep him away from the lynch mob.
Panique (1946) - 8/10 - Monsieur Hire is a middle aged loner who has lived in the local hotel several years. He isn't particularly sociable or well liked. When a woman is found strangled in a lot on the day the carnival arrives, suspicion eventually falls on Monsieur Hire with mob mentality setting in, fanned along by the real killer. This is a very nice French noir.
Pépé le Moko (1937) - 8/10 - Pépé is a thief who has been avoiding the police by staying in the Casbah for the past two years. If he leaves, a local police inspector is likely to arrest him. They've been playing a game of cat and mouse for some time. One of Pépé's associates plans to betray him, but the real danger may lie in the Parisian woman who happens into the Casbah one evening and the two end up falling for each other. Jean Gabin gives a pretty nice performance.
Tension (1949) - 8/10 - Warren Quimby is a drugstore manager whose wife has expensive tastes and isn't faithful to him. His wife leaves him for another man and this man roughs Quimby up when he tries to reclaim his wife. Quimby creates a new look and a new identity and starts plotting his revenge, but matters get complicated when a murder occurs. This one was pretty good with Richard Basehart in the lead.
The Brothers Rico (1957) - 8/10 - Eddie Rico (Richard Conte) and his wife have a successful laundry business in Florida and are about to adopt a baby. Their life is disrupted when Eddie finds out that his two brothers are in trouble. All three brothers used to work for the mafia in New York, but only Eddie managed to get out. Eddie is asked to locate his missing brother and get him to leave the country for a while, but things aren't that simple.
Ninjababy (2021) - 8/10 - Rakel is a young woman who is enjoying life and sleeps around on occasion. Still, she is surprised to learn that she is pregnant and even more surprised when she later finds out that she is around 6 months pregnant without showing. She has no desire to be a mother so this presents a problem. She starts seeing and conversing with an animated version of her unborn child. Overall, it is pretty good.
Børning (2014) - 7.5/10 - Roy has a souped up Mustang and likes to race it against others. His ex-wife drops off their teenage daughter just before a big street race and he mostly ignores her and wants her to stay out of the way. After the street race, Roy ends up agreeing to take part in a long race from Oslo to the North Cape. The movie was mediocre early on, but I thought it got better as it progressed and I liked the ending?
Strange Bargain (1949) - 7.5/10 - Sam Wilson has been a bookkeeper for a company for 12 years. He goes in to see the boss seeking a raise, but is offered a strange bargain instead. The boss plans to commit suicide for the insurance money and wants Sam to make it look like a murder. Jeffrey Lynn is very good as the nervous Sam Wilson who seems incapable of hurting anyone. Harry Morgan is also pretty good as the police detective in charge of the case.
No Man's Woman (1955) - 7.5/10 - A woman refuses to give her husband a divorce unless she pays him a huge settlement which would necessitate his selling off part of his business. She has at least one man on the side that she is using for her own purposes and intentionally tries to seduce her assistant's fiancé. She seems to enjoy making trouble for everyone. When she is murdered one night, there is a long list of suspects. Very entertaining.
Open Secret (1948) - 7.5/10 - A landlady checks on a photographer who lives in her building, but he seems to be on edge. He gets a call from an old army buddy who is on his honeymoon and wants to crash at the photographer's apartment and visit as well. Then he gets a second call which isn't as pleasant. When the army buddy shows up at the apartment, his friend is nowhere to be found. Another good noir.
The Face Behind the Mask (1941) - 7.5/10 - Peter Lorre stars as a newly arrived Hungarian immigrant who turns to crime after his face is badly burned in a fire and he can't find work. Lorre gives a nice performance.
Corsage (2022) - 7.5/10 - It's just before Christmas in 1877 and Empress Elizabeth of Austria is about to turn 40. She seems to be affected by getting older and appears to feel constrained by her role. I really liked the performance of Vicky Krieps as Elizabeth and while the film was a little too slow at times, especially during the middle portion, overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. The music worked pretty well for me, too.
Apples (2020) - 7.5/10 - A mysterious pandemic is causing people at random to lose their memories. They end up in institutions/hospitals where doctors try to help them recover or create new identities if they are among those with no identification and no one to claim them. A man joins one of these programs and becomes part of an experiment where he is set up in a house and given tasks to do each day, documenting them with polaroids. The film moves at a pretty slow pace, but remains interesting. There are some clues about the man scattered in the film and it is clear that the film is about more than just amnesia.
Ballad of a White Cow (2020) - 7.5/10 - After her husband is executed, Mina has to figure out how to keep going while also caring for her 7 year old deaf daughter. Several complications arise, starting with the discovery that her husband was actually innocent of the crime that he was executed for. The state seems indifferent and tells her and her husband's brother that she will receive blood money for his death. A man shows up at her door saying that he is an old friend of her husband and offers her aid, though this comes with its own set of problems. It's a pretty bleak film in a lot of ways, though not without some humor. The ending is perhaps a bit predictable, but still good.
Two O'Clock Courage (1945) - 7.5/10 - A female taxi driver comes across a man who is slightly injured and suffering from amnesia. She sets out to help him find out who he is, even though he fits the description of a man wanted for killing a theater producer. There is plenty of humor mixed in along with the mystery and action.
The Strange One (1957) - 7.5/10 - A sadistic bully at a military academy (modeled on The Citadel) uses manipulation to get others to carry out his wishes in punishing those who offend him and to show his power over others. It's a pretty good film, though the staginess of some sections and the age of some of the cadets took away a bit at times. Ben Gazzara gives a very nice performance as the villain. I also found the car that he drove (a Messerschmitt KR200) to be interesting, though it only appeared briefly.
The Tattooed Stranger (1950) - 7/10 - The body of a woman is found in a car in Central Park. She can't be identified except for a tattoo on her arm. This leads to a police procedural where a pair of detectives try to discover who she is and then who killed her. The most polished actor was the botanist/love interest who helps the younger detective with the investigation. It was pretty entertaining, though.
Strange Alibi (1941) - 7/10 - A police detective goes undercover to try and take on a gang that essentially runs the city, but is framed for the murder of the only man who knows that he was undercover. I had a couple of issues with the initial setup and there is only so much that you can pack into an hour, but this was pretty entertaining and the second half moved at a very nice clip. Arthur Kennedy does a nice job in the lead.
Strange Impersonation (1946) - 7/10 - Nora Goodrich is a scientist who has come up with a new anesthetic. The man she loves wants her to marry him as soon as possible, but she wants to finish her work with the anesthetic first. Then she has a pretty bad time where several events totally upend her life. I enjoyed the film and didn't mind the ending, though I've read comments from others who really disliked it.
Key Witness (1947) - 7/10 - The plot of this film is kind of ridiculous, but is still entertaining. Much of the story is told in flashback after a hobo is in an accident and ends up in the hospital. Milton Higby is an amateur inventor who is stuck in an office job where he is picked on by the boss and hasn't had a raise in years. He is something of a milquetoast at home as well. His whole demeanor changes when he hits it big at the races one day and this sets off a chain of event that sees him hit the road.
Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964) - 7/10 - A young writer from Siberia arrives in Moscow for a short visit. He makes a friend shortly after arriving and the tow hang out for the next day, helping a friend who wants to get married, going to a concert, walking the streets of Moscow, and so on. It's a pretty lighthearted film.
The Clay Pigeon (1949) - 7/10 - A former POW wakes up after being in a coma for two years to find that he is charged with treason. He supposedly informed on his fellow prisoners for stealing rations, leading to the death of one of his friends. His memories of that time are pretty hazy, but he is sure that he is innocent so he escapes and seeks help to clear his name. Fairly fast paced and entertaining.
The Lady Confesses (1945) - 7/10 - Larry Craig is about to marry his longtime girlfriend Vicki, but his wife shows up after being missing and presumed dead for 7 years. When the wife turns up dead, the police investigate with the investigation centering on Larry and a few people at a nightclub. Vicki also does her own investigation to try and clear Larry.
Duel to the Death (1983) - 7/10 - During the 16th Century, the champion swordsman of China is set to face off against the champion from Japan in a duel that is held every 10 years. However, the fighters discover that there is a plot to rig the fight. The two fighters are honorable and friendly toward one another, though they still plan to go on with the duel for their nation's honor. We get ninja and plenty of wuxia action.
Footsteps in the Night (1957) - 6.5/10 - A man is found dead in a hotel room. The chief suspect is another resident of the hotel and has fled the scene, but the detective in charge thinks that another man may be responsible. This is a decent police procedural.
Bhuvan Shome (1969) - 6.5/10 - Bhuvan Shome is a strict boss and very set in his ways. He decides to go on a hunting trip, though he has no experience. While on the trip, he meets a teenage girl named Gouri who befriends him and helps him change his ways. The film is a lot better and more interesting in the scenes with Gouri than in those without her.
When Strangers Marry (1944) - 6/10 - Millie Baxter travels by train to meet her husband, but finds that he isn't at the hotel when she arrives. He is a traveling salesman and she only went on three dates with him before getting married so she doesn't know him very well. This setup doesn't make me too inclined to think highly of Millie, but Kim Hunter does a decent job in the role. It turns out that her husband is wanted in connection with a murder in Philadelphia and is laying low. Millie isn't sure whether he is a murderer or is innocent, but innocently tries to help him.
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) - 6/10 - Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee team up as police officers who are skilled in martial arts. They are looking to take down the yakuza who are shaking down businesses and have a methamphetamine racket going. The leader of the yakuza also has history with Lundgren's character. It's not a particularly good film, but it's certainly watchable and the chemistry between the two leads is decent.
Journey Into Fear (1943) - 5/10 - An American working in Turkey is informed that Nazi agents are after him. He is quickly ushered onto a ship that is supposed to take him out of danger, but may actually put him in more danger thanks to the other passengers on the trip. The film is a bit of a mess, though that is likely intentional in some ways to get you to feel the confusion felt by the protagonist. I didn't really enjoy the film that much.
Shoot to Kill (1947) - 5/10 - A car crashes down a hill containing the new D.A., his wife, and a wanted gangster. She ends up in the hospital with a head injury and when she awakes, she tells her story to a newspaperman that she is friends with. The story had potential, but the acting isn't very good and a number of corners are cut, probably due to the low budget.
The Glass Alibi (1941) - 5/10 - A sleazy reporter concocts a scheme to marry a rich young woman who is supposed to have around 6 months to live. He figures to inherit the money when she dies, but she starts to get better. This wasn't very good.
The Hoodlum (1951) - 4/10 - A mother pleads with a parole board to set her son free. They grant him parole, but it doesn't take long to see that he hasn't changed at all and is still rotten and selfish to the core. The acting was subpar.
Happiness (1998) - 4/10 - This wasn't really my type of humor.
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus (2020) - 4/10 - Some of the art was kind of cool here and there, I guess, but the film didn't really do much for me. The seeming randomness of it didn't help.
Quei Loro Incontri (2006) - 3/10 - Five sections with two static actors reciting dialogue to each other. Dull as dishwater.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Napoleon (Ridley Scott, 2023) 4/10
Ridley Scott's Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix) is like a petulant child wanting immediate victory....and sex. One hilarious scene has him actually whinnying and stamping his feet like a horse as a signal to his wife Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby) for sex which he proceeds to do by crawling towards her under the dining table and pulling her down under himself. This very long film touches on every important moment in the young army officer's life starting during the French Revolution (he was never at Marie Antoinette's execution which the film incorrectly depicts) and his rapid rise to power going onto becoming Emperor of France. The problem with this film is that moments in his life are shown briefly as the screenplay swiftly moves from event to event at the cost of characterization - so many important historical characters - Marie Antoinette, Talleyrand (Paul Rhys), Paul Barras (Tahar Rahim), Louis XVIII, Tsar Alexander I, his mother Letizia Bonaparte (Sinéad Cusack), his second wife Marie-Louise, the Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett) - all appear literally for a few minutes on screen before exiting. The screenplay throws in five huge battles which are also shown as if on fast forward - the Battle of Austerlitz here takes place on a frozen lake (also innacurate) as the French take on the combined Austrian and Russian forces. However, it is a stunning moment on film with the ice cracking and the soldiers and horses drowning in frigid waters. The one constant theme running throughout the film is the Emperor's relationship with Joséphine - his sexual obsession with her which leads to marriage, crowning her as his Empress, being disappointed with her inability to give him an heir, their divorce, and his continued connection with her through letters until the day she died. Vanessa Kirby is the lone standout in the large cast who plays her character as sultry, shrewd and bemused by her lover's antics. She has an amazing moment during the public divorce sequence where the camera catches a slew of expressions that cross her face - sadness, amusement (she giggles at his absurd behaviour) and horror (when he slaps her). Scott's attempt at an epic involves a lot of historical innacuracies but which he uses purely for dramatic effect - the french media called him out on this to which he responded by telling them to get a life. The film's most annoying aspect is Dariusz Wolski's dreary and dark cinematography where sometimes even faces of actors are shrouded. Every moment on film is set in almost darkness - scenes shot indoors (candle light since no electricity back then) as well as outdoors (sky overcast during every battle scene). Overall disappointing film which should have been much better considering it was helmed by Ridley Scott.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Ol Parker, 2018) 7/10
Feel-good movie with many happy and fun moments accompanied by over 20 songs by ABBA on the soundtrack: amusing Celia Imrie breaking into song and dance, six young actors portraying older versions of Streep, Walters, Baranski, Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgård with Lily James and Amanda Seyfried both singing the lion's share of the songs, the surprise appearance of Cher who not only lifts the film further with her version of "Fernando" but sings it as a duet with Andy Garcia, the touching closing moments with Streep followed during the end credits by a rousing rendition of "Super Trouper" by the entire cast dressed to their teeth in ABBA attire from the glittery outfits down to the massive heeled shoes. It's all very cheesy and silly but those songs lift the spirits and bring a smile to the face. And Croatia substitutes for Greece this time round but is just as appealing and happily passes muster.
Allied (Robert Zemeckis, 2016) 7/10
Old fashioned cinema, stylishly filmed, which is a throwback to the likes of "Casablanca" only it comes up rather short on suspense or chemistry between the two hot stars - the enigmatic beauty of Marion Cotillard and the suave handsomeness of Brad Pitt fails to create sparks. Playing spies for the Resistance - he is a Canadian officer posing as french while she is french (of course) - who pose as husband and wife on a mission in Morocco where they assassinate the German Ambassador - the scene as filmed holds no suspense and the two go through the motions like two robots. They soon get married, have a child (in an open hospital yard during the Blitz with bombs falling all around), settle down into a comfortable (if rather boring) existence in the leafy Highgate section of London when suddenly there is suspicion of a grand deception. This is such a good looking film in every way - the stunning beauty and simplicity of the costumes, shimmering cinematography by Don Burgess, authentic period sets not to mention a whole lotta CGI - that it is easy to overlook the contrived plotting. Cotillard comes off better than Pitt. She is not only shown here as the movie star goddess she is but also acts well. Pitt is rather stiff but exudes the appropriate movie-star aura that is required for the part. This is basically a film to visit if you think they no longer make 'em like they used to - a flashback to the fake but golden age of Hollywood.
Ridley Scott's Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix) is like a petulant child wanting immediate victory....and sex. One hilarious scene has him actually whinnying and stamping his feet like a horse as a signal to his wife Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby) for sex which he proceeds to do by crawling towards her under the dining table and pulling her down under himself. This very long film touches on every important moment in the young army officer's life starting during the French Revolution (he was never at Marie Antoinette's execution which the film incorrectly depicts) and his rapid rise to power going onto becoming Emperor of France. The problem with this film is that moments in his life are shown briefly as the screenplay swiftly moves from event to event at the cost of characterization - so many important historical characters - Marie Antoinette, Talleyrand (Paul Rhys), Paul Barras (Tahar Rahim), Louis XVIII, Tsar Alexander I, his mother Letizia Bonaparte (Sinéad Cusack), his second wife Marie-Louise, the Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett) - all appear literally for a few minutes on screen before exiting. The screenplay throws in five huge battles which are also shown as if on fast forward - the Battle of Austerlitz here takes place on a frozen lake (also innacurate) as the French take on the combined Austrian and Russian forces. However, it is a stunning moment on film with the ice cracking and the soldiers and horses drowning in frigid waters. The one constant theme running throughout the film is the Emperor's relationship with Joséphine - his sexual obsession with her which leads to marriage, crowning her as his Empress, being disappointed with her inability to give him an heir, their divorce, and his continued connection with her through letters until the day she died. Vanessa Kirby is the lone standout in the large cast who plays her character as sultry, shrewd and bemused by her lover's antics. She has an amazing moment during the public divorce sequence where the camera catches a slew of expressions that cross her face - sadness, amusement (she giggles at his absurd behaviour) and horror (when he slaps her). Scott's attempt at an epic involves a lot of historical innacuracies but which he uses purely for dramatic effect - the french media called him out on this to which he responded by telling them to get a life. The film's most annoying aspect is Dariusz Wolski's dreary and dark cinematography where sometimes even faces of actors are shrouded. Every moment on film is set in almost darkness - scenes shot indoors (candle light since no electricity back then) as well as outdoors (sky overcast during every battle scene). Overall disappointing film which should have been much better considering it was helmed by Ridley Scott.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Ol Parker, 2018) 7/10
Feel-good movie with many happy and fun moments accompanied by over 20 songs by ABBA on the soundtrack: amusing Celia Imrie breaking into song and dance, six young actors portraying older versions of Streep, Walters, Baranski, Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgård with Lily James and Amanda Seyfried both singing the lion's share of the songs, the surprise appearance of Cher who not only lifts the film further with her version of "Fernando" but sings it as a duet with Andy Garcia, the touching closing moments with Streep followed during the end credits by a rousing rendition of "Super Trouper" by the entire cast dressed to their teeth in ABBA attire from the glittery outfits down to the massive heeled shoes. It's all very cheesy and silly but those songs lift the spirits and bring a smile to the face. And Croatia substitutes for Greece this time round but is just as appealing and happily passes muster.
Allied (Robert Zemeckis, 2016) 7/10
Old fashioned cinema, stylishly filmed, which is a throwback to the likes of "Casablanca" only it comes up rather short on suspense or chemistry between the two hot stars - the enigmatic beauty of Marion Cotillard and the suave handsomeness of Brad Pitt fails to create sparks. Playing spies for the Resistance - he is a Canadian officer posing as french while she is french (of course) - who pose as husband and wife on a mission in Morocco where they assassinate the German Ambassador - the scene as filmed holds no suspense and the two go through the motions like two robots. They soon get married, have a child (in an open hospital yard during the Blitz with bombs falling all around), settle down into a comfortable (if rather boring) existence in the leafy Highgate section of London when suddenly there is suspicion of a grand deception. This is such a good looking film in every way - the stunning beauty and simplicity of the costumes, shimmering cinematography by Don Burgess, authentic period sets not to mention a whole lotta CGI - that it is easy to overlook the contrived plotting. Cotillard comes off better than Pitt. She is not only shown here as the movie star goddess she is but also acts well. Pitt is rather stiff but exudes the appropriate movie-star aura that is required for the part. This is basically a film to visit if you think they no longer make 'em like they used to - a flashback to the fake but golden age of Hollywood.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2023) 9/10
Acclaimed 1970 book by Judy Blume comes to the screen in this touching yet often very funny adaptation about the trials, tribulations and coming-of-age of an 11-year old girl (Abby Ryder Fortson) brought up in an inter-faith household. Her Jewish father (Benny Safdie) and Christian mother (Rachel McAdams) want her to choose her own religion once she grows up. The story touches on anxious and happy moments in a child's life - shifting from the city to the suburb, adjusting to a new school, making new friends, and confronting early adolescent issues, such as menstruation, brassieres and the first kiss. The book faced controversy for its frank talk about menstruation and its depiction of a child being allowed to decide for herself what religion she would prefer to adhere to. Today these subjects are no longer a cause for concern but the film perfectly captures the angst a child feels about religion and God - she has regular conversations with God during times of crises, and during a tense family moment exclaims how religion is always causing strife and wants no part of it. Kathy Bates is a riot as the child's loving Jewish grandmother. The screenplay treats every character with care and tenderness but the entire film is held together by the fantastic lead performance by Abby Ryder Fortson who so perfectly captures the conflicting moods of an adolescent.
Queen of the Desert (Werner Herzog, 2015) 5/10
Dull movie about a fascinating woman - Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) who was an English writer, traveller, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson), Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq. Her supposed love affairs are briefly touched upon - with a diplomat in Iran (James Franco) which ends badly and later with a married British officer (Damian Lewis) which remains unconsumated. The film tries to ape David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" but is presented in a plodding by-the-numbers manner. Kidman sails through the film with a deadpan expression on her face.
Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018) 5/10
I never took to this character or the original film. While I was very familiar (and loved) the Sherman Brothers' score as a kid I never actually saw the film until I was well into my twenties. Thought it was rather tedious but found Julie Andrews amusing enough in her iconic part. I raised both my kids on a good staple of Disney fare throughout their childhood so they had a very special fondness for the classic original having watched the film on video probably a hundred times - last week both apparently got bleary-eyed watching Mary descend again from the sky in this sequel which has taken Hollywood 54 years to make. No doubt it's a welcome return so new generations can enjoy P.L. Travers' iconic and delightful character. The film is charming but absolutely inconsequential with more than a passing resemblance to situations and secondary characters from the original film so it almost seems like a reboot instead of a sequel. The screenplay takes up several decades after the first film with both kids now grown up. Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) is a recent widower with three kids and still lives in his late father's old house with the family cook (Julie Walters). His sister Jane (Emily Mortimer), like her mother, is an activist. The plot revolves around the family under threat of getting their house repossessed by the bank - Colin Firth is appropriately droll as the token Disney villain. To the rescue comes Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) descending from the sky holding her umbrella as nanny and saviour. Helping her is cockney street lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), clearly a tribute to the original's chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke who also makes an appearance here as an old banker in a brief song and dance turn. The film infuses animated sequences with Poppins and Jack taking the kids on a magical journey under the ocean and inside a Royal Doulton bowl. There is a visit to Poppins' flame-haired eccentric cousin (Meryl Streep in a hideous cameo speaking and singing one song in a strong Russian accent) where the room moves upside down with everyone sitting on the ceiling which is now beneath their feet. This sequence harks back to the tea party on the ceiling at Ed Wynn's house in the original film. Angela Lansbury makes a cameo appearance as an old balloon seller who reminds of the old lady with the pigeons in the original played by Jane Darwell. Blunt does a delightful impersonation of Julie Andrews but the screenplay relegates her totally to the background during the film's second half. The score is merely passable with one huge production number involving Miranda (and a bunch of guys all in silhouette) who gives an energetic performance. The film scores with its outstanding production design, costumes and visual effects but too bad the screenplay kept looking towards the original film for inspiration instead of following one of Travers' many books about Poppins. Let's hope the next installment is better and gives Blunt more to do as Mary Poppins.
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018) 8/10
Wicked and zany power tangle set during the early eighteenth century reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain. Lanthimos brings his own quirky style to the story completely dispensing with the usual stuffy and pompous rendering which has been the forte of such historical dramas in the past. Helping him greatly is a deliciously savage screenplay playing fast and loose with historical fact, the gorgeous candle-lit cinematography of Robbie Ryan who often shoots at off-kilter angles using a fisheye lens which causes visual distortion and claustrophobia, witty costumes by Sandy Powell which help to accentuate the three main characters and a bombastic score consisting of classical and modern pieces. At the centre of the film are three superb actresses who swagger to dangerous proportions playing the historical characters of this story. Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) and her poor cousin Abaigail (Emma Stone) fight tooth and nail for the favours and affection of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in and out of bed. The monarch is in a sad state after 17 pregnancies that failed to provide her an heir and has been reduced to acting like an impetuous, whiny and jealous child which the two women try to use to their advantage. Sarah is blunt and goes into an attack like a coiled viper while Abigail uses cunning calm as her weapon of flattery. All three actresses give memorable performances with Colman the clear standout as the tragi-comic queen who in even her most vulnerable moments manages to show what makes her a true monarch. She won the Oscar (famously defeating Glenn Close on her seventh try) while the film, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Yorgos Lanthimos, the screenplay, production & costume design, editing, and cinematography received nominations.
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) 7/10
The film that finally won Scorsese his long-awaited Oscar for his direction (it also won Best Picture) is, in hindsight, not one of his top tier outputs. A remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" with it's setting transposed to Boston. The film is a cat-and-mouse game between an Irish Mob Boss (Jack Nicholson) and the cops. The vicious killer mentors a young boy from his neighborhood and sees him (Matt Damon) join the police force and secretly makes use of him as his mole. Meanwhile the police Captain (Martin Sheen) and his Sergeant (Mark Wahlberg) secretly get a pre-graduation recruit (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate the Mob. Both moles keep their handlers well informed until events cause both parties to suspect they have a mole within their ranks. The violence, which has been simmering in fits and starts througout the film, suddenly erupts in glorious fashion when the two moles finally confront each other at the end. This is one of DiCaprio's most memorable performances but many in the supporting cast also shine - Jack Nicholson plays to the gallery as the disheveled crook with a savage streak, Ray Winstone as his close aide, Alec Baldwin as a senior cop, Vera Farmiga as a police psychiatrist who forms a close bond with both moles, as lover to one and doctor to the other, and Mark Wahlberg as the foul-mouthed Sergeant who has a uniquely harsh way of hiring recruits. The film also won Oscars for its screenplay and editing while Wahlberg received a nomination. Entertaining film but not even amongst Scorsese's top 10.
Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) 8/10
A crime, followed by a lie, ruins the lives of three individuals and it takes six decades before there is a fictitious act of atonement. A 13-year old girl (Saoirse Ronan) from a wealthy family is infatuated by the housekeeper's adult son (James McAvoy) who is in fact the lover of her older sister (Keira Knightley). Anger, jealousy and a vindictive lie on part of the child tragically results in keeping the lovers apart. The story, based on the novel by Ian McEwan, is set in three time periods - 1935 England, Second World War England and France, and present-day England - charting the star-crossed lives of a pair of lovers and a reflection on the nature of writing. Vanessa Redgrave appears in a vivid cameo at the end. The story references the work of many writers - Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Vladimir Nabakov, Shakespeare and especially L.P. Hartley's "The Go-Between". Nominated for seven Academy Awards - Best Picture, for Ronan's supporting performance, the production design, cinematography (the film has a memorable tracking shot set on the beach at Dunkirk), costumes, and a win for the score by Dario Marianelli.
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021) 7/10
A film-making couple (Tim Roth & Vicky Krieps) arrive on Fårö island for an Ingmar Bergman film screening and to spend a month to work on their screenplays. While he takes part in a tour of Bergman's film locations she frolics with a film student. They both write their individual screenplays - her vision is shown as a film within a film about a woman (Mia Wasikowski) on Fårö to attend a friend's wedding and hooking up again with a former lover (Anders Danielsen Lie) which does not go down well. Later the writer interacts with the two actors who are shown playing the characters in her screenplay. Dream-like often melancholic look at creativity and romantic malaise as life and art begin to merge. The superb vistas of the island add a memorable touch to this elegant little film.
Seraphim Falls (David Von Ancken, 2006) 7/10
A Confederate colonel (Liam Neeson) and his posse track a Union soldier (Pierce Brosnan) in this atmospheric revisionist Western. The cat-and-mouse chase is a relentless exercise in violence as we follow the two men through raging rivers, over icy mountains, a scorching desert as they encounter families who help and abet, hostile railroad construction workers, religious pilgrims and other assorted nasty characters. The reason for the relentless pursuit is revealed at the end during a flashback sequence. Brosnan gives an incredibly physical performance as he endures all manner of abuse. Often bleak film has John Toll's magnificent cinematography which captures the vast beauty of the Western landscapes of the United States.
The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015) 8/10
This is Tarantino's wicked, if excessively long, take on Agatha Christie by way of a very gruesome Italian gialo horror film. The stunning wide screen format, shot by Robert Richardson's exquisite camera lensing, takes us on a journey through the wild old West with obvious winks at John Ford's "Stagecoach" along with a few extra winks directed at Hitchcock and Howard Hawks. A group of lowlife vermin - cutthroats and liars - traveling on a stagecoach through a snowy landscape end up at a haberdashery. On board are a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell having fun swaggering like John Wayne) chained to his feral prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh - in a stunning comeback of epic proportion. All her great roles in the past had her used and abused but this has to be her most "abused" role ever). Also on board is a sheriff (Walter Goggins) and Tarantino's muse, Samuel L. Jackson, a soldier who they pick up along the way. At the wayside inn they find a motley group consisting of Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth & Demian Bichir. With the entire cast (Tarantino has more than one surprise under his sleeve on this front) confined under one roof due to a raging blizzard outside it allows the players (like on stage) to perform long monologues. It takes a while before the first death to take place but the exciting and hilarious last half is a virtual bloodbath and Tarantino doesn't let up for a minute as he throws in red herrings, flashbacks, and more information at the audience than need be. It all works in a twisted and delicious way making for a film that is great fun and will no doubt allow fans to visit it over and over again. Ennio Morricone won an Oscar for his score and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Richardson's cinematography were nominated.
