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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Rebecca (Ben Wheatley, 2020) 5/10

I've been waiting in dread ever since it was announced that my favourite Hitchcock film was getting another big screen remake. It's always rather unfair to any remake to be compared to the original but inevitably one ends up doing just that. The original in this case is a much loved classic and a masterpiece to boot. I never understand why Hollywood churns out remakes. An answer always given is that it is to reintroduce a classic to younger generations. But damnit the original is not dead and buried. It is still very much around and should instead be revived for today's youth. No doubt this retread is handsomely produced. The vintage stately homes used as the backdrop for Daphne du Maurier's "Manderley" are spectacular as are the location shots of the Devon countryside, cliffs and coastline. And Armie Hammer looks dashing in his striking yellow suit but does he have to wear it three days running? No gentleman would repeat an outfit as glaringly bright as that. The screenplay pretty much follows the book (and the 1940 film version) but differs slightly at the end when it veers off hilariously into "Nancy Drew" territory and then caps that moment with a ridiculously melodramatic finale. The film also lacks the spooky atmosphere and suspense of the Hitchcock version. A shy young girl (Lily James), companion to a rich and vulgar American (Ann Dowd), meets the enigmatic widower Max de Winter (Armie Hammer) in Monte Carlo. After a whirlwind courtship he marries her and takes her back to his family estate, Manderley, in Cornwall. She immediately finds herself in over her head in her new surroundings. Adding to her woes is the intimidating housekeeper, Mrs Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas), who never lets a moment go by singing the praises of Rebecca, the first lady of the house, who died under mysterious circumstances. The entire cast compares unfavourably to the actors in the older version - Laurence Olivier as brooding Max de Winter, Joan Fontaine as the frightened new bride, the great Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers, the hilariously vulgar Florence Bates and Gladys Cooper, Nigel Bruce and George Sanders. Hammer comes off much better than James who cannot shake off her modern sensibility in a story set during the 1930s. Scott Thomas has been directed to emulate Judith Anderson - they probably didn't want to veer too far off with this famous character. She captures the deadpan stillness but fails to get across the lesbian undertones that Judith Anderson brought to the part. The sad thing about such remakes is that it draws today's audiences even further away from the old classic version. Its playing on Netflix so millions will get to watch it yet many will never even know that there is a better version out there. Now that is something truly sad to contemplate.

Bloodline (Terence Young, 1979) 3/10

An amateurish screenplay based on the bestselling potboiler by Sidney Sheldon makes for an incredibly lousy film. The surprise is seeing Audrey Hepburn making her screen comeback in a part turned down by Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset. The 23-year old heroine of the novel is played by 50-year old Hepburn so Sheldon had to do a hasty rewrite to accomodate the star. Her presence in the project attracted a long list of famous actors who play the assorted characters with shocking ineptitude. The owner of a pharmacutical empire is murdered and his daughter (Audrey Hepburn) inherits his seat on the Board. The other board members want the company to go public but like her late father she refuses. Her cash hungry relatives on the board are a sorry bunch - an elderly British cousin (James Mason) whose gambling wife (Michelle Phillips) has put him in debt, a greek cousin (Irene Papas) is married to a lecherous Italian (Omar Sharif) who is being blackmailed by his mistress (Claudia Mori), a German cousin (Romy Schneider) is married to a frenchman (Maurice Ronet) who has stolen her jewels and invested in a failed venture. All are desperate for money and one of them is a murderer with the suspects also including her father's trusted aide (Ben Gazzara) and secretary (Beatrice Straight). Shot in exotic locations in Sardinia, Munich, Paris, New York and Sicily, the plot keeps getting more and more ridiculous as attempts are made on Hepburn's life while an inspector (Gert Fröbe) tries to figure out the identity of the murderer. Trashy film has a memorable score by Ennio Morricone and lush cinematography by Freddie Young. The supporting cast seem to be around strictly for their paychecks and don't even bother to try and inject some life into their underwritten roles. Sloppy film throws in a lot of kinky sex, constant bickering, badly staged action sequences and even a serial killer who acts in snuff films. Only Hepburn, dressed in chic outfits, manages to rise above the mess she is surrounded by and gives a convincing performance.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Silent Cries / Guests of the Emperor (Anthony Page, 1993) 4/10

The fall of Singapore in 1942 with the Japanese marching in and hauling up women and children. A subject done to death by Hollywood but given yet another spin as we watch the Japanese inflict atrocities on a bunch of imprisoned women. Suffering appropriately are Gena Rowlands, Annabeth Gish, Chloë Webb, Cherie Lunghi, Gail Strickland, Phyllis Logan and Judy Parfitt. Dull film that has nothing new to say about the subject in terms of story or presentation.

