Sunday, February 25, 2007
Battleship Potemkin
The score was replaced with selections from Shostakovicth (The Fall of Leningrad, etc ...) A major distraction. What to do?
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Sunday, February 11, 2007
ROME
Rome rocks. Practically educational.
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Crimson Pirate
Silly and unpretentious. I expect that today's kids would have no patience for it. There is lots of cinematic piratical goings-on, though and that is always a good thing.
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Hell in the Pacific
Less cogent than I remembered. Alternate ending is far superior.
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Underworld
Dull. Dumb. Lots of rubber body suits and outfits with many, many buckles. Kate Beckinsale looks like she is constantly being woken from a nap. Supporting actors are consistently stiff. Design of the movie is attractive.
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Children of Heaven
Charming and timeless. Assumes fairy-tale like character as movie progresses. Recommended.
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Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Lots of action. No second act slump. Keeps things moving. The moving things are utterly pointless and loud, but it goes, goes, goes.
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A Wing and a Prayer
Unabashed propaganda has solid, too, too solid performances from everyone. Not bad but very much a journeyman product.
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Twilight Samurai
Simple-seeming tale reveals layers very deliberately. Finale is choreographed beautifully and realistically. Recommended.
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The Razor's Edge (1946)
A different focus than the Bill Murray version, which I now think compares well to the Tyrone Power effort. A generally stiff tone runs throughout. Clifton Webb totally steals all his scenes.
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V for Vendetta
Holy cats, is John Hurt a creepy Big Brother! Lots of improbable swordplay. Hugo Weaving carries the whole thing on his diction, though. Could have been utterly farcical.
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Storm Over Mont Blanc
Leni Reifenstal portrays an overly-romantic university student who complicates the monk-like calm of a weatherman stationed at the top of Mont Blanc. Amazing aerial photography. There is apparently a genre of mountain movies from between the wars in which Leni is the focus apart from the mountains.
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Only Angels Have Wings
Almost my new favorite movie. Howard Hawks' fantasy of manly men flying aerocraft over the Andes and their womanly women making things complicated. More personal redemption per reel than is strictly necessary.
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l'Age d'Or
The Forgotten
Rented as an antidote to Flightplan, this was better than I expected. It has not stayed with me however, much like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Also owes a lot to X-Files.
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You Only Live Twice
Baby-faced Henry Fonda becomes ur-fugitive. Proto-noir.
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The Fighting Kentuckian
John Wayne blunders into devious plot and undoes complex social balance. Coonskin cohort provide muscle, laughs, realpolitik. Based on Bizarro-worls Napoleonic / American history.
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The Kentuckian
Burt Lancaster escapes from tribal troubles in his homeland Kentucky to his brother who has established himself in the merchant class among strangers. Burt's rustic ways disturb the civilised status quo but he proves himself to the bourgeois when a pair of coonskin terminators arrive with long rifles blazing. Walter Mattau outstanding as money-crazed coward. Mustache-twirling, although expected, never happened and was not missed.
Also there were minstrels.
Also there were minstrels.
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Frenetic, entertaining claptrap. Makes no pretense at logic, continuity or characterization. Would Kierkegaard approve?
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Flightplan
Contrived, manipulative rubbish. Greatest sin? May have leeched sales away from Snakes on a Plane. Avoid!
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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Captain's Paradise
Mild farce, not quite droll. Not brilliant. Frequently maudlin.
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Port of Shadows
Brilliant existential French noir. Great stuff.
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The Train
Frankenheimer's commentary track is enlightening. Another member of the procedural genre. sub-genre: subverting oppression. sub-sub-genres: Nazis, trains.
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Birdman of Alcatraz
Great age makeup. Burt Lancaster is totally believable. Edmond O'Brien provides frame and some narration. I cannot for thee life of me figure out why such was included, except maybe to emphasize the contemporariness of the movie. I amuse myself by imagining O'Brien as the Bishop character from Alien with Burt in the role of Ripley. Think about it.
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Jamaica Inn
In this reverse-pirate movie (land-lubbers attack ships, Robert Newton isn't a pirate), Charles Laughton's performance must be seen to be believed. Another in his roster of detestable-but-almost-lovable megalomaniacs: Caligula, Dr Moreau, Captain Kidd, Henry VII, etc. Maureen O'Hara is casually, powerfully athletic.