The Burial (Maggie Betts, 2023) 7/10
Old fashioned story about an underdog - a flashy over-confident black personal injury lawyer (Jamie Foxx) - who fights a legal contract suit against a big Canadian Corporation for a financially troubled funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones). If this story, inspired by events which took place during the 1990s, had been made into a film during that decade the smart-ass flamboyant lawyer would have been played by Eddie Murphy. Here Foxx and his deliciously fancy wardrobe take the part and run with it. Jones is equally good as the quietly introspective family man - he has 13 children and 22 grandchildren - who has dug his family business into a hole by over extending himself. Despite a number of obvious differences both men are very similar with deeply felt family values. The sued Corporation retaliates by hiring a hotshot black female attorney (Jurnee Smollett) and the action on the floor gets dirty. The film is not really about race but we feel it as it hovers all around the plot as issues of history, poverty and discrimination are front and center throughout the trial. Inspirational, moving, but also amusing film goes through its very familiar beats making it seem like comfort food.
Acclaimed 1970 book by Judy Blume comes to the screen in this touching yet often very funny adaptation about the trials, tribulations and coming-of-age of an 11-year old girl (Abby Ryder Fortson) brought up in an inter-faith household. Her Jewish father (Benny Safdie) and Christian mother (Rachel McAdams) want her to choose her own religion once she grows up. The story touches on anxious and happy moments in a child's life - shifting from the city to the suburb, adjusting to a new school, making new friends, and confronting early adolescent issues, such as menstruation, brassieres and the first kiss. The book faced controversy for its frank talk about menstruation and its depiction of a child being allowed to decide for herself what religion she would prefer to adhere to. Today these subjects are no longer a cause for concern but the film perfectly captures the angst a child feels about religion and God - she has regular conversations with God during times of crises, and during a tense family moment exclaims how religion is always causing strife and wants no part of it. Kathy Bates is a riot as the child's loving Jewish grandmother. The screenplay treats every character with care and tenderness but the entire film is held together by the fantastic lead performance by Abby Ryder Fortson who so perfectly captures the conflicting moods of an adolescent.
Queen of the Desert (Werner Herzog, 2015) 5/10
Dull movie about a fascinating woman - Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) who was an English writer, traveller, spy and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson), Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq. Her supposed love affairs are briefly touched upon - with a diplomat in Iran (James Franco) which ends badly and later with a married British officer (Damian Lewis) which remains unconsumated. The film tries to ape David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" but is presented in a plodding by-the-numbers manner. Kidman sails through the film with a deadpan expression on her face.
Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018) 5/10
I never took to this character or the original film. While I was very familiar (and loved) the Sherman Brothers' score as a kid I never actually saw the film until I was well into my twenties. Thought it was rather tedious but found Julie Andrews amusing enough in her iconic part. I raised both my kids on a good staple of Disney fare throughout their childhood so they had a very special fondness for the classic original having watched the film on video probably a hundred times - last week both apparently got bleary-eyed watching Mary descend again from the sky in this sequel which has taken Hollywood 54 years to make. No doubt it's a welcome return so new generations can enjoy P.L. Travers' iconic and delightful character. The film is charming but absolutely inconsequential with more than a passing resemblance to situations and secondary characters from the original film so it almost seems like a reboot instead of a sequel. The screenplay takes up several decades after the first film with both kids now grown up. Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) is a recent widower with three kids and still lives in his late father's old house with the family cook (Julie Walters). His sister Jane (Emily Mortimer), like her mother, is an activist. The plot revolves around the family under threat of getting their house repossessed by the bank - Colin Firth is appropriately droll as the token Disney villain. To the rescue comes Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) descending from the sky holding her umbrella as nanny and saviour. Helping her is cockney street lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda), clearly a tribute to the original's chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke who also makes an appearance here as an old banker in a brief song and dance turn. The film infuses animated sequences with Poppins and Jack taking the kids on a magical journey under the ocean and inside a Royal Doulton bowl. There is a visit to Poppins' flame-haired eccentric cousin (Meryl Streep in a hideous cameo speaking and singing one song in a strong Russian accent) where the room moves upside down with everyone sitting on the ceiling which is now beneath their feet. This sequence harks back to the tea party on the ceiling at Ed Wynn's house in the original film. Angela Lansbury makes a cameo appearance as an old balloon seller who reminds of the old lady with the pigeons in the original played by Jane Darwell. Blunt does a delightful impersonation of Julie Andrews but the screenplay relegates her totally to the background during the film's second half. The score is merely passable with one huge production number involving Miranda (and a bunch of guys all in silhouette) who gives an energetic performance. The film scores with its outstanding production design, costumes and visual effects but too bad the screenplay kept looking towards the original film for inspiration instead of following one of Travers' many books about Poppins. Let's hope the next installment is better and gives Blunt more to do as Mary Poppins.
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018) 8/10
Wicked and zany power tangle set during the early eighteenth century reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain. Lanthimos brings his own quirky style to the story completely dispensing with the usual stuffy and pompous rendering which has been the forte of such historical dramas in the past. Helping him greatly is a deliciously savage screenplay playing fast and loose with historical fact, the gorgeous candle-lit cinematography of Robbie Ryan who often shoots at off-kilter angles using a fisheye lens which causes visual distortion and claustrophobia, witty costumes by Sandy Powell which help to accentuate the three main characters and a bombastic score consisting of classical and modern pieces. At the centre of the film are three superb actresses who swagger to dangerous proportions playing the historical characters of this story. Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) and her poor cousin Abaigail (Emma Stone) fight tooth and nail for the favours and affection of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in and out of bed. The monarch is in a sad state after 17 pregnancies that failed to provide her an heir and has been reduced to acting like an impetuous, whiny and jealous child which the two women try to use to their advantage. Sarah is blunt and goes into an attack like a coiled viper while Abigail uses cunning calm as her weapon of flattery. All three actresses give memorable performances with Colman the clear standout as the tragi-comic queen who in even her most vulnerable moments manages to show what makes her a true monarch. She won the Oscar (famously defeating Glenn Close on her seventh try) while the film, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Yorgos Lanthimos, the screenplay, production & costume design, editing, and cinematography received nominations.
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) 7/10
The film that finally won Scorsese his long-awaited Oscar for his direction (it also won Best Picture) is, in hindsight, not one of his top tier outputs. A remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" with it's setting transposed to Boston. The film is a cat-and-mouse game between an Irish Mob Boss (Jack Nicholson) and the cops. The vicious killer mentors a young boy from his neighborhood and sees him (Matt Damon) join the police force and secretly makes use of him as his mole. Meanwhile the police Captain (Martin Sheen) and his Sergeant (Mark Wahlberg) secretly get a pre-graduation recruit (Leonardo DiCaprio) to infiltrate the Mob. Both moles keep their handlers well informed until events cause both parties to suspect they have a mole within their ranks. The violence, which has been simmering in fits and starts througout the film, suddenly erupts in glorious fashion when the two moles finally confront each other at the end. This is one of DiCaprio's most memorable performances but many in the supporting cast also shine - Jack Nicholson plays to the gallery as the disheveled crook with a savage streak, Ray Winstone as his close aide, Alec Baldwin as a senior cop, Vera Farmiga as a police psychiatrist who forms a close bond with both moles, as lover to one and doctor to the other, and Mark Wahlberg as the foul-mouthed Sergeant who has a uniquely harsh way of hiring recruits. The film also won Oscars for its screenplay and editing while Wahlberg received a nomination. Entertaining film but not even amongst Scorsese's top 10.
Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) 8/10
A crime, followed by a lie, ruins the lives of three individuals and it takes six decades before there is a fictitious act of atonement. A 13-year old girl (Saoirse Ronan) from a wealthy family is infatuated by the housekeeper's adult son (James McAvoy) who is in fact the lover of her older sister (Keira Knightley). Anger, jealousy and a vindictive lie on part of the child tragically results in keeping the lovers apart. The story, based on the novel by Ian McEwan, is set in three time periods - 1935 England, Second World War England and France, and present-day England - charting the star-crossed lives of a pair of lovers and a reflection on the nature of writing. Vanessa Redgrave appears in a vivid cameo at the end. The story references the work of many writers - Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Vladimir Nabakov, Shakespeare and especially L.P. Hartley's "The Go-Between". Nominated for seven Academy Awards - Best Picture, for Ronan's supporting performance, the production design, cinematography (the film has a memorable tracking shot set on the beach at Dunkirk), costumes, and a win for the score by Dario Marianelli.
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021) 7/10
A film-making couple (Tim Roth & Vicky Krieps) arrive on Fårö island for an Ingmar Bergman film screening and to spend a month to work on their screenplays. While he takes part in a tour of Bergman's film locations she frolics with a film student. They both write their individual screenplays - her vision is shown as a film within a film about a woman (Mia Wasikowski) on Fårö to attend a friend's wedding and hooking up again with a former lover (Anders Danielsen Lie) which does not go down well. Later the writer interacts with the two actors who are shown playing the characters in her screenplay. Dream-like often melancholic look at creativity and romantic malaise as life and art begin to merge. The superb vistas of the island add a memorable touch to this elegant little film.
Seraphim Falls (David Von Ancken, 2006) 7/10
A Confederate colonel (Liam Neeson) and his posse track a Union soldier (Pierce Brosnan) in this atmospheric revisionist Western. The cat-and-mouse chase is a relentless exercise in violence as we follow the two men through raging rivers, over icy mountains, a scorching desert as they encounter families who help and abet, hostile railroad construction workers, religious pilgrims and other assorted nasty characters. The reason for the relentless pursuit is revealed at the end during a flashback sequence. Brosnan gives an incredibly physical performance as he endures all manner of abuse. Often bleak film has John Toll's magnificent cinematography which captures the vast beauty of the Western landscapes of the United States.
The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015) 8/10
This is Tarantino's wicked, if excessively long, take on Agatha Christie by way of a very gruesome Italian gialo horror film. The stunning wide screen format, shot by Robert Richardson's exquisite camera lensing, takes us on a journey through the wild old West with obvious winks at John Ford's "Stagecoach" along with a few extra winks directed at Hitchcock and Howard Hawks. A group of lowlife vermin - cutthroats and liars - traveling on a stagecoach through a snowy landscape end up at a haberdashery. On board are a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell having fun swaggering like John Wayne) chained to his feral prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh - in a stunning comeback of epic proportion. All her great roles in the past had her used and abused but this has to be her most "abused" role ever). Also on board is a sheriff (Walter Goggins) and Tarantino's muse, Samuel L. Jackson, a soldier who they pick up along the way. At the wayside inn they find a motley group consisting of Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth & Demian Bichir. With the entire cast (Tarantino has more than one surprise under his sleeve on this front) confined under one roof due to a raging blizzard outside it allows the players (like on stage) to perform long monologues. It takes a while before the first death to take place but the exciting and hilarious last half is a virtual bloodbath and Tarantino doesn't let up for a minute as he throws in red herrings, flashbacks, and more information at the audience than need be. It all works in a twisted and delicious way making for a film that is great fun and will no doubt allow fans to visit it over and over again. Ennio Morricone won an Oscar for his score and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Robert Richardson's cinematography were nominated.
The Burial (Maggie Betts, 2023) 7/10
Old fashioned story about an underdog - a flashy over-confident black personal injury lawyer (Jamie Foxx) - who fights a legal contract suit against a big Canadian Corporation for a financially troubled funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones). If this story, inspired by events which took place during the 1990s, had been made into a film during that decade the smart-ass flamboyant lawyer would have been played by Eddie Murphy. Here Foxx and his deliciously fancy wardrobe take the part and run with it. Jones is equally good as the quietly introspective family man - he has 13 children and 22 grandchildren - who has dug his family business into a hole by over extending himself. Despite a number of obvious differences both men are very similar with deeply felt family values. The sued Corporation retaliates by hiring a hotshot black female attorney (Jurnee Smollett) and the action on the floor gets dirty. The film is not really about race but we feel it as it hovers all around the plot as issues of history, poverty and discrimination are front and center throughout the trial. Inspirational, moving, but also amusing film goes through its very familiar beats making it seem like comfort food.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Saturday Night Kid (A. Edward Sutherland, 1929) 2/10
Static early talkie about two sisters - both salesgirls - in love with the same man (James Hall). He likes one sister (Clara Bow) but the other one (Jean Arthur) tries to steal him. Pre-code film is a boring talkfest despite Edna May Oliver's presence and a bit part by Jean Harlow.
Daybreak (Jacques Feyder, 1931) 7/10
Feyder brings a strong touch of sophistication to this pre-code European concoction based on a story by Arthur Schnitzler. A happy-go-lucky, irresponsible but charming member of the Royal Imperial Guard (Ramon Novarro) falls in love with a music teacher (Helen Chandler). A sleazy senior member of the guard (Jean Hersholt) tries to force himself onto her and she is rescued by the younger man. A misunderstanding between the two results in the girl becoming the whoring mistress of the old lech. Trying to win her back he challenges him to a game of Baccarat but loses. Will his rich Uncle (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bail him out and will he earn back the love of the woman he loves? Novarro is delightful as the flirtatious and frivolous party boy and the production has a number of pre-code memorable moments - decadent Vienna high life, scenes set inside a brothel, one night stands and casual sex.
Night Flight (Clarence Brown, 1933) 4/10
MGM was the first studio to come up with an all-star disaster flick - a genre that came into its own during the 1970s - with this story about dare devil pilots who risked their lives flying through bad weather and over dangerous terrain to get medicines to remote places. The plot is set in South America where during a polio epidemic pilots fly over the Andes to get medicine across to critical patients. Episodic film has MGM contract actors playing assorted South American characters - all speaking with their own American accents. The stern director (John Barrymore) of a small airline insists that his pilots brave every natural element - rain, fog, snow - to get mail and medicines across. His actions go against the urging of the airline's safety instructor (Lionel Barrymore). The pilots are played by the studio's up and coming young actors - Clark Gable, Robert Montgomey, William Gargan - while two of the wives who anxiously await news of their husbands are Helen Hayes and Myrna Loy. The success of the previous year's "Grand Hotel" made MGM reprise an all-star cast in an action scenario that here comes off boring at best despite the tension-ridden flying sequences. The actors are superbly lit throughout making each stand out when they appear on screen.
Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) 5/10
A "serious" film about the nine hours leading up to the assassination of Mahatama Gandhi becomes cringeworthy due to hideous miscasting. Every important Indian character is played by an international star in "blackface" - so we get British Robert Morley playing dress-up as an Indian politician, Harry Andrews as a local army officer, Puerto Rican José Ferrer as a local cop on the lookout for an assassin, German Horst Buccholz as Nathuram “Nathu” Godse - the assassin - his married mistress played by Welsh Valerie Gearon and American Diane Baker as a local prostitute. The screenplay, based on the novel by Stanley Wolpert, is fictional as it cooks up a storm providing reasons for the young man's intense hatred for Gandhi - a flashback relates his sob story. The film was shot on location so has loads of atmosphere plus Robson's sincere direction which takes on a riveting crescendo during the last few minutes which movingly ends with the tragedy. In brief parts Indian character actors - David Abraham, Jairaj, Achala Sachdev - provide much needed local colour. Arthur Ibbetson's widescreen colour Cinemascope cinematography is a major plus as well.
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022) 6/10
Walking out of the movie my 85-year old dad said, "they've certainly jazzed up this film version". Indeed they have.......starting, or rather ending with Poirot in love with a *gasp* black blues singer. That's not all. The screenplay fiddles around with a number of characters, adding new ones - a sapphic couple, a renowned painter (Annette Bening) and her son (Tom Bateman). The character of romance novelist Salome Otterbourne and her daughter (played in the previous film version by Angela Lansbury and Olivia Hussey) here become a black blues singer (Sophie Okonedo) and her niece/manager (Letitia Wright) who are invited aboard the Nile steamer "Karnak" as part of the wedding party of a rich heiress (Gal Gadot) who has stolen the boyfriend (Armie Hammer) of her best friend (Emma Mackey). Also on board are the bride's maid (Rose Leslie), her former fiancé (Russell Brand), her cousin/lawyer (Indian actor Ali Fazal), her communist godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and her maid/traveling companion (Dawn French). When the bride is found dead of a gunshot wound to the head every passenger becomes a suspect. But never fear because Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) and his little grey cells are also on board to solve the mystery. Shot in Morocco all the Egyptian historical sites, including the three pyramids, the sphinx and Abu Simbel are courtesy of CGI which gives the film a terribly fake feel throughout - even the flaura and fauna (a snapping crocodile) alongside the Nile are CGI. Luckily the old steamer is authentic and a marvel of production design allowing the cast members to flit about the endless state rooms and corridors either murdering each other or trying to avoid being killed. Compared to the gorgeous 1978 version, with its magnificent cast, none of the actors here stand out. Agatha Christie's story remains fool proof so its worth sitting through although its all too ridiculous of Branagh to add all the changes - its so obvious that he ticked off assorted boxes in his head and added them all into the plot to appease today's woke audience - a white man in love with a black girl, a gay couple and two black ladies traveling on a first class steamer down the Nile in 1937. Pleasing to one's sensibility, wishful thinking but hardly authentic.
Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh, 2017) 8/10
Agatha Christie's murder mystery with the famous twist ending gets a big screen remake with some interesting flourishes. Branagh opens up the plot, which is confined to a train, with scenes shot outside giving the story a fresh outlook. Hercule Poirot (Sir Kenneth Branagh) is faced by a baffling crime - a crooked antique dealer (Johnny Depp) is found dead with multiple stab wounds on a train stranded in the snow caused by an avalanche. As with all Poirot mysteries the train is full of colorful suspects - a garrulous American divorcée (Michelle Pfeiffer), the dead man's valet (Sir Derek Jacobi), his accountant (Josh Gad), a spanish missionary (Penélope Cruz), a doctor (Lesley Odom Jr), a governess (Daisy Ridley), a countess (Lucy Boynton), a german scientist (Willem Dafoe), a princess (Dame Judi Dench) and her maid (Olivia Colman) among others. Lavishly filmed but cannot quite match the aura and glamour of the 1974 Sidney Lumet version with it's star studded cast, sumptuous costumes and Richard Rodney Bennett's magnificent score.
Branagh brings changes to the book - an inter-racial relationship is substituted, a count shows sudden moves that would be a norm in a Jackie Chan film, Poirot gets shot, CGI rules supreme in the breathtaking shots of old Istanbul and during the scenes of the train moving through snow covered mountains. The interrogation scenes are filmed in an interesting way with the camera cross-cutting between the different characters. The murder is filmed in sepia with Patrick Doyle's swirling score turning the gruesome moment into an extraordinarily emotional one. Amongst all the stars only Michelle Pfeiffer stands out as she gets the most scenes and also sings during the closing credits. This remake takes some interesting diversions even if not quite managing to hold its own against the more celebrated original but is in fact better paced due to the interesting little touches the director brings to his version. Christie would be pleased to see her favourite book get an exciting new adaptation.
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) 8/10
Riveting but overlong film about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) - the American theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II who has often been credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in organizing the Manhattan Project. Nolan uses sound, music (by Ludwig Göransson) and rapid editing to bring a sense of desperate urgency to the events in his life - first as a student, then as a professor of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics at Berkeley, his sexual relationship with a neurotic student (Florence Pugh) who is a communist, his marriage to an alcoholic (Emily Blunt), his involvement with the Manhattan Project and the development of the atom bomb, the successful test explosion followed by the government deciding to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his brief celebrity status, his intense guilt afterwards over the loss of lives in Japan and finally his relentless hounding by the HCUA for his one-time communist leanings which takes up the greater part of the film. The non-linear screenplay moves backwards and forwards continuously with the story's two major thrusts - the scientist's work on the bomb and his gruelling moments on the stand as he is questioned about being a communist at the urging of Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a staunch anti-communist who held a grudge against him. As with every Nolan project this has superb production values - wonderful sets, costumes and cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. Many familiar actors - Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Tom Conti (as Einstein), Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Gary Oldman (as Truman), Matthew Modine, Tony Goldwyn, Jason Clarke - make brief but vivid appearances. However, the film rests on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy who gives a deeply-felt introspective performance and there are equally good turns by Emily Blunt as his volatile but extremely loyal wife and Robert Downey Jr. as the jealous member of the Atomic Commission who ensures that the security clearance of Oppenheimer is revoked. Nolan adapted this thought provoking film from the 2005 biography "American Prometheus" written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) 6/10
WWII gets a mighty skewering by way of a southern U.S. Army Lieutenant (Brad Pitt) who hires a team of Jewish-American soldiers to go into occupied France to kill and scalp Nazis. Tarantino also throws into the mix a cultured but ruthless SS officer (Christoph Waltz), a French jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) who catches the eye of a German army sniper (Daniel Brühl) whose life inspires a film which Goebbels wants to premiere at that cinema with Hitler as the chief guest. Also helping the Allied side are a famous German actress turned British spy (Diane Kruger) and a British commando and former film critic (Michael Fassbender). History gets re-written in very broad strokes in Tarantino's screenplay as the story plays out in chapters - Waltz (who won an Oscar) is very funny as the fast-talking Nazi who seems to know everything and suspects everyone. The film's best sequence is set in a tavern that turns into a typical Tarantino bloodbath. Skillfully made but often rather silly film received 8 Academy Award nominations.
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) 7/10
Tarantino's overlong revisionist homage to spaghetti Westerns in this highly stylized but film is set in the Old West and Antebellum South. He also pays tribute to the black man who never seemed to figure in a lead role in all the hundreds of Westerns Hollywood churned out. Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave who with the help of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) gets unchained, freed, trained and spruced up on a violent journey that eventually leads to a reunion with his wife (Kerry Washington) who now belongs to a cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). The journey is long, arduous and violent with Tarantino's signature bloody shootouts. The director brings in many familiar faces from cinema's past in small but vivid roles - Dennis Christopher, Don Johnson, James Remar, Franco Nero (who was the original Django in Sergio Corbucci's classic film from 1967), Bruce Dern, James Russo, Don Stroyd, Michael Parks, Lee Horsley, Jonah Hill, Russ Tamblyn, Ted Neeley, Robert Carradine. Samuel L. Jackson is memorable as the ruthless and foul-mouthed head house slave at the plantation. Waltz basically reprises his smooth talking role from Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" with only a slight shift in character and won his second Oscar - as did Tarantino for his screenplay. Additional nominations went to the film, Tarantino's direction, the cinematography and sound editing.
The Crown - Season 6: Part I (Alex Gabassi & Christian Schwochow, 2023) 8/10
Part 1 of the season covers Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and the days leading upto her death through its first four episodes. It's really a matter of interpretation how her story - her love life - progesses here. First of all they completely omit her passionate affair with Pakistani doctor Hasnat Khan - "the love of her life" - which in reality also the British press and the Royal Family downplayed making it almost seem totally non-existent. He was very much part of her life and their parting - he wanted out - led to her friendship with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) on the rebound. This part of her love life gets highlighted on the series which is also very much a matter of interpretation. He is manipulated by his reptilian father to make a ruthless go for Diana. Was Dodi really complicit with his father? The screenplay shows him bending to his father's will - he is a weak man - but seems to have affection for her. What about Diana? She is overwhelmed by the relentless pursuit of her by the paparazzi and is here clearly not interested in marriage to Dodi. Is this a narrative spin by the producers to appease the Royal Family? Maybe she was in love with him - the sequence with the ring and marriage proposal in his hotel room at the Ritz is obviously a moment nobody witnessed as only the two of them were present. So we will never know as the immediate event that followed - the car crash - did not allow things to become certain. Episode 4 covers the aftermath of her death - Charles (Dominic West) bereft with grief, the two boys numb with shock, the Queen (Imelda Staunton) stoic and aloof at Balmoral as the world mourns and her subjects criticize her absence in London. The images brought back vivid sad memories of the live tv presentation of her funeral in 1997.
Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) 7/10
Time and place - 1969 Los Angeles - is brought vividly to life in Quentin Tarantino's often bloated but delightfully kitschy paean to Hollywood. The film is bursting at the seams with movie memorabilia and pop culture artifacts which are sure to bring every fanboy to the brink of a massive orgasm. And if it doesn't we all know for sure that Tarantino certainly experienced it while writing and shooting this film. Actual Hollywood personalities interact with the lead fictional characters - a has-been Western tv actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime buddy and stunt double (Brad Pitt). An agent (Al Pacino) tries to keep the actor's career going by getting him a role as a villain in a studio western followed by lead roles in four Italian spaghetti westerns. Just on the fringe of this main plot we catch glimpses of actress Sharon Tate (charming Margot Robbie) cruising around in a car with her husband Roman Polanski, watching one of her own films at the cinema and spending time with her former lover Jay Sebring and close friend Abigail Folger. A brief appearance by Charles Manson and an extended tense sequence set at the ranch where Manson and his gang live sets the dreaded tone for the entire film. With Tarantino at the helm expectations run sky high and the director delivers a spectacularly violent finalè but with a gleefully ironic twist. The film is far too long and drags mercilessly during all of DiCaprio's scenes. Fortunately the laconic Pitt is around to bring the movie to life in every scene he appears - providing loving support to his cranky and spoilt buddy, trading insults and fists with Bruce Lee, interacting with his dog, showing his mettle during the showdown at the end - and winning a much deserved Oscar. The film also scores major points for the outstanding production design which also won an Oscar, costumes and Robert Richardson's cinematography which makes L.A. glow. Too bad about the excessive running time which, if nothing else, at least allowed Tarantino to indulge in all his movie fantasies. The film received 10 Oscar nominations.
Women Talking (Sarah Polley, 2022) 8/10
Women who find themselves sexually violated finally decide to stand up and take charge of their lives. True story, an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, set in a Mennonite community in Bolivia where the women were repeatedly raped by men - husbands, brothers, neighbors - after being drugged with horse tranquilliser. While the men of the community go to town to bail out the rapists their women gather together and vote on whether to stay and fight the men, to try and change the community and its vices, or permanently leave. Polley's screenplay, which won her an Oscar, takes on the #metoo movement head-on in this vivid look at lives shaped and constricted by religious tradition and steeped by oppression, violence, and a silence which finally finds a voice that manages to speak up and expose a terrible wrong. Polley gathers a fantastic cast - Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand - who portray uneducated women who have lived all their lives facing violence and been told it was the work of spirits and the devil. Strength in numbers and a final awakening to their plight puts them in fighting mode as they discuss the pros and cons of their situation which is horrific although shown on screen as an aftermath which does not lessen the impact of the horrors committed. Surprisingly the screenplay also has humour which the women display during their discussions which is filtered through the voice of a trusted male school teacher (Ben Wishaw) - the only adult male presence in the film - who is compassionate towards the plight of all the women while nursing a related heartbreak from his past. Hard hitting film makes strong points using both powerful and gentle strokes.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye (Victor Schertzinger, 1941) 3/10
Neophtye actress (Mary Martin) pretends to be a southern belle and tries to con a director (Don Ameche) and composer (Oscar Levant) of a Broadway musical to give her the leading role. Silly film with Martin extremely annoying and Ameche very dull although there is one very energetic musical number - "Sand in My Shoes" - sung and danced by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson.
The Miracle Club (Thaddeus O'Sullivan, 2023) 6/10
Working-class women go to Lourdes in seek of a miracle but discover guilty secrets about each other and learn to forgive and forget instead. A somewhat derivative plot is saved by a trio of good performances with all three actresses putting on a rather dodgy Irish brogue. When a beloved member of a small Irish village dies, her daughter (Laura Linney) suddenly appears after 40 years to attend the funeral. This does not go down well with the deceased woman's two close friends - a bitter mother of six (Kathy Bates) and a sad withdrawn guilt-ridden woman (Maggie Smith). They all end up together on a trip to Lourdes - the older two angry at the younger - with all three women in search of either a miracle or at least redemption. What they find there is the stark commercialization of a holy sight, the absence of miracles and a whole lot of anger and recriminations between them. Despite all the hand wringing the film is a small miracle as an ode to actresses of a certain advanced age who seem to still be around and happily playing main leads.
Static early talkie about two sisters - both salesgirls - in love with the same man (James Hall). He likes one sister (Clara Bow) but the other one (Jean Arthur) tries to steal him. Pre-code film is a boring talkfest despite Edna May Oliver's presence and a bit part by Jean Harlow.
Daybreak (Jacques Feyder, 1931) 7/10
Feyder brings a strong touch of sophistication to this pre-code European concoction based on a story by Arthur Schnitzler. A happy-go-lucky, irresponsible but charming member of the Royal Imperial Guard (Ramon Novarro) falls in love with a music teacher (Helen Chandler). A sleazy senior member of the guard (Jean Hersholt) tries to force himself onto her and she is rescued by the younger man. A misunderstanding between the two results in the girl becoming the whoring mistress of the old lech. Trying to win her back he challenges him to a game of Baccarat but loses. Will his rich Uncle (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bail him out and will he earn back the love of the woman he loves? Novarro is delightful as the flirtatious and frivolous party boy and the production has a number of pre-code memorable moments - decadent Vienna high life, scenes set inside a brothel, one night stands and casual sex.
Night Flight (Clarence Brown, 1933) 4/10
MGM was the first studio to come up with an all-star disaster flick - a genre that came into its own during the 1970s - with this story about dare devil pilots who risked their lives flying through bad weather and over dangerous terrain to get medicines to remote places. The plot is set in South America where during a polio epidemic pilots fly over the Andes to get medicine across to critical patients. Episodic film has MGM contract actors playing assorted South American characters - all speaking with their own American accents. The stern director (John Barrymore) of a small airline insists that his pilots brave every natural element - rain, fog, snow - to get mail and medicines across. His actions go against the urging of the airline's safety instructor (Lionel Barrymore). The pilots are played by the studio's up and coming young actors - Clark Gable, Robert Montgomey, William Gargan - while two of the wives who anxiously await news of their husbands are Helen Hayes and Myrna Loy. The success of the previous year's "Grand Hotel" made MGM reprise an all-star cast in an action scenario that here comes off boring at best despite the tension-ridden flying sequences. The actors are superbly lit throughout making each stand out when they appear on screen.