In nome della legge / In the Name of the Law (Pietro Germi, 1949) 9/10

A young judge (Massimo Girotti) is transferred to a small Sicilian village and comes up against local opposition from the simple villagers, a corrupt mine owner and the local mafia boss (Charles Vanel). Stark drama, shot in the southern Sicilian town of Sciacca, is a fascinating look at the workings of the mafia who prefer to follow their own rules providing brutal justice at odds with the law. Girotti is a strong presence as the lawman who decides to stand up to all that oppose him. Both Mario Monicelli and Federico Fellini were part of the team of writers on the riveting screenplay.

Across the Bridge (Ken Annakin, 1957) 6/10

Steiger twitches method acting style as a German financier on the run from the law. After embezzling from his own company in London he takes a train ride from New York to Mexico to escape the FBI and Scotland Yard. Enroute he takes on the identity of a lookalike passenger by drugging him, taking his Mexican passport and tossing him off the train. Not only does the man survive but he is also a wanted murderer with a price on his head. Once inside Mexico his troubles are far from over as the local police want money and a British cop (Bernard Lee) is waiting to capture him as soon as he walks back across the international bridge into America. His only loyal friend is a dog who stays by his side as everyone turns against him. Steiger has a field day with the part taking his character's arc from being arrogantly sadistic at the start to the ironic end where he has been reduced by circumstances to being a pathetic groveller. It takes the love of a dog to finally show his human side which lay buried within his relentlessly despicable exterior.

Nachts wenn der Teufel kam / The Devil Strikes at Night (Robert Siodmak, 1957) 8/10

During the waning years of the War a serial killer - Bruno Lüdke - is strangling women with brutal force. He has a mild intellectual disability and is also a petty thief. A decorated soldier (Claus Holm), wounded in the war, is assigned to investigate the latest murder of a barmaid. A Nazi soldier, her drunken boyfriend, is arrested at the scene of the crime although the detective thinks he is innocent. Siodmak's film uses this backdrop to explore instead the politics prevalent amongst the German people during the Third Reich during the years when Germany started taking a beating at the hands of the Allied troops. Even high ranking officials are seen mouthing propaganda in a wishy washy cynical way. When the actual murderer (Mario Adorf) confesses to the crime, the Nazi commander (Hannes Messemer) immediately orders a cover up and instead blames the crimes on the caught scapegoat because according to the Führer no pure-blood German could be mentally challenged or be capable of mass murder. Ironic conclusion considering the genocide that was going on all around. The detective is ordered to the Russian front while the Gestapo awaits his friend (Annemarie Düringer) who knows the truth as well. Siodmak, after a long stint in Hollywood, returns to german cinema with this memorable film which was nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign film category.