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Sky High
Completely enjoyable. Except for the haircuts which are weirdly amateur. Not merely the live-action rehash of The Incredibles that I took it for.
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Kundun
Ten years and approximately 20,000 'Free Tibet!' bumper stickers later, I have finally got around to watching Kundun. I expected a much more realistic movie than this set of postcards. If it hadn't said 'Martin Scorsese' about a dozen times before the first frame, I would never have guessed he was the director. Very enjoyable, including the scenes with Dr. No impersonating Chairman Mao. As propaganda, it's less successful. I mean, who doesn't loathe oppressive realpolitik and who isn't only incompletely suspicious of mysticism? One of the monks describes the Chinese generals as "the worst of the worst. They are worse than ghosts," which I took to be a pretty potent condemnation.
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Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Swimmer
Burt Lancaster portrays a man who discovers that he is not a successful ad executive, husband, father, athlete and Lothario swimming from suburban pool to suburban pool in Connecticut, but a comatose human battery enslaved by machines in The Matrix.
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White Heat
Terminator model T800 (Edmond O'Brien) hunts down last free human (Jimmy Cagney).
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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Final Fantasy
Better story than I expected. It's completely outrageous but it is so self-contained that it does not matter. The music by Elliot Goldenthal was too good for the movie but not by as much as I feared. There were a couple of sequences where I was not distracted by the actors' CGIosity. A laudable effort, but it's no Tron!
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Grizzly Man
Werner Herzog speaks quietly. Whenever he says "Amy" I cannot but help think of Kif from Futurama. This in no way detracts from an impressive presentation of found art. I think Treadwell (The "Grizzly Man") was a misguided jerk, albeit with wacko charm, for acclimating bears to humans. Herzog has projected his own particular worldview on the footage left behind, but he is not wrong in seeing Treadwell as a filmmaker. Some of the footage is really good. But what a jerk! Herzog has found a fine addition to his roster of the misunderstood and the incomprehensible characters. Not merely alienated, thay have at their centers deep reserves of otherness.
The making of the soundtrack feature records the intense guided improv sessions that Herzog used instead of having a score written. He articulates his frustration at his lack of musical ability at the outset, but his hand gestures and body language as he agonizes trying to get a musical idea across without the means to hand. It's satisfying to see when he gets the result that he imagines in his head.
The making of the soundtrack feature records the intense guided improv sessions that Herzog used instead of having a score written. He articulates his frustration at his lack of musical ability at the outset, but his hand gestures and body language as he agonizes trying to get a musical idea across without the means to hand. It's satisfying to see when he gets the result that he imagines in his head.
Labels: movie note
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
The Aviator
Cool planes. Leonardo diCaprio was OK and not unbelievable as a mental patient. Much too much was made of Cate Blanchett's Katherine Hepburn role. Congressional hearing sequences are duller than the real thing, keep it moving, show me more crazy! Were there feet in Kleenex boxes? I can't remember, it's been months since I watched it.
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Over the Hedge
Apparently this is based on a comic strip but has been transmogrified beyond recognition. Completely forgettable, mostly benign. Too many fart jokes.
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The Razor's Edge
Another entry in the "shoulda seen" category. Bill Murray is not the worst thing about this well-intentioned misfire, that is reserved for Catherine Hicks, who is all too well cast as a brittle, shallow, grasping harridan. It was nice to see Saeed Jaffrey. A generous, uninspired production, it is not compelling in any way. Thoroughly American.
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Saturday, September 02, 2006
Merlin
I was phone-polled about Merlin and I scoffed at the notion of Martin Short in an Arthurian movie. As it turns out, he's merely another distraction in a jumble of distractions: Sam Neill's rugged, sly charisma without a trace of otherworldliness, Miranda Richardson's utter camp, Short's indulgent clowning, and low-rent but well-designed CGI.