Nine Hours to Rama (Mark Robson, 1963) 5/10
A "serious" film about the nine hours leading up to the assassination of Mahatama Gandhi becomes cringeworthy due to hideous miscasting. Every important Indian character is played by an international star in "blackface" - so we get British Robert Morley playing dress-up as an Indian politician, Harry Andrews as a local army officer, Puerto Rican José Ferrer as a local cop on the lookout for an assassin, German Horst Buccholz as Nathuram “Nathu” Godse - the assassin - his married mistress played by Welsh Valerie Gearon and American Diane Baker as a local prostitute. The screenplay, based on the novel by Stanley Wolpert, is fictional as it cooks up a storm providing reasons for the young man's intense hatred for Gandhi - a flashback relates his sob story. The film was shot on location so has loads of atmosphere plus Robson's sincere direction which takes on a riveting crescendo during the last few minutes which movingly ends with the tragedy. In brief parts Indian character actors - David Abraham, Jairaj, Achala Sachdev - provide much needed local colour. Arthur Ibbetson's widescreen colour Cinemascope cinematography is a major plus as well.
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022) 6/10
Walking out of the movie my 85-year old dad said, "they've certainly jazzed up this film version". Indeed they have.......starting, or rather ending with Poirot in love with a *gasp* black blues singer. That's not all. The screenplay fiddles around with a number of characters, adding new ones - a sapphic couple, a renowned painter (Annette Bening) and her son (Tom Bateman). The character of romance novelist Salome Otterbourne and her daughter (played in the previous film version by Angela Lansbury and Olivia Hussey) here become a black blues singer (Sophie Okonedo) and her niece/manager (Letitia Wright) who are invited aboard the Nile steamer "Karnak" as part of the wedding party of a rich heiress (Gal Gadot) who has stolen the boyfriend (Armie Hammer) of her best friend (Emma Mackey). Also on board are the bride's maid (Rose Leslie), her former fiancé (Russell Brand), her cousin/lawyer (Indian actor Ali Fazal), her communist godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and her maid/traveling companion (Dawn French). When the bride is found dead of a gunshot wound to the head every passenger becomes a suspect. But never fear because Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) and his little grey cells are also on board to solve the mystery. Shot in Morocco all the Egyptian historical sites, including the three pyramids, the sphinx and Abu Simbel are courtesy of CGI which gives the film a terribly fake feel throughout - even the flaura and fauna (a snapping crocodile) alongside the Nile are CGI. Luckily the old steamer is authentic and a marvel of production design allowing the cast members to flit about the endless state rooms and corridors either murdering each other or trying to avoid being killed. Compared to the gorgeous 1978 version, with its magnificent cast, none of the actors here stand out. Agatha Christie's story remains fool proof so its worth sitting through although its all too ridiculous of Branagh to add all the changes - its so obvious that he ticked off assorted boxes in his head and added them all into the plot to appease today's woke audience - a white man in love with a black girl, a gay couple and two black ladies traveling on a first class steamer down the Nile in 1937. Pleasing to one's sensibility, wishful thinking but hardly authentic.
Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh, 2017) 8/10
Agatha Christie's murder mystery with the famous twist ending gets a big screen remake with some interesting flourishes. Branagh opens up the plot, which is confined to a train, with scenes shot outside giving the story a fresh outlook. Hercule Poirot (Sir Kenneth Branagh) is faced by a baffling crime - a crooked antique dealer (Johnny Depp) is found dead with multiple stab wounds on a train stranded in the snow caused by an avalanche. As with all Poirot mysteries the train is full of colorful suspects - a garrulous American divorcée (Michelle Pfeiffer), the dead man's valet (Sir Derek Jacobi), his accountant (Josh Gad), a spanish missionary (Penélope Cruz), a doctor (Lesley Odom Jr), a governess (Daisy Ridley), a countess (Lucy Boynton), a german scientist (Willem Dafoe), a princess (Dame Judi Dench) and her maid (Olivia Colman) among others. Lavishly filmed but cannot quite match the aura and glamour of the 1974 Sidney Lumet version with it's star studded cast, sumptuous costumes and Richard Rodney Bennett's magnificent score.
Branagh brings changes to the book - an inter-racial relationship is substituted, a count shows sudden moves that would be a norm in a Jackie Chan film, Poirot gets shot, CGI rules supreme in the breathtaking shots of old Istanbul and during the scenes of the train moving through snow covered mountains. The interrogation scenes are filmed in an interesting way with the camera cross-cutting between the different characters. The murder is filmed in sepia with Patrick Doyle's swirling score turning the gruesome moment into an extraordinarily emotional one. Amongst all the stars only Michelle Pfeiffer stands out as she gets the most scenes and also sings during the closing credits. This remake takes some interesting diversions even if not quite managing to hold its own against the more celebrated original but is in fact better paced due to the interesting little touches the director brings to his version. Christie would be pleased to see her favourite book get an exciting new adaptation.
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) 8/10
Riveting but overlong film about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) - the American theoretical physicist and director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II who has often been credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in organizing the Manhattan Project. Nolan uses sound, music (by Ludwig Göransson) and rapid editing to bring a sense of desperate urgency to the events in his life - first as a student, then as a professor of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics at Berkeley, his sexual relationship with a neurotic student (Florence Pugh) who is a communist, his marriage to an alcoholic (Emily Blunt), his involvement with the Manhattan Project and the development of the atom bomb, the successful test explosion followed by the government deciding to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his brief celebrity status, his intense guilt afterwards over the loss of lives in Japan and finally his relentless hounding by the HCUA for his one-time communist leanings which takes up the greater part of the film. The non-linear screenplay moves backwards and forwards continuously with the story's two major thrusts - the scientist's work on the bomb and his gruelling moments on the stand as he is questioned about being a communist at the urging of Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a staunch anti-communist who held a grudge against him. As with every Nolan project this has superb production values - wonderful sets, costumes and cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. Many familiar actors - Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Tom Conti (as Einstein), Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Gary Oldman (as Truman), Matthew Modine, Tony Goldwyn, Jason Clarke - make brief but vivid appearances. However, the film rests on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy who gives a deeply-felt introspective performance and there are equally good turns by Emily Blunt as his volatile but extremely loyal wife and Robert Downey Jr. as the jealous member of the Atomic Commission who ensures that the security clearance of Oppenheimer is revoked. Nolan adapted this thought provoking film from the 2005 biography "American Prometheus" written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) 6/10
WWII gets a mighty skewering by way of a southern U.S. Army Lieutenant (Brad Pitt) who hires a team of Jewish-American soldiers to go into occupied France to kill and scalp Nazis. Tarantino also throws into the mix a cultured but ruthless SS officer (Christoph Waltz), a French jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) who catches the eye of a German army sniper (Daniel Brühl) whose life inspires a film which Goebbels wants to premiere at that cinema with Hitler as the chief guest. Also helping the Allied side are a famous German actress turned British spy (Diane Kruger) and a British commando and former film critic (Michael Fassbender). History gets re-written in very broad strokes in Tarantino's screenplay as the story plays out in chapters - Waltz (who won an Oscar) is very funny as the fast-talking Nazi who seems to know everything and suspects everyone. The film's best sequence is set in a tavern that turns into a typical Tarantino bloodbath. Skillfully made but often rather silly film received 8 Academy Award nominations.
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) 7/10
Tarantino's overlong revisionist homage to spaghetti Westerns in this highly stylized but film is set in the Old West and Antebellum South. He also pays tribute to the black man who never seemed to figure in a lead role in all the hundreds of Westerns Hollywood churned out. Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave who with the help of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) gets unchained, freed, trained and spruced up on a violent journey that eventually leads to a reunion with his wife (Kerry Washington) who now belongs to a cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). The journey is long, arduous and violent with Tarantino's signature bloody shootouts. The director brings in many familiar faces from cinema's past in small but vivid roles - Dennis Christopher, Don Johnson, James Remar, Franco Nero (who was the original Django in Sergio Corbucci's classic film from 1967), Bruce Dern, James Russo, Don Stroyd, Michael Parks, Lee Horsley, Jonah Hill, Russ Tamblyn, Ted Neeley, Robert Carradine. Samuel L. Jackson is memorable as the ruthless and foul-mouthed head house slave at the plantation. Waltz basically reprises his smooth talking role from Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" with only a slight shift in character and won his second Oscar - as did Tarantino for his screenplay. Additional nominations went to the film, Tarantino's direction, the cinematography and sound editing.
The Crown - Season 6: Part I (Alex Gabassi & Christian Schwochow, 2023) 8/10
Part 1 of the season covers Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and the days leading upto her death through its first four episodes. It's really a matter of interpretation how her story - her love life - progesses here. First of all they completely omit her passionate affair with Pakistani doctor Hasnat Khan - "the love of her life" - which in reality also the British press and the Royal Family downplayed making it almost seem totally non-existent. He was very much part of her life and their parting - he wanted out - led to her friendship with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) on the rebound. This part of her love life gets highlighted on the series which is also very much a matter of interpretation. He is manipulated by his reptilian father to make a ruthless go for Diana. Was Dodi really complicit with his father? The screenplay shows him bending to his father's will - he is a weak man - but seems to have affection for her. What about Diana? She is overwhelmed by the relentless pursuit of her by the paparazzi and is here clearly not interested in marriage to Dodi. Is this a narrative spin by the producers to appease the Royal Family? Maybe she was in love with him - the sequence with the ring and marriage proposal in his hotel room at the Ritz is obviously a moment nobody witnessed as only the two of them were present. So we will never know as the immediate event that followed - the car crash - did not allow things to become certain. Episode 4 covers the aftermath of her death - Charles (Dominic West) bereft with grief, the two boys numb with shock, the Queen (Imelda Staunton) stoic and aloof at Balmoral as the world mourns and her subjects criticize her absence in London. The images brought back vivid sad memories of the live tv presentation of her funeral in 1997.
Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) 7/10
Time and place - 1969 Los Angeles - is brought vividly to life in Quentin Tarantino's often bloated but delightfully kitschy paean to Hollywood. The film is bursting at the seams with movie memorabilia and pop culture artifacts which are sure to bring every fanboy to the brink of a massive orgasm. And if it doesn't we all know for sure that Tarantino certainly experienced it while writing and shooting this film. Actual Hollywood personalities interact with the lead fictional characters - a has-been Western tv actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime buddy and stunt double (Brad Pitt). An agent (Al Pacino) tries to keep the actor's career going by getting him a role as a villain in a studio western followed by lead roles in four Italian spaghetti westerns. Just on the fringe of this main plot we catch glimpses of actress Sharon Tate (charming Margot Robbie) cruising around in a car with her husband Roman Polanski, watching one of her own films at the cinema and spending time with her former lover Jay Sebring and close friend Abigail Folger. A brief appearance by Charles Manson and an extended tense sequence set at the ranch where Manson and his gang live sets the dreaded tone for the entire film. With Tarantino at the helm expectations run sky high and the director delivers a spectacularly violent finalè but with a gleefully ironic twist. The film is far too long and drags mercilessly during all of DiCaprio's scenes. Fortunately the laconic Pitt is around to bring the movie to life in every scene he appears - providing loving support to his cranky and spoilt buddy, trading insults and fists with Bruce Lee, interacting with his dog, showing his mettle during the showdown at the end - and winning a much deserved Oscar. The film also scores major points for the outstanding production design which also won an Oscar, costumes and Robert Richardson's cinematography which makes L.A. glow. Too bad about the excessive running time which, if nothing else, at least allowed Tarantino to indulge in all his movie fantasies. The film received 10 Oscar nominations.
Women Talking (Sarah Polley, 2022) 8/10
Women who find themselves sexually violated finally decide to stand up and take charge of their lives. True story, an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel, set in a Mennonite community in Bolivia where the women were repeatedly raped by men - husbands, brothers, neighbors - after being drugged with horse tranquilliser. While the men of the community go to town to bail out the rapists their women gather together and vote on whether to stay and fight the men, to try and change the community and its vices, or permanently leave. Polley's screenplay, which won her an Oscar, takes on the #metoo movement head-on in this vivid look at lives shaped and constricted by religious tradition and steeped by oppression, violence, and a silence which finally finds a voice that manages to speak up and expose a terrible wrong. Polley gathers a fantastic cast - Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand - who portray uneducated women who have lived all their lives facing violence and been told it was the work of spirits and the devil. Strength in numbers and a final awakening to their plight puts them in fighting mode as they discuss the pros and cons of their situation which is horrific although shown on screen as an aftermath which does not lessen the impact of the horrors committed. Surprisingly the screenplay also has humour which the women display during their discussions which is filtered through the voice of a trusted male school teacher (Ben Wishaw) - the only adult male presence in the film - who is compassionate towards the plight of all the women while nursing a related heartbreak from his past. Hard hitting film makes strong points using both powerful and gentle strokes.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye (Victor Schertzinger, 1941) 3/10
Neophtye actress (Mary Martin) pretends to be a southern belle and tries to con a director (Don Ameche) and composer (Oscar Levant) of a Broadway musical to give her the leading role. Silly film with Martin extremely annoying and Ameche very dull although there is one very energetic musical number - "Sand in My Shoes" - sung and danced by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson.
The Miracle Club (Thaddeus O'Sullivan, 2023) 6/10
Working-class women go to Lourdes in seek of a miracle but discover guilty secrets about each other and learn to forgive and forget instead. A somewhat derivative plot is saved by a trio of good performances with all three actresses putting on a rather dodgy Irish brogue. When a beloved member of a small Irish village dies, her daughter (Laura Linney) suddenly appears after 40 years to attend the funeral. This does not go down well with the deceased woman's two close friends - a bitter mother of six (Kathy Bates) and a sad withdrawn guilt-ridden woman (Maggie Smith). They all end up together on a trip to Lourdes - the older two angry at the younger - with all three women in search of either a miracle or at least redemption. What they find there is the stark commercialization of a holy sight, the absence of miracles and a whole lot of anger and recriminations between them. Despite all the hand wringing the film is a small miracle as an ode to actresses of a certain advanced age who seem to still be around and happily playing main leads.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Van Gogh (1991) - 8.5/10 - The film details the last couple of months in the life of Vincent van Gogh. In 1890, he comes under the care of Dr. Gachet and spends quite a bit of time with his family. We see some of van Gogh's paintings in progress, but the film is more about the man and his relationships in the time leading up to his suicide. It's well done and pretty entertaining.
Largo Viaje (1967) - 8/10 - Chilean neorealism with a few characters whose lives intersect. The main character is a small boy from the slums of Santiago who ends up lost and wandering around the city where a wide variety of people are going about their daily (and nightly) business. He's on an errand that is pretty important to him, but doesn't know how to complete it. I thought it was pretty good.
Violeta Went to Heaven (2011) - 8/10 - This biopic tells the story of Chilean folk singer, Violeta Parra. In the film, she is taking part in a televised interview with flashbacks to her childhood and other parts of her life. I didn't know anything about her going in, but I enjoyed the story and the music. Francisca Gavilán does a great job as the adult Violeta.
Mr. Arkadin (1955) - 8/10 - A small time crook named Guy working in Naples witnesses a man die whose last words are the names Gregory Arkadin and Sophie. Guy tracks down Arkadin, a wealthy man living in Spain, and Arkadin hires him to discover what he can about his past since he says that he has no memory prior to 1927. Guy gets to work and has quite a bit of success, but his work also deepens the mystery.
Delisin (1975) - 7.5/10 - A man dies and it is rumored that he left behind a hidden fortune somewhere. Several man band together to search, tearing apart a number of places in their efforts. The son of the man who died is a photographer and he moves to the town shortly thereafter. He falls for a high school girl whose photograph he takes while on a job. However, she happens to be the daughter of one of the men searching for the fortune. The town also comes to believe that the man's umbrella has positive powers of karma. The movie is fun and pretty entertaining, especially after the introduction of the love interest 1/3 of the way through the film.
Nostalgia for the Light (2010) - 7.5/10 - Astronomers at an observatory in the midst of a desert in Chile search the skies. Not too far away, groups of women search for the remains of their love ones near the remnants of a prison camp run during the Pinochet regime. The attempt to pair astronomy with the pain of the past is not entirely successful, but it still makes for an interesting film.
La Flaca Alejandra (1994) - 7.5/10 - Carmen Castillo was captured along with other resistance members in Chile in 1974. She was tortured, but eventually sent into exile. The film centers around her conversations with a woman who was part of her group, but broke under torture by the secret police and identified other members who were subsequently arrested, tortured, and often killed. We get a bit of history about the secret police and their methods and also meet a couple of other survivors.
Johnny 100 Pesos (1993) - 7.5/10 - Johnny is a 17 year old who gets involved with a group of four criminals who try to rob a money laundering operation that uses a video club in an apartment building as cover. Things don't go according to plan and they end up trapped in the place they tried to rob with hostages while the police and media have the building surrounding. The media escalates things further by tracking down and interviewing Johnny's family and friends. It was pretty good.
The Maid (2009) - 7.5/10 - Raquel has worked as a maid for a moderately wealthy family for the past 20 years and is turning 41. Recently, she has become more sullen and withdrawn while going about her duties. The family decides to bring in another maid to help, but Raquel plays pranks on her and makes life miserable for the new maid. Other maids follow with similar results until the right one comes along.
La Once (2014) - 7.5/10 - The director filmed her grandmother and her grandmother's friends over a period of five years. The ladies have been friends since high school and still meet regularly for tea. The topics of their conversation are pretty wide ranging - marriage, sexuality, football, aging, and much more. They enjoy nice food and also plan trips that they are going to take together. Over the years, their numbers dwindle due to illness and death. It's a pretty nice film.
Blind Alley (1939) - 7.5/10 - A gangster who escaped from prison is on the run with members of his gang. They arrive at a lakefront home and take a psychology professor and his family/guests hostage while waiting for a boat to arrive. The film has good atmosphere and characters.
Strangers in the Night (1944) - 7.5/10 - A soldier returns home after being injured during the war. One thing that kept him going during his time overseas was his pen-pal correspondence with a woman named Rosemary Blake. He sets off for her hometown in order to meet her, but finds that she is not home and something seems off about her mother's home. This is a nice briskly paced film that is pretty entertaining.
The Marvels (2023) - 7.5/10 - Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau team up after their powers get entangled. They take on the leader of the Kree who is trying to steal resources from various planets. The villain is kind of thinly developed and the story itself seems rather simple and underdeveloped, yet I still had a lot of fun watching the film. The three leads are fun (especially Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan) and their interplay is enjoyable.
Bodyguard (1948) - 7.5/10 - A police detective (Lawrence Tierney) has problems with his boss and leaves the force. He is approached by a man who wants to hire him as a bodyguard for his aunt, the owner of a large meat packing facility. He initially refuses, but is drawn into the situation anyway and is later framed for a murder. While evading the police, he sets out to solve the murder he was framed for along with the problems at the meat packing facility. He is aided by his fiancée (Priscilla Lane) who is the secretary for his former lieutenant. I liked both Tierney and Lane here.
Armed Car Robbery (1950) - 7.5/10 - A group of criminals plan a clever armed car heist. Things go well at first, except for a police car with two detectives who happen to be close by. When one of the detectives is killed in a shootout, his partner is hot on the trail of the criminals responsible. Fast moving and entertaining.
Whispering Footsteps (1943) - 7.5/10 - People in a small town start getting suspicious of a bank teller whose face resembles the sketch made of a murderer who has been strangling women in towns not all that far from where they live. Even people in his rooming house and some who have known him for many years are not immune, except for one woman who has been friends with him since childhood. This is pretty short, but felt like a fairly well realized and complete film which I ended up enjoying quite a bit.
The Whistler (1944) - 7/10 - A wealthy businessman is despondent over the death of his wife. He uses an intermediary to hire an assassin to kill him, but wants to call it off when he gets a telegram that his wife may be alive after all. Nothing extraordinary here, but I thought it was pretty entertaining during its short runtime. Richard Dix plays a different lead character in each of the first 7 Whistler films which I liked and which have about the same level of quality.
The Return of the Whistler (1948) - 7/10 - Michael Duane does a nice job stepping into the lead role in place of Richard Dix, who retired. He plays a man traveling with his fiancée when their car breaks down in a small town. He checks her into a hotel while going to get the car fixed, but she has disappeared when he returns the next morning. He desperately starts trying to find out what happened to her. The film is shot very well and moves a a pretty good clip.
Behind Locked Doors (1948) - 7/10 - A reporter convinces a private investigator to go undercover at a private sanitarium. She thinks that a crooked judge is hiding out there and wants the PI to find out if that's true. She'll act as his wife and liaison to the outside world and they can split the reward. Conditions inside the facility are not optimal for safety, though. Tor Johnson makes an appearance here as an insane former boxer.
Conan the Destroyer (1984) - 7/10 - This isn't a great film and doesn't really fit my view of Conan, but as a fantasy adventure film, it's fairly fun and entertaining. Plus it has Grace Jones.
The BeastMaster (1982) - 7/10 - A boy is ripped from his mother's womb to be sacrificed in order to avert a prophecy, but is saved by a man who raises him as his son. The boy turns out to have the power to befriend and influence animals. He uses these abilities to protect others and look for revenge. It's about what I was expecting and was pretty entertaining.
Escape in the Fog (1945) - 7/10 - A nurse has a very realistic dream where she witnesses a man being murdered. After she wakes, she meets the man that she saw getting killed and he turns out to be a federal agent. They start a relationship, but circumstances seem to be leading to a repeat of her dream. Short, but pretty solid.
Bury Me Dead (1947) - 6.5/10 - June Lockhart stars as a wealthy woman who arrives home from a trip to find that she is thought dead in a stable fire. She attends her own funeral with her face covered, wanting to investigate and find out who was trying to kill her before going to the police. There are a number of suspects, including her husband, the woman who who was raised as her sister, a boxer that she was seeing, and the woman that her husband was seeing. The film is fairly average, but I enjoyed it.
The Turin Horse (2011) - 6/10 - A farmer, his daughter, and an abused horse struggle to survive during a fierce windstorm. It's Tarr so you pretty much know what to expect - nice cinematography and a fairly monotonous story, including plenty of images of eating potatoes.
El Chacal de Nahueltoro (1969) - 5.5/10 - A man is in prison awaiting execution. We learn that he is an illiterate drunk who murdered the woman he was living with and her five children after an argument while he was really blasted. The film tells his life story which is not a particularly happy one. I guess that the film was also an argument against the death penalty, but I wasn't really moved by it.
Bad Lieutenant (1992) - 5/10 - Harvey Keitel stars as a scumbag cop who drinks and does drugs while on the job. The movie is pretty aimless and I couldn't really get into it.
The Mysterious Mr. Valentine (1946) - 4.5/10 - The film starts with a woman getting a blowout and stopping at a nearby chemist's shop to use their phone. She then steals a car when the chemist's wife pops in to take a photo of her husband with his 'girlfriend'. There are a lot of things in this film that don't make a lot of sense. The story makes a number of leaps. The acting isn't very good, especially for the private detective character.
La expropiación (1974) - 3.5/10 - Chile is undergoing agrarian reform during the Allende years and the state is taking over large farms. One landowner is willing to hand over his property without a fuss and leave the country, but the people who work for him aren't happy about this. There are long discussions about expropriation and other political issues and the film is very boring.
Largo Viaje (1967) - 8/10 - Chilean neorealism with a few characters whose lives intersect. The main character is a small boy from the slums of Santiago who ends up lost and wandering around the city where a wide variety of people are going about their daily (and nightly) business. He's on an errand that is pretty important to him, but doesn't know how to complete it. I thought it was pretty good.
Violeta Went to Heaven (2011) - 8/10 - This biopic tells the story of Chilean folk singer, Violeta Parra. In the film, she is taking part in a televised interview with flashbacks to her childhood and other parts of her life. I didn't know anything about her going in, but I enjoyed the story and the music. Francisca Gavilán does a great job as the adult Violeta.
Mr. Arkadin (1955) - 8/10 - A small time crook named Guy working in Naples witnesses a man die whose last words are the names Gregory Arkadin and Sophie. Guy tracks down Arkadin, a wealthy man living in Spain, and Arkadin hires him to discover what he can about his past since he says that he has no memory prior to 1927. Guy gets to work and has quite a bit of success, but his work also deepens the mystery.
Delisin (1975) - 7.5/10 - A man dies and it is rumored that he left behind a hidden fortune somewhere. Several man band together to search, tearing apart a number of places in their efforts. The son of the man who died is a photographer and he moves to the town shortly thereafter. He falls for a high school girl whose photograph he takes while on a job. However, she happens to be the daughter of one of the men searching for the fortune. The town also comes to believe that the man's umbrella has positive powers of karma. The movie is fun and pretty entertaining, especially after the introduction of the love interest 1/3 of the way through the film.
Nostalgia for the Light (2010) - 7.5/10 - Astronomers at an observatory in the midst of a desert in Chile search the skies. Not too far away, groups of women search for the remains of their love ones near the remnants of a prison camp run during the Pinochet regime. The attempt to pair astronomy with the pain of the past is not entirely successful, but it still makes for an interesting film.
La Flaca Alejandra (1994) - 7.5/10 - Carmen Castillo was captured along with other resistance members in Chile in 1974. She was tortured, but eventually sent into exile. The film centers around her conversations with a woman who was part of her group, but broke under torture by the secret police and identified other members who were subsequently arrested, tortured, and often killed. We get a bit of history about the secret police and their methods and also meet a couple of other survivors.
Johnny 100 Pesos (1993) - 7.5/10 - Johnny is a 17 year old who gets involved with a group of four criminals who try to rob a money laundering operation that uses a video club in an apartment building as cover. Things don't go according to plan and they end up trapped in the place they tried to rob with hostages while the police and media have the building surrounding. The media escalates things further by tracking down and interviewing Johnny's family and friends. It was pretty good.
The Maid (2009) - 7.5/10 - Raquel has worked as a maid for a moderately wealthy family for the past 20 years and is turning 41. Recently, she has become more sullen and withdrawn while going about her duties. The family decides to bring in another maid to help, but Raquel plays pranks on her and makes life miserable for the new maid. Other maids follow with similar results until the right one comes along.
La Once (2014) - 7.5/10 - The director filmed her grandmother and her grandmother's friends over a period of five years. The ladies have been friends since high school and still meet regularly for tea. The topics of their conversation are pretty wide ranging - marriage, sexuality, football, aging, and much more. They enjoy nice food and also plan trips that they are going to take together. Over the years, their numbers dwindle due to illness and death. It's a pretty nice film.
Blind Alley (1939) - 7.5/10 - A gangster who escaped from prison is on the run with members of his gang. They arrive at a lakefront home and take a psychology professor and his family/guests hostage while waiting for a boat to arrive. The film has good atmosphere and characters.
Strangers in the Night (1944) - 7.5/10 - A soldier returns home after being injured during the war. One thing that kept him going during his time overseas was his pen-pal correspondence with a woman named Rosemary Blake. He sets off for her hometown in order to meet her, but finds that she is not home and something seems off about her mother's home. This is a nice briskly paced film that is pretty entertaining.
The Marvels (2023) - 7.5/10 - Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau team up after their powers get entangled. They take on the leader of the Kree who is trying to steal resources from various planets. The villain is kind of thinly developed and the story itself seems rather simple and underdeveloped, yet I still had a lot of fun watching the film. The three leads are fun (especially Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan) and their interplay is enjoyable.
Bodyguard (1948) - 7.5/10 - A police detective (Lawrence Tierney) has problems with his boss and leaves the force. He is approached by a man who wants to hire him as a bodyguard for his aunt, the owner of a large meat packing facility. He initially refuses, but is drawn into the situation anyway and is later framed for a murder. While evading the police, he sets out to solve the murder he was framed for along with the problems at the meat packing facility. He is aided by his fiancée (Priscilla Lane) who is the secretary for his former lieutenant. I liked both Tierney and Lane here.
Armed Car Robbery (1950) - 7.5/10 - A group of criminals plan a clever armed car heist. Things go well at first, except for a police car with two detectives who happen to be close by. When one of the detectives is killed in a shootout, his partner is hot on the trail of the criminals responsible. Fast moving and entertaining.
Whispering Footsteps (1943) - 7.5/10 - People in a small town start getting suspicious of a bank teller whose face resembles the sketch made of a murderer who has been strangling women in towns not all that far from where they live. Even people in his rooming house and some who have known him for many years are not immune, except for one woman who has been friends with him since childhood. This is pretty short, but felt like a fairly well realized and complete film which I ended up enjoying quite a bit.
The Whistler (1944) - 7/10 - A wealthy businessman is despondent over the death of his wife. He uses an intermediary to hire an assassin to kill him, but wants to call it off when he gets a telegram that his wife may be alive after all. Nothing extraordinary here, but I thought it was pretty entertaining during its short runtime. Richard Dix plays a different lead character in each of the first 7 Whistler films which I liked and which have about the same level of quality.
The Return of the Whistler (1948) - 7/10 - Michael Duane does a nice job stepping into the lead role in place of Richard Dix, who retired. He plays a man traveling with his fiancée when their car breaks down in a small town. He checks her into a hotel while going to get the car fixed, but she has disappeared when he returns the next morning. He desperately starts trying to find out what happened to her. The film is shot very well and moves a a pretty good clip.