Rifkin's Festival (Woody Allen, 2020) 6/10

One has to credit Woody for being resilient in still coming up with his yearly film output despite the almost total ban on him now courtesy of the judgemental population in the United States. Since 1992, when his troubles with Mia Farrow began, he has directed a total of 28 films many of them netting him and his cast Oscar nominations with even a personal win for his screenplay back in 2011. For the last two years or so he suddenly become persona non grata with a number of stupid actors moaning that they regret having worked in his films. Have they been deaf, dumb and blind since 1992? Were they unaware of his situation when they accepted roles in his films and spent months on set with him? Hypocricy beyond belief. With no financing available to him in the United States he has sought to shoot his films abroad with european financing. The San Sebastian film festival in Spain is the backdrop to his latest film and Wallace Shawn gets to play the familiar middle-aged neurotic character made famous by Woody himself in his earlier films. This frustrated novelist is the husband of a movie publicist (Gina Gershon), both in town to attend the festival, and whom he suspects of being sexually involved with a pretentious young director (Louis Garrel) she is representing. Stressed out, jealous and a hypochondriac, he imagines a heart problem and looks in on a doctor (Elena Anaya) who he later discovers is stuck in a lousy relationship with a hot-headed artist (Sergi López). In his confused state of mind he quickly becomes infatuated with her. He is also having weird dreams at night - shot by Vittorio Storaro in black and white - which allows Allen to parody Fellini, Bunuel, Welles, Truffaut and Bergman in witty small episodes. Amusing little film may not be amongst his best but the director manages funny moments throughout. Shawn and particularly Gershon are very good as the mismatched couple. My only regret with the film is that Allen does not shoot more of the city or the Spanish countryside, concentrating instead mostly in and around the Hotel Maria Cristina and La Concha bay which can be glimpsed from the hotel terraces. Woody should write his next film for Diane Keaton who was not only his first muse but the one actor with whom he had the best rapport on screen. Although this is the first time ever there is no announcement of Allen's next project. In the past whenever his latest film started screening his next screenplay would already be going through the casting stage. It would be sad if there were no more films by this great director.

Ten Little Indians (Alan Birkinshaw, 1989) 5/10

Ten people are invited to an African safari and one by one they start dying. Agatha Christie's old chestnut gets yet another retread although this time the story is not based on her 1939 book "And Then There Were None" but instead on her 1943 play which was originally titled and performed in the UK as "Ten Little Niggers" but later changed out of racial sensitivity to "Ten Little Indians". This hilariously shoddy film was produced by Harry Alan Towers who also made the 1965 and 1974 film versions of this murder-thriller, setting each in an exotic location with an all-star cast. This time he seems to have stumbled getting his cast as the lead is played by Frank Stallone - Sly's brother. Hamming it up are character actors Herbert Lom, Donald Pleasence, Moira Lister and Brenda Vaccaro playing the various victims. Usually the story is set inside a mansion with shadowy corridors and creepy basements allowing for a modicum of suspense as the characters move about before being found dead. Here the outdoor location - shot in South Africa - is a series of tents in the outback with the characters parked next to each other. So when the murders occur its quite ludicrous to imagine that the characters would not know what is going on. The film's ending does not follow the book's famous ending choosing to go by the one in the play. Despite the film's shoddy production values the story remains fool proof in terms of its basic plotline so it is still an enjoyable watch with a certain curiosity value.

Garde à Vue (Claude Miller, 1981) 8/10

Riveting police procedural that maintains a slow pace, is extremely talky but makes great use of the claustrophobic setting inside a police precinct. The entire film is mostly shot in two rooms but the wonderful group of actors and the constantly moving camerawork by Bruno Nuytten help keep the film engrossing. A wealthy and influential attorney (Michel Serrault) is brought in for questioning for the rape and murder of two small girls. He is held in custody and relentlessly interrogated by two inspectors - one calm and polite (a memorable Lino Ventura) and the other (Guy Marchand) who beats up the suspect, who continues to insist on his innocence. As the night wears on his alibi is shaken by the arrival of his beautiful but vengeful wife (Romy Schneider) who provides damning evidence against him. Extremely let down by his wife and the evidence against him he confesses to the rapes and murders. However, there is a last minute twist in the plot which takes everyone by surprise. The film won well deserved Cesar awards for its screenplay and editing. Both Serrault and Marchand also won awards for their exceptional performances.

La passante du Sans-Souci / The Passerby (Jacques Ruffio, 1982) 6/10

The sublime Romy Schneider plays two roles in her last film shot while she was undergoing great trauma in her personal life which led to accute depression and an alcohol problem. The production shut down when she broke her leg and then had to have kidney surgery. Her 14-year old son died after impaling himself on a fence. It was only after Simone Signoret's insistence that she returned to finish this suspended production. She completed the film but died of a heart attack a week after the film's premiere. A prominent member of a humanitarian organization, a jew and a pacifist (Michel Piccoli), shoots in cold blood a South American diplomat much to the surprise and horror of his beloved wife (Romy Schneider). During the trial that ensues the truth is revealed. In flashbacks we get to see his childhood during the war. The Nazis kill his father and break his leg. He is given shelter by an anti-fascist (Helmut Griem) and his wife (Romy Schneider) who look after the child with a lot of love. Realizing that his days are numbered he manages to send his wife and the boy to Paris. He is arrested and sent to a camp while his wife desperately waits for his return. To make ends meet she works as a cabaret singer in a sleazy club and sleeps with a Nazi to try and get information about her husband. When the husband is released and brought back the Nazi has both husband and wife murdered. The young boy thus loses his "parents" a second time but will get his revenge in the future. Melodramatic story is erratic with a bittersweet and ironic twist at the end. Schneider gives a beautifully nuanced performance and was posthumously awarded a Cesar award nomination. There is also a memorable cameo by the great Maria Schell as another victim of the Nazi menace.
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Roma città libera / Rome Free City (Marcello Pagliero, 1946) 6/10