And what is up with Sir John Gielgud's appearance? One line hat is half grunt? A less-than-incidental character? Incomprehensible. On the plus side, the show is a lot of fun to watch and avoids many TV movie blunders. "The making of ..." emphasizes the short production schedule which resulted in a lot of single takes. Lots of rough patches to be sure, but we get to see the actors applying their skill. I am looking at you, Robert Bresson!
And what is up with Sir John Gielgud's appearance? One line hat is half grunt? A less-than-incidental character? Incomprehensible. On the plus side, the show is a lot of fun to watch and avoids many TV movie blunders. "The making of ..." emphasizes the short production schedule which resulted in a lot of single takes. Lots of rough patches to be sure, but we get to see the actors applying their skill. I am looking at you, Robert Bresson!
Labels: movie note
Taxi Driver
I want to see most movies, but I don't get around to it. (See most of my posts since November). The first such was M*A*S*H bust that was because I was too young. I saw it in the VHS era. Taxi Driver is one of the first instance caused by my own non-volition. I was too young to see the movie in the theaters, natch, but I knew by college that it was something that I needed to see. Now, thirty years later:
Everyone calls Bickle a monster, but he's just a little more messed up than average. He just needs a friend! But not another near-psycho cabbie like "Wizard."
Scorsese sure knows his city. He managed to paint (with his use of saturated colors, smeared lenses, etc, that is almost literally so - much closer to a painterly effect than poor mannered Bresson) a specific view of New York.
Most disturbing part was in the "Making of ..." Censors demanded that in the climax that colors be de-saturated to preserve R rating. (!!!) Appalling nannyism! I see their point: de-saturating the colors certainly lessened the effect. Scorsese should have sued. Oh well, spilt milk etc. Possible to fix, I suppose, but historicity, etc.
I look forward to Taxi Driver vs Alien.
Everyone calls Bickle a monster, but he's just a little more messed up than average. He just needs a friend! But not another near-psycho cabbie like "Wizard."
Scorsese sure knows his city. He managed to paint (with his use of saturated colors, smeared lenses, etc, that is almost literally so - much closer to a painterly effect than poor mannered Bresson) a specific view of New York.
Most disturbing part was in the "Making of ..." Censors demanded that in the climax that colors be de-saturated to preserve R rating. (!!!) Appalling nannyism! I see their point: de-saturating the colors certainly lessened the effect. Scorsese should have sued. Oh well, spilt milk etc. Possible to fix, I suppose, but historicity, etc.
I look forward to Taxi Driver vs Alien.
Labels: movie note
The Purple Plain
Low rent business with Gregory Peck in an especially granitey performance. The most vivid moment is provided by a lizard. No Twelve O'Clock High this.
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Lancelot du Lac
A Man Escaped was great film-making. Lancelot du Lac is just silly in the silliest of euro-silliness. The idea, I think, is to show the human side of the love triangle except Bresson eschews humans which leads to extreme comedy. I was laughing the whole way through.
Labels: movie note
Fitzcarraldo
Everyone says Fitzcaraldo is about a man with an obsession. Well maybe. But everyone in the movie is mostly crazed. Fitzie's urbane manner puts him in the not-so-crazy side of the equation in my reckoning. Fitzcarraldo's attitude at the end of the movie is a good example of someone with the right attitude. Actually pulling a boat up a big hill is just silly, of course, but that's Herzog's problem. (see Making of ...)
A triple-pulley system plays an important part in the plot. The same week that I watched I visited the Seattle Science Center with a beloved child and there was an opportunity to play with a similar set-up.
A triple-pulley system plays an important part in the plot. The same week that I watched I visited the Seattle Science Center with a beloved child and there was an opportunity to play with a similar set-up.
Labels: movie note
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Wages of Fear
The inspiration for Sorcerer is less naturalistic (there are a few New Wave gestures here and there and stars Yves Montand after all), has fewer shadows, much more nitroglycerine, trucks that are in better repair and is by far the more relevant and superior film. Sorceror has some fantastic photography, though.
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Dersu Uzala
A lovely film presents a gentle metaphor of mortality. The events are presented in double flashback: a character finds himself in the same place at different times, but little that he cares about is the same. The primary star is the taiga itself. Distributed by Roger Corman!
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Cinema Paradiso (long version)
The longer version of this festival of sentimentality is too long. Still a lovely movie, although the elder Toto's sneer of a smile almost ruins the effect.
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Batman vs Dracula
I was not paying attention when this version of Batman—sorry, The Batman— was aired. The series, I gather, means to take up the tale in the early part of Batman's career. This particular effort is unfocused and noisy. Some fun stuff, but this Dracula has no wit or even much in the way of brains. His vampire powers are amped way up as is consistent with the general approach of the series.
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Control Room
Interesting footage from inside Al-Jazeera. Watching the American spinmasters stutter around the stupidity of their transparent lies was painful to watch. The Americans come off as officious bozos with some brief breaks for confused naivete.
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Monday, July 31, 2006
2010
Unnecessary but handsome production doesn't even try to match 2001 in appearance, tone or method. Unfortunate '80s ambience and concerns are draped over Syd Mead designs. David Shire provides a score that sometimes seems to be doing right by the original production (is that a shred of Alex North in the grand (and oh so not at all subtle) finale?) but what are the odds?
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Sorcerer
I saw this in the theater which means I am one of a dozen or so who have seen the non-pan-and-scan presentation. An expensive failure, it is probably under-rated, but not by too much. Beautiful, sulky photography ill-served by indulgent editing and weak screenplay.
I had a poster from this movie in my room. I cannot imagine what my parents thought of that.
I had a poster from this movie in my room. I cannot imagine what my parents thought of that.
Labels: movie note
Ghost World
Whatever this movie aims to do, it must have done it, because I was very effected by the time I got to the end. There may have been a lot of cheating via manipulation of the tone of the movie, but maybe that is my problem for allowing certain signals to mean something that they don't necessarily need to represent. Anyway, by the end, I bought the whole thing hook, line and sinker. It's a fantasy turned real, which is not only difficult to do, but hard to accept as a viewer. A few pacing problems surrounding the character Dana, but those are technical quibbles.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Night of the Hunter
Who knew that Robert Mitchum had such a nice singing voice. Too bad that every utterance out of his mouth is creepier and more disturbing than the last. Makes deNiro's Cape Fear performance look positively comforting and calming. A must-see movie.
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Monday, July 03, 2006
Crash
Hated it. Couldn't finish it. Pat malarkey.
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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Metropolis
More plotted than the version by Fritz lang, this take on the protodystopia has its own fascination. Lang's ur-fembot was a terror, to be sure, but more in a Carrie Nation / Ayn Rand vein than this version. Tima has been recast as a victim of circumstances and not really an active agent of the plan to crush der Volk, who by the way are also robots. Some striking imagery is at odds with the character design which would not offend the sensibility of Tin Tin.
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Friday, June 02, 2006
The Madness of King George
Moral: don''t go crazy in the 18th century even if you are the king. Beautiful production but performances are hopelessly broad and unaffecting. Yet another pantomime-worthy Prince of Wales. Why don't they just cast Prince and have done with it?
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Tokyo Godfathers
One-note script tells us far too many times that the homeless have feelings too. That they are all homeless more or less by choice undercuts some of the message. The finale is ludicrous. Lovingly animated.
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Samurai Spy
Even though there is a thorough exposition, I could not keep track of the players. A drawwn out Mexican stand-off. Appropriately claustrophobic.
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Friday, May 19, 2006
The Day of the Jackal
Hypnotic semi-documentary. A tour-de-force to the last frame. A good follow up to The Killing.
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Bad day at Black Rock
Spencer Tracy is over the top but he manages to make his transformation from all around great guy to sociopathic madman (no, it's not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) almost believable. Fritz Lang never directed a more plausible mob than these bored crackers.
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Friday, May 12, 2006
Fury
Spencer Tracy is over the top but he manages to make his transformation from all around great guy to sociopathic madman (no, it's not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) almost believable. Fritz Lang never directed a more plausible mob than these bored crackers.
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Friday, April 28, 2006
Marathon Man
Here's a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time there is a double cross. You will pass out before the end of the second act. Someone should render it into Shakespearean prose so that Olivier can get more screen time. Dustin Hoffman has never been more believable than as a naive horndog.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Requiem for a Heavyweight
I only knew this as part of Rod Serling's resume, so it seemed high time to watch it. I found it interesting to watch Robert Wise make the most out of not very much. More of a mood piece (well, it is Rod Serling, after all) than great cinema.
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Friday, April 07, 2006
The Seventh Seal
Man, you just want to punch Death right in the gut! What a right bastard Death is. Prick!
Surprisingly, not the moodiest Bergman movie. Far from it!
Surprisingly, not the moodiest Bergman movie. Far from it!
Labels: movie note
Henry V
This is a hard sell for those more accustomed to the Kenneth Branagh takes on Shakespeare. The conceit of progressively more naturalistic performance and simultaneously more stylized milieu as the play progresses may be more information than some may want. Repeated viewings are warranted but I found myself distracted by a sense that Olivier is thinking about something else in every scene. Maybe it's just me.
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Monday, March 27, 2006
Aguirre: Wrath of God
All one needs to know about this movie is that one must watch it through to the very end. That is not to say that the matter preceding the end is not worth watching on its own for it is, but the finale is in a class of its own.
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Big Fish
Another Tim Burton movie about leafless trees, minds of doubtful sanity but unquestioned clarity and a whopping great dollop of sentimentality. This could have been several more interesting, but unmarketable, smaller movies, or even a miniseries. I love Albert Finney but i wanted to punch him in the gut the whole time.
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On the Beach
Optimistic fantasy portrays humans as dignified and noble as they face nuclear annihilation. As if. Only slightly less improbable as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and then only because of the presence of oompa-loompas. Gregory Peck has his stoic schtick on full display while Fred Astaire does his level best to steal the show. Maybe it's all a radiation sickness-induced hallucination. This notion is supported by the interminable repetitions of Waltzing Matilda.
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Sunday, March 26, 2006
Fail-Safe
Poor cousin to Dr. Strangelove has all the makings of a great movie, but doesn't quite make it. The best moments belong to Henry Fonda. Compare and contrast his portrayal of a wordl-weary president with Frederic march in Seven Days in May.
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Thursday, March 16, 2006
I, Robot Is a Bad Movie
RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein
RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein: "There are people who regard Proyas' Dark City as a masterpiece for the ages—I believe Roger Ebert holds seminars in which he goes through the movie frame by frame for something like two years with breaks only for Yom Kippur and Lent."
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I, Robot | The A.V. Club
I, Robot | The A.V. Club: "Only in Hollywood could Asimov's robot theory somehow get processed into a sassy grandmother with sweet-potato pie at the ready."
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I, Robot (Roger Ebert)
:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: I, Robot (xhtml): "You can't even be mad at them, since they're only programs. Although, come to think of it, you can be mad at programs; Microsoft Word has inspired me to rage far beyond anything these robots engender."
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Thursday, March 09, 2006
Seven Days in May
The final scene is one of my all-time favorite performances from Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. The premise of the movie (an American putsch) is all too likely now.
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Monday, March 06, 2006
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I thought this was going to be a new production based on the book, but it seems to owe a lot more to the earlier movie. Very handsom and imaginative. The expansion into Glass Elevator is a good idea. And of course, Christopher Lee in a surgeon's smock is always welcome.
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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Zardoz
Preposterous claptrap and thoroughly enjoyable. Made for a mere million dollars! And a fifth was Sean Connery's salary. Urbane commentary from Boorman worth a listen. Finale as chilling now as the first time that I saw it.
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The Killing
Undeniable energy and unstoppable momentum propel every scene. Even those with the pedantic narration. I am not convinced that this isn't simply a extended joke of a rather black sort. "In a fit of pique, they napalmed Cheltenham. Even the police had to sit up and take notice."
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Waking Life
Fascinating visuals do their best to inform shaggy dog story. Some great monologues.
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Badlands
Beautiful psychopaths are arrested in Wyoming after some killing and some camping.
In flat black, this is the most sinister car ever made.
In flat black, this is the most sinister car ever made.
Labels: movie note
The Straight Story
At the ragged end of creation, souls as weathered as planets wheel but do not orbit. David Lynch finds reminders of mortality every few miles of the journey, but none so forcefully as in Sissy Spacek's performance. That I just watched Badlands may have had an effect. The only false notes were in a couple of supporting characters (the Deer Woman and the Tractor Mechanics). The sound design by David Lynch is outstanding.