Behind Locked Doors (1948) - 7/10 - A reporter convinces a private investigator to go undercover at a private sanitarium. She thinks that a crooked judge is hiding out there and wants the PI to find out if that's true. She'll act as his wife and liaison to the outside world and they can split the reward. Conditions inside the facility are not optimal for safety, though. Tor Johnson makes an appearance here as an insane former boxer.
Conan the Destroyer (1984) - 7/10 - This isn't a great film and doesn't really fit my view of Conan, but as a fantasy adventure film, it's fairly fun and entertaining. Plus it has Grace Jones.
The BeastMaster (1982) - 7/10 - A boy is ripped from his mother's womb to be sacrificed in order to avert a prophecy, but is saved by a man who raises him as his son. The boy turns out to have the power to befriend and influence animals. He uses these abilities to protect others and look for revenge. It's about what I was expecting and was pretty entertaining.
Escape in the Fog (1945) - 7/10 - A nurse has a very realistic dream where she witnesses a man being murdered. After she wakes, she meets the man that she saw getting killed and he turns out to be a federal agent. They start a relationship, but circumstances seem to be leading to a repeat of her dream. Short, but pretty solid.
Bury Me Dead (1947) - 6.5/10 - June Lockhart stars as a wealthy woman who arrives home from a trip to find that she is thought dead in a stable fire. She attends her own funeral with her face covered, wanting to investigate and find out who was trying to kill her before going to the police. There are a number of suspects, including her husband, the woman who who was raised as her sister, a boxer that she was seeing, and the woman that her husband was seeing. The film is fairly average, but I enjoyed it.
The Turin Horse (2011) - 6/10 - A farmer, his daughter, and an abused horse struggle to survive during a fierce windstorm. It's Tarr so you pretty much know what to expect - nice cinematography and a fairly monotonous story, including plenty of images of eating potatoes.
El Chacal de Nahueltoro (1969) - 5.5/10 - A man is in prison awaiting execution. We learn that he is an illiterate drunk who murdered the woman he was living with and her five children after an argument while he was really blasted. The film tells his life story which is not a particularly happy one. I guess that the film was also an argument against the death penalty, but I wasn't really moved by it.
Bad Lieutenant (1992) - 5/10 - Harvey Keitel stars as a scumbag cop who drinks and does drugs while on the job. The movie is pretty aimless and I couldn't really get into it.
The Mysterious Mr. Valentine (1946) - 4.5/10 - The film starts with a woman getting a blowout and stopping at a nearby chemist's shop to use their phone. She then steals a car when the chemist's wife pops in to take a photo of her husband with his 'girlfriend'. There are a lot of things in this film that don't make a lot of sense. The story makes a number of leaps. The acting isn't very good, especially for the private detective character.
La expropiación (1974) - 3.5/10 - Chile is undergoing agrarian reform during the Allende years and the state is taking over large farms. One landowner is willing to hand over his property without a fuss and leave the country, but the people who work for him aren't happy about this. There are long discussions about expropriation and other political issues and the film is very boring.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Partition (Vic Sarin, 2007) 5/10
The 1947 Partition of India by way of Mills and Boon. Simplistic and often silly film looks at the growing relationship between a former Sikh soldier and a Muslim woman. During the mass exodus of Partition a muslim family is attacked by Sikhs and a young girl (Kristen Kreuk) manages to escape into the woods and is given shelter by a Sikh farmer (Jimi Mistry). While his British friend (Neve Campbell) tries to get the Indian government to locate the girl's family in Pakistan he provides her shelter much to the consternation of his mother (Madhur Jaffrey) and the angry villagers who cannot abide having a Muslim live amongst them. As time passes by both get married and have a son. The second half of the film turns into an overblown melodrama with more than a few shades of Bollywood cinema shtick. Mistry gives an understated performance but Canadian Kreuk is miscast and fails to be convincing as a simple Muslim girl and the screenplay also gets her to do a few too many things no muslim woman would. The overall production is very good shot on authentic locations.
Du rififi à Paname / Rififi in Paris / The Upper Hand (Denys de La Patellière, 1966) 4/10
Jean Gabin shines as a suave hood involved in the smuggling racket with an antique dealer (Gert Frobe) and his wife (Nadja Tiller) who is unaware that the man he has hired as his bodyguard is an American undercover agent who is aware of his illegal activities. The film, set during the swinging 60s, is loud and flashy with a good cast all wasted - Claude Brasseur, Marcel Bouzuffi, Mireille Darc and George Raft as a member of the Mafia.
Mediocre film has a few action scenes and an annoying loud score that punctuates every dramatic moment.
La Minute de vérité / The Moment of Truth (Jean Delannoy, 1952) 7/10
A doctor (Jean Gabin) accidently discovers his wife (Michèle Morgan) of ten years has been having an affair with a painter (Daniel Gélin) who happens to be his patient after a suicide attempt. When he confronts his wife various flashbacks show the extent to which their supposedly perfect and happy marriage has been full of silent strife. There is nothing in the screenplay that is striking - it borders on being rather trite - but the three magnificent stars lift the material into something quite wonderful and melodramatic. The two leads have a great sense of comfort on screen - it was their fourth film together - as they bicker and scoff at each other's reasonings behind their actions. Have never understood the charm of Gélin - also a huge star - who compared to Gabin is a rather weak substitute as a lover. Maybe it was sensitivity his rather petite stature exuded which attracted women. It was such films that the French New Wave auteurs - François Truffaut led the field via his 1954 article - reviled by scoffing at their old fashioned and safe cinematic language. In hindsight many of these so-called old fashioned films hold up quite well today while many New Wave films come off inventive for sure, but also pretentious - in any case many of the techniques (editing, long shot cinematography) used and celebrated by them had already been in use decades before in Russian and German cinema.
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company 'B' (Walter Lantz, 1941) 8/10
Classic animated short film was nominated for an Oscar. The famous song by the Andrews Sisters is used as a backdrop to the plot about a black trumpeter who is drafted as a soldier during WWII and assigned to be the 5am bugle boy. Everyone hates being woken up to the sound of the bugle until the soldier uses the trumpet to blow a swinging tune - the famous song - and everyone enjoys waking up to it. The film is considered racist because the black soldiers have thick lips and intone with a "yes masta" style. I find the racist reasoning to be quite absurd - many black people do not have thick lips but then many also do - just as many white folk do too - Angelina Jolie and Mick Jagger come to mind. And black people way back then did speak like that. So what's this racism hysteria all about? What I found utterly despicable was that the film showed only black characters in the army. Why? Because there was segregation in the United States army and no white soldier wanted to be near a black one. Now THAT was despicable and which should have been condemned instead of white folks today crying foul over thick lips and vocal mannerisms.
Red Sun (Terence Young, 1971) 6/10
Sometimes too many cooks don't quite spoil the broth. This cult western is truly an international production. A British director (Terence Young) shoots a western in Spain (Almeira) with a cast of actors from very diverse backgrounds - American (Charles Bronson), Japanese (Toshirô Mifune), Swiss (Ursula Andress), and French (Alain Delon & Capucine). A Japanese samurai (Toshirô Mifune) sets out to retrieve a ceremonial sword - a gift for the American President - which was stolen by a suave crook (Alain Delon). Joining him on the quest through the Wild West is another crook (Charles Bronson) who wants to get back the loot stolen from him. The film takes on the manner of a road trip with two very different and constantly bickering and totally incompatable companions. Their motives for the pursuit are totally different - purely monetary for the American and honour for the Japanese. Ursula Andress, playing a prostitute, appears almost one hour into the film but immediately dazzles by appearing half covered in a bed sheet - she later also goes topless - but Capucine, also playing a prostitute, has barely anything to do in the film. And then the Cheyenne get into the act as well. Good cast and authentic looking locations - cinematography by the great Henri Alekan - make for a fairly exciting film.
Tonight at 8.30 - Still Life (Sydney Lotterby, 1991) 5/10
A cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward, presented in London in 1936 and in New York in 1936–1937, with the author and Gertrude Lawrence in the leading roles. Here Joan Collins took part in all the playlets in this BBC production and in this one - which was made for the big screen by David Lean in 1945 as "Brief Encounter" - she took on the supporting role of the owner of a café at a train station where a housewife (Jane Asher) and a doctor (John Alderton) meet by chance and carry on a guilt-ridden affair over the course of a year. The main story about the two lovers resonated deeply in the original but here a boisterous Collins makes it her own as she is wooed by the station master (Norman Rossington) and she has animated conversations with a waitress who has her own lover in tow. In contrast both Asher and Alderton barely make an impression - while she tries hard she gets little response from a dull Alderton who intones all his dialogue in a muffled voice making it extremely hard to understand what he is saying. Stick to the David Lean version with the sublime Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard who play the lovers.
Tonight at 8.30 - The Astonished Heart (Paul Annett, 1991) 7/10
A cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward, presented in London in 1936 and in New York in 1936–1937, with the author and Gertrude Lawrence in the leading roles. Here Joan Collins took part in all the playlets in this BBC production. It was directed for the big screen by Coward himself in 1950 playing opposite Celia Johnson as his wife and Margaret Leighton as his lover. Coward later famously referred to himself in the film as "that splendid old Chinese character actress". Here Collins plays the femme fatale who comes between a happily married couple - a school friend (Siân Phillips) and her psychiatrist husband (John Alderton). The affair causes a lot of hand-wringing and anguish all around with the friend's conscience suddenly acting up after she has destroyed a marriage. It eventually leads to tragedy. Collins is perfectly cast in full-on Alexis Carrington mode (from "Dynasty") - her performance, as always, is a mixture of camp and artificiality - as she zeroes in on her unsuspecting school chum (a sublime Phillips) and selfishly ingratiates herself onto the smitten husband who still loves his wife yet can't help fondling his lover too. A case of wanting to keep the cake and eating it too. Despite loving his wife he is obsessed by his lover of whom he is also jealous because of her love for a previous dead lover. A doctor of the mind losing his own mind.
The Nun II (Michael Chaves, 2023) 2/10
Convoluted plot probably makes sense if you remember what happened in part 1. This sequel arrives five years after the first so it becomes quite a stretch to figure out the connection and why things are going bump in the night courtesy of a red-eyed Nun who is on a killing spree. The heroic nun (Taissa Farmiga) from the previous film is asked by the head honcho at the Church to figure out who or what is killing nuns and priests across Europe. The events this time take place within a girl's school as the demon - inside a handyman - causes death and assorted levitations. Noisy film goes through the motions with every moment regurgitated from better horror movies in the past. As with the first film its the atmospheric locations that stand out. The horror elements are merely hohum.
Me Before You (Thea Sharrock, 2016) 6/10
Maudlin but highly successful romantic comedy - based on the bestselling novel by Jojo Moyes - is lifted to certain heights by the presence of the gawky but enchanting Emilia Clarke. Poor girl (Emilia Clarke) meets rich boy (Sam Claflin) and sparks fly. There is one little problem. He is a quadraplegic who wants to end his life. She is hired by his rich parents (Charles Dance and Janet McTeer) to be his caregiver and their relationship which starts out thorny finally thaws when she sits and watches a sub-titled french film with him. Her efforts to disuade him from his plans of an assisted suicide include a trip to the horse races, an invitation to celebrate her birthday with her family, attend the wedding of his ex-girlfriend (Vanessa Kirby), and a beach holiday in Mauritius. The film scores points for the Claflin-Clarke chemistry and for its lovely locations - including Pembroke Castle in Wales.
Breathe (Andy Serkis, 2017) 6/10
True story of Jonathan Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), a British advocate for people with disability, medical aid developer, and one of the longest-lived responauts in Britain. He contracted polio at age 28 and the film charts his life with his devoted wife (Claire Foy), his son, and his eventual work to improve not only the quality of his own life, but the lives of other paralyzed people as well. With the help of his wife he travels the world to inspire others as campaigners for disabled people. Despite the film's depressing subject it is surprisingly heartwarming and quite upbeat with superb performances by both Garfield and Foy who are charming as the couple who somewhat manage to overcome a physical disability and lead a fairly active life.
About Fate (Maryus Vaysberg, 2022) 1/10
Hollywood remakes a 1975 Russian tv movie and its absolute crap. A realtor (Emma Roberts) and a lawyer (Thomas Mann) find themselves on a date - they have both been dumped by their respective partners and are attending her sister's wedding. He is dull as dishwater and she is a screechy harpy. Nothing seems Russian here or interesting. The plot drags and there is nothing that would label this a romantic comedy since it is neither funny nor romantic. So many unappealing characters cramned into one film. Apparently everyone in Russia associated with the original film also thought this film was total crap. Skip it.
The 1947 Partition of India by way of Mills and Boon. Simplistic and often silly film looks at the growing relationship between a former Sikh soldier and a Muslim woman. During the mass exodus of Partition a muslim family is attacked by Sikhs and a young girl (Kristen Kreuk) manages to escape into the woods and is given shelter by a Sikh farmer (Jimi Mistry). While his British friend (Neve Campbell) tries to get the Indian government to locate the girl's family in Pakistan he provides her shelter much to the consternation of his mother (Madhur Jaffrey) and the angry villagers who cannot abide having a Muslim live amongst them. As time passes by both get married and have a son. The second half of the film turns into an overblown melodrama with more than a few shades of Bollywood cinema shtick. Mistry gives an understated performance but Canadian Kreuk is miscast and fails to be convincing as a simple Muslim girl and the screenplay also gets her to do a few too many things no muslim woman would. The overall production is very good shot on authentic locations.
Du rififi à Paname / Rififi in Paris / The Upper Hand (Denys de La Patellière, 1966) 4/10
Jean Gabin shines as a suave hood involved in the smuggling racket with an antique dealer (Gert Frobe) and his wife (Nadja Tiller) who is unaware that the man he has hired as his bodyguard is an American undercover agent who is aware of his illegal activities. The film, set during the swinging 60s, is loud and flashy with a good cast all wasted - Claude Brasseur, Marcel Bouzuffi, Mireille Darc and George Raft as a member of the Mafia.
Mediocre film has a few action scenes and an annoying loud score that punctuates every dramatic moment.
La Minute de vérité / The Moment of Truth (Jean Delannoy, 1952) 7/10
A doctor (Jean Gabin) accidently discovers his wife (Michèle Morgan) of ten years has been having an affair with a painter (Daniel Gélin) who happens to be his patient after a suicide attempt. When he confronts his wife various flashbacks show the extent to which their supposedly perfect and happy marriage has been full of silent strife. There is nothing in the screenplay that is striking - it borders on being rather trite - but the three magnificent stars lift the material into something quite wonderful and melodramatic. The two leads have a great sense of comfort on screen - it was their fourth film together - as they bicker and scoff at each other's reasonings behind their actions. Have never understood the charm of Gélin - also a huge star - who compared to Gabin is a rather weak substitute as a lover. Maybe it was sensitivity his rather petite stature exuded which attracted women. It was such films that the French New Wave auteurs - François Truffaut led the field via his 1954 article - reviled by scoffing at their old fashioned and safe cinematic language. In hindsight many of these so-called old fashioned films hold up quite well today while many New Wave films come off inventive for sure, but also pretentious - in any case many of the techniques (editing, long shot cinematography) used and celebrated by them had already been in use decades before in Russian and German cinema.
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company 'B' (Walter Lantz, 1941) 8/10
Classic animated short film was nominated for an Oscar. The famous song by the Andrews Sisters is used as a backdrop to the plot about a black trumpeter who is drafted as a soldier during WWII and assigned to be the 5am bugle boy. Everyone hates being woken up to the sound of the bugle until the soldier uses the trumpet to blow a swinging tune - the famous song - and everyone enjoys waking up to it. The film is considered racist because the black soldiers have thick lips and intone with a "yes masta" style. I find the racist reasoning to be quite absurd - many black people do not have thick lips but then many also do - just as many white folk do too - Angelina Jolie and Mick Jagger come to mind. And black people way back then did speak like that. So what's this racism hysteria all about? What I found utterly despicable was that the film showed only black characters in the army. Why? Because there was segregation in the United States army and no white soldier wanted to be near a black one. Now THAT was despicable and which should have been condemned instead of white folks today crying foul over thick lips and vocal mannerisms.
Red Sun (Terence Young, 1971) 6/10
Sometimes too many cooks don't quite spoil the broth. This cult western is truly an international production. A British director (Terence Young) shoots a western in Spain (Almeira) with a cast of actors from very diverse backgrounds - American (Charles Bronson), Japanese (Toshirô Mifune), Swiss (Ursula Andress), and French (Alain Delon & Capucine). A Japanese samurai (Toshirô Mifune) sets out to retrieve a ceremonial sword - a gift for the American President - which was stolen by a suave crook (Alain Delon). Joining him on the quest through the Wild West is another crook (Charles Bronson) who wants to get back the loot stolen from him. The film takes on the manner of a road trip with two very different and constantly bickering and totally incompatable companions. Their motives for the pursuit are totally different - purely monetary for the American and honour for the Japanese. Ursula Andress, playing a prostitute, appears almost one hour into the film but immediately dazzles by appearing half covered in a bed sheet - she later also goes topless - but Capucine, also playing a prostitute, has barely anything to do in the film. And then the Cheyenne get into the act as well. Good cast and authentic looking locations - cinematography by the great Henri Alekan - make for a fairly exciting film.
Tonight at 8.30 - Still Life (Sydney Lotterby, 1991) 5/10
A cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward, presented in London in 1936 and in New York in 1936–1937, with the author and Gertrude Lawrence in the leading roles. Here Joan Collins took part in all the playlets in this BBC production and in this one - which was made for the big screen by David Lean in 1945 as "Brief Encounter" - she took on the supporting role of the owner of a café at a train station where a housewife (Jane Asher) and a doctor (John Alderton) meet by chance and carry on a guilt-ridden affair over the course of a year. The main story about the two lovers resonated deeply in the original but here a boisterous Collins makes it her own as she is wooed by the station master (Norman Rossington) and she has animated conversations with a waitress who has her own lover in tow. In contrast both Asher and Alderton barely make an impression - while she tries hard she gets little response from a dull Alderton who intones all his dialogue in a muffled voice making it extremely hard to understand what he is saying. Stick to the David Lean version with the sublime Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard who play the lovers.
Tonight at 8.30 - The Astonished Heart (Paul Annett, 1991) 7/10
A cycle of ten one-act plays by Noël Coward, presented in London in 1936 and in New York in 1936–1937, with the author and Gertrude Lawrence in the leading roles. Here Joan Collins took part in all the playlets in this BBC production. It was directed for the big screen by Coward himself in 1950 playing opposite Celia Johnson as his wife and Margaret Leighton as his lover. Coward later famously referred to himself in the film as "that splendid old Chinese character actress". Here Collins plays the femme fatale who comes between a happily married couple - a school friend (Siân Phillips) and her psychiatrist husband (John Alderton). The affair causes a lot of hand-wringing and anguish all around with the friend's conscience suddenly acting up after she has destroyed a marriage. It eventually leads to tragedy. Collins is perfectly cast in full-on Alexis Carrington mode (from "Dynasty") - her performance, as always, is a mixture of camp and artificiality - as she zeroes in on her unsuspecting school chum (a sublime Phillips) and selfishly ingratiates herself onto the smitten husband who still loves his wife yet can't help fondling his lover too. A case of wanting to keep the cake and eating it too. Despite loving his wife he is obsessed by his lover of whom he is also jealous because of her love for a previous dead lover. A doctor of the mind losing his own mind.
The Nun II (Michael Chaves, 2023) 2/10
Convoluted plot probably makes sense if you remember what happened in part 1. This sequel arrives five years after the first so it becomes quite a stretch to figure out the connection and why things are going bump in the night courtesy of a red-eyed Nun who is on a killing spree. The heroic nun (Taissa Farmiga) from the previous film is asked by the head honcho at the Church to figure out who or what is killing nuns and priests across Europe. The events this time take place within a girl's school as the demon - inside a handyman - causes death and assorted levitations. Noisy film goes through the motions with every moment regurgitated from better horror movies in the past. As with the first film its the atmospheric locations that stand out. The horror elements are merely hohum.
Me Before You (Thea Sharrock, 2016) 6/10
Maudlin but highly successful romantic comedy - based on the bestselling novel by Jojo Moyes - is lifted to certain heights by the presence of the gawky but enchanting Emilia Clarke. Poor girl (Emilia Clarke) meets rich boy (Sam Claflin) and sparks fly. There is one little problem. He is a quadraplegic who wants to end his life. She is hired by his rich parents (Charles Dance and Janet McTeer) to be his caregiver and their relationship which starts out thorny finally thaws when she sits and watches a sub-titled french film with him. Her efforts to disuade him from his plans of an assisted suicide include a trip to the horse races, an invitation to celebrate her birthday with her family, attend the wedding of his ex-girlfriend (Vanessa Kirby), and a beach holiday in Mauritius. The film scores points for the Claflin-Clarke chemistry and for its lovely locations - including Pembroke Castle in Wales.
Breathe (Andy Serkis, 2017) 6/10
True story of Jonathan Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), a British advocate for people with disability, medical aid developer, and one of the longest-lived responauts in Britain. He contracted polio at age 28 and the film charts his life with his devoted wife (Claire Foy), his son, and his eventual work to improve not only the quality of his own life, but the lives of other paralyzed people as well. With the help of his wife he travels the world to inspire others as campaigners for disabled people. Despite the film's depressing subject it is surprisingly heartwarming and quite upbeat with superb performances by both Garfield and Foy who are charming as the couple who somewhat manage to overcome a physical disability and lead a fairly active life.
About Fate (Maryus Vaysberg, 2022) 1/10
Hollywood remakes a 1975 Russian tv movie and its absolute crap. A realtor (Emma Roberts) and a lawyer (Thomas Mann) find themselves on a date - they have both been dumped by their respective partners and are attending her sister's wedding. He is dull as dishwater and she is a screechy harpy. Nothing seems Russian here or interesting. The plot drags and there is nothing that would label this a romantic comedy since it is neither funny nor romantic. So many unappealing characters cramned into one film. Apparently everyone in Russia associated with the original film also thought this film was total crap. Skip it.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Only Murders in the Building - Season 1 (2021) 8/10
Quirky murder mystery co-created by Steve Martin. In an Upper West Side apartment three strangers - a semi-retired actor (Steve Martin), a financially struggling Broadway director (Martin Short) and a young artist (Selena Gomez) come together to try and solve the murder of the latter's childhood friend who was despised by many people in the building. Witty series with a charming cast.
Broken Lance (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) 8/10
Memorable western that takes its cue from Shakespeare's "King Lear" with a gender switch. Tough rancher (Spencer Tracy) rules his land, staff and sons (Richard Widmark, Hugh O'Brian, Earl Holliman) with an iron hand. He admires and has a soft spot for his youngest son (Robert Wagner) whose mother is his second wife and a Native American (Katy Jurado) who is the sole voice of reason in this turbulent family. When the rancher takes the law into his own hands and attacks a mining company for polluting a stream of water on his land the youngest son takes the blame for his father and is sentenced to prison. The old sick man is at the mercy of his three sons who take control of the ranch and business affairs. Stunningly shot in widescreen colour by Joseph MacDonald who captures the beauty of the vast Arizona locations. Both Tracy and Wagner are standouts along with Katy Jurado whose sensitive performance brought her an Academy Award nomination. Pretty Jean Peters is Wagner's feisty love interest. Philip Yordan's story which exposes racial prejudice and highlights how politicians and big companies pollute the environment was ahead of its time and won for him the Academy Award.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951) 4/10
Silly spoof about the 1950s tv show Hopalong Cassidy. When a western film star, Smoky Callaway, disappears for ten years his old films become a success in re-runs on television. The show's sponsor demands fresh shows so two publicists discover a lookalike cowpoke (Howard Keel) and persuade him to make films which become a huge success. He falls in love with one of the publicists (Dorothy McGuire) who is urged by the other (Fred MacMurray) to pretend she loves him in order to get more publicity for the tv show. When the real actor (also played by Howard Keel), now a womanizing alcoholic wreck, suddenly turns up from Mexico it threatens the successful ruse. Keel has fun playing two very different characters while MacMurray and McGuire play two rather unpleasant people perpetuating a lie for money. Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and Esther Williams appear in cameos as themselves.
The Breed (Nicholas Mastandrea, 2006) 5/10
What "Jaws" did in the ocean we have genetically enhanced dogs doing exactly that on an island. Five friends fly for a weekend holiday to an island on which two of them have inherited an island cabin. They soon discover hostile dogs which come after them. All attempts to escape the island fail until they manage to start up a car and reach an abandoned training facility which they discover was the place where these dogs were created and raised. With the dogs surrounding them will the survivors manage to reach a plane moored on a close-by dock? Wes Craven produced so the horror quotient is at its maximum. Formulaic film has enough chills and jump moments to keep one viewing in suspense.
Bait (Kimble Rendall, 2012) 5/10
How's this for an inventive plot variation on the "Jaws" theme - a great white shark inside a supermarket? A freak tsunami floods an underground parking lot and the inside of a supermarket. Survivors take shelter on top of the shelving units in the store and on top of submerged cars in the parking lot. When a great white shark comes cruising down the aisles between the shelves it becomes a matter of life or death as the trapped people are picked off one by one. Corny, over-the-top but fun premise has its moments with enough nail biting bloody scenes to keep you guessing about who gets chomped on and how.
Lake Placid 2 (David Flores, 2007) 3/10
Giant crocodiles live inside a lake and terrorize a bunch of people camping, swimming and boating. Low budget effects, a bunch of stupid humans - some topless - and three very hungry crocs are just some of the highlights of this silly film. Of all people Cloris Leachman appears as an eccentric, foul-mouthed lakeside dweller. More sequels followed.
Lake Placid 3 (Griff Furst, 2010) 1/10
What a thrill to root for the stupid characters in this film to get eaten by crocodiles. They are so stupid it made me angry that they did not die even more painful deaths. Yes, same lake, more crocodiles but this time a screenplay that hits absolute rock bottom in creating the most absurd situations and the most moronic characters. This is absolute junk cinema.
Montana Belle (Allan Dwan, 1952) 6/10
Jane Russell is steaming hot as brunette outlaw Belle Starr as she dallies and shoots 'em up with leader (Scott Brady) of the Dalton Gang and one (Forrest Tucker) of their gang members. Later she sizzles some more while disguised as a blonde widow from Montana singing - two steamy ballads - with sleek long legs exposed down to ankle strapped shoes in a saloon owned by a wealthy businessman (George Brent). Fictionalized version of the outlaw saga - Belle was already dead and murdered by the time the Dalton Gang came to prominence - was held up for release by Howard Hughes who had Russell under personal contract. Shot in 1948 the film was finally released four years later with the marketing campaign "Warm Lips....Hot Lead". Russell shines in what is basically a routine western with an inventively shot finale set inside a bank during a robbery.
Branded (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 7/10
A gunfighter (Alan Ladd) on the run is coerced by a crook to bilk a rich rancher. The plan is to tattoo a birthmark on his shoulder to resemble a similar mark on the rancher's son who was kidnapped years before. The plan works and the rancher (Charles Bickfird) and his wife (Selena Royal) are thrilled to have their son back. He falls in love with their feisty daughter (Mona Freeman) but guilt leads him to confess the truth to her before leaving to look for the missing son who he has been told lives with a Mexican bandit (Joseph Calleia). Engrossing fast paced western has an intense brooding Ladd, lovely colour cinematography and a screenplay that delivers a strong message about identity.
Gold is Where You Find It (Michael Curtiz, 1938) 5/10
Ten years after the Civil War a bitter feud brews in Sacramento between mining companies and wheat farmers. The modern hydraulic mining method sends muddy sludge into farmland destroying crops and homes killing many innocent farmers and their families. Curtiz uses the new three-strip Technicolor process and its success allowed the studio to assign him to direct their next big colour production "The Adventures of Robin Hood". The screenplay adds history and a romance into the conflict with a mining engineer (George Brent) falling in love with the daughter (Olivia de Havilland) of a wealthy wheat farmer (Claude Rains). The talky script is elevated by a strong cast and excellent production values. Lovely Olivia de Havilland makes a radiant leading lady and, along with Claude Rains, would be added to the cast of Michael Curtiz's "Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn in the title role.
Murder is Easy (Hettie Macdonald, 2009) 5/10
Agatha Christie's 1939 novel gets a drastic change - some characters are omitted and new ones added along with the case being given to Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) who never appeared in the original novel. An old lady (Sylvia Syms) confesses to Miss Marple about her suspicions about two murders in her village while enroute to Scotland Yard on a train. When she is pushed to her death down an escalator Miss Marple visits the village and quietly investigates by eavesdropping amongst the villagers. There are three more murders and one in the distant past that becomes the catalyst for all the deaths. The culprit's eventual confession and the nature of her actions come off rather absurd. Good supporting cast - Benedict Cumberbatch, Anna Chancelor, Jemma Redgrave - weak plotting.
Quirky murder mystery co-created by Steve Martin. In an Upper West Side apartment three strangers - a semi-retired actor (Steve Martin), a financially struggling Broadway director (Martin Short) and a young artist (Selena Gomez) come together to try and solve the murder of the latter's childhood friend who was despised by many people in the building. Witty series with a charming cast.