In Rome three strangers come together by chance during the bleak post-War days of Italy. A man (Andrea Checchi), jilted by a woman who has run off with all his money, is about to commit suicide when he is saved by a cat burglar (Nando Bruno) who enters his apartment by chance. They both realize they have a lot in common, become friends and decide to go to a bar for a drink. The man's next door neighbour is a lonely poverty stricken woman (Valentina Cortese) who types throughout the night to make a living. Fed up with her life she decides to sell herself on the street like her roommate to make money. When the police make a sudden raid and haul up all the prostitutes she makes a run for it and is saved by the two men outside a bar who tell the police she is with them. The three spend the rest of the night traveling through the city meeting an assortment of people - a thief who is carrying a stolen pearl necklace which keeps changing hands, and a well-dressed amnesiac gentleman (Vittorio De Sica) who may or may not be someone important. The cat burglar is the most positive of the three willing to help everyone. Their journey through the night together gives them all hope. Downbeat film is no classic but along with being an excellent character study also has a strong pedigree - a good score by Nino Rota, atmospheric cinematography by Aldo Tonti who captures Rome during a rainy night and Cesare Zavattini is one of the numerous writers who worked on the screenplay. The film is another example of Italian neorealism cinema. Well acted by the three leads and the charming De Sica in a cameo appearance.

It's My Turn (Claudia Weill, 1980) 3/10

This was the third in an unoffocial trilogy - "An Unmarried Woman" & "Starting Over" came before - about a smart, independent but conflicted woman in love. And is played by Jill Clayburgh, one of the quintessential leading ladies of the seventies who unfortunately quickly fell off the Hollywood ladder. A glamourous math professor (Jill Clayburgh), in a stilted relationship with a building developer (Charles Grodin), meets a retired baseball player (Michael Douglas) and is willing to change her job and shift to New York for him. He is the son of the woman her widowed dad wants to marry. Unfortunately the two otherwise very appealing stars lack chemistry as lovers - in fact Douglas surprisingly always lacked charisma during that period - while the slow, very talky and boring screenplay just drones on and on. The highlight of the film comes during the end credits over which Diana Ross croons the hit title song.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin, 2020) 8/10

The "circus" came to town, presided over by the sadistically clownish Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) representing the US federal government, and set the stage to deliberately malign seven anti-Vietnam War and countercultural protestors
who were said to have been the cause of riots during the the occasion of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The defendents charged with conspiring together and inciting violence by crossing state lines were - Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), John Froines (Danny Flaherty), and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). The eighth man indicted was Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), co-founder of the Black Panther movement, who had no legal representation and despite protests ended by bound, gagged and chained to his seat in court. Leading the prosecution team was Richard Shultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and for the defence stood William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) and Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shenkman). The trial, replete with hilarious (and sad) courtroom antics, was a travesty as "justice" was repeatedly proved to be a fallacy of epic proportion with the court (and government) standing firm on their pro-Vietnam War stance. Eventually many of the decicions were overturned and sentences reduced. Sorkin presents the trial, intercut with flashbacks to the night of the protests and riot, almost like the insanity of an actual war with over-the-top theatrics. Gripping film is fascinating from the historical perspective and moreso due to its relevance now, at a time when the US in engulfed in debates over authoritarianism surrounded by crazy radicalism. Well acted film (both Sacha Boren Cohen and Frank Langella standout in their epic buffoonery) has strangely dank cinematography by Phedon Papamichael which makes it hard to focus clearly on the actors during the trial scenes.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Sonic Youth wrote:
Reza wrote:It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10

Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate
What about The Plot Against America?
No one dare plot against your country. Sadly the plot is against your African-American population and from within the country which needs to be resolved.
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Reza wrote:It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10

Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate
What about The Plot Against America?
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
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It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) 10/10

Now this is a film that could never be made during today's politically correct climate as the screenplay goes into vicious directions about the "jewish problem" as dicated by the fascists. It is 1944 and Britain has lost the war and under German occupation. The country has been converted into a fascist state. Some Britons collaborate while others resist. Amongst the collaborators are many who don't believe in the cause but are forced to join up in order to survive and earn a living. The story follows a trained nurse from the Midlands who is evacuated to London along with most civilians. She joins a pro-Nazi civilian organization known as Immediate Action (one character refers to it as sounding like an advertisement for a laxative), which she does even though she is avowedly non-political. However, once in the job, she is faced with horrifying complicity in a number of disturbing acts being conducted by the organization like forced euthanasia on humans considered to be "useless" to the State. One of the very early films in the alternate history genre was the brainchild of the then 19-year old Kevin Brownlow and it took 8 years for the film to be completed. Fascinating amateur film is full of disturbing images, a scene where a group of people are casually seen discussing a lecture on the "repugnant" Jews vs. the "superior" Aryans, and a propaganda newsreel is shown in the old style and tone blaming the rubble of the Blitz on a Jewish and Bolshevist conspiracy. The film poses the question “How is it possible to fight fascism when the only means to do so are to use its own methods against it?”. The resistance movement is seen as being just as bad as the Nazis, which is a darkly contrary outlook to the prevailing attitude that saw World War II and the continental resistance as a just cause combating a profound evil. The film was completed with the help of Stanley Kubrick who donated film stock and Tony Richardson who helped to distribute it. An important film that needs to be seen more widely.

No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, 1968) 6/10

Amusing black comedy about a cat-and-mouse game between a serial strangler (Rod Steiger) and a police detective (George Segal). The killer has a mother fixation and uses an assortment of disguises to entrap elderly matrons who he sweet talks followed by strangling them. He leaves a lipstick mark in the shape of lips on their foreheads. After the first murder he begins to contact the detective on a regular basis boasting and divulging details about his latest kill. The exasperated cop, with an overbearing jewish mom (a funny Eileen Heckart), starts dating a witness (Lee Remick) who glimpsed the killer. Steiger is creepy and his usual hammy self as the psychotic. Remick has a hilarious scene with Heckart as she tries to win over the old lady. Segal gives the film's best performance as the frustrated but dogged cop, a gentle lover to Remick and an irritated but accepting son to Heckart.

Gente di rispetto / The Flower in His Mouth (Luigi Zampa, 1975) 8/10

More than the mystery at the center of the film is the fascinating Southern Sicilian city of Ragusa where the events play out. I liked how Zampa uses this small city, built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, as the actors walk through the narrow alleys around the baroque buildings and we get to see the sweeping views of public parks with churches, fountains and piazzas. A school teacher (Jennifer O'Neill) arrives to take up a position in a small school. She is harrassed by a man on the bus and later in a crowded piazza which she ignores. The following day the man is found seated in the town square, shot dead with a flower in his mouth. The townfolk think she had a hand in the execution. Also adding to the mystery is her rich landlord (James Mason), once owner of the town and still privy to most of its secrets, who allows her to stay in one of his apartments free of rent. Sympathetic to her situation is a colleague (Franco Nero) at the school who soon becomes her lover but wants to keep the relationship a secret. When a second man is found killed - he also offended her - the townfolk begin to think she has some mysterious power which she then uses to her advantage by getting the local government officials to pass rules in favour of education breaking old traditions that still prevail. The mystery turns out to be rather underwhelming but the film's almost dream-like quality and the stunning beauty of both O'Neill and the city makes it worth a watch.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) Monte Hellman 4/10
A Sun (2019) Mong-Hong Chung 4/10
McLaren (2017) Roger Donaldson 2/10
On the Rocks (2020) Sofia Coppola 4/10
Story of Judas (2015) Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche 4/10
Saladin (1963) Youssef Chahine 4/10
Hammamet (2020) Gianni Ameilo 5/10
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (2019) Barbara Paz 4/10
Two Monks (1934) Juan Bustillo Oro 5/10
Stage Mother (2020) Thom Fitzgerald 1/10
First Cow (2020) Kelly Reichardt 7/10
Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) Ciro Guerra 1/10
Made in Hong Kong (1997) Fruit Chan 7/10
A Decent Man (2016) Emmanuel Finkel 5/10