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
The Dam Busters
The far superior stable-mate of Squadron 633. Although i am very fond of Squadron 633, it lacks Dam Busters' vitality and clarity. Also no stupid, stupid love story.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The Country Girl
Muddled screenplay undercuts ridiculous melodrama. William Holden, sly as ever, never seems to be in the same universe as the movie; too fast, too solid, too smart, too everything, he may as well be rotoscoped in from another dimension.
William Westmore was charged with the hopeless task of making Grace Kelly look haggard and tired. Her performance may be good but she is completely undone by her luminous, sculptured features. The camera can't get enough of her shoulders and chin, even while she is gasping out some pretty bad speeches (almost Padme-bad. Almost Episode III-bad.) Bing Crosby sings some and also portrays a drunk and is forced to spout half-baked dependency psycho-babble. Pauline Kael calls it "odd" and she is right.
William Westmore was charged with the hopeless task of making Grace Kelly look haggard and tired. Her performance may be good but she is completely undone by her luminous, sculptured features. The camera can't get enough of her shoulders and chin, even while she is gasping out some pretty bad speeches (almost Padme-bad. Almost Episode III-bad.) Bing Crosby sings some and also portrays a drunk and is forced to spout half-baked dependency psycho-babble. Pauline Kael calls it "odd" and she is right.
Labels: movie note
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is magic-deficient. It shows signs of having been too many times re-written for too many audiences. A couple of scenes are word-for-word faithful but the whole resembles the books only somewhat, and lacks their vim and joy entirely. Lots better than Mom and Dad Save the World.
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Pom Poko
It turns out that the beasts in question are not actually raccoons, but a canid.
Americans, even Ghibli-enthusiastic Americans, are likely to be baffled at least a couple of times. The kamikaze scene's weaponry is sure to astound. At turns whimsical, tragic, brutal, manic, but never coy, the story tells a gigantic tale. The moral is that the damage that we do to nature is damage done to ourselves. Humans are not inimical monsters (see Nausicaa) but animals more foolish than most.
Americans, even Ghibli-enthusiastic Americans, are likely to be baffled at least a couple of times. The kamikaze scene's weaponry is sure to astound. At turns whimsical, tragic, brutal, manic, but never coy, the story tells a gigantic tale. The moral is that the damage that we do to nature is damage done to ourselves. Humans are not inimical monsters (see Nausicaa) but animals more foolish than most.
Labels: movie note
Bowling for Columbine
Brilliant, scattershot indictment of just about everything posits that institutionalized fear-mongering leads to violence. Famous interview with Charlton Heston is actually the least effective component because Charlton Heston is so unbelievably sad and shrunken. He wasn't as blind-sided as some have made him out to be, but he was not up to the questions that Moore asked. A few years before it would have played different as a debate between peers, but now they are too different in abilities and perspectives to communicate. A difficult place for everyone, including the audience. Good extras on the DVD.
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Sunday, February 12, 2006
Far From Heaven
Impossibly long-suffering alien from another planet visits confoundedly imperceptive mental case in fantasy land of stilted mannerisms resembling Earth.
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Ray
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The Red Pony (1949)
Robert Mitchum and Myrna Loy! Aaron Copland! And it's ... boring.
The redoubtable Louis Calhoun essays the role of Annoying Old Grandpa by being Annoying Old Actor. Directed in a style that might be called American Didactic. The whole thing, from faded dungarees to roll-top desk to dusty lane seems to have been designed by the artist of the Dick and Jane books.
The redoubtable Louis Calhoun essays the role of Annoying Old Grandpa by being Annoying Old Actor. Directed in a style that might be called American Didactic. The whole thing, from faded dungarees to roll-top desk to dusty lane seems to have been designed by the artist of the Dick and Jane books.
Labels: movie note
Monday, February 06, 2006
Bubba Ho-Tep
In spite of a brilliant premise, this manages to avoid greatness. Bruce Campbell's performance is really good, Ossie Davis is impeccable and the production is mostly perfectly good. The story needs much tightening, however. It's a horror movie but it's pedantic! Argh.