Broken Lance (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) 8/10
Memorable western that takes its cue from Shakespeare's "King Lear" with a gender switch. Tough rancher (Spencer Tracy) rules his land, staff and sons (Richard Widmark, Hugh O'Brian, Earl Holliman) with an iron hand. He admires and has a soft spot for his youngest son (Robert Wagner) whose mother is his second wife and a Native American (Katy Jurado) who is the sole voice of reason in this turbulent family. When the rancher takes the law into his own hands and attacks a mining company for polluting a stream of water on his land the youngest son takes the blame for his father and is sentenced to prison. The old sick man is at the mercy of his three sons who take control of the ranch and business affairs. Stunningly shot in widescreen colour by Joseph MacDonald who captures the beauty of the vast Arizona locations. Both Tracy and Wagner are standouts along with Katy Jurado whose sensitive performance brought her an Academy Award nomination. Pretty Jean Peters is Wagner's feisty love interest. Philip Yordan's story which exposes racial prejudice and highlights how politicians and big companies pollute the environment was ahead of its time and won for him the Academy Award.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951) 4/10
Silly spoof about the 1950s tv show Hopalong Cassidy. When a western film star, Smoky Callaway, disappears for ten years his old films become a success in re-runs on television. The show's sponsor demands fresh shows so two publicists discover a lookalike cowpoke (Howard Keel) and persuade him to make films which become a huge success. He falls in love with one of the publicists (Dorothy McGuire) who is urged by the other (Fred MacMurray) to pretend she loves him in order to get more publicity for the tv show. When the real actor (also played by Howard Keel), now a womanizing alcoholic wreck, suddenly turns up from Mexico it threatens the successful ruse. Keel has fun playing two very different characters while MacMurray and McGuire play two rather unpleasant people perpetuating a lie for money. Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor and Esther Williams appear in cameos as themselves.
The Breed (Nicholas Mastandrea, 2006) 5/10
What "Jaws" did in the ocean we have genetically enhanced dogs doing exactly that on an island. Five friends fly for a weekend holiday to an island on which two of them have inherited an island cabin. They soon discover hostile dogs which come after them. All attempts to escape the island fail until they manage to start up a car and reach an abandoned training facility which they discover was the place where these dogs were created and raised. With the dogs surrounding them will the survivors manage to reach a plane moored on a close-by dock? Wes Craven produced so the horror quotient is at its maximum. Formulaic film has enough chills and jump moments to keep one viewing in suspense.
Bait (Kimble Rendall, 2012) 5/10
How's this for an inventive plot variation on the "Jaws" theme - a great white shark inside a supermarket? A freak tsunami floods an underground parking lot and the inside of a supermarket. Survivors take shelter on top of the shelving units in the store and on top of submerged cars in the parking lot. When a great white shark comes cruising down the aisles between the shelves it becomes a matter of life or death as the trapped people are picked off one by one. Corny, over-the-top but fun premise has its moments with enough nail biting bloody scenes to keep you guessing about who gets chomped on and how.
Lake Placid 2 (David Flores, 2007) 3/10
Giant crocodiles live inside a lake and terrorize a bunch of people camping, swimming and boating. Low budget effects, a bunch of stupid humans - some topless - and three very hungry crocs are just some of the highlights of this silly film. Of all people Cloris Leachman appears as an eccentric, foul-mouthed lakeside dweller. More sequels followed.
Lake Placid 3 (Griff Furst, 2010) 1/10
What a thrill to root for the stupid characters in this film to get eaten by crocodiles. They are so stupid it made me angry that they did not die even more painful deaths. Yes, same lake, more crocodiles but this time a screenplay that hits absolute rock bottom in creating the most absurd situations and the most moronic characters. This is absolute junk cinema.
Montana Belle (Allan Dwan, 1952) 6/10
Jane Russell is steaming hot as brunette outlaw Belle Starr as she dallies and shoots 'em up with leader (Scott Brady) of the Dalton Gang and one (Forrest Tucker) of their gang members. Later she sizzles some more while disguised as a blonde widow from Montana singing - two steamy ballads - with sleek long legs exposed down to ankle strapped shoes in a saloon owned by a wealthy businessman (George Brent). Fictionalized version of the outlaw saga - Belle was already dead and murdered by the time the Dalton Gang came to prominence - was held up for release by Howard Hughes who had Russell under personal contract. Shot in 1948 the film was finally released four years later with the marketing campaign "Warm Lips....Hot Lead". Russell shines in what is basically a routine western with an inventively shot finale set inside a bank during a robbery.
Branded (Rudolph Maté, 1950) 7/10
A gunfighter (Alan Ladd) on the run is coerced by a crook to bilk a rich rancher. The plan is to tattoo a birthmark on his shoulder to resemble a similar mark on the rancher's son who was kidnapped years before. The plan works and the rancher (Charles Bickfird) and his wife (Selena Royal) are thrilled to have their son back. He falls in love with their feisty daughter (Mona Freeman) but guilt leads him to confess the truth to her before leaving to look for the missing son who he has been told lives with a Mexican bandit (Joseph Calleia). Engrossing fast paced western has an intense brooding Ladd, lovely colour cinematography and a screenplay that delivers a strong message about identity.
Gold is Where You Find It (Michael Curtiz, 1938) 5/10
Ten years after the Civil War a bitter feud brews in Sacramento between mining companies and wheat farmers. The modern hydraulic mining method sends muddy sludge into farmland destroying crops and homes killing many innocent farmers and their families. Curtiz uses the new three-strip Technicolor process and its success allowed the studio to assign him to direct their next big colour production "The Adventures of Robin Hood". The screenplay adds history and a romance into the conflict with a mining engineer (George Brent) falling in love with the daughter (Olivia de Havilland) of a wealthy wheat farmer (Claude Rains). The talky script is elevated by a strong cast and excellent production values. Lovely Olivia de Havilland makes a radiant leading lady and, along with Claude Rains, would be added to the cast of Michael Curtiz's "Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn in the title role.
Murder is Easy (Hettie Macdonald, 2009) 5/10
Agatha Christie's 1939 novel gets a drastic change - some characters are omitted and new ones added along with the case being given to Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) who never appeared in the original novel. An old lady (Sylvia Syms) confesses to Miss Marple about her suspicions about two murders in her village while enroute to Scotland Yard on a train. When she is pushed to her death down an escalator Miss Marple visits the village and quietly investigates by eavesdropping amongst the villagers. There are three more murders and one in the distant past that becomes the catalyst for all the deaths. The culprit's eventual confession and the nature of her actions come off rather absurd. Good supporting cast - Benedict Cumberbatch, Anna Chancelor, Jemma Redgrave - weak plotting.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Le Notti Bianche / White Nights (1957) - 9/10 - A man arrives in the city of Livorno and sees a woman crying on a canal bridge. He approaches her, but she is shy and runs away at first. Eventually she talks to him and explains that she was waiting for the man she loves to return after a year away. The man falls for her and tries to get her to fall for him as well. Maria Schell and Marcello Mastroianni are excellent in the lead roles here in a beautifully told story. The music and cinematography are each very nice.
The Easy Life / Il sorpasso (1962) - 8.5/10 - Roberto is a serious law student who meets Bruno, a seemingly carefree man who talks Roberto into joining him on a road trip after Bruno missed meeting up with friends. They spend a couple of days driving fast, passing cars dangerously, and meeting each other's family. Bruno appears to have boundless energy and flirts with just about any attractive female that he encounters, but Roberto is much more shy and reserved.
Pearl (2022) - 8/10 - Mia Goth stars as Pearl, a 20 something woman who lives on her German immigrant parents' farm in rural Texas in 1918. Her husband Howard has been away at the war for some time, her father is a non-speaking invalid, and her mother is fairly strict. Pearl longs to get off the farm and have a chance at stardom. An upcoming audition may give her that opportunity. Pearl is also somewhat mentally disturbed. Mia Goth is excellent and the colors and stylized atmosphere worked pretty well for me. I thought it was a touch on the slow side at times, but overall is very good.
X (2022) - 8/10 - A group of amateur filmmakers head to a rural Texas farm in 1979 to make a pornographic film with the aim of getting rich or becoming a star. The elderly couple who own the farm (Howard and Pearl) aren't too friendly and take offense once they learn the true purpose that the people renting a cabin from them have for being there. Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega were each pretty good here.
Who Can Kill a Child? (1976) - 8/10 - An English couple are vacationing in Spain while awaiting the birth of their third child. They travel to an island in the Mediterranean that the husband had visited many years earlier, but find the place strangely deserted, except for some children. The children stare and smile and mostly seem happy, but seem off and the couple soon learns why. This is pretty well done.
My Mother's Smile (2002) - 8/10 - Ernesto is a well known painter who is informed that his mother is up for canonization as a saint. Ernesto is an atheist with a young son who has recently taken an interest in religion. Ernesto has some inner conflict about religion due to his upbringing and we learn a bit about his family as the film progresses. This was a pretty good film.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - 8/10 - A black and white modern western about a lonely vampire girl who wanders Bad City at night. It was made in the U.S., though in the Persian language. The cinematography, music, and acting all work for me and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Jacob's Ladder (1990) - 8/10 - Tim Robbins stars as a Vietnam veteran in the mid-70s who is experiencing visions and flashbacks to an incident during his time in Vietnam. He finds that some of the survivors from his unit are also experiencing the same type of thing. He has a few near death experiences and feels that he is being followed. Robbins gives a nice performance and I enjoyed the film.
Nanny (2022) - 7.5/10 - Aisha is an immigrant from Senegal who works as a nanny for a wealthy white couple in Manhattan. She is saving up money to bring her son over to the U.S. with her, but the women that she works for doesn't do a good job of paying her the money that she is owed. Aisha starts having disturbing dreams and visions which can sometimes overwhelm her even when she is awake. This was a fairly slow moving film, but one that managed to keep my interest throughout. Anna Diop is very good in her role as Aisha.
The Day of the Beast (1995) - 7.5/10 - A priest spends Christmas Eve committing a number of crimes in an effort to thwart the coming of the Antichrist. He is assisted by a guy who sells death metal albums in this entertaining horror comedy.
M3GAN (2022) - 7.5/10 - A little girl named Cady loses her parents in an accident and goes to live with her aunt Gemma. Gemma is a talented robotics engineer who seems to be more interested in her work than in becoming a parent. She takes a prototype life size robotic doll in the form of a little girl and makes it Cady's companion. Things go well at first, but the doll (M3GAN) soon develops her own way of protecting Cady and dealing with others. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
The Mass is Ended (1985) - 7.5/10 - Nanni Moretti stars as a priest who has been away for many years in a remote part of the world, but returns home to Rome and is assigned to a small, neglected parish. He tries to renew relationships with his family and friends, but finds that much has changed and that it is not in his power to fix everything. There is plenty of humor mixed in with the drama.
Fear (1954) - 7/10 - Ingrid Bergman stars as Irene, a woman who is married to a German scientist, but had an affair with another man. The former girlfriend of the man that she had an affair with starts blackmailing her, making threats to tell her husband and extorting money. Irene lives in fear that her husband will find out about the affair.
The Profession of Arms (2001) - 7/10 - The film shows the battles between German mercenaries and the Papal armies in the 1520s. The Papal armies were led by Giovanni de'Medici and this film was a lot better than Condottieri (1937) which also featured de'Medici. They do a great job with the setting and feel of the film. War and medicine in the 16th Century could be pretty brutal. The narrative wasn't as interesting, but it's still worth seeing.
Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) - 7/10 - A movie that starts with narration telling us that in 2001, war is be a thing of the past and the UN is be the sole governing body plus most of the planets have been explored is one that gets off to an amusing start. However, the movie itself turned out to be good. A group of explorers are headed to Uranus where they discover an alien mind that can seize control of them and can also pick things out of their minds and make them real. They try to find the truth behind the illusions. It's done on a very small budget, but is done pretty well and I enjoyed it.
Shock (1977) - 6.5/10 - A woman moves back into the home she once shared with her late husband. She is accompanied by her 7 year old son and her new husband. The son seems changed at times and the mother comes to fear that he is possessed by her late husband's spirit. Frightening nightmares also come her way.
Red Wood Pigeon (1989) - 6.5/10 - Nanni Moretti stars as Michele, a Communist Party parliament member who loses some of his memory in a car crash, but his friends don't seem to notice. He is a member of a water polo team and they pick him up and take him to an important match. Throughout the match, he starts to remember things from his past. The film was interesting and kind of fun at first, but the political talk throughout were less so. Still, there was enough of interest during the rest of the film that overall it was okay. I do know that he should have his driver's license taken away, though.
The Third Part of the Night (1971) - 6/10 - A Polish man witnesses the murder of his wife, mother, and child by the Nazis during WWII. He joins the resistance, but a number of strange things happen to him, including meeting a pregnant woman who is the double of his wife. I really liked the first part of the movie with the setting and the action and so on, but as the film progressed, it became much less interesting. The setting and look of the film were still good, but the story less so.
Lady in the Death House (1944) - 6/10 - Jean Parker plays a woman who was convicted of killing her blackmailer and is now awaiting execution. The twist is that the person who is scheduled to flip the switch is the man she loves. A criminologist works to prove her innocence before it is too late. The film cuts a number of corners and could definitely have benefited from being fleshed out by another half hour or so. I enjoyed the film for the most part, but it's just too bare bones.
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) - 6/10 - Two men discover a newly created cave and one of them has his brain subjugated by an evil alien brain bent on world domination. A 'good' alien brain later shows up to help. Some of the special effects are pretty dated, but this wasn't too bad overall.
The Killer Shrews (1959) - 5.5/10 - A small group of people get trapped on an island during a storm and find out that a scientist there has been experimenting on animals. This has led to a pack of giant shrews roaming the island and these shrews are hungry. They have to fight off the shrews to survive. This wasn't too bad, really. It certainly wasn't great and the shrews looked pretty bad, but it was still somewhat entertaining.
The Love Witch (2016) - 5.5/10 - They did a great job capturing the look and feel of the 1960s and Samantha Robinson isn't bad, but the movie is very dull. The story is just not really interesting, except for a bit here and there.
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) - 5.5/10 - A woman starts having dreams about sex parties and murdering her neighbor. Then the neighbor really is murdered. Did the woman do it or is she being set up? There were parts of the film that were interesting, but large parts of it were just tedious.
Silent Hill (2006) - 5/10 - A woman searches for the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to help her preteen adopted daughter. The visuals were sometimes interesting, but the story was not.
Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) - 5/10 - John runs a bridal gown factory and is stuck in a loveless marriage with his wife supporting him and his factory financially. John is crazy and murders various young brides to be while they are wearing their wedding gown. I couldn't really get into this one.
A Quiet Place in the Country (1968) - 5/10 - An artist travels out to the countryside to find inspiration. He becomes obsessed with an abandoned villa where a countess died during WWII. He rents the place, works at restoring the property, and starts to lose his mind. He seemed pretty weird to begin with. The soundtrack is good, but the lead character and the story just didn't work very well for me.
Red Sonja (1985) - 5/10 - Brigitte Nielsen stars as Sonja in the sword and sorcery comic book adaptation. The acting here is generally not very good and the Sonja here is not really that close to the Sonja from the comic. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets top billing as Con.. Kalidor and pops up now and then to rescue Sonja. The story is also kind of lackluster.
Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) - 4/10 - A woman is raped and then kills the man who raped her. She flees and goes on the road, one step ahead of the police at times. The acting is pretty bad.
Test Tube Babies (1948) - 3/10 - This film is kind of weird. There is a couple that fall in love and get married. She walks around the house in skimpy outfits, even when visitors are over. He seems to work late all the time while she hosts parties for a bunch of drunks who like to make out, strip, and act boorishly. Eventually, they decide to have a baby and have no luck so they visit the doctor only to find out the husband is sterile. The doctor recommends artificial insemination. If the film had left out the earlier section, it would have been a fairly routine educational/informational film from that era.
The Undertaker and His Pals (1966) - 3/10 - An undertaker and a couple of restaurant owners ride motorcycles and kill a variety of people to get meat for the restaurant and customers for the undertaker. It's pretty bad.
The Easy Life / Il sorpasso (1962) - 8.5/10 - Roberto is a serious law student who meets Bruno, a seemingly carefree man who talks Roberto into joining him on a road trip after Bruno missed meeting up with friends. They spend a couple of days driving fast, passing cars dangerously, and meeting each other's family. Bruno appears to have boundless energy and flirts with just about any attractive female that he encounters, but Roberto is much more shy and reserved.
Pearl (2022) - 8/10 - Mia Goth stars as Pearl, a 20 something woman who lives on her German immigrant parents' farm in rural Texas in 1918. Her husband Howard has been away at the war for some time, her father is a non-speaking invalid, and her mother is fairly strict. Pearl longs to get off the farm and have a chance at stardom. An upcoming audition may give her that opportunity. Pearl is also somewhat mentally disturbed. Mia Goth is excellent and the colors and stylized atmosphere worked pretty well for me. I thought it was a touch on the slow side at times, but overall is very good.
X (2022) - 8/10 - A group of amateur filmmakers head to a rural Texas farm in 1979 to make a pornographic film with the aim of getting rich or becoming a star. The elderly couple who own the farm (Howard and Pearl) aren't too friendly and take offense once they learn the true purpose that the people renting a cabin from them have for being there. Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega were each pretty good here.
Who Can Kill a Child? (1976) - 8/10 - An English couple are vacationing in Spain while awaiting the birth of their third child. They travel to an island in the Mediterranean that the husband had visited many years earlier, but find the place strangely deserted, except for some children. The children stare and smile and mostly seem happy, but seem off and the couple soon learns why. This is pretty well done.
My Mother's Smile (2002) - 8/10 - Ernesto is a well known painter who is informed that his mother is up for canonization as a saint. Ernesto is an atheist with a young son who has recently taken an interest in religion. Ernesto has some inner conflict about religion due to his upbringing and we learn a bit about his family as the film progresses. This was a pretty good film.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - 8/10 - A black and white modern western about a lonely vampire girl who wanders Bad City at night. It was made in the U.S., though in the Persian language. The cinematography, music, and acting all work for me and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Jacob's Ladder (1990) - 8/10 - Tim Robbins stars as a Vietnam veteran in the mid-70s who is experiencing visions and flashbacks to an incident during his time in Vietnam. He finds that some of the survivors from his unit are also experiencing the same type of thing. He has a few near death experiences and feels that he is being followed. Robbins gives a nice performance and I enjoyed the film.
Nanny (2022) - 7.5/10 - Aisha is an immigrant from Senegal who works as a nanny for a wealthy white couple in Manhattan. She is saving up money to bring her son over to the U.S. with her, but the women that she works for doesn't do a good job of paying her the money that she is owed. Aisha starts having disturbing dreams and visions which can sometimes overwhelm her even when she is awake. This was a fairly slow moving film, but one that managed to keep my interest throughout. Anna Diop is very good in her role as Aisha.
The Day of the Beast (1995) - 7.5/10 - A priest spends Christmas Eve committing a number of crimes in an effort to thwart the coming of the Antichrist. He is assisted by a guy who sells death metal albums in this entertaining horror comedy.
M3GAN (2022) - 7.5/10 - A little girl named Cady loses her parents in an accident and goes to live with her aunt Gemma. Gemma is a talented robotics engineer who seems to be more interested in her work than in becoming a parent. She takes a prototype life size robotic doll in the form of a little girl and makes it Cady's companion. Things go well at first, but the doll (M3GAN) soon develops her own way of protecting Cady and dealing with others. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
The Mass is Ended (1985) - 7.5/10 - Nanni Moretti stars as a priest who has been away for many years in a remote part of the world, but returns home to Rome and is assigned to a small, neglected parish. He tries to renew relationships with his family and friends, but finds that much has changed and that it is not in his power to fix everything. There is plenty of humor mixed in with the drama.
Fear (1954) - 7/10 - Ingrid Bergman stars as Irene, a woman who is married to a German scientist, but had an affair with another man. The former girlfriend of the man that she had an affair with starts blackmailing her, making threats to tell her husband and extorting money. Irene lives in fear that her husband will find out about the affair.
The Profession of Arms (2001) - 7/10 - The film shows the battles between German mercenaries and the Papal armies in the 1520s. The Papal armies were led by Giovanni de'Medici and this film was a lot better than Condottieri (1937) which also featured de'Medici. They do a great job with the setting and feel of the film. War and medicine in the 16th Century could be pretty brutal. The narrative wasn't as interesting, but it's still worth seeing.
Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) - 7/10 - A movie that starts with narration telling us that in 2001, war is be a thing of the past and the UN is be the sole governing body plus most of the planets have been explored is one that gets off to an amusing start. However, the movie itself turned out to be good. A group of explorers are headed to Uranus where they discover an alien mind that can seize control of them and can also pick things out of their minds and make them real. They try to find the truth behind the illusions. It's done on a very small budget, but is done pretty well and I enjoyed it.
Shock (1977) - 6.5/10 - A woman moves back into the home she once shared with her late husband. She is accompanied by her 7 year old son and her new husband. The son seems changed at times and the mother comes to fear that he is possessed by her late husband's spirit. Frightening nightmares also come her way.
Red Wood Pigeon (1989) - 6.5/10 - Nanni Moretti stars as Michele, a Communist Party parliament member who loses some of his memory in a car crash, but his friends don't seem to notice. He is a member of a water polo team and they pick him up and take him to an important match. Throughout the match, he starts to remember things from his past. The film was interesting and kind of fun at first, but the political talk throughout were less so. Still, there was enough of interest during the rest of the film that overall it was okay. I do know that he should have his driver's license taken away, though.
The Third Part of the Night (1971) - 6/10 - A Polish man witnesses the murder of his wife, mother, and child by the Nazis during WWII. He joins the resistance, but a number of strange things happen to him, including meeting a pregnant woman who is the double of his wife. I really liked the first part of the movie with the setting and the action and so on, but as the film progressed, it became much less interesting. The setting and look of the film were still good, but the story less so.
Lady in the Death House (1944) - 6/10 - Jean Parker plays a woman who was convicted of killing her blackmailer and is now awaiting execution. The twist is that the person who is scheduled to flip the switch is the man she loves. A criminologist works to prove her innocence before it is too late. The film cuts a number of corners and could definitely have benefited from being fleshed out by another half hour or so. I enjoyed the film for the most part, but it's just too bare bones.
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) - 6/10 - Two men discover a newly created cave and one of them has his brain subjugated by an evil alien brain bent on world domination. A 'good' alien brain later shows up to help. Some of the special effects are pretty dated, but this wasn't too bad overall.
The Killer Shrews (1959) - 5.5/10 - A small group of people get trapped on an island during a storm and find out that a scientist there has been experimenting on animals. This has led to a pack of giant shrews roaming the island and these shrews are hungry. They have to fight off the shrews to survive. This wasn't too bad, really. It certainly wasn't great and the shrews looked pretty bad, but it was still somewhat entertaining.
The Love Witch (2016) - 5.5/10 - They did a great job capturing the look and feel of the 1960s and Samantha Robinson isn't bad, but the movie is very dull. The story is just not really interesting, except for a bit here and there.
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) - 5.5/10 - A woman starts having dreams about sex parties and murdering her neighbor. Then the neighbor really is murdered. Did the woman do it or is she being set up? There were parts of the film that were interesting, but large parts of it were just tedious.
Silent Hill (2006) - 5/10 - A woman searches for the town of Silent Hill in an attempt to help her preteen adopted daughter. The visuals were sometimes interesting, but the story was not.
Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) - 5/10 - John runs a bridal gown factory and is stuck in a loveless marriage with his wife supporting him and his factory financially. John is crazy and murders various young brides to be while they are wearing their wedding gown. I couldn't really get into this one.
A Quiet Place in the Country (1968) - 5/10 - An artist travels out to the countryside to find inspiration. He becomes obsessed with an abandoned villa where a countess died during WWII. He rents the place, works at restoring the property, and starts to lose his mind. He seemed pretty weird to begin with. The soundtrack is good, but the lead character and the story just didn't work very well for me.
Red Sonja (1985) - 5/10 - Brigitte Nielsen stars as Sonja in the sword and sorcery comic book adaptation. The acting here is generally not very good and the Sonja here is not really that close to the Sonja from the comic. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets top billing as Con.. Kalidor and pops up now and then to rescue Sonja. The story is also kind of lackluster.
Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) - 4/10 - A woman is raped and then kills the man who raped her. She flees and goes on the road, one step ahead of the police at times. The acting is pretty bad.
Test Tube Babies (1948) - 3/10 - This film is kind of weird. There is a couple that fall in love and get married. She walks around the house in skimpy outfits, even when visitors are over. He seems to work late all the time while she hosts parties for a bunch of drunks who like to make out, strip, and act boorishly. Eventually, they decide to have a baby and have no luck so they visit the doctor only to find out the husband is sterile. The doctor recommends artificial insemination. If the film had left out the earlier section, it would have been a fairly routine educational/informational film from that era.
The Undertaker and His Pals (1966) - 3/10 - An undertaker and a couple of restaurant owners ride motorcycles and kill a variety of people to get meat for the restaurant and customers for the undertaker. It's pretty bad.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Our Century (1983) - 9/10 - A large part of this film is devoted to the space program with shots of cosmonauts in training (centrifuges, etc.), in flight, in space, and so on. Some of the shots are majestic while others show disasters such as rockets exploding shortly after takeoff. We also get images from earlier eras with balloons, dirigibles, early experiments in flight, and much more. The shots tend to be pretty short and the score adds quite a bit to the film.
I bambini ci guardano / The Children are Watching Us (1943) - 8.5/10 - A small boy witnesses the marital troubles of his parents. The mother is seeing a man on the side who wants her to run off with him. The father is aware of this and is deeply hurt by it. The boy is caught in the middle and wants to keep his parents together, but had very little power to make it happen. The acting here is very good all around, including the small boy.
I Bury the Living (1958) - 8/10 - Robert Kraft is the newly appointed director of a local cemetery. He has his own business interests and doesn't really want the job, but it's a family tradition so he accepts the role. He accidentally places a couple of black pins (for the dead) in the cemetery map instead of white ones (for the living) and those people soon die. He is disturbed and searches for answers when it happens again. This is nicely acted and directed.
Mister Max (1937) - 8/10 - Gianni runs a newspaper stand in Rome and has finally saved up for a nice vacation. He encounters a couple of wealthy aristocratic women at the beginning of his journey and they invite him to travel with their group after mistaking him for a fellow aristocrat named Max. He keeps up the pretense, burning through a fair amount of his savings in the process, but also falls for the maid who travels with the women. It's a fun romantic comedy.
Stir of Echoes (1999) - 8/10 - Tom and Maggie's son has the sight and talks to a ghost that is in their home, though they don't realize it at first. After being hypnotized, Tom starts having visions and can see the ghost at times as well. He needs to figure out what the ghost wants him to do. This got lost in the mix a bit coming out a month after The Sixth Sense so I never saw it before. I enjoyed it and think it is a pretty good supernatural thriller.
The White Sheik (1952) - 8/10 - A newlywed couple checks into a hotel in Rome. The wife is enamored with a film star known as the White Sheik and since the film studio is only a 10 minute walk from the hotel, she goes there all wide eyed in search of the star. Things don't go as planned, though, and she ends up far from Rome where they are shooting the latest film while the husband is searching for his missing wife back in Rome.
Carriage to Vienna (1966) - 8/10 - As WWII is ending, a young Austrian soldier is trying to get back home to his village with his injured buddy while also staying out of the hands of the Russian Army. He forces a woman to carry them in her horse drawn cart. He tries to be friendly, but she's looking for an opportunity to get revenge for her husband who was recently killed by German soldiers. The cinematography, score, and acting are all very good.
The Consequences of Love (2004) - 8/10 - A middle aged man has lived in a Swiss hotel room for a decade. He seems dead emotionally and carries out his various routines without much change in expression or tone. Things start to change a bit when he starts interacting with a young woman who works at the hotel bar and we eventually learn his background. The use of music here was excellent and while Sorrentino can be somewhat hit or miss for me, but this time it worked.
Domenica d’agosto / Sunday in August (1950) - 7.5/10 - It's Sunday and lots of people head to the beach in Ostia. They travel by bike, car, and train in a mad rush. The film follows a few different characters whose stories intersect at times. There is some romance and comedy along the way in a pleasant film.
Dora Nelson (1939) - 7.5/10 - A temperamental actress named Dora Nelson walks off of a movie set one day and says that she will not be returning. She also leaves her husband to go off to Cannes with a handsome, but poor prince. The filmmakers happen to come across a young woman who is the perfect double for Dora Nelson and they convince her to pretend to be Nelson and take her spot in the film so that they can finish the picture. The double also ends up impersonating Nelson in her personal life as well. I've seen this type of story before, but it was fairly well done and entertaining.
Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940) - 7.5/10 - The film takes place at a private girls high school. Many of the girls seem kind of unruly, especially one Maddalena Lenci. Some of their antics were funny, but others were annoying. The film changed course when a letter written to a fictional man from the business correspondence class textbook is sent in the mail by one of the students and ends up in the hands of a real man (Vittorio De Sica) with that name. He travels from Vienna to Rome to find the author of the letter. The film becomes a romantic comedy at that point.
Bread and Tulips (2000) - 7.5/10 - Rosalba is a housewife who accidentally gets left behind while on a family vacation. She hitchhikes home, but ends up in Venice instead. She finds a place to stay, gets a job, and decides to take a real vacation from her unfaithful husband and her normal life. The husband eventually discovers that he is helpless around the home without her and enlists others to track her down and convince her to return. This is a fairly light romantic comedy which I enjoyed.