Repeating viewings

Mädchen in Uniform (1931) Leotine Sagan 7/10
Pixote (1981) Hector Babenco 9/10
"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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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Passione d'Amore / Passion of Love (Ettore Scola, 1981) 9/10

Scola's bitter romantic drama, based on the 1869 novel "Fosca" by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, is an ironic reversal of the fairy tale, "Beauty and the Beast". It is also a look into the human psyche showing how guilt, pity, power and a self destructive nature can move a person into strange areas. Giorgio (Bernard Giraudeau), a handsome Italian soldier with good career prospects, is involved in a passionate affair with a beautiful married woman (Laura Antonelli). He is transferred to a remote outpost on the frontier where he is invited by the Colonel (Massimo Girotti) to dine daily at his house with him and a few senior officers. The Colonel's psychologically scarred and strikingly ugly cousin, Fosca (Valeria D'Obici ), misinterprets the young man's kindness towards her and forms a pathological attraction towards him. Suffering from assorted ailments, including hysteria and fits of epilepsy, the regimental physician (Jean-Louis Trintignant) thinks contact with the young man may help, so he encourages Giorgio to spend time with her. However, her manipulative nature puts a strain on him and he falls sick. In the meanwhile his affair with his mistress comes to a deadend when she refuses to leave her husband because of her child. When news of his transfer is announced during a Christmas party the pathetic woman goes into massive hysterics in front of all the guests which inexpicably leads that night to a consummation of their relationship, followed by a duel the next day that seals his fate as a career officer. Does he finally show passion towards the woman out of love or does he go to her out of pity? The entire film's success rests on the shoulders of Valeria D'Obici who is made up to look grotesque - a receding hairline, a hooked nose and large teeth (a bit like Nosferatu but with hair) - and she nails the part. Apart from her off-putting appearance Fosca is otherwise a sensitive and cultured woman but with an unfortunate past. For her the young man appears to be her "last hurrah" and she uses every delusional trick up her sleeve to nab him. Despite his blunt protestations at first his genuine kind nature allows him to respond to her desperate pleas for love. He realises that nobody has ever loved him like she has. This unusual "love" story starts of with the audience wondering how this woman will fall in love with the handsome man but in fact it turns out more about the man gradually falling for this disturbed ugly woman. The story's central themes of love, sex, obsession, illness, passion, beauty, power and manipulation formed the basis, many years later, for the Tony winning Broadway musical "Passion" by Stephen Sondheim.

Soldier Blue (Ralph Nelson, 1970) 6/10

Revisionist Western about the 1864 Sand Creek massacre in the Colorado Territory is actually an allegory for the then raging Vietnam War and in particular the Mai Lai massacre where unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were murdered by U.S. troops in 1968. A naive cavalry officer (Peter Strauss) and a white woman (Candice Bergen), who has lived with Indians, are the sole survivors of an attack by the Cheyenne on their group. The two join hands as they struggle cross-country through Indian territory to reach Fort Reunion where the U.S. army is stationed. She is scornful of him, calling him "Soldier Blue", because of his beliefs which are sullied by years of army propaganda about the "savage" Indians. Nelson tries to make the film "contemporary" for the audiences at the time and has Bergen act "modern" by having her dialogue liberally littered with four letter words and her general behaviour far from what a woman from the past would act like in those circumstances. The entire central part of the film is like a dreamy sun-dappled comic romance as the two banter and fall in love (Bergen gives a really bad performance while Strauss is terribly bland) with brief suspenseful encounters with Indians and a wily gunrunner (Donald Pleasence wearing a strange set of dentures). The film's savage and brutal end caused controversy with some calling it "an exploitative gore-fest of blood and amputated limbs" while others praised it for its pro-Indian stance - an antidote to all the John Ford-John Wayne Westerns that glorified cowboys and treated Indians as dastardly villains. The shocking scenes of violence - women and children being impaled by bayonets, women's breasts being sliced, heads chopped off, children being shot through the face and their heads being hoisted by whooping soldiers on wooden sticks - is stomach churning. This slaughter (and many others since) was a reality what the United States army was doing in Vietnam at the time. This radical film forever shattered the enduring movie myth of the cavalry as good guys riding to the rescue. The film was not a success in the United States but was a hit elsewhere.

