I'd be more than happy to go to 9/10 but really it's not a movie and it doesn't have an ending. Amazingly funny. Global politics Office-style. Will be watching again.
Sabin did you ever see any of The Thick of It, the comedy series of which In the Loop is a spin-off? Wonderful show, and Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker is one of the great TV characters of the last few years.
I'd be more than happy to go to 9/10 but really it's not a movie and it doesn't have an ending. Amazingly funny. Global politics Office-style. Will be watching again.
An Education is a charmer. A Prophet is terrific. The White Ribbon is interesting. Broken Embraces is not. Departures needs to send its oscar to The Class immediately.
Has its moments but I'm not really sure what to make of this. It's a slight, very slight, comedy with serious undertones about a young couple (John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph) who travel the U.S. and Canada looking for the ideal place to raise a family. Best is their visit with college friends Chris Messina and Melanie Linskey in Montreal. Scenes with better known actors, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney and especially Maggie Gyllenhaal and Josh Hamilton as loopy parents in Madison, are amusing but tend to overpower the performances of the laid back leads. Good soundtrack, though.
I find where this movie decides to leave this couple very problematic. I don't want to give anything away, but what selfish, self-absorbed people.
/Y Tu Mama Tambien/ (Alfonso Cuaron) - 9/10
Speaking of selfish, self-absorbed people. I'm still annoyed at how the V.O. is one piano key even if in service of glorious imagery, but Y Tu Mama Tambien is gorgeous escapism.
Has its moments but I'm not really sure what to make of this. It's a slight, very slight, comedy with serious undertones about a young couple (John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph) who travel the U.S. and Canada looking for the ideal place to raise a family. Best is their visit with college friends Chris Messina and Melanie Linskey in Montreal. Scenes with better known actors, Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney and especially Maggie Gyllenhaal and Josh Hamilton as loopy parents in Madison, are amusing but tend to overpower the performances of the laid back leads. Good soundtrack, though.
The Vera Lynn Collection (1943-1944) Various Directors 5/10
The three films Lynn made during World War II have been packaged as a set by by Columbia British and are also available seprately as exclusives from Movie Mail.
The first, We'll Meet Again (directed by Philip Brandon) is all over the place. Lynn is supposed to be a dancer, though we never see her dance. Her friends, though, think she has a better chance at succeeding as a singer. Duh! It takes her a while but she finally does, A subplot in which she plays Cupid between the soldier she's sweet on (Charles Gray) and her best friend (Patricia Roc) is a bit of a head-scratcher. Ends with footage of Lynn entertaining the troops. The title song, her signature tune, gets short shrift, it's only sung in the film's last two minutes.
Rhythm Serenade (directed by Gordon Wellesley) is much better constructed. She plays a schoolteacher who discovers a man hiding in an old house. Is he a conscientious objector, a spy or a sailor on medical leave? Guess!
One Exciting Night (directed by Walter Forde) which is about singers and spies is the liveliest of the three.
The latest compilation of the "Forces Sweetheart"'s recordings from 1936-1952 recently reached number one on the British charts making Dame Vera Lynn at 92 the oldest living artist to reach no. 1. I have no idea who the oldest non-living artist to do so is.
Silly and completely over the top but very amusing gay Spanish comedy.
Mao's Last Dance (2009) Bruce Beresford 3/10
Beresford has been directing films for over 30 years now and I was shocked at just how amateurish this film was. An awful screenplay with awful dialogue to match, laden direction and hammy acting. Thankfully the final 10 minutes or so are beautifully handled and makes a fitting finale.
A Perfect Day (2008) Ferzan Ozpetek 4/10
Good direction can't lift an over plotted screenplay with numerous pointless subplots. One can't help but wonder what kind of masterpiece Ozpetek could make if he could only get his hands on a decent screenplay. Despite the weakness of the screenplays to most of his films, they are almost always well performed and beautifully made.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
A hapless, middle-aged traveling salesman (Edgar Selge) begins a downward spiral with his family, his finances and his career; meanwhile, his son (Florian Bartholomäi) falls for his father's colleague/competitor (the über-sexy Roman Knizka). Not much, but it put a smile on my face after a particularly rough day.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957; Ernst Marischka) 5/10
The least impressive of the three Sissi films, as Empress Elisabeth (Romy Schneider) grows increasingly distant and unhappy with her role. Unfortunately, the light tone of the three films is retained, thus negatively affecting its impact.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Now I would actually rate CAPITALISM between 5 and 6. I haven't seen ROGER & ME. I'd put FAHRENHEIT 9/11 between 7 and 8 for the first half hour and around 5 for the rest of it. It's not a great or even very good film. I'd probably rank BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE much the same, though instead of any chunk of film vs. another, it's every other minute or so. Both movies are between 5 and 6 in my estimation, so I guess CAPITALISM is in good company. SICKO gets a 7.5.