Rubber (2010) - 7/10 - A group of spectators gather in the desert to watch a film in the distance using binoculars in the metafictional tale. The film is about a tire that is able to get up and move on its own. The tire eventually starts killing people. The early part of the film and the ending were the most fun for me. The middle part dragged a bit, but wasn't bad.
The Blob (1988) - 7/10 - A blob creature invades a town, slowly at first, but gradually increasing its rate of growth. It consumes many people along the way. a few teenagers try to find out what is going on and how to defeat the blob. This was about on par with the original.
The Girl by the Lake (2007) - 7/10 - The body of a nude teenage girl is found by a lake. We follow a detective from a neighboring city as he investigates the death and interviews various suspects. It's a good film, but doesn't quite live up to the promise that I thought it held early in the film.
The New York Ripper (1982) - 7/10 - A New York City detective leads the search for a serial killer who is killing young women with knives and razors. The killer quacks like a duck and makes taunting phone calls to the detective. The film starts out pretty well and is a bit uneven after that, but is still fairly entertaining.
I due orfanelli / The Two Orphans (1947) - 6.5/10 - In the mid-1800s, two middle aged orphans work at an orphanage for girls. They discover their true parentage with one of them (Totò) being the kidnapped son of a count. This leads to a series of adventures that are mildly amusing at times. I did like the ending.
Sleepaway Camp (1983) - 6.5/10 - A girl named Angela loses her father and sibling in a boating accident when she is pretty young. Years later, she is a shy and introverted girl who goes to a summer camp with her cousin Ricky. There are bullies at the camp, but also a possible love interest. It isn't long before people start turning up dead. A lot of the acting in this wasn't very good, but I still enjoyed the film.
The Stuff (1985) - 6.5/10 - A strange white and creamy substance is discovered which tastes good and is soon marketed as a no-calorie alternative to ice cream. People become addicted to it and it is immensely popular, but a few people have their doubts about whether 'The Stuff' is actually harmless or not. Not great, but certainly watchable and funny at times.
Frankenhooker (1990) - 6.5/10 - After his fiancée dies in an accident, a medical school dropout is determined to bring her back to life using the experiments that he has performed and perfected over time. He was able to save her head, but needs to accumulate other parts to complete her body. I thought this was a slow started, but picked up about halfway through during the super drugs scene.
The White Ship / La nave Bianca - 6/10 - Roberto Rossellini's first feature is about the Italian navy during WWII. It's competently made, but not really all that interesting.
Puppet Master (1989) - 6/10 - An aging maker of puppets who has used a secret formula to bring life to those puppets is pursued by Nazi spies just before WWII. He hides the puppets, but a new puppet master emerges decades later. A group of psychics gather at the hotel where the puppets were hidden and the puppets kill a number of people in various ways. I liked the opening segment, but after that it got pretty boring. I didn't find most of the characters to be very interesting.
Maximum Overdrive (1986) - 6/10 - A passing comet appears to be the cause of various machines around the world coming to life and trying to harm people. Killer 18 wheelers are the big villains here as they keep people trapped inside of a truck stop. The film isn't very good really, but is still fun to watch.
The Keep (1983) - 5/10 - Nazis move into a mysterious looking medieval castle in Romania in 1941. There is a supernatural entity contained there which they inadvertently release. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack is good and some of the visuals are also good, but the story is kind of a mess. I wonder if the original 3.5 hour version would be appreciably better, but that hasn't seen the light of day.
Lisa and the Devil (1973) - 4.5/10 - Lisa is a tourist who wanders into a shop and is scared by one of the customers there (Telly Savales). While getting a ride to a hotel, the car breaks down and she ends up on an estate where that man runs the household. The story is a real mess and is pretty boring as well.
Mother of Tears (2007) - 4/10 - There were a few interesting bits here and there, but the story wasn't that good and the film seemed to just relish the gore for gore's sake at times. I didn't really like Suspiria or Inferno, but they were each better than this.
Street Trash (1987) - 3/10 - They got the title right. Lots of street bums, old liquor that turns them into goo, and grimy action. I didn't really enjoy it very much, though I can see why some people would get a trashy pleasure out of it.
Beyond the Darkness (1979) - 2/10 - An embalmer digs up the body of his recently deceased girlfriend, does some work on her, and sets her up in a bedroom in his home. This one really wasn't for me.
I bambini ci guardano / The Children are Watching Us (1943) - 8.5/10 - A small boy witnesses the marital troubles of his parents. The mother is seeing a man on the side who wants her to run off with him. The father is aware of this and is deeply hurt by it. The boy is caught in the middle and wants to keep his parents together, but had very little power to make it happen. The acting here is very good all around, including the small boy.
I Bury the Living (1958) - 8/10 - Robert Kraft is the newly appointed director of a local cemetery. He has his own business interests and doesn't really want the job, but it's a family tradition so he accepts the role. He accidentally places a couple of black pins (for the dead) in the cemetery map instead of white ones (for the living) and those people soon die. He is disturbed and searches for answers when it happens again. This is nicely acted and directed.
Mister Max (1937) - 8/10 - Gianni runs a newspaper stand in Rome and has finally saved up for a nice vacation. He encounters a couple of wealthy aristocratic women at the beginning of his journey and they invite him to travel with their group after mistaking him for a fellow aristocrat named Max. He keeps up the pretense, burning through a fair amount of his savings in the process, but also falls for the maid who travels with the women. It's a fun romantic comedy.
Stir of Echoes (1999) - 8/10 - Tom and Maggie's son has the sight and talks to a ghost that is in their home, though they don't realize it at first. After being hypnotized, Tom starts having visions and can see the ghost at times as well. He needs to figure out what the ghost wants him to do. This got lost in the mix a bit coming out a month after The Sixth Sense so I never saw it before. I enjoyed it and think it is a pretty good supernatural thriller.
The White Sheik (1952) - 8/10 - A newlywed couple checks into a hotel in Rome. The wife is enamored with a film star known as the White Sheik and since the film studio is only a 10 minute walk from the hotel, she goes there all wide eyed in search of the star. Things don't go as planned, though, and she ends up far from Rome where they are shooting the latest film while the husband is searching for his missing wife back in Rome.
Carriage to Vienna (1966) - 8/10 - As WWII is ending, a young Austrian soldier is trying to get back home to his village with his injured buddy while also staying out of the hands of the Russian Army. He forces a woman to carry them in her horse drawn cart. He tries to be friendly, but she's looking for an opportunity to get revenge for her husband who was recently killed by German soldiers. The cinematography, score, and acting are all very good.
The Consequences of Love (2004) - 8/10 - A middle aged man has lived in a Swiss hotel room for a decade. He seems dead emotionally and carries out his various routines without much change in expression or tone. Things start to change a bit when he starts interacting with a young woman who works at the hotel bar and we eventually learn his background. The use of music here was excellent and while Sorrentino can be somewhat hit or miss for me, but this time it worked.
Domenica d’agosto / Sunday in August (1950) - 7.5/10 - It's Sunday and lots of people head to the beach in Ostia. They travel by bike, car, and train in a mad rush. The film follows a few different characters whose stories intersect at times. There is some romance and comedy along the way in a pleasant film.
Dora Nelson (1939) - 7.5/10 - A temperamental actress named Dora Nelson walks off of a movie set one day and says that she will not be returning. She also leaves her husband to go off to Cannes with a handsome, but poor prince. The filmmakers happen to come across a young woman who is the perfect double for Dora Nelson and they convince her to pretend to be Nelson and take her spot in the film so that they can finish the picture. The double also ends up impersonating Nelson in her personal life as well. I've seen this type of story before, but it was fairly well done and entertaining.
Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940) - 7.5/10 - The film takes place at a private girls high school. Many of the girls seem kind of unruly, especially one Maddalena Lenci. Some of their antics were funny, but others were annoying. The film changed course when a letter written to a fictional man from the business correspondence class textbook is sent in the mail by one of the students and ends up in the hands of a real man (Vittorio De Sica) with that name. He travels from Vienna to Rome to find the author of the letter. The film becomes a romantic comedy at that point.
Bread and Tulips (2000) - 7.5/10 - Rosalba is a housewife who accidentally gets left behind while on a family vacation. She hitchhikes home, but ends up in Venice instead. She finds a place to stay, gets a job, and decides to take a real vacation from her unfaithful husband and her normal life. The husband eventually discovers that he is helpless around the home without her and enlists others to track her down and convince her to return. This is a fairly light romantic comedy which I enjoyed.
Rubber (2010) - 7/10 - A group of spectators gather in the desert to watch a film in the distance using binoculars in the metafictional tale. The film is about a tire that is able to get up and move on its own. The tire eventually starts killing people. The early part of the film and the ending were the most fun for me. The middle part dragged a bit, but wasn't bad.
The Blob (1988) - 7/10 - A blob creature invades a town, slowly at first, but gradually increasing its rate of growth. It consumes many people along the way. a few teenagers try to find out what is going on and how to defeat the blob. This was about on par with the original.
The Girl by the Lake (2007) - 7/10 - The body of a nude teenage girl is found by a lake. We follow a detective from a neighboring city as he investigates the death and interviews various suspects. It's a good film, but doesn't quite live up to the promise that I thought it held early in the film.
The New York Ripper (1982) - 7/10 - A New York City detective leads the search for a serial killer who is killing young women with knives and razors. The killer quacks like a duck and makes taunting phone calls to the detective. The film starts out pretty well and is a bit uneven after that, but is still fairly entertaining.
I due orfanelli / The Two Orphans (1947) - 6.5/10 - In the mid-1800s, two middle aged orphans work at an orphanage for girls. They discover their true parentage with one of them (Totò) being the kidnapped son of a count. This leads to a series of adventures that are mildly amusing at times. I did like the ending.
Sleepaway Camp (1983) - 6.5/10 - A girl named Angela loses her father and sibling in a boating accident when she is pretty young. Years later, she is a shy and introverted girl who goes to a summer camp with her cousin Ricky. There are bullies at the camp, but also a possible love interest. It isn't long before people start turning up dead. A lot of the acting in this wasn't very good, but I still enjoyed the film.
The Stuff (1985) - 6.5/10 - A strange white and creamy substance is discovered which tastes good and is soon marketed as a no-calorie alternative to ice cream. People become addicted to it and it is immensely popular, but a few people have their doubts about whether 'The Stuff' is actually harmless or not. Not great, but certainly watchable and funny at times.
Frankenhooker (1990) - 6.5/10 - After his fiancée dies in an accident, a medical school dropout is determined to bring her back to life using the experiments that he has performed and perfected over time. He was able to save her head, but needs to accumulate other parts to complete her body. I thought this was a slow started, but picked up about halfway through during the super drugs scene.
The White Ship / La nave Bianca - 6/10 - Roberto Rossellini's first feature is about the Italian navy during WWII. It's competently made, but not really all that interesting.
Puppet Master (1989) - 6/10 - An aging maker of puppets who has used a secret formula to bring life to those puppets is pursued by Nazi spies just before WWII. He hides the puppets, but a new puppet master emerges decades later. A group of psychics gather at the hotel where the puppets were hidden and the puppets kill a number of people in various ways. I liked the opening segment, but after that it got pretty boring. I didn't find most of the characters to be very interesting.
Maximum Overdrive (1986) - 6/10 - A passing comet appears to be the cause of various machines around the world coming to life and trying to harm people. Killer 18 wheelers are the big villains here as they keep people trapped inside of a truck stop. The film isn't very good really, but is still fun to watch.
The Keep (1983) - 5/10 - Nazis move into a mysterious looking medieval castle in Romania in 1941. There is a supernatural entity contained there which they inadvertently release. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack is good and some of the visuals are also good, but the story is kind of a mess. I wonder if the original 3.5 hour version would be appreciably better, but that hasn't seen the light of day.
Lisa and the Devil (1973) - 4.5/10 - Lisa is a tourist who wanders into a shop and is scared by one of the customers there (Telly Savales). While getting a ride to a hotel, the car breaks down and she ends up on an estate where that man runs the household. The story is a real mess and is pretty boring as well.
Mother of Tears (2007) - 4/10 - There were a few interesting bits here and there, but the story wasn't that good and the film seemed to just relish the gore for gore's sake at times. I didn't really like Suspiria or Inferno, but they were each better than this.
Street Trash (1987) - 3/10 - They got the title right. Lots of street bums, old liquor that turns them into goo, and grimy action. I didn't really enjoy it very much, though I can see why some people would get a trashy pleasure out of it.
Beyond the Darkness (1979) - 2/10 - An embalmer digs up the body of his recently deceased girlfriend, does some work on her, and sets her up in a bedroom in his home. This one really wasn't for me.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, 2023) 6/10
We've all heard of a "director's cut". Well I wish Scorsese had cut this film by at least an hour because at 3 hours and 26 minutes it just goes on and on and on. Otherwise this epic film is a handsome production with a very compelling true story, based on a book by David Grann, and centering on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. The plot revolves around three characters - a rich white rancher (Robert De Niro) who poses as a friendly benefactor to the Osage people but secretly schemes to murder them and steal their land and money. When his somewhat dim-witted nephew (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from the Great War his uncle sets his plan into motion by suggesting he marry an Indian (Lily Gladstone) whose family owns great wealth. Gradually her family is eliminated one by one (her sisters and mother) with the hope that after his wife is also dead - she is being slowly poisoned - he will inherit her family's wealth which the Uncle also hopes to benefit from. However, before she can succumb to the poison she goes to Washington and pleads with President Calvin Coolidge for help. This brings the newly formed FBI down to Oklahoma to investigate the spate of killings. An important film that exposes the United States' relationship with Indigenous peoples. The entire cast is superb with DiCaprio, Gladstone and De Niro especially memorable. Unfortunately the film's length proves to be the real killer along with its clinical view of the murders allowing no sympathy for the victims nor any horror towards the villains' actions. A disappointment from Scorsese.
The FBI Story (Mervyn LeRoy, 1959) 3/10
Sanitized history of the FBI - how it started and what it eventually became - as seen through the eyes of one agent (James Stewart). This overtly propaganda piece was heavily controlled off the movie set by J. Edgar Hoover - the first Director of the Bureau - who approved every frame of the film and even insisted on re-shooting several scenes he didn't think portrayed the FBI in an appropriate light. The subject of Martin Scorsese's new film releasing today, "Killers of the Flower Moon", is about a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, which were committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. This notorious incident was first shown in this film with the FBI tackling a series of different cases through the decades with the Stewart character being sent down South to investigate the Ku Klux Klan & in Oklahoma to look in on the series of murders of Native Americans who had oil-rich mineral land and rights, to the involvement in the capture and/or deaths of numerous infamous mobsters of the day including John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and Machine Gun Kelly, the round up of enemy aliens (Germans, Japanese, Italians) who were notoriously contained in internment camps in the United States during WWII, capturing Nazi spies, the communist hysteria during the Cold War era and the tracking down of a terrorist who bombs an airliner. The screenplay also shows the agent's private life - his courtship and marriage to the local librarian (Vera Miles), his three kids, his son's enlistment during the War - all of which are presented in a squeaky clean aw-shucks manner in typical 1950s style with the American family shown without any blemish as in an advertisement for cosy Eisenhower-era domesticity. Stewart was the personification of the perfect husband and father and was personally chosen by Hoover who even had a hand in the film's casting. It's all terribly bland and very quickly becomes cumbersome with its long running time and especially thanks to Stewart's narration which drones on and on. And why was lovely Vera Miles never used properly by any director (even Hitchvock) during the 1950s and 1960s?
Big House, U.S.A. (Howard W. Koch, 1955) 8/10
Hard-hitting film is actually a police procedural that links two different plots involving a bunch of extremely nasty characters. An asthmatic boy is kidnapped for ransom but accidently dies. The kidnapper (Ralph Meeker) dumps his body in a gorge and hides the ransom money before getting caught and imprisoned. His jail mates - a motley group of hardened criminals (Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson, William Talman) - plan to kidnap him, escape from prison and go after the loot. Things don't quite go according to plan as double crosses result in murder. Despite the almost languorous pace with its police procedural and its accompanying narration giving it an atmosphere of a documentary, the film's vicious undertone makes it a tense and harrowing experience. Also worth noting is Felicia Farr in her film debut as a nurse who in her quiet way turns out to be equally loathsome as the men.
The Dirty Game / La guerre secrète (Christian-Jaque, Carlo Lizzani & Terence Young, 1965) 5/10
One of those european portmanteau films with three short spy stories - the plots are a mixture of James Bond hijinks and John le Carré downbeat realism. Life for a spy is not all booze, women and sex. The stories are linked by a narrator - an American General (Robert Ryan) who is the contact person a deep cover CIA agent (Henry Fonda) is looking for after escaping East Berlin. He is relentlessly pursued by double agents (Peter van Eyck, Klaus Kinski) and manages to leave a clue before being killed by a gun spewing a deadly gas. The plot then segues to Djibouti where another spy (Bourvil - normally a comic but here in full-on action mode) is assigned to a case where he is shot at, tries to dally with a sexy receptionist (Annie Girardot who gets to do a nude scene in silhouette) who seems to not be who she claims to be, and tangles with a double agent (Robert Hossein) while exposing two nuclear powered submarines. The third plot involves a suave double agent (Vittorio Gassman) who kidnaps a scientist. The Bond films brought in a completely new language to the spy genre with weird gadgets that aide the agent ("Q" and his technological gadgets which other films also copied) along with sexy women and suave agents. Here we get a couple of sexy dames (one wearing the exact same revealing black bathing suit as Claudine Auger in "Thunderball"), the gadgets but the spies are far from suave - they look like the ordinary man on the street which is how it is in reality and which le Carré brought to life in his books.
Cry Vengeance (Mark Stevens, 1954) 7/10
Brutal noir is relentlessly violent with it's lead character - a former cop (Mark Stevens) out of prison for a crime he did not commit - setting the tone of the film with his revenge fueled desire to kill the man who put a bomb in his car that killed his wife and daughter and badly scarred half his face. He chases the wrong man - a former gangster hiding under an alias in small town Alaska with his young daughter but manages to find brief respite after befriending a sympathetic tavern owner (Martha Hyer). Meanwhile he is pursued by the man who is the cause of all his misery - a deadly hitman (Skip Homeier) - who arrives looking for blood and it is only a matter of time before there will be a deadly confrontation between the two. A noir without shadows as Stevens shot the film on location in Alaska during summer with long daylight hours. Atmospheric film with a strong central performance, unique setting and a fast pace puts it a notch or two above the typical B-noir.
Between Midnight and Dawn (Gordon Douglas, 1950) 7/10
Two buddy cops - one romantic (Mark Stevens) and the other pragmatic (Edmond O'Brien) - work the night shift. Both fall in love with their office despatcher (Gale Storm) and she ends up engaged to the former. Stark noir has both involved with the arrest of a notorious gangster which eventually leads to revenge and murder. Hardboiled dialogue and superb performances make this B-noir an excellent crime melodrama.
The Dark Corner (Henry Hathaway, 1946) 8/10
A private investigator (Mark Stevens), just out of prison for a crime he did not commit, finds himself being tailed by a sinister thug (William Bendix). He thinks it's at the behest of his former partner (Kurt Kreuger) who had double crossed him and is now having an affair with the chic wife (Cathy Downs) of a rich art dealer (Clifton Webb). Top billed Lucille Ball plays his secretary who is in love with him and provides help when he is framed for a murder. Superbly paced noir came in the wake of the much superior Laura (1944) with Webb here playing a similar supercilious character obsessed by yet another woman. Ball's non-stop sardonic banter with Stevens is amusing although she is mostly wasted as the love interest. Events have Stevens in a constant spin backed in a dark corner as he tries to figure out who is trying to frame him a second time. Superbly shot by Joseph MacDonald.
Poker Face (Russell Crowe, 2022) 5/10
Oh to be so rich as the poker-addicted character, played by Russell Crowe here, to leave in your will the amounts he does to his four childhood buddies, his daughter, and to his soon-to-be ex-wife who he just found out happens to be f**king one of his friends. Rather generous of him to be so nice to the wife though. A tech billionaire and professional gambler (Russell Crowe) gathers his best friends - Liam Hemsworth & RZA play two who actually have something to do - for a night of high-stakes poker. However, the night does not go as planned - the friends discover that their drinks have been poisoned after which they confess certain skeletons in their closet, their host reveals some alarming news about himself, the house is invaded by three robbers who plan to steal his art collection (which includes a $200 million Cézanne), and his wife and daughter arrive unexpectedly and are held hostage. The word "poker" in the title and the friends' game of choice is just a red herring as the plot turns instead into a heist with psychological gamesmanship with rather overbaked reveals and a cartoonish villain. Russell goes a bit overboard with his flashy directing style - all jump cuts with voiceovers and a tripy flashback to the Australian outback with a sage old shaman (Jack Thompson). Crowe, who directed and wrote the screenplay, is poker-faced throughout as the rather mundane beats of this thriller play out.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (André Øvredal, 2023) 6/10
An adaptation of "The Captain's Log", a chapter from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, about a treacherous ocean voyage from Transylvania to London. With Dracula on board its only a matter of time before the obvious happens. This horror film is a combo of Dracula and Alien - as each member of the crew gets picked off one-by-one in vicious style. The concept is hardly original but manages to go through the motions with some eerie moments along with intense savagery.
Rogue (Greg McLean, 2007) 6/10
The Australian outback. A tour guide (Radha Mitchell) leads a boatfull of tourists on a crocodile infested nature cruise. Yet another "Jaws" ripoff has enough moments of suspense as the boat is struck by a gigantic crocodile. The occupants find themselves on a mud island in the middle of the river which at high tide threatens to get submerged. The thrill is seeing them attempt to swim across to dry land on either side of the island with the giant reptile waiting to attack. Formulaic but solid action-horror film.
One Ranger (Jesse V. Johnson, 2023) 5/10
Texas ranger (Thomas Jane) is requested by MI6 to come capture an Irish terrorist in London. Action packed story has the hero take constant beatings at the hands of a Russian bodyguard as he drawls his way around London. A fish out of water in the large city it takes a stint back in the Texan outback for him to regain his poise and aim. Leading man churns out B films of which this one was just about bearable.
Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare (Alankrita Shrivastava, 2020) 7/10
Character study of two cousins. Dolly (Konkona Sen Sharma) is in a sexually unsatisfactory marriage with two sons - her younger one is beginning to assert a gender identity that is more feminine than masculine and likes to cross dress. Kaajal (Bhumi Pednekar) is her live-in cousin who has to constantly stave off sexual advances from her brother-in-law. She moves out to a hostel and takes up a job with a paid dating app as a phone sex provider to lonely men under the name of "Kitty". She starts an affair with a phone client (Vikrant Massey), loses her virginity to him, falls in love but discovers he is married. Meanwhile Dolly, who fears she is frigid, finds sexual satisfaction with a delivery boy. Bittersweet slice of life is explored through this insightful screenplay as it delves into the areas of sex and desire, its effect on women and how they cope with it through their relationship with men. Both women are flawed - and hence real - as they navigate through life's problems and gradually open up to each other as they frankly discuss their issues which allow them to grow and reach a state of independence.
Jab We Met (Imtiaz Ali, 2007) 8/10
Imtiaz Ali brings a fresh perspective to the proverbial Bollywood romance. Nobody here dances around trees to express their love. The director applies what would become his trademark filmmaking style, which includes conversational romance and travel. Suicidal businessman Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) runs into feisty chatterbox Geet (Kareena Kapoor) on a train. She soon has him out of his depressed stupor while chattering nine to the dozen as they go on a road trip that has her twice missing the train connection, being chased by lecherous men, taking a wild taxi ride and escaping the police from a sleazy hotel where she is mistaken for a call girl. She is returning home to her family who have arranged her marriage. However, she is planning to elope with her boyfriend, who is not liked by her family due to religious differences, and in true madcap style wants Aditya to marry her cousin. As her wedding draws closer she pretends to elope with Aditya in order to fool her family. As he drops her off at her destination he realizes he loves her but returns to his family business not knowing that in the meantime her boyfriend has jilted her leaving her devastated. Will they both meet again and resolve their complicated relationship? The perceptive screenplay, Pritam's lovely song score and Kareena Kapoor's spectacular performance (for which she won the Filmfare award) created boxoffice magic. The two stars, who were in a long term relationship at the time but which broke down in the midst of the shoot, have sizzling chemistry on screen. Shahid Kapoor is equally good even though his character mainly reacts to the madcap shenanigans of Geet which Kareena Kapoor superbly enacts with nary a moment of over-acting. It is obvious Imtiaz Ali reigns her in and she creates a lovable loud, often annoying, character which is now considered to be iconic.
We've all heard of a "director's cut". Well I wish Scorsese had cut this film by at least an hour because at 3 hours and 26 minutes it just goes on and on and on. Otherwise this epic film is a handsome production with a very compelling true story, based on a book by David Grann, and centering on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. The plot revolves around three characters - a rich white rancher (Robert De Niro) who poses as a friendly benefactor to the Osage people but secretly schemes to murder them and steal their land and money. When his somewhat dim-witted nephew (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from the Great War his uncle sets his plan into motion by suggesting he marry an Indian (Lily Gladstone) whose family owns great wealth. Gradually her family is eliminated one by one (her sisters and mother) with the hope that after his wife is also dead - she is being slowly poisoned - he will inherit her family's wealth which the Uncle also hopes to benefit from. However, before she can succumb to the poison she goes to Washington and pleads with President Calvin Coolidge for help. This brings the newly formed FBI down to Oklahoma to investigate the spate of killings. An important film that exposes the United States' relationship with Indigenous peoples. The entire cast is superb with DiCaprio, Gladstone and De Niro especially memorable. Unfortunately the film's length proves to be the real killer along with its clinical view of the murders allowing no sympathy for the victims nor any horror towards the villains' actions. A disappointment from Scorsese.
The FBI Story (Mervyn LeRoy, 1959) 3/10
Sanitized history of the FBI - how it started and what it eventually became - as seen through the eyes of one agent (James Stewart). This overtly propaganda piece was heavily controlled off the movie set by J. Edgar Hoover - the first Director of the Bureau - who approved every frame of the film and even insisted on re-shooting several scenes he didn't think portrayed the FBI in an appropriate light. The subject of Martin Scorsese's new film releasing today, "Killers of the Flower Moon", is about a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, which were committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. This notorious incident was first shown in this film with the FBI tackling a series of different cases through the decades with the Stewart character being sent down South to investigate the Ku Klux Klan & in Oklahoma to look in on the series of murders of Native Americans who had oil-rich mineral land and rights, to the involvement in the capture and/or deaths of numerous infamous mobsters of the day including John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and Machine Gun Kelly, the round up of enemy aliens (Germans, Japanese, Italians) who were notoriously contained in internment camps in the United States during WWII, capturing Nazi spies, the communist hysteria during the Cold War era and the tracking down of a terrorist who bombs an airliner. The screenplay also shows the agent's private life - his courtship and marriage to the local librarian (Vera Miles), his three kids, his son's enlistment during the War - all of which are presented in a squeaky clean aw-shucks manner in typical 1950s style with the American family shown without any blemish as in an advertisement for cosy Eisenhower-era domesticity. Stewart was the personification of the perfect husband and father and was personally chosen by Hoover who even had a hand in the film's casting. It's all terribly bland and very quickly becomes cumbersome with its long running time and especially thanks to Stewart's narration which drones on and on. And why was lovely Vera Miles never used properly by any director (even Hitchvock) during the 1950s and 1960s?
Big House, U.S.A. (Howard W. Koch, 1955) 8/10
Hard-hitting film is actually a police procedural that links two different plots involving a bunch of extremely nasty characters. An asthmatic boy is kidnapped for ransom but accidently dies. The kidnapper (Ralph Meeker) dumps his body in a gorge and hides the ransom money before getting caught and imprisoned. His jail mates - a motley group of hardened criminals (Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bronson, William Talman) - plan to kidnap him, escape from prison and go after the loot. Things don't quite go according to plan as double crosses result in murder. Despite the almost languorous pace with its police procedural and its accompanying narration giving it an atmosphere of a documentary, the film's vicious undertone makes it a tense and harrowing experience. Also worth noting is Felicia Farr in her film debut as a nurse who in her quiet way turns out to be equally loathsome as the men.
The Dirty Game / La guerre secrète (Christian-Jaque, Carlo Lizzani & Terence Young, 1965) 5/10
One of those european portmanteau films with three short spy stories - the plots are a mixture of James Bond hijinks and John le Carré downbeat realism. Life for a spy is not all booze, women and sex. The stories are linked by a narrator - an American General (Robert Ryan) who is the contact person a deep cover CIA agent (Henry Fonda) is looking for after escaping East Berlin. He is relentlessly pursued by double agents (Peter van Eyck, Klaus Kinski) and manages to leave a clue before being killed by a gun spewing a deadly gas. The plot then segues to Djibouti where another spy (Bourvil - normally a comic but here in full-on action mode) is assigned to a case where he is shot at, tries to dally with a sexy receptionist (Annie Girardot who gets to do a nude scene in silhouette) who seems to not be who she claims to be, and tangles with a double agent (Robert Hossein) while exposing two nuclear powered submarines. The third plot involves a suave double agent (Vittorio Gassman) who kidnaps a scientist. The Bond films brought in a completely new language to the spy genre with weird gadgets that aide the agent ("Q" and his technological gadgets which other films also copied) along with sexy women and suave agents. Here we get a couple of sexy dames (one wearing the exact same revealing black bathing suit as Claudine Auger in "Thunderball"), the gadgets but the spies are far from suave - they look like the ordinary man on the street which is how it is in reality and which le Carré brought to life in his books.
Cry Vengeance (Mark Stevens, 1954) 7/10
Brutal noir is relentlessly violent with it's lead character - a former cop (Mark Stevens) out of prison for a crime he did not commit - setting the tone of the film with his revenge fueled desire to kill the man who put a bomb in his car that killed his wife and daughter and badly scarred half his face. He chases the wrong man - a former gangster hiding under an alias in small town Alaska with his young daughter but manages to find brief respite after befriending a sympathetic tavern owner (Martha Hyer). Meanwhile he is pursued by the man who is the cause of all his misery - a deadly hitman (Skip Homeier) - who arrives looking for blood and it is only a matter of time before there will be a deadly confrontation between the two. A noir without shadows as Stevens shot the film on location in Alaska during summer with long daylight hours. Atmospheric film with a strong central performance, unique setting and a fast pace puts it a notch or two above the typical B-noir.
Between Midnight and Dawn (Gordon Douglas, 1950) 7/10
Two buddy cops - one romantic (Mark Stevens) and the other pragmatic (Edmond O'Brien) - work the night shift. Both fall in love with their office despatcher (Gale Storm) and she ends up engaged to the former. Stark noir has both involved with the arrest of a notorious gangster which eventually leads to revenge and murder. Hardboiled dialogue and superb performances make this B-noir an excellent crime melodrama.
The Dark Corner (Henry Hathaway, 1946) 8/10
A private investigator (Mark Stevens), just out of prison for a crime he did not commit, finds himself being tailed by a sinister thug (William Bendix). He thinks it's at the behest of his former partner (Kurt Kreuger) who had double crossed him and is now having an affair with the chic wife (Cathy Downs) of a rich art dealer (Clifton Webb). Top billed Lucille Ball plays his secretary who is in love with him and provides help when he is framed for a murder. Superbly paced noir came in the wake of the much superior Laura (1944) with Webb here playing a similar supercilious character obsessed by yet another woman. Ball's non-stop sardonic banter with Stevens is amusing although she is mostly wasted as the love interest. Events have Stevens in a constant spin backed in a dark corner as he tries to figure out who is trying to frame him a second time. Superbly shot by Joseph MacDonald.
Poker Face (Russell Crowe, 2022) 5/10
Oh to be so rich as the poker-addicted character, played by Russell Crowe here, to leave in your will the amounts he does to his four childhood buddies, his daughter, and to his soon-to-be ex-wife who he just found out happens to be f**king one of his friends. Rather generous of him to be so nice to the wife though. A tech billionaire and professional gambler (Russell Crowe) gathers his best friends - Liam Hemsworth & RZA play two who actually have something to do - for a night of high-stakes poker. However, the night does not go as planned - the friends discover that their drinks have been poisoned after which they confess certain skeletons in their closet, their host reveals some alarming news about himself, the house is invaded by three robbers who plan to steal his art collection (which includes a $200 million Cézanne), and his wife and daughter arrive unexpectedly and are held hostage. The word "poker" in the title and the friends' game of choice is just a red herring as the plot turns instead into a heist with psychological gamesmanship with rather overbaked reveals and a cartoonish villain. Russell goes a bit overboard with his flashy directing style - all jump cuts with voiceovers and a tripy flashback to the Australian outback with a sage old shaman (Jack Thompson). Crowe, who directed and wrote the screenplay, is poker-faced throughout as the rather mundane beats of this thriller play out.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (André Øvredal, 2023) 6/10
An adaptation of "The Captain's Log", a chapter from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, about a treacherous ocean voyage from Transylvania to London. With Dracula on board its only a matter of time before the obvious happens. This horror film is a combo of Dracula and Alien - as each member of the crew gets picked off one-by-one in vicious style. The concept is hardly original but manages to go through the motions with some eerie moments along with intense savagery.
Rogue (Greg McLean, 2007) 6/10
The Australian outback. A tour guide (Radha Mitchell) leads a boatfull of tourists on a crocodile infested nature cruise. Yet another "Jaws" ripoff has enough moments of suspense as the boat is struck by a gigantic crocodile. The occupants find themselves on a mud island in the middle of the river which at high tide threatens to get submerged. The thrill is seeing them attempt to swim across to dry land on either side of the island with the giant reptile waiting to attack. Formulaic but solid action-horror film.
One Ranger (Jesse V. Johnson, 2023) 5/10
Texas ranger (Thomas Jane) is requested by MI6 to come capture an Irish terrorist in London. Action packed story has the hero take constant beatings at the hands of a Russian bodyguard as he drawls his way around London. A fish out of water in the large city it takes a stint back in the Texan outback for him to regain his poise and aim. Leading man churns out B films of which this one was just about bearable.
Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare (Alankrita Shrivastava, 2020) 7/10
Character study of two cousins. Dolly (Konkona Sen Sharma) is in a sexually unsatisfactory marriage with two sons - her younger one is beginning to assert a gender identity that is more feminine than masculine and likes to cross dress. Kaajal (Bhumi Pednekar) is her live-in cousin who has to constantly stave off sexual advances from her brother-in-law. She moves out to a hostel and takes up a job with a paid dating app as a phone sex provider to lonely men under the name of "Kitty". She starts an affair with a phone client (Vikrant Massey), loses her virginity to him, falls in love but discovers he is married. Meanwhile Dolly, who fears she is frigid, finds sexual satisfaction with a delivery boy. Bittersweet slice of life is explored through this insightful screenplay as it delves into the areas of sex and desire, its effect on women and how they cope with it through their relationship with men. Both women are flawed - and hence real - as they navigate through life's problems and gradually open up to each other as they frankly discuss their issues which allow them to grow and reach a state of independence.
Jab We Met (Imtiaz Ali, 2007) 8/10
Imtiaz Ali brings a fresh perspective to the proverbial Bollywood romance. Nobody here dances around trees to express their love. The director applies what would become his trademark filmmaking style, which includes conversational romance and travel. Suicidal businessman Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) runs into feisty chatterbox Geet (Kareena Kapoor) on a train. She soon has him out of his depressed stupor while chattering nine to the dozen as they go on a road trip that has her twice missing the train connection, being chased by lecherous men, taking a wild taxi ride and escaping the police from a sleazy hotel where she is mistaken for a call girl. She is returning home to her family who have arranged her marriage. However, she is planning to elope with her boyfriend, who is not liked by her family due to religious differences, and in true madcap style wants Aditya to marry her cousin. As her wedding draws closer she pretends to elope with Aditya in order to fool her family. As he drops her off at her destination he realizes he loves her but returns to his family business not knowing that in the meantime her boyfriend has jilted her leaving her devastated. Will they both meet again and resolve their complicated relationship? The perceptive screenplay, Pritam's lovely song score and Kareena Kapoor's spectacular performance (for which she won the Filmfare award) created boxoffice magic. The two stars, who were in a long term relationship at the time but which broke down in the midst of the shoot, have sizzling chemistry on screen. Shahid Kapoor is equally good even though his character mainly reacts to the madcap shenanigans of Geet which Kareena Kapoor superbly enacts with nary a moment of over-acting. It is obvious Imtiaz Ali reigns her in and she creates a lovable loud, often annoying, character which is now considered to be iconic.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Exorcist: Believer (David Gordon Green, 2023) 6/10
This is really not a sequel to "The Exorcist" even though certain images are repeated - the opening shot of two dogs fighting in Haiti is a replica of a scene set in Iraq in the original film with similar dogs. Also during certain intense moments subliminal shots of the demon get flashed. Otherwise the first half of the film is a fairly gripping story about the demonic possession of two teenage girls - one from an agnostic black household and the other from an ultra religious white household. The film's leisurely opening moments set in Haiti are the best as a pregnant couple enjoy their holiday only to fall prey to a devastating earthquake. The two girls disappear after school one day and are found three days later in a catatonic state. The parents, doctors and cops are at first baffled, and then horrified when both girls show signs of a violent possession. Ellen Burstyn gets trotted out at age 91 playing Chris MacNeil again - the mother of the young girl who was possessed in the original film - as an actress turned writer and expert on devil possession. The actress is not served well by the devil as this time she does not get away with a black eye like before but gets her eyeball savagely gouged out by a crucifix which in turn thankfully does not enter into the nether regions of either of the young girls. Once the exorcism begins - Ann Dowd as a neighbour and former nun (now nurse) who had renounced her vows (and had an abortion to boot) does the honours of what killed Max von Sydow and Jason Miller in the first film. A priest who attempts the exorcism finds his neck snapped and twisted (like Jack MacGowran in the original). The usual hysterical shenanigans - vomit, blood, vicious attacks, levitation and a stream of expletives - is the order of the day once the exorcism begins. The film ends with a surprise cameo appearance. The problem with the franchise is that there have been far too many similar films since the classic original with nothing new to add as they regurgitate the same shock elements over and over again. Burstyn's return does not really add anything to the film except a weak attempt to link it to the original. The actress only did the film for a huge paycheck which she donated as a scholarship for acting students. Stick to the original as that still packs a punch.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin, 2023) 7/10
Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1952 novel, "The Caine Mutiny", was made into an Oscar nominated film in 1954 with Humphrey Bogart. In 1953 Wouk re-wrote the story as a two-act play which was filmed for tv in 1955 with Lloyd Nolan and in 1988 by Robert Altman with Brad Davis. This version, Friedkin's last film, sticks to the two-act formula concentrating strictly inside the courtroom where you hear the characters speak about a mutiny that took place on a ship. The accused is the first officer (Jake Lacy) who took over the ship when he found the Captain (Keifer Sutherland) unable to respond coherently while the ship was being badly tossed during a storm. The skeptical lawyer for the defense (Jason Clarke) reluctantly takes on the case which the defendent vehemently denies on the stand. The play's two flamboyant characters are superbly played by a dogged Clarke and in an unusual tone by Sutherland who plays his two scenes very stiffly, at first with arrogance and indignation while scoffing at all the accusations thrown at him, and then with a snarl of outrage as the interrogation begins to close in. The mutiny's setting here has been shifted from the Pacific War of the original to the Gulf War, while a couple of the original all-male characters of the play are here played by two black actresses in order to tick off the diversity angle. This tightly paced court-room drama is a return to Friedkin's roots where he started his career directing live television during the medium's golden era.
The Equalizer 3 (Antoine Fuqua, 2023) 7/10
Denzel and Fuqua here collaborate on their fifth film and third in this franchise, which apparently concludes the vigilante actions of retired U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall. The setting of this film - Naples and a small village on the Amalfi coast - makes this episode seem fresh as the protagonist goes through his usual trope of coming to the rescue of the weak, scared and downtrodden. McCall (Denzel Washington), after getting shot in the back in Sicily while recouping money stolen in a cyber-heist, finds himself recuperating at the home of a village doctor on the Amalfi coast. While getting his strength back he notices members of the Camorra manhandling the local inhabitants and police. He tips off a rookie CIA agent (Dakota Fanning) who arrives to investigate dead bodies in Sicily, the local drug trade and a series of bombings blamed on terrorists. Meanwhile McCall goes into violent action as he stalks and kills off the Camorra hoods while aiming to reach their head. Denzel is as usual a kick-ass killing machine as he uses increasingly violent means to clean the town of its undesirable elements. Dakota Fanning is underused but the film ends on a note where it seems McCall is passing his baton onto the young agent. The formulaic story is offset by well staged action sequences, an exotic location, the continuing charisma of Denzel, who at 69 hasn't lost an iota of charm, and an eerie musical score by Marcelo Zarvos.
Night Editor (Henry Levin, 1946) 7/10
A cop (William Gargan) and his married socialite mistress (Janis Carter) witness a man murdering a young woman but decide not to report it in order to hide their own relationship since both are married. When the cop is assigned to investigate the murder his relationship with his mistress begins to unravel and guilt begins to eat at him whenever he is around his imploring wife and son. Striking B-noir has an outstanding performance by Janis Carter as the bitchy, twisted mistress who is quite willing to start an affair with the murderer. In true noir fashion sex and violence proves to be the downfall for the sap who falls for the femme fatale. Superbly shot by Burnett Guffey & Philip Tannura.
This is really not a sequel to "The Exorcist" even though certain images are repeated - the opening shot of two dogs fighting in Haiti is a replica of a scene set in Iraq in the original film with similar dogs. Also during certain intense moments subliminal shots of the demon get flashed. Otherwise the first half of the film is a fairly gripping story about the demonic possession of two teenage girls - one from an agnostic black household and the other from an ultra religious white household. The film's leisurely opening moments set in Haiti are the best as a pregnant couple enjoy their holiday only to fall prey to a devastating earthquake. The two girls disappear after school one day and are found three days later in a catatonic state. The parents, doctors and cops are at first baffled, and then horrified when both girls show signs of a violent possession. Ellen Burstyn gets trotted out at age 91 playing Chris MacNeil again - the mother of the young girl who was possessed in the original film - as an actress turned writer and expert on devil possession. The actress is not served well by the devil as this time she does not get away with a black eye like before but gets her eyeball savagely gouged out by a crucifix which in turn thankfully does not enter into the nether regions of either of the young girls. Once the exorcism begins - Ann Dowd as a neighbour and former nun (now nurse) who had renounced her vows (and had an abortion to boot) does the honours of what killed Max von Sydow and Jason Miller in the first film. A priest who attempts the exorcism finds his neck snapped and twisted (like Jack MacGowran in the original). The usual hysterical shenanigans - vomit, blood, vicious attacks, levitation and a stream of expletives - is the order of the day once the exorcism begins. The film ends with a surprise cameo appearance. The problem with the franchise is that there have been far too many similar films since the classic original with nothing new to add as they regurgitate the same shock elements over and over again. Burstyn's return does not really add anything to the film except a weak attempt to link it to the original. The actress only did the film for a huge paycheck which she donated as a scholarship for acting students. Stick to the original as that still packs a punch.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin, 2023) 7/10
Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1952 novel, "The Caine Mutiny", was made into an Oscar nominated film in 1954 with Humphrey Bogart. In 1953 Wouk re-wrote the story as a two-act play which was filmed for tv in 1955 with Lloyd Nolan and in 1988 by Robert Altman with Brad Davis. This version, Friedkin's last film, sticks to the two-act formula concentrating strictly inside the courtroom where you hear the characters speak about a mutiny that took place on a ship. The accused is the first officer (Jake Lacy) who took over the ship when he found the Captain (Keifer Sutherland) unable to respond coherently while the ship was being badly tossed during a storm. The skeptical lawyer for the defense (Jason Clarke) reluctantly takes on the case which the defendent vehemently denies on the stand. The play's two flamboyant characters are superbly played by a dogged Clarke and in an unusual tone by Sutherland who plays his two scenes very stiffly, at first with arrogance and indignation while scoffing at all the accusations thrown at him, and then with a snarl of outrage as the interrogation begins to close in. The mutiny's setting here has been shifted from the Pacific War of the original to the Gulf War, while a couple of the original all-male characters of the play are here played by two black actresses in order to tick off the diversity angle. This tightly paced court-room drama is a return to Friedkin's roots where he started his career directing live television during the medium's golden era.
The Equalizer 3 (Antoine Fuqua, 2023) 7/10
Denzel and Fuqua here collaborate on their fifth film and third in this franchise, which apparently concludes the vigilante actions of retired U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall. The setting of this film - Naples and a small village on the Amalfi coast - makes this episode seem fresh as the protagonist goes through his usual trope of coming to the rescue of the weak, scared and downtrodden. McCall (Denzel Washington), after getting shot in the back in Sicily while recouping money stolen in a cyber-heist, finds himself recuperating at the home of a village doctor on the Amalfi coast. While getting his strength back he notices members of the Camorra manhandling the local inhabitants and police. He tips off a rookie CIA agent (Dakota Fanning) who arrives to investigate dead bodies in Sicily, the local drug trade and a series of bombings blamed on terrorists. Meanwhile McCall goes into violent action as he stalks and kills off the Camorra hoods while aiming to reach their head. Denzel is as usual a kick-ass killing machine as he uses increasingly violent means to clean the town of its undesirable elements. Dakota Fanning is underused but the film ends on a note where it seems McCall is passing his baton onto the young agent. The formulaic story is offset by well staged action sequences, an exotic location, the continuing charisma of Denzel, who at 69 hasn't lost an iota of charm, and an eerie musical score by Marcelo Zarvos.
Night Editor (Henry Levin, 1946) 7/10
A cop (William Gargan) and his married socialite mistress (Janis Carter) witness a man murdering a young woman but decide not to report it in order to hide their own relationship since both are married. When the cop is assigned to investigate the murder his relationship with his mistress begins to unravel and guilt begins to eat at him whenever he is around his imploring wife and son. Striking B-noir has an outstanding performance by Janis Carter as the bitchy, twisted mistress who is quite willing to start an affair with the murderer. In true noir fashion sex and violence proves to be the downfall for the sap who falls for the femme fatale. Superbly shot by Burnett Guffey & Philip Tannura.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
It's not really about hedge funds. It could have been about any office in which a romantically involved couple is torn apart by the advancement of one over the other. In this case, the couple is secretly engaged with all indications that the guy will be promoted but instead the woman is.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
In typical movie fashion where you listen to them talking numbers excitedly or angrily and you wait instead for the sex to beginGreg wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:20 pmHow does it portray hedge funds in general?Reza wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:23 pm Fair Play (Chloe Domont, 2023) 8/10
This riveting film has a very strong whiff of all those psychosexual thrillers of the 1980s - "Fatal Attraction", Disclosure" - but instead it treads through a different path manoeuvring its way through corporate corridors. Oozing sex are a couple of Wall Street hotshots (Phoebe Dynevor & Alden Ehrenreich) - both in love & lust, both working for the same high-powered Wall Street hedge fund, but keeping their relationship under wraps so as not to violate company policy. . .
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
How does it portray hedge funds in general?Reza wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:23 pm Fair Play (Chloe Domont, 2023) 8/10
This riveting film has a very strong whiff of all those psychosexual thrillers of the 1980s - "Fatal Attraction", Disclosure" - but instead it treads through a different path manoeuvring its way through corporate corridors. Oozing sex are a couple of Wall Street hotshots (Phoebe Dynevor & Alden Ehrenreich) - both in love & lust, both working for the same high-powered Wall Street hedge fund, but keeping their relationship under wraps so as not to violate company policy. . .
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Fair Play (Chloe Domont, 2023) 8/10
This riveting film has a very strong whiff of all those psychosexual thrillers of the 1980s - "Fatal Attraction", Disclosure" - but instead it treads through a different path manoeuvring its way through corporate corridors. Oozing sex are a couple of Wall Street hotshots (Phoebe Dynevor & Alden Ehrenreich) - both in love & lust, both working for the same high-powered Wall Street hedge fund, but keeping their relationship under wraps so as not to violate company policy. When she hears an office whisper that her boyfriend is going to land a promotion she tells him and they both celebrate with a wild session of sex followed by getting engaged. However, it is she who ends up with the promotion which gradually changes the dynamics of their relationship. The screenplay sharply dissects gender and power dynamics in the workplace and then goes a step further by looking at how wild consensual sex can turn into rape in the blink of an eye. The film's biggest strength is the sharp script and the dynamic performances of the two leads - both of whom tread a perverse but thrilling dance that begins with desire but ends with intense hatred.
La sfida / The Challenge (Francesco Rosi, 1958) 9/10
José Suárez - tall, dashing, immaculately dressed - is a gang leader and small time smuggler of cigarettes in Naples. Ambition makes him try to muscle into the vegetable and fruit business which is considered more profitable. He comes into conflict with the local Camorra boss whom he challenges for supremacy. The film also covers his romance with a nubile young woman (Rosanna Schiaffino) who lives in his tenement. She pursues him from afar although he is unaware of her. Their first meeting takes place on the roof tops of the tenement as he gives chase barefoot and she coyly allows herself to be caught and he kisses her amongst fluttering laundry hung out to dry. The sequence is stunningly shot with cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo's tracking shot following the two characters up and down stairs and across the vast rooftop. Coming to an arrangement with the mafia his business flourishes and he moves into a huge seaside apartment and plans his marriage to the alluring woman. The film's explosive finalé is set in the Piazza del Mercato, the busy market place of Naples. The two main characters were based on Pasquale Simonetti - an Italian criminal of the Camorra - and his wife, Pupetta Maresca - an Italian criminal who was also a well-known figure in the Camorra who made international newspaper headlines in the mid-1950s when she killed the murderer of her husband in revenge. This was Rosi's first solo film as a director and he imbues it with a realist nature causing a major stir for alluding directly to the mafia control of the government. The star quality exuded by both Suárez and Schiaffino greatly helps the romantic moments in the film. There is a sense of desperate edginess between them which throughout signals what is to come and when the climax finally arrives it allows Schiaffino, who is till then shown in a very passive light with minimum dialogue, to finally show what she is capable of as an actress.
Poirot: Triangle at Rhodes (Renny Rye, 1989) 5/10
This story was part of Agatha Christie's short story collection "Murder in the Mews" and bears more than a passing resemblance to another of her murder mysteries "Evil Under the Sun". Only the setting has been changed - to the Greek island of Rhodes - while the main crime is more or less the same give or take a few tweaks. Flighty wife of a jealous husband appears to be having an affair with the husband of a mousey wife. They are all on holiday staying at a hotel on the island of Rhodes. Also staying there is famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) who is informed by a busy body guest about the love triangle. However, when the flighty wife chokes to death after drinking pink gin which was meant for her jealous husband it appears the love triangle was in fact between a separate group of guests which Poirot ofcourse deduces using his little grey cells. The rather weak plot is thankfully over compensated by a travelogue through Rhodes as the magical medieval town and its surroundings gets a good look-in as the characters wander about the island taking in the sights.
Khufiya (Vishal Bhardwaj, 2023) 6/10
Bhardwaj creates a spy world - RAW, ISI, CIA - that is far from glamorous â la James Bond. He instead takes the essence from the John le Carré school of spydom which here is based on Amar Bhushan's espionage novel "Escape to Nowhere". The plot is set during the post-Kargil period as the Indian spy agency discovers there is a mole (Ali Fazal) amongst their agents who is passing on secret information to the CIA. A savvy operative (Tabu) has the man's house bugged and has him followed. She is a workaholic, estranged from her son and nursing wounds from an affair with a fellow spy (Azmeri Haque Badhon) who turned out to be a double agent working for the ISI. The plot moves smoothly during the tense first half as the shadowy characters navigate through the alleyways of Delhi and Dhaka in pursuit of the mole and his accomplices. The second half begins to wobble when the mole's wife (Wamiqa Gabbi) is recruited to go to the United States to join and spy on her rogue husband and mother-in-law - the latter is as vicious a mother as Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate". There are far too many moments in the plot near the end that don't quite gell and seem hurried. As always Tabu is the star attraction and creates a true to life character, a dejected, tired spy, who is upto her neck in personal problems yet manages to diligently do full justice towards her career. She gets good support from Ashish Vidyarthi as her boss and Atul Kulkarni as her supportive ex-husband.
1883 (Ben Richardson, Christina Alexandra Voros & Taylor Sheridan, 2021-22) 9/10
Prequel to the prequel (1923) of the 5 season tv series Yellowstone. This one covers the very early days of the Dutton family as they (played by real-life couple and Country Music superstars, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill) travel on a wagon train from Texas to Oregon before settling in Montana on a ranch that would eventually take the name of Yellowstone. This 10 part series is a rehash of the 1923 silent film classic "The Covered Wagon" as it charts a wagon train consisting mainly of German and Slavic immigrants, along with the Dutton family, and led by a tough old cowpoke (Sam Elliott). The hazardous journey involves river crossings, encounters with bandits and Indians, a deadly tornado, and rattlesnakes causing death and destruction. The Dutton's fiery teenage daughter (Isabel May) comes of age on the journey discovering love, heartache and adventure. Superbly shot on location this is an action-packed series well worth watching if you are a fan of the genre. Tom Hanks, Billy Bob Thornton, Rita Wilson and Graham Greene appear in brief roles as guest stars.
1923 (Ben Richardson & Guy Ferland, 2022-23) 9/10
Excellent 8-part prequel to television's Yellowstone series which charts the Dutton family of Montana through the early part of the twentieth century. The 5 seasons of Yellowstone has Kevin Costner as star but here we also have a bonafide movie star leading the cast - 78 year old Harrison Ford. As his wife Dame Helen Mirren kicks ass - the opening episode has her tracking a man crawling on all fours whom she shoots point-blank with a shotgun. The main plot of the series deals with an attempt on the lives of the Dutton family and dealing with a land-grabber (Timothy Dalton). A sub-plot involves the Dutton heir in Africa, his romance with a British girl and their adventurous journey back to America. The second very brutal sub-plot is a native Indian escaping the vicious clutches of nuns and a priest at a school and her pursuit across the praire leading to further violence. Exciting series with the two lead actors adding a distinct touch of class. Season 2 is to follow.
Apache Drums (Hugo Fregonese, 1951) 6/10
A notorious gambler (Stephen McNally) is thrown out of a small town but returns to help the townfolk when Apaches go on the warpath. This B-film has two action set pieces - one out in the wilds with the attacking Indians and a tense sequence at the end with the surviving townfolk holed up inside a church without food or water and beseiged by the Indians. The plot also throws in a love triangle between the gambler, blacksmith/mayor (Willard Parker) and the local boarding house-bar owner (Coleen Gray). The screenplay turns talky but there are enough tense action sequences to make this a good film in the genre. This was horror-film producer Val Lewton's last film.
Gumraah (Vardhan Ketkar, 2023) 6/10
A man is viciously murdered by someone wearing a yellow hooded raincoat. However, the murderer is photographed on the balcony by a neighbour and the police arrest a prominent construction engineer (Aditya Roy Kapoor) and charge him with the crime. Soon after a drunken petty criminal is arrested and he turns out to be the spitting image of the accused. It turns out both men are identical twins and it becomes impossible to deduce which of these men is the murderer as no evidence is found that can be checked through fingerprints and the DNA found at the crime sight matches both brothers. The Sub Inspector (Mrunal Thakur) is convinced the crime was committed by the petty crook while the ACP, who has a personal vendetta against the engineer, tries his best to put the blame on him. Both cops fiddle with evidence to prove their suspect is the murderer. Cat-and-mouse thriller has an engaging plot with two or three unnecessary song and dance sequences. Kapoor, in a dual role, plays the two brothers with subtle changes using his voice and body. Thakur plays it grim throughout.
Reptile (Grant Singer, 2023) 6/10
Film noir detective murder mystery goes through the usual tropes. Not in a bad way but the screenplay has a "been there-done that" vibe to it. A young realtor is found viciously murdered. The suspects are her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake), her ex-husband with whom she was still having sex, and a crazed man (Michael Pitt) who insists the victim's boyfriend is involved. A hardened detective (Benicio del Toro), with a dark past, relentlessly pursues the case despite all the red herrings he encounters. Drugs and dirty real estate deals are some of the issues that are revealed. Good to see Alicia Silverstone, as the cop's wife, return to the screen in a mainstream project.
Devi / Goddess (Satyajit Ray, 1960) 10/10
Ray's lacerating film takes a look at religious obsession and the destructive nature of fanaticism and also makes strong points about blind tradition versus modernist reasoning. A rich Bengali landowner (Chhabi Biswas), a fanatical devotee of the goddess Durga (a warrior goddess who represents the destruction of evil), one night has a dream that his young daughter-in-law (Sharmila Tagore) is Durga reincarnated and starts worshiping her. His other family members are horrified when he insists they also worship her. She is placed in a room and treated like a deity. The woman is terrified but submissive and goes along with it. When neighbors also start visiting and praying to her for miracles the situation reaches a fever pitch when a peasant's sick child is cured which proves to them all that she truly is a goddess. Her husband (Soumitra Chatterjee), who was away at college, returns and is shocked by the drama in the house and tries to reason with his father and young wife who gradually starts losing her sense of identity and actually starts believing she is a deity. The father's sudden illness proves to be the catalyst that finally shatters the illusion with devastating results for the young woman. Ray's masterful direction, the superb performances, Subrata Mitra's subtle camera movements, the sound design and score combine to create an eerie expressionistic masterpiece.
Ghare-Baire / The Home and the World (Satyajit Ray, 1984) 10/10
Ray looks at nationalism and the emancipation of women at a time when great political changes were taking place in Bengal - Lord Curzon's notorious Partition of Bengal which divided the Hindu-Muslim population under Britain's "divide and rule" policy which in turn gave rise to the Swadeshi movement which eventually formed the struggle to oust the ruling Colonial Power. Based on the novel by Rabindranath Tagore the poetic story revolves around a ménage à trois - an influential Western-educated Bengali noble (Victor Banerjee), his cloistered wife (Swatilekha Sengupta) and his charismatic revolutionary friend (Soumitra Chatterjee). The nobleman insists on educating his wife - he hires an English governess (Jennifer Kendall) to educate and transform her - and encourages her to come out of purdah which was a controversial stance in 1916 when the novel was written. When the two are introduced his friend is smitten by his wife and insists they meet alone. The husband is mature and grants his wife the freedom to mingle and get to know another man as their marriage was arranged and she had no experience of being around other men. The blossoming friendship - she finds him passionate and thinks her husband is passive - has far reaching effects as the revolutionary, who is also a fraud, uses the woman to obtain funds for his cause to which his friend is against. His actions create a divide between Hindus and Muslims and riots break out in the city. The wife realizes too late the reality of her relationship with the two men - trust and love from her husband and self-interest by her lover. Contemplative film moves along gently with the camera observing the characters in conflict and allowing the audience to look straight into their hearts. The three actors are superb playing characters who shift and change along with the conflicts they are surrounded by - both political and in matters of the heart - with the woman finding her life changed the most as she treads from her home into a world that was once forbidden to her sex and discovers poverty, upheaval and violence from which she had been sheltered from. Banerjee, as the quietly enlightened husband, won a richly deserved National award for his performance. It was - pun intended - a banner year for him as he also played the lead role that same year in David Lean's "A Passage to India" - another film about the conflict between Indians and the British in colonial India.
Silver City (Byron Haskin, 1951) 5/10
Crook (Edmond O'Brien) turns straight, moves to another town but his past in the form of his former boss (Richard Arlen) and former girlfriend (Gladys George) - both now married to each other - catch up with him. While working as a mining assayer he gets involved with a mine leaser (Edgar Buchanan) and his feisty daughter (Yvonne De Carlo) who take on the greedy mine owner (Barry Fitzgerald) who tries to sabotage their attempts to mine discovered silver ore. Slow moving film tries to cover the screenplay's shortcomings through shootouts and other action packed sequences.
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972) 10/10
Reticent academic and writer (Michael York) arrives in pre-War Berlin, rooms in a boarding house with daffy American, Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), who works on stage at the seedy Kit Kat Club. While falling in and out of bed - with Sally and also with a rich married Baron (Helmut Griem) - he witnesses the rise of facism as the Nazis come to power. Superb film adaptation of the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical is imaginatively directed by Bob Fosse who not only recreates the Germany of that era (in essence) but also brings an exciting electric vibe to the musical numbers - "Willkommen", "Mein Herr", "Maybe This Time", "Money Money", "If You Could See Her", "Cabaret" - all performed on stage at the cabaret. The only song not sung on stage is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", which is used as a glaring look at the rise of Nazism. It begins as a nostalgic German folk song but deceptively turns into a military march revealing the singer - an angelic young boy - to be wearing a Hitler Youth uniform who vigorously gives the Nazi salute. Liza Minnelli, already a famous name, instantly became a huge film star and won an Oscar. Joel Grey - the only member of the cast to reprise his stage role as the sleazy MC at the club - also won. The film still holds the record for winning the most Oscars (8) without getting the prize for best film - in addition to the wins for Minnelli and Grey it won for director-choreographer Fosse, Geoffrey Unsworth's dazzling cinematography, the production design, sound, score and editing. The awards for Best Picture and screenplay went to The Godfather that year.
The Nevadan (Gordon Douglas, 1950) 5/10
Mysterious stranger (Randolph Scott) tangles with a stagecoach robber (Forrest Tucker) and a greedy ranch boss (George Macready) while they are all on a hunt for a map describing where a shipment of gold is hidden. Slow moving Western has Scott as stoic as ever while he dodges bullets and gets beaten up while falling in love with the rancher's feisty daughter (Dorothy Malone).
The Dive (Maximillian Erlenwein, 2023) 6/10
Two sisters go diving at a remote location under a huge cliff. An avalanche of rocks traps one sister at 28 meters and it becomes a race against time for the other sister to get help. The suspense is related to the free sister rushing back and forth between dry land to try and get more air tanks and a car jack to try and lift the boulder and returning underwater to provide oxygen which is fast depleting. Everything goes wrong as an oxygen tank sinks, the car's boot will not open, a quick run to a nearby church comes up empty plus a desperate flagging at a nearby boat goes unseen. Thankfully the screenplay ignores the cliché of approaching sharks or other predators. Instead the tension is created realistically through the frantic rescue operation which involves both sisters helping each other through the crises. Brief flashbacks explain their love of diving plus their drifting apart as adults. Tense nail-biter goes through familiar beats but manages to hold attention. The underwater photography is creepy or stunning. Take your pick depending on how enamored you are by the ocean.
Retribution (Nimród Antal, 2023) 6/10
By now its a given that Liam Neeson's new movie will be strictly from the B school of movie-making, not that it's something to turn one's nose up at. Such movies can be excellent popcorn fodder and most of Neeson's output certainly is - brainless but fun. This one is a remake of the 2015 Spanish film "El desconocido" although the premise was undertaken very successfully way back in 1994 when Sandra Bullock drove a bus with a bomb on board in the film "Speed" where a terrorist threatened to detonate if she stopped the vehicle. Here a bank executive (Liam Neeson) in Berlin gets into his car and is informed on a cell phone that his seat is rigged with a bomb and he needs to transfer a huge amount of money belonging to his clients to an offshore account in Dubai. The entire film is shot with Neeson sitting in a car and driving around Berlin as the voice controls him and blows up other cars and people he knows to show that he means business. Making matters worse for him is that he has both his children on board with him. At a certain point during the film the villain's identity becomes quite obvious after which it remains to be seen how Neeson gets out of his predicament. In brief roles are Matthew Modine as his boss and Embeth Davidtz as his anguished wife who is on the verge of divorcing him. Davidtz and Neeson reunite on screen after 30 years when they were both in "Schindler's List" - a film that allowed Neeson to play in the A league until the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, proved to be the catalyst that changed the direction of his career towards the B league. Not withstanding the hackneyed premise and the often inane dialogue this film still manages to create suspense and thrills......of the B variety ofcourse.
Jaane Jaan (Sujoy Ghosh, 2023) 8/10
Gripping mystery-thriller is an adaptation of the 2005 Japanese novel "The Devotion of Suspect X" by Keigo Higashino. The story moves into the realm of a ménage à trois - but minus sex - between three characters who come together when a murder occurs. A single mother (Kareena Kapoor) is suddenly confronted after 14 years by her divorced husband who is a sleazy cop and a suspected human trafficker. He threatens to take away his teenage daughter but she offers him money to leave them alone. During a skirmish where he gets rough with his ex-wife both mother and daughter strangle the man with a wire and to their horror find themselves with a dead man in their apartment. Their next door neighbour (Jaideep Ahlawat), a brilliant but introverted mathematics teacher who has a silent crush on her, comes to their rescue by disposing the dead body and creating perfect alibis for them. When a police Inspector (Vijay Varma) suddenly turns up, discovers the body, and finds out that he was her husband his suspicions fall on her. A cat and mouse game ensues between the three characters as the cop, after suspecting her, shifts his suspicion onto him. This superbly paced film's moody ambience is enhanced by the film's stunning location - the hill station town of Kalimpong in West Bengal - with its winding roads, overcast skies, hidden alleys, and swirling clouds. All three actors are at the top of their game with the anguished Kareena Kapoor suddenly coming into her own during a sequence set in a karaoke bar where she reluctantly starts singing "Jaane Jaan" - with Bollywood entertainer Helen dancing in the background - and as the song progresses lets down her hair, forgets all her problems and gets totally in the groove enjoying the sexy lyrics. The film's wrap up is a bit abrupt as it takes a rather uphill way to sum up the complicated plot but ignore all that because sometimes the improbable can be also satisfying. All in all this is an exciting Bollywood addition to the thriller genre and stands confidently aside (albeit at a tad lower step) to the director's own classic film - Kahaani (2012).
The Last Hurrah (John Ford, 1958) 8/10
A political satire, based on the best-selling novel by Edwin O'Connor, has at its center a resourceful old-time politician (Spencer Tracy) who runs for yet another political campaign. Although the man and the New England city are not named in the story its clearly based in part on the career of former Boston mayor James Michael Curley. He is an iron-fisted but sentimental Irish-American immigrant who raised himself out of the gutter by joining politics. With Ford at the helm of the story it has a heavy dose of sentiment helped along with his usual stable of character actors in tow - Pat O'Brien, Donald Crisp, John Carradine, Basil Rathbone, James Gleason, Anna Lee, Jane Darwell, Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Ford, Frank McHugh - playing the mayor's friends and foes. This is one of Tracy's great performances and he gets wonderful support from Jeffrey Hunter as his nephew. One of the film's many old-fashioned Hollywood moments is Tracy's death scene at the end as he lies in bed while his friends and foes visit him one last time to say goodbye - everyone in tears including me - a continous 15 minute uncontrollable crying jag which I give full credit to the old fashioned direction of the great John Ford.
Poirot: Hallowe'en Party (Charles Palmer, 2010) 8/10
Christie's 1969 book was first adapted for the Poirot tv series and it was much later in 2023 that it came to the big screen as "A Haunting in Venice". This version was quite altered from the original story. The screenplay sets the story in 1947 Venice and while retaining some character names and incidents the screenwriter basically reimagines it as a ghost story involving a number of murders. This tv version follows the book closely but takes the plot from the 1960s and shifts it to a small English village during the 1930s. During a Halloween party for kids a little girl, known for telling tall fibs, announces that she saw a murder and knows who the killer is. Everyone ignores the remark but a little later the child is found drowned in a tub of water meant for apple bobbing. Crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) who is at the party sends for her friend Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) to come investigate the grisly murder. He discovers that at least three suspicious deaths had already occurred before the recent one and soon there will be three more dead bodies before the culprit is finally apprehended. Another in a long line of excellent episodes in this memorable tv series with Suchet most memorable as the famous Belgian detective.
This riveting film has a very strong whiff of all those psychosexual thrillers of the 1980s - "Fatal Attraction", Disclosure" - but instead it treads through a different path manoeuvring its way through corporate corridors. Oozing sex are a couple of Wall Street hotshots (Phoebe Dynevor & Alden Ehrenreich) - both in love & lust, both working for the same high-powered Wall Street hedge fund, but keeping their relationship under wraps so as not to violate company policy. When she hears an office whisper that her boyfriend is going to land a promotion she tells him and they both celebrate with a wild session of sex followed by getting engaged. However, it is she who ends up with the promotion which gradually changes the dynamics of their relationship. The screenplay sharply dissects gender and power dynamics in the workplace and then goes a step further by looking at how wild consensual sex can turn into rape in the blink of an eye. The film's biggest strength is the sharp script and the dynamic performances of the two leads - both of whom tread a perverse but thrilling dance that begins with desire but ends with intense hatred.
La sfida / The Challenge (Francesco Rosi, 1958) 9/10
José Suárez - tall, dashing, immaculately dressed - is a gang leader and small time smuggler of cigarettes in Naples. Ambition makes him try to muscle into the vegetable and fruit business which is considered more profitable. He comes into conflict with the local Camorra boss whom he challenges for supremacy. The film also covers his romance with a nubile young woman (Rosanna Schiaffino) who lives in his tenement. She pursues him from afar although he is unaware of her. Their first meeting takes place on the roof tops of the tenement as he gives chase barefoot and she coyly allows herself to be caught and he kisses her amongst fluttering laundry hung out to dry. The sequence is stunningly shot with cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo's tracking shot following the two characters up and down stairs and across the vast rooftop. Coming to an arrangement with the mafia his business flourishes and he moves into a huge seaside apartment and plans his marriage to the alluring woman. The film's explosive finalé is set in the Piazza del Mercato, the busy market place of Naples. The two main characters were based on Pasquale Simonetti - an Italian criminal of the Camorra - and his wife, Pupetta Maresca - an Italian criminal who was also a well-known figure in the Camorra who made international newspaper headlines in the mid-1950s when she killed the murderer of her husband in revenge. This was Rosi's first solo film as a director and he imbues it with a realist nature causing a major stir for alluding directly to the mafia control of the government. The star quality exuded by both Suárez and Schiaffino greatly helps the romantic moments in the film. There is a sense of desperate edginess between them which throughout signals what is to come and when the climax finally arrives it allows Schiaffino, who is till then shown in a very passive light with minimum dialogue, to finally show what she is capable of as an actress.
Poirot: Triangle at Rhodes (Renny Rye, 1989) 5/10
This story was part of Agatha Christie's short story collection "Murder in the Mews" and bears more than a passing resemblance to another of her murder mysteries "Evil Under the Sun". Only the setting has been changed - to the Greek island of Rhodes - while the main crime is more or less the same give or take a few tweaks. Flighty wife of a jealous husband appears to be having an affair with the husband of a mousey wife. They are all on holiday staying at a hotel on the island of Rhodes. Also staying there is famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) who is informed by a busy body guest about the love triangle. However, when the flighty wife chokes to death after drinking pink gin which was meant for her jealous husband it appears the love triangle was in fact between a separate group of guests which Poirot ofcourse deduces using his little grey cells. The rather weak plot is thankfully over compensated by a travelogue through Rhodes as the magical medieval town and its surroundings gets a good look-in as the characters wander about the island taking in the sights.
Khufiya (Vishal Bhardwaj, 2023) 6/10
Bhardwaj creates a spy world - RAW, ISI, CIA - that is far from glamorous â la James Bond. He instead takes the essence from the John le Carré school of spydom which here is based on Amar Bhushan's espionage novel "Escape to Nowhere". The plot is set during the post-Kargil period as the Indian spy agency discovers there is a mole (Ali Fazal) amongst their agents who is passing on secret information to the CIA. A savvy operative (Tabu) has the man's house bugged and has him followed. She is a workaholic, estranged from her son and nursing wounds from an affair with a fellow spy (Azmeri Haque Badhon) who turned out to be a double agent working for the ISI. The plot moves smoothly during the tense first half as the shadowy characters navigate through the alleyways of Delhi and Dhaka in pursuit of the mole and his accomplices. The second half begins to wobble when the mole's wife (Wamiqa Gabbi) is recruited to go to the United States to join and spy on her rogue husband and mother-in-law - the latter is as vicious a mother as Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate". There are far too many moments in the plot near the end that don't quite gell and seem hurried. As always Tabu is the star attraction and creates a true to life character, a dejected, tired spy, who is upto her neck in personal problems yet manages to diligently do full justice towards her career. She gets good support from Ashish Vidyarthi as her boss and Atul Kulkarni as her supportive ex-husband.
1883 (Ben Richardson, Christina Alexandra Voros & Taylor Sheridan, 2021-22) 9/10
Prequel to the prequel (1923) of the 5 season tv series Yellowstone. This one covers the very early days of the Dutton family as they (played by real-life couple and Country Music superstars, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill) travel on a wagon train from Texas to Oregon before settling in Montana on a ranch that would eventually take the name of Yellowstone. This 10 part series is a rehash of the 1923 silent film classic "The Covered Wagon" as it charts a wagon train consisting mainly of German and Slavic immigrants, along with the Dutton family, and led by a tough old cowpoke (Sam Elliott). The hazardous journey involves river crossings, encounters with bandits and Indians, a deadly tornado, and rattlesnakes causing death and destruction. The Dutton's fiery teenage daughter (Isabel May) comes of age on the journey discovering love, heartache and adventure. Superbly shot on location this is an action-packed series well worth watching if you are a fan of the genre. Tom Hanks, Billy Bob Thornton, Rita Wilson and Graham Greene appear in brief roles as guest stars.
1923 (Ben Richardson & Guy Ferland, 2022-23) 9/10
Excellent 8-part prequel to television's Yellowstone series which charts the Dutton family of Montana through the early part of the twentieth century. The 5 seasons of Yellowstone has Kevin Costner as star but here we also have a bonafide movie star leading the cast - 78 year old Harrison Ford. As his wife Dame Helen Mirren kicks ass - the opening episode has her tracking a man crawling on all fours whom she shoots point-blank with a shotgun. The main plot of the series deals with an attempt on the lives of the Dutton family and dealing with a land-grabber (Timothy Dalton). A sub-plot involves the Dutton heir in Africa, his romance with a British girl and their adventurous journey back to America. The second very brutal sub-plot is a native Indian escaping the vicious clutches of nuns and a priest at a school and her pursuit across the praire leading to further violence. Exciting series with the two lead actors adding a distinct touch of class. Season 2 is to follow.
Apache Drums (Hugo Fregonese, 1951) 6/10
A notorious gambler (Stephen McNally) is thrown out of a small town but returns to help the townfolk when Apaches go on the warpath. This B-film has two action set pieces - one out in the wilds with the attacking Indians and a tense sequence at the end with the surviving townfolk holed up inside a church without food or water and beseiged by the Indians. The plot also throws in a love triangle between the gambler, blacksmith/mayor (Willard Parker) and the local boarding house-bar owner (Coleen Gray). The screenplay turns talky but there are enough tense action sequences to make this a good film in the genre. This was horror-film producer Val Lewton's last film.
Gumraah (Vardhan Ketkar, 2023) 6/10
A man is viciously murdered by someone wearing a yellow hooded raincoat. However, the murderer is photographed on the balcony by a neighbour and the police arrest a prominent construction engineer (Aditya Roy Kapoor) and charge him with the crime. Soon after a drunken petty criminal is arrested and he turns out to be the spitting image of the accused. It turns out both men are identical twins and it becomes impossible to deduce which of these men is the murderer as no evidence is found that can be checked through fingerprints and the DNA found at the crime sight matches both brothers. The Sub Inspector (Mrunal Thakur) is convinced the crime was committed by the petty crook while the ACP, who has a personal vendetta against the engineer, tries his best to put the blame on him. Both cops fiddle with evidence to prove their suspect is the murderer. Cat-and-mouse thriller has an engaging plot with two or three unnecessary song and dance sequences. Kapoor, in a dual role, plays the two brothers with subtle changes using his voice and body. Thakur plays it grim throughout.
Reptile (Grant Singer, 2023) 6/10
Film noir detective murder mystery goes through the usual tropes. Not in a bad way but the screenplay has a "been there-done that" vibe to it. A young realtor is found viciously murdered. The suspects are her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake), her ex-husband with whom she was still having sex, and a crazed man (Michael Pitt) who insists the victim's boyfriend is involved. A hardened detective (Benicio del Toro), with a dark past, relentlessly pursues the case despite all the red herrings he encounters. Drugs and dirty real estate deals are some of the issues that are revealed. Good to see Alicia Silverstone, as the cop's wife, return to the screen in a mainstream project.
Devi / Goddess (Satyajit Ray, 1960) 10/10
Ray's lacerating film takes a look at religious obsession and the destructive nature of fanaticism and also makes strong points about blind tradition versus modernist reasoning. A rich Bengali landowner (Chhabi Biswas), a fanatical devotee of the goddess Durga (a warrior goddess who represents the destruction of evil), one night has a dream that his young daughter-in-law (Sharmila Tagore) is Durga reincarnated and starts worshiping her. His other family members are horrified when he insists they also worship her. She is placed in a room and treated like a deity. The woman is terrified but submissive and goes along with it. When neighbors also start visiting and praying to her for miracles the situation reaches a fever pitch when a peasant's sick child is cured which proves to them all that she truly is a goddess. Her husband (Soumitra Chatterjee), who was away at college, returns and is shocked by the drama in the house and tries to reason with his father and young wife who gradually starts losing her sense of identity and actually starts believing she is a deity. The father's sudden illness proves to be the catalyst that finally shatters the illusion with devastating results for the young woman. Ray's masterful direction, the superb performances, Subrata Mitra's subtle camera movements, the sound design and score combine to create an eerie expressionistic masterpiece.
Ghare-Baire / The Home and the World (Satyajit Ray, 1984) 10/10
Ray looks at nationalism and the emancipation of women at a time when great political changes were taking place in Bengal - Lord Curzon's notorious Partition of Bengal which divided the Hindu-Muslim population under Britain's "divide and rule" policy which in turn gave rise to the Swadeshi movement which eventually formed the struggle to oust the ruling Colonial Power. Based on the novel by Rabindranath Tagore the poetic story revolves around a ménage à trois - an influential Western-educated Bengali noble (Victor Banerjee), his cloistered wife (Swatilekha Sengupta) and his charismatic revolutionary friend (Soumitra Chatterjee). The nobleman insists on educating his wife - he hires an English governess (Jennifer Kendall) to educate and transform her - and encourages her to come out of purdah which was a controversial stance in 1916 when the novel was written. When the two are introduced his friend is smitten by his wife and insists they meet alone. The husband is mature and grants his wife the freedom to mingle and get to know another man as their marriage was arranged and she had no experience of being around other men. The blossoming friendship - she finds him passionate and thinks her husband is passive - has far reaching effects as the revolutionary, who is also a fraud, uses the woman to obtain funds for his cause to which his friend is against. His actions create a divide between Hindus and Muslims and riots break out in the city. The wife realizes too late the reality of her relationship with the two men - trust and love from her husband and self-interest by her lover. Contemplative film moves along gently with the camera observing the characters in conflict and allowing the audience to look straight into their hearts. The three actors are superb playing characters who shift and change along with the conflicts they are surrounded by - both political and in matters of the heart - with the woman finding her life changed the most as she treads from her home into a world that was once forbidden to her sex and discovers poverty, upheaval and violence from which she had been sheltered from. Banerjee, as the quietly enlightened husband, won a richly deserved National award for his performance. It was - pun intended - a banner year for him as he also played the lead role that same year in David Lean's "A Passage to India" - another film about the conflict between Indians and the British in colonial India.
Silver City (Byron Haskin, 1951) 5/10
Crook (Edmond O'Brien) turns straight, moves to another town but his past in the form of his former boss (Richard Arlen) and former girlfriend (Gladys George) - both now married to each other - catch up with him. While working as a mining assayer he gets involved with a mine leaser (Edgar Buchanan) and his feisty daughter (Yvonne De Carlo) who take on the greedy mine owner (Barry Fitzgerald) who tries to sabotage their attempts to mine discovered silver ore. Slow moving film tries to cover the screenplay's shortcomings through shootouts and other action packed sequences.
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972) 10/10
Reticent academic and writer (Michael York) arrives in pre-War Berlin, rooms in a boarding house with daffy American, Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli), who works on stage at the seedy Kit Kat Club. While falling in and out of bed - with Sally and also with a rich married Baron (Helmut Griem) - he witnesses the rise of facism as the Nazis come to power. Superb film adaptation of the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical is imaginatively directed by Bob Fosse who not only recreates the Germany of that era (in essence) but also brings an exciting electric vibe to the musical numbers - "Willkommen", "Mein Herr", "Maybe This Time", "Money Money", "If You Could See Her", "Cabaret" - all performed on stage at the cabaret. The only song not sung on stage is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", which is used as a glaring look at the rise of Nazism. It begins as a nostalgic German folk song but deceptively turns into a military march revealing the singer - an angelic young boy - to be wearing a Hitler Youth uniform who vigorously gives the Nazi salute. Liza Minnelli, already a famous name, instantly became a huge film star and won an Oscar. Joel Grey - the only member of the cast to reprise his stage role as the sleazy MC at the club - also won. The film still holds the record for winning the most Oscars (8) without getting the prize for best film - in addition to the wins for Minnelli and Grey it won for director-choreographer Fosse, Geoffrey Unsworth's dazzling cinematography, the production design, sound, score and editing. The awards for Best Picture and screenplay went to The Godfather that year.
The Nevadan (Gordon Douglas, 1950) 5/10
Mysterious stranger (Randolph Scott) tangles with a stagecoach robber (Forrest Tucker) and a greedy ranch boss (George Macready) while they are all on a hunt for a map describing where a shipment of gold is hidden. Slow moving Western has Scott as stoic as ever while he dodges bullets and gets beaten up while falling in love with the rancher's feisty daughter (Dorothy Malone).
The Dive (Maximillian Erlenwein, 2023) 6/10
Two sisters go diving at a remote location under a huge cliff. An avalanche of rocks traps one sister at 28 meters and it becomes a race against time for the other sister to get help. The suspense is related to the free sister rushing back and forth between dry land to try and get more air tanks and a car jack to try and lift the boulder and returning underwater to provide oxygen which is fast depleting. Everything goes wrong as an oxygen tank sinks, the car's boot will not open, a quick run to a nearby church comes up empty plus a desperate flagging at a nearby boat goes unseen. Thankfully the screenplay ignores the cliché of approaching sharks or other predators. Instead the tension is created realistically through the frantic rescue operation which involves both sisters helping each other through the crises. Brief flashbacks explain their love of diving plus their drifting apart as adults. Tense nail-biter goes through familiar beats but manages to hold attention. The underwater photography is creepy or stunning. Take your pick depending on how enamored you are by the ocean.
Retribution (Nimród Antal, 2023) 6/10
By now its a given that Liam Neeson's new movie will be strictly from the B school of movie-making, not that it's something to turn one's nose up at. Such movies can be excellent popcorn fodder and most of Neeson's output certainly is - brainless but fun. This one is a remake of the 2015 Spanish film "El desconocido" although the premise was undertaken very successfully way back in 1994 when Sandra Bullock drove a bus with a bomb on board in the film "Speed" where a terrorist threatened to detonate if she stopped the vehicle. Here a bank executive (Liam Neeson) in Berlin gets into his car and is informed on a cell phone that his seat is rigged with a bomb and he needs to transfer a huge amount of money belonging to his clients to an offshore account in Dubai. The entire film is shot with Neeson sitting in a car and driving around Berlin as the voice controls him and blows up other cars and people he knows to show that he means business. Making matters worse for him is that he has both his children on board with him. At a certain point during the film the villain's identity becomes quite obvious after which it remains to be seen how Neeson gets out of his predicament. In brief roles are Matthew Modine as his boss and Embeth Davidtz as his anguished wife who is on the verge of divorcing him. Davidtz and Neeson reunite on screen after 30 years when they were both in "Schindler's List" - a film that allowed Neeson to play in the A league until the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, proved to be the catalyst that changed the direction of his career towards the B league. Not withstanding the hackneyed premise and the often inane dialogue this film still manages to create suspense and thrills......of the B variety ofcourse.
Jaane Jaan (Sujoy Ghosh, 2023) 8/10
Gripping mystery-thriller is an adaptation of the 2005 Japanese novel "The Devotion of Suspect X" by Keigo Higashino. The story moves into the realm of a ménage à trois - but minus sex - between three characters who come together when a murder occurs. A single mother (Kareena Kapoor) is suddenly confronted after 14 years by her divorced husband who is a sleazy cop and a suspected human trafficker. He threatens to take away his teenage daughter but she offers him money to leave them alone. During a skirmish where he gets rough with his ex-wife both mother and daughter strangle the man with a wire and to their horror find themselves with a dead man in their apartment. Their next door neighbour (Jaideep Ahlawat), a brilliant but introverted mathematics teacher who has a silent crush on her, comes to their rescue by disposing the dead body and creating perfect alibis for them. When a police Inspector (Vijay Varma) suddenly turns up, discovers the body, and finds out that he was her husband his suspicions fall on her. A cat and mouse game ensues between the three characters as the cop, after suspecting her, shifts his suspicion onto him. This superbly paced film's moody ambience is enhanced by the film's stunning location - the hill station town of Kalimpong in West Bengal - with its winding roads, overcast skies, hidden alleys, and swirling clouds. All three actors are at the top of their game with the anguished Kareena Kapoor suddenly coming into her own during a sequence set in a karaoke bar where she reluctantly starts singing "Jaane Jaan" - with Bollywood entertainer Helen dancing in the background - and as the song progresses lets down her hair, forgets all her problems and gets totally in the groove enjoying the sexy lyrics. The film's wrap up is a bit abrupt as it takes a rather uphill way to sum up the complicated plot but ignore all that because sometimes the improbable can be also satisfying. All in all this is an exciting Bollywood addition to the thriller genre and stands confidently aside (albeit at a tad lower step) to the director's own classic film - Kahaani (2012).
The Last Hurrah (John Ford, 1958) 8/10
A political satire, based on the best-selling novel by Edwin O'Connor, has at its center a resourceful old-time politician (Spencer Tracy) who runs for yet another political campaign. Although the man and the New England city are not named in the story its clearly based in part on the career of former Boston mayor James Michael Curley. He is an iron-fisted but sentimental Irish-American immigrant who raised himself out of the gutter by joining politics. With Ford at the helm of the story it has a heavy dose of sentiment helped along with his usual stable of character actors in tow - Pat O'Brien, Donald Crisp, John Carradine, Basil Rathbone, James Gleason, Anna Lee, Jane Darwell, Ricardo Cortez, Wallace Ford, Frank McHugh - playing the mayor's friends and foes. This is one of Tracy's great performances and he gets wonderful support from Jeffrey Hunter as his nephew. One of the film's many old-fashioned Hollywood moments is Tracy's death scene at the end as he lies in bed while his friends and foes visit him one last time to say goodbye - everyone in tears including me - a continous 15 minute uncontrollable crying jag which I give full credit to the old fashioned direction of the great John Ford.
Poirot: Hallowe'en Party (Charles Palmer, 2010) 8/10
Christie's 1969 book was first adapted for the Poirot tv series and it was much later in 2023 that it came to the big screen as "A Haunting in Venice". This version was quite altered from the original story. The screenplay sets the story in 1947 Venice and while retaining some character names and incidents the screenwriter basically reimagines it as a ghost story involving a number of murders. This tv version follows the book closely but takes the plot from the 1960s and shifts it to a small English village during the 1930s. During a Halloween party for kids a little girl, known for telling tall fibs, announces that she saw a murder and knows who the killer is. Everyone ignores the remark but a little later the child is found drowned in a tub of water meant for apple bobbing. Crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) who is at the party sends for her friend Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) to come investigate the grisly murder. He discovers that at least three suspicious deaths had already occurred before the recent one and soon there will be three more dead bodies before the culprit is finally apprehended. Another in a long line of excellent episodes in this memorable tv series with Suchet most memorable as the famous Belgian detective.