Laws of Attraction (Peter Howitt, 2004) 3/10

Audrey (Julianne Moore) and Daniel (Pierce Brosnan) are high-powered divorce lawyers. She works strictly by the book while he relies on cheap theatrics to usually win his cases. They find themselves battling in court for their respective rich clients - a rock star (Michael Sheen in grunge mode) going through a nasty split with his dress-designer wife (Parker Posey) who are trying to decide on the settlement of an Irish castle. The lawyers end up at the castle to get details and trying to avoid a growing mutual attraction reluctantly attend an Irish festival. A wild night results in both finding themselves married to each other. This rather lame attempt at a screwball comedy is no "Adam's Rib", which is clearly what the silly premise hints at. Midling film also has the misfortune of having zero chemistry between the two stars. The usually suave Brosnan has annoyingly disheveled hair and one keeps wanting to reach into the screen to slap it down into place. Moore writhes about eating junk food after every altercation with Brosnan which is meant to be funny but after one too many of those scenes it becomes tiresome. Frances Fisher, as Moore's tart-tongued mother, has a few funny moments but they are not enough to put over the general boredom of the main plot.

Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen, 1993) 7/10

Long gestating project with it's main plotline initially a part of "Annie Hall". It was put on the back burner by Allen and after his acrimonius breakup with Mia Farrow - he had originally written the part for her and she had been all set to do the project - his old flame Diane Keaton was roped in to co-star in the film with him. Keaton is delightful, takes to the role and runs off with it. The film is inspired by the screwball comedies of the 1930s and in particular the characters of amateur sleuths Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man" series of films. A middle-aged couple - a book editor (Woody Allen) and his daffy wife (Diane Keaton) - suspect their elderly neighbour of having murdered his wife. She begins to take a perverse delight in trying to prove that something foul took place much to the irritation of her rather straight laced husband who is horrified to learn that she has broken into the old man's apartment in search of clues. Helping her on this madcap quest is her friend (Alan Alda) who is just as enthused at the possibility of a murder. Meanwhile the editor, jealous of the friend who is spending so much time with his wife, decides to join in on the search while meeting up on the side with an over-amorous client (Anjelica Huston) who teaches him how to bluff on the poker table. Lighthearted amusing film benefits from a witty screenplay with many one-liners and Allen harking back to his earlier comedies by playing the book editor as a Bob Hope-style scaredy-cat character. The film also benefits from the sexual tension between the four characters. Allen ends the film in wacky style which is clearly an homage to Orson Welles' "The Lady From Shanghai". As with all his films Allen's inspired use of music - nostalgic jazz here - sets the tone for the goofy plot. An amusing rumour about the film was that despite the very public and nasty breakup between Allen and Farrow she actually came at the start of production for costume tryouts until she was abruptly told she was no longer in the film.

Fireflies in the Garden (Dennis Lee, 2008) 3/10

Dreary, meandering family melodrama, written by the director, which seems inspired by his personal memories still festering in his mind. If it's true then I feel sorry for him having to live out his childhood with a monstrous father (Willem Dafoe) who here has an antagonistic relationship with his sensitive son. The film switches back and forth between the young boy's miserable childhood and the present where the family are gathered together after a terrible car crash kills his mother. She had just finished graduating from college which she had earlier missed out on as she was busy raising two children. Constantly picked upon by his high strung writer father, he finds love and support from his mother (Julia Roberts) and finds a friend in his aunt - his mother's much younger sister - who comes to stay with them during the summer. The scenes during the present are set just before and after the crash at the home of his aunt (Emily Watson) where father, who survives the crash, and son (Ryan Reynolds) continue their war. Adding to the family woes is the sudden arrival at the funeral of his alcoholic ex-wife (Carrie-Anne Moss) who has unexpected news of her own and startling information is divulged about the late matriarch. The screenplay predictably moves towards the expected reconciliation between the father and son but does it in such a hurried clumsy way that it seems impossible to believe anyone could forgive someone who has spent his whole life being an asshole. Dafoe is memorable as the prickly old man but Reynolds is such a damp squib giving a one-note deadpan performance. Roberts shines in her brief role while Watson struggles with her Texan accent. Tiresome repetitive drama with just too much shouting going on between people you just don't care about. Skip this one.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Precious Doll wrote:And ouch for Monsoon - I've been looking forward to Monsoon for so long. I missed it at a film festival earlier in the year and it is opening in a couple of weeks at a cinema that I have been boycotting since January. I was going to purchase the British Blu Ray to be released in November but I think I will wait for Monsoon to stream in the new year now.
Precious please check your inbox message.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Precious Doll wrote:
Reza wrote: Werk Ohne Autor / Never Look Away (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2018) 4/10