Labels: movie note
Thursday, February 02, 2006
The Pawnbroker
Rod Steiger's performance is the main attraction in this manipulative hokum. The other characters merely orbit around his remarkable performance. Very stagey and full of 60s cinema tropes. And what is up with the final cue by Quincy Jones? I really want to know.
Labels: movie note
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The Grand Illusion
Pepe le Moko meets A Man Escaped ... not really. It has more in common with the Lord of the Rings than that .. no, not really. In any case, it is a beautiful film to look at and is greatly entertaining. I will never be able to look at Darth Vader the same way after seeing von Stroheim's commandant character.
Labels: movie note
Ghost of Frankenstein
Lon Chaney Junior makes for a lumpy Frankenstein. The love interest has about 10 costume changes. The dashing young hero is decidedly middle-aged looking Ralph Bellamy! Sir Cedric Hardwicke looks dyspeptic the whole time and is clearly only pleased when his character dies. A lesser Frankenstein, a game effort if too workmanlike and dull.
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Rabbit Proof Fence
The epilogue is devastating. The reality of the situation is so horrific, that even this well-done drama does nothing to illuminate the wrongness of the situation. Suffice to say that Fascism is bad, racism is bad and the combination of racism and Fascism is very, very bad.
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Monday, January 30, 2006
A Man Escaped
The visual style is so spare there isn't even room for austere. Bonus: by the middle of the movie you will know how to make a rope out of anything.
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Sanjuro
Sanjuro is no Yojimbo. It's a bit cardboard and obvious, but it's done well. Everyhting is exactly as it seems. It's an honest and naive movie, which is a relief.
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Major Dundee
(Not the extended, restored version which may not be completely awful.) What a stinker! So many people want this to not suck and I am here to tell you: it does. A few random scenes, a couple of moments that are interesting are all trapped in purest pâte de train-wreck. As soon as Senta Berger shows up on screen, you may as well stop watching because it is strictly silly from there on in. Warren Oates has a big scene in the midst of the "love" "story" but you will still be agape at the completely ridiculous scenes between Senta and Charlton and unable to appreciate Oates's scenery chewing. Preposterous!
The score by Daniele Amfitheatrof is not good. Dogmatically by the numbers, the result is completely out of touch with the mish mash on the screen.
The score by Daniele Amfitheatrof is not good. Dogmatically by the numbers, the result is completely out of touch with the mish mash on the screen.
Labels: movie note
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Sin City
Looks great, feels bad. Between this and Crumb, I start to wonder if India ink can make artists angry.
Labels: movie note
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Battle of Algiers
Pepe le Moko meets City of God. As I watched, appalled, I could not help but be reminded in every important, damning particular of the war in Iraq. So when I read in the supplemental materials that it had been screened in the Pentagon in 2003, my blood ran cold. I am numb with fury.
I have somehow managed to be ignorant of this movie, except perhaps for its reputation, a fact which is deeply embarrassing for me. And I didn't know that Ennio Morricone provided the music. I feel that I am an ignoramus.
I have somehow managed to be ignorant of this movie, except perhaps for its reputation, a fact which is deeply embarrassing for me. And I didn't know that Ennio Morricone provided the music. I feel that I am an ignoramus.
Labels: movie note
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
City of God
The documentary included as a special feature is worth the rental by itself. The interview with the chief of police was a seminar in realpolitik that you could never get at a university.
Labels: movie note
Crumb
So much weirder, sweeter than I could have imagined. Terry Zwigoff also responsible for Bad Santa. Whadya know! R. Crumb mentions Goodfellas. Good thing I have been catching up on my movies so i knew what he was talking about. Someday I will graduate to the movies of the late nineties.
Labels: movie note
American Splendor
Friday, January 20, 2006
Kill Bill vol. 2
What a hoot! More talk and less gravitas than the first volume, I was thoroughly amused many times. I was not moved, however.
Labels: movie note
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Pepe le Moko
Pepe is like any other man, only more so. And how!
Labels: movie note
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
The what, when?
Labels: movie note
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Millennium Actress
Casually recursive - what's not to love?
Labels: movie note
