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

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Precious Doll]

Manila in the Claws of Light (1975) Lino Brocka 9/10
Raw (2017) Julia Decournau 6/10
A Monster Calls (2016) J.A. Bayona 8/10
Table 19 (2017) Jeffrey Blitz 4/0
Summer 1993 (2017) Carla Simon 7/10
Insiang (1976) Lino Brocka 7/10
Property is No Longer a Theft (1973) Elio Petri 7/10
I Am Michael (2015) Justin Kelly 6/10
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) David Yates 5/10
The Distinguished Citizen (2010) Mariano Cohn & Gaston Duprat 6/10
The King of Havana (2015) Agusti Villaronga 7/10
A River Called Titas (1973) Ritwik Ghatak 7/10
Tower (2016) Keith Maitland 8/10
20th Century Women (2016) Mike Mills 6/10

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

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.

[Reza]

This Man Is News (David MacDonald, 1938) 6/10

A famous London newsreporter (Barry K. Barnes) gets in over his head during various murder investigations as stories he makes up for his harried editor (Alastair Sim) come true and it becomes a race against time trying to catch the culprit. British screwball comedy that apes the American "Thin Man" series with the reporter and his daffy wife (Valerie Hobson) getting inebriated at the drop of a hat as bodies drop around them, shots are fired, the cops are in a perpetual confused state allowing the couple to turn into amateur sleuths as they try to solve the mystery. The two stars have good chemistry but the overall production is pretty shoddy as if it was a quota quickie shot on a very low budget.

[Reza]

Liberal Arts (Josh Radnor, 2012) 6/10

A college graduate (Josh Radnor) returns to his alma mater, a Midwestern college, at the invitation of his English Professor (Richard Jenkins) to attend his retirement dinner. Introduced to a student (Elizabeth Olsen) he finds himself not only falling in love with her but also confused and weary about the 16 year age difference between them. Charming, if slow, Rom-Com almost uses the device of Richard Linklater's "Sunset" trilogy where the two leads talk about books, relationships and life. This is familiar material which almost plays like a sitcom but made fresh by the hang-dog quality of director-star Radnor and the charming and fresh candor of Olsen. The film has one absolutely raucous moment between Radnor and Allison Janey, playing his former Professor of Romantics, who he is dismayed to find is shockingly far removed from the subject she teaches. Janey is an absolute scream playing a terribly jaded-by-life character with acidic dead-pan delivery. Radnor understands human interaction and the film soars in the scenes between the two lovers but more often deflates when the camera focuses on other peripheral characters (Zac Efron as a kook for one) who are just not as interesting.

[Reza]

Isle of Forgotten Sins / Monsoon (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1943) 5/10

A treasure hunter (John Carradine), a brothel madam (Gale Sondergaard), gold beneath the sea, various double crossing varmits and a monsoon typhoon which resolves the plot. Ulmer's low budget foray into the adventure genre is a South Seas yarn filmed in his typical economical way using close-ups, stock shots and back projection to try and disguise the cheap sets. Carradine and Sondergaard seem to be having great fun and their chemistry shows.

[Reza]

Crow Hollow (Michael McCarthy, 1952) 6/10

A newly-wed woman (Natasha Parry) moves with her doctor husband (Donald Houston) into his family mansion where reside his three elderly eccentric aunts and a sexy maid who gets a lot of attention by everyone. Things soon go bump in the night as attempts are made on the bride's life - poison in her soup, a tarantula in her dress. Gothic elements (all these films signal the far superior "Rebecca") are the highlights along with the charming presence of Natasha Parry in this little murder-mystery.

[Reza]

Murder is My Beat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1955) 6/10

The shabby production values notwithstanding this is a nifty little mystery courtesy of Ulmer. The plot involves the usual noir suspects - a dead body, a femme fatale (Barbara Payton) accused of the crime and the foolish but hardboiled cop (Paul Langton) assigned to transport the prisoner but who ends up falling for her charms and decides to prove her innocence. This has the makings of a very good film but alas the endless use of back projection and stock footage almost does it in. Starlet Payton plays well in her last film performance and comes off much better than her uncharismatic leading man.

[Reza]

Club Havana (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945) 9/10

Ulmer's superb melodramatic pastiche was filmed in just six days as he uses his prowling camera to explore the lives of various people - cold-blooded hoods, betrayed women and desperate characters trapped in tough situations - in a nightclub setting during the course of one evening. It is remarkable that he manages to do this with such ingenuity considering his shoestring budget and shooting time. Murder, infidelity, love, loss are just some of the many activities going on in the lives of the characters at the club. And the drama is all played out with rhumba music in the background along with two songs - "Tico Tico" & "Besame Mucho" - sung by Lita Baron. One of many Ulmer films that need to be rediscovered and given their rightful place in film history.

[Reza]

The Brasher Doubloon (John Brahm, 1947) 8/10

Phillip Marlowe (George Mintgomery) is hired by an eccentric matron (Florence Bates who is deliciously malevolent) to find a stolen coin. Along the way he tangles with her suspicious son (Conrad Janis), her secretary (pretty Nancy Guild) who hates being "touched" by men and assorted detectives and other grotesque suspects. Superbly directed "B" noir - John Brahm brings an eerie, brooding gothic quality to the proceedings - is based on Raymond Chandler's "The High Window" with a screenplay full of witty, hardboiled quips. Montgomery is surprisingly very effective and holds his own against other more famous Marlowes on screen - Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery and Robert Mitchum. This is a little gem that needs to be rediscovered.