Monsoon (Hong Khaou, 2019 3/10
Ouch for Never Look Away but I concede it's a tad overlong and becomes less interesting as it progresses.
Yes really overlong. It really gets boring after they leave East Berlin. The film was overstuffed with far too much.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Reza wrote: Werk Ohne Autor / Never Look Away (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2018) 4/10

Monsoon (Hong Khaou, 2019 3/10
Ouch for Never Look Away but I concede it's a tad overlong and becomes less interesting as it progresses.

And ouch for Monsoon - I've been looking forward to Monsoon for so long. I missed it at a film festival earlier in the year and it is opening in a couple of weeks at a cinema that I have been boycotting since January. I was going to purchase the British Blu Ray to be released in November but I think I will wait for Monsoon to stream in the new year now.
"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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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Werk Ohne Autor / Never Look Away (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2018) 4/10

Triple 9 (John Hillcoat, 2016) 6/10

Hillcoat seems to be channelling Tarantino, Guy Richie and Michael Mann (without the sheen) in this relentless dirty-cop heist story involving the Israeli-Russian mob. The idea of seeing Kate Winslet as a Russian mobster's tough wife sounded like such a hoot but she fails to pull it off - she has the "look" - the tarty make-up, the big blonde hair and the flashy dress sense - but she fails to get the woman's toughness considering what all she does through the course of the film. A jailed Russian mobster instigates a robbery from a safe to retrieve something he wants. Pulling the strings on the robbers is his wife who on the side runs a meat factory. Holding the young son of an ex-cop and Special Forces ace (Chiwetel Ejiofor), she cajoles him into robbing a safe with his gang consisting of ex-military and an active cop (Anthony Mackie) whose straight laced partner (Casey Affleck) is the nephew of their Chief (Woody Harrelson). The film has three tightly shot and very suspenseful set pieces involving different heists but the overall plot is extremely hard to follow as the screenplay leaves out important facts so when all the double crosses come fast and furious one is not sure what the hell happened. Most of the characters are extremely unsympathetic (the actors are all very good) and there is a dire gloom about the whole enterprise which drags the film down. Amongst all the macho posturings - from the cops, the criminals, the gang members - Winslet does stand out but it would have been far more fun to see her chewing the scenery instead of holding back.

Monsoon (Hong Khaou, 2019 3/10

Young British Vietnamese (Henry Golding) returns to the country of his birth after 30-years. As a child he had escaped Saigon when the Vietnam War started. He finds the country much changed as he reconnects with estranged relatives, struggles with his cultural identity, searches for a place to scatter his parents' ashes and falls in love with an African-American whose father had fought in the War. Boring, slow film that meanders along while a loud score keeps drowning out the dialogue.

The Glorias (Julie Taymor, 2020) 6/10

It takes four actresses to journey through the life of feminist Gloria Steinem. Taymor literally shows the woman on a journey as monochrome shots of her traveling in a Greyhound bus are interspersed throughout as she looks out at the world passing by in vibrant colours. There are also a few wacky touches - the "Wizard of Oz" homage - which don't quite come off. This is basically a by-the-numbers screen biography zipping by all the important events in her life which Taymor scrambles by playing with the timeline structure. Alicia Vikander plays her from age 20 through 40 - her years at Smith College, the time spent traveling in India with poor downtrodden women in villages and small towns, the start of her writing career and her groundbreaking undercover work in 1963 inside the Playboy Mansