Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

Reza
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Carry on Jack (Gerald Thomas, 1963) 4/10

Typically silly "Carry on" farce set on a British war ship set for sail to Spain in 1804. The film spoofs "Mutiny on the Bounty". As with most of the series the film is stolen by the outrageous over acting of Kenneth Williams who plays the cowardly Captain of the ship. The plot with the goofy mid-shipman (Bernard Cribbens) and his eventual romance with a stowaway (Juliet Mills in drag) and the mutinying officers (Donald Houston & Percy Herbert) is loud and farcical. This film in the series loses much of its humour without cast regulars Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor. Fun in bits but if not a fan of the series then skip this.
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We Own the Night (James Gray, 2007) 5/10

Gray channels Scorsese in a grubby sort of way in this rather stale tale of New York cops and the Mob. A nightclub manager (Joaquin Phoenix) comes between his bosses - the Russian mob moving in on the mafia and dealing with drugs as a side business - and the cops. The Police Chief (Robert Duvall) is his father and the decorated officer (Mark Wahlberg) his brother, facts which he has hidden from his employers because his family considers him to be a bit of a black sheep and from whom he is estranged. After the cops raid the club and arrest one of the Russians (who is typically psychopathic of course) there is an attack on the brother which brings on pangs of guilt leading to baby brother deciding to help the cops. Gray brings nothing new to the genre - the much celebrated car chase sequence set during a rainstorm (the chase was filmed on a dry day and the rain was added later) is pretty hohum in what was a wane attempt to inject some thrills â la "The French Connection". There is also a shootout sequence during a raid which has nothing to add in terms of originality. Indifferently acted by Wahlberg, Duvall and Eva Mendes (who has the token girlfriend role) although Phoenix is superb throughout. Skip this one and instead watch some of the original films in the genre this one tries to evoke.
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The Yards (James Gray, 2000) 7/10

The film is heavily influenced by Coppola's "The Godfather" - the conversations in low lit rooms in hushed tones with family members seen around the dining table - and the films of Sidney Lumet with their crooked businessmen, politicians and cops as bribery and underhanded deals are used to create empires. These are mostly good men with a strong sense of family yet are flawed by ambition which "allows" them to get to the top without scruples. In such surroundings live two friends - one a jailbird (Mark Wahlberg) who returns after serving his jail sentence to his widowed mother (Ellen Burstyn) after he took the rap for an auto theft for his pal (Joaquin Phoenix). The friend is in love with his cousin and childhood sweetheart (Charlize Theron sporting a hideous cropped hairdo and black shadowed eyelids) who is the daughter of his aunt (Faye Dunaway) now married to a powerful but corrupt businessman (James Caan). Gray juggles this superb all-star cast as the characters go through turmoil - a murder committed by one friend while the other is accused for the crime threatens the family structure and the business which is built on lies, deceit and corruption. The story ends in greek tragedy mode which takes the grim and bleak story into the realm of melodrama. Well acted film with everyone feeling at home in the mileu - a very young looking Wahlberg (this was filmed in 1998 but not released until two years later) is sad and subdued playing a character who wants to do good and change his life but events plan things differently for him. The superb Phoenix is like a time bomb waiting to explode full of sexual energy and violence. The presence of Caan, with his oily charm, adds to the film's sense of deja vu playing a "nice" man with many flaws who suddenly finds his life about to crumble. The surprise last act turn-around is a serious flaw in the screenplay whereby Gray tries to achieve a sort of happy ending as if paying homage to old Hollywood gangster pictures where everything comes up roses but in a bitersweet way. I liked the use of the two former Oscar winning stars in the role of the two matriarchs - Burstyn plays it sweet and weepy while Dunaway, cast against type (wearing ugly large spectacles) plays it subdued and still and is the only cast member who seems out of place maybe because the director manages to reign in her naturally histrionic demeanor. Well made atmospheric film with a flawed ending.
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The Magic of Belle Isle (Rob Reiner, 2012) 7/10

A gruff, alcoholic, wheelchair bound former writer of Westerns (Morgan Freeman) moves to an adyllic lakeside cabin in pictureque Belle Isle for the summer. He is drowning his sorrow in booze after his wife died six years earlier. Before the summer is over his life is changed and he has the will to live and write again after he meets the single mom (Virginia Madsen) who lives next door with her three young daughters. This is pure sentimental claptrap (aided by the saccharine score of Mark Shaiman) but so charmingly perfomed in a laid back manner that the characters and the film win you over. The best scenes involve Freeman's interaction with the middle daughter as they discuss words and literature. He allows the child actor to steal every scene although with a twinkle in his eye. The whiff of romance is beautifully conveyed between Freeman and Madsen as they discuss music and dance and delicately explore the possibilities without a single touch - this was apparently the first hint of romance on screen for Freeman in his long career until then and he subtly manages to show his feelings. This is a gentle drama about real but ordinary people and manages to create magic despite the clichés.
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Stevie (Robert Enders, 1978) 5/10

The life of British poet, Stevie Smith (Glenda Jackson), is told in a highly un-cinematic film version of the play by Hugh Whitemore. Her story is told as a monologue by the poet with brief interludes by a narrator (Trevor Howard), a dotty old maiden aunt (Mona Washbourne) who lives with her and in flashbacks the poet's suitor (Alec McCowen). The main focus of the story is on her beloved relationship with her aunt and her poetry which she uses to escape her dull middle-class existence while living in a drab residential part of London. The entire film is set inside the drawing room of her house with brief flashback scenes set outside. Both Jackson and Washbourne recreate their acclaimed stage performances and the film comes alive during the scenes of gentle and loving comraderie between the two characters while they discuss minor daily affairs. Rather surprisingly this was undertaken as a film project considering the subject's niche appeal. With Jackson at the top of her game during the 1970s it was probably felt that her stage performance should be preserved and she deserved every accolade that came her way. Using her distinct voice, superb diction and forceful personality she brings to life a forgotten character who in her quietly sly way was very outspoken.
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Downhill Racer (Michael Ritchie, 1969) 8/10

Ritchie's directorial debut is a fantastic film set in the competitive world of downhill ski racing. Despite superbly shot ski sequences using camera and sound techniques the story is mainly character driven as the brilliantly written screenplay tells about the chase for fame and the cost it has on sportsmen. A cocky member (Robert Redford) of the US ski team, in Europe to attend a series of competive races, clashes with his coach (Gene Hackman) and his fellow skiers. He is unsympathetic, ambitious and egotistical but it is to Redford's credit that he creates such a character yet makes him charming. With him in the lead it could have been very easy to romanticise the character but the screenplay clearly stops short despite two brief liaisons shown - in his hometown with a former girlfriend who he treats like dirt and in Europe with a sophisticated woman (Camilla Sparv) whom he meets at an Austrian resort and who dumps him. Both relationships are brief and the story focuses on the man himself and his efforts to win at all cost. The race sequences are shown both in long shot as the skier moves swiftly and gracefully zigzagging down the slopes or in closeup where you witness the terrifying pressure of the wind and the enormous strength it takes for the skier to stay upright as his speed increases with each slope. The film's sound design sharply captures the speed of the sport making it seem like a fast moving ballet between man and the elements. The heartstopping finalè set during the Olympics memorably ends with a freeze frame. The film and particularly the performances by both Redford and Hackman - very early on in their careers - are extremely underrated. This is a film that needs to be re-discovered for not only being one of the best films about sports but also for capturing one of Redford's greatest performances before he became a romantic icon of the screen.
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The Heart of Me (Thaddeus O'Sullivan, 2002) 6/10

Genteel melodrama of the soapy kind that seems lifted off the filmography of Merchant-Ivory. In 1930s London a man (Paul Bettany), married to an elegant but cold woman (Olivia Williams) proceeds to have an affair with her free spirited sister (Helena Bonham Carter). It's the kind of plot where none of the protagonists have a jolly time (they do have lots of sex while nude) and spend their time moping in misery. The intense adultery opens up searing wounds between the two sisters who have always been enmeshed in sibling rivalry with the weak husband/lover oscillating between the two. The drama plays out through the war and beyond but not before the sisters both face many personal upheavals in their lives. Superbly acted film has marvelous production values but it's all rather tiresome with none of the characters appealing save for Eleanor Bron playing the regal mother of the sisters whose stiff upper lip tries to hold onto a sense of propriety which clashes with the sexual hypocricy of her family.
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The Guilty (John Reinhardt, 1947) 5/10

Shoddy "B" noir with a plot stolen from the Robert Siodmak's "The Dark Mirror" with a ridiculous denouement. Twin sisters (Bonita Granville who is very good) - one bitchy and the other sweet - are in love with two buddies and war veterans - one robust (Don Castle) and the other shellshocked (Wally Castle). When the "sweet" twin is found murdered suspicion falls on the ill serviceman while his friend turns detective to solve the murder along with a cop (Regis Toomey). Despite the low budget the film tries to present every noir characteristic but the confusing screenplay is its downfall.
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The Founder (John Lee Hancock, 2016) 7/10

Fascinating story about the American Dream that gets a drubbing from capitalist greed. The story behind the phenomenal success story of McDonalds the fast food chain. It is also the story of Ron Kroc (Michael Keaton) a down and out salesman who comes across the "perfect" burger joint established by two brothers (Nick Offerman & John Carroll Lynch - both memorable) and through sheer business acumen (and cunning) not only expanded the business and made it into a nationwide enterprise but also managed to wrest control of it from the naive and shortsighted original owners. The film is a marvel of production design capturing the 1940s through 1950s with Keaton's energetic performance its main backbone. Unfortunately the screenplay short shrifts a number of important supporting characters - among them Laura Dern as his first wife and Linda Cardellini (so memorable on tv in "Mad Men") as his second wife but Keaton keeps the film afloat via his impish star turn.
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Gold (Stephen Gaghan, 2016) 4/10

Lackluster drama that emphasises the star's transformation - a paunch, balding head, grotesque teeth - instead of concentrating on a story which has elements of Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" greed scenario. This is not the American Dream....more like an American fantasy. Two partners - a smarmy renegade risk taker (the afore mentioned grotesque Matthew McConaughey) and a geologist (Edgar Ramirez) prospect for the shiny stuff in the jungles of Indonesia. When they strike gold Wall Street jumps in buying shares in their company. The twist in the plot - capitalist greed & betrayal - comes too late and seems awfully familiar with the memory of the Scorsese film still breathing down your neck. This is old fashioned stuff which McConaughey tries to push using his star charisma but all it boils down to is a director who lacks an original vision. Skip this film.
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Manila in the Claws of Light (1975) Lino Brocka 9/10
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"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Action For Slander (Tim Whelan & Victor Saville, 1938) 5/10

Stiff upper lip drama about honour amongst the British. An army Major (Clive Brook), having an affair with a fellow officer's wife, is accused of cheating during a card game by the cuckold and another man. His life ruined - his wife (Ann Todd) has left him - he decides to fight his accusers in court in order to regain his reputation. Quaint but rather stuffy period piece has an interesting cast of character actors - Googie Withers as a maid and Francis L. Sullivan and Felix Aylmer as opposing councils in court. The actors are mostly fine but in an antiquated way with star Brook stiff as a block of wood.
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Les Biches (Claude Chabrol, 1968) 6/10

Good performances completely wasted in a mannered and moody drama. A young drifter (Jacqueline Sassard) is picked up, seduced and moved into a lavish seaside villa in Saint Tropez by a sophisticated older woman (Stéphane Audran). During a poker party a guest, an architect (Jean-Louis Trintignant), seduces the young woman which results in the older woman retaliating by seducing the man away from her into a permanent relationship with herself. These games of psychological seduction and powerplay are constantly interrupted by comical interludes courtesy of the cook, the butler and two whacky guests staying in the house which is terribly jarring to the tone of the main dramatic plot. Chabrol's low key style - the leads almost posing in front of the camera while having long conversations - is typically European in tone and the last minute Hitchcockian touch comes way too late to save what is basically an antidote to the frantic swinging films during the decade. The film instead comes off very pretentious. Audran gives a very controlled performance but one can sense an explosion waiting to happen under her glacial exterior. It's an extraordinary performance (one of many for Chabrol) that deservedly won her the best actress prize at the Berlin film festival.
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The Three Maxims (Herbert Wilcox, 1936) 5/10

Anna Neagle's long running business association (they would marry in 1943) with Herbert Wilcox continued as star-director in this rather silly film about two trapeze artists (Leslie Banks & Tullio Carmenati) in love with their female partner (Anna Neagle). Both male leads are far too old and not convincing at all as lovers. Anna Neagle is lovely and spirited but the corny plot is full of clichés. Avoid this.
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Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, 1963) 5/10

An aimless drifter (Sidney Poitier), driving through a desert, comes upon a farm inhabited by a group of German speaking nuns. As he is a good handyman the Mother Superior (Lilia Skala) asks him to build them a chapel which he reluctantly takes on after initially balking at the responsibility. A well acted feel-good movie that quickly grows tiresome thanks to the annoying nuns and a cloying plot. The film's claim to fame in the history books is the Oscar Poitier won for the film - the first time a black actor was awarded one in the lead category.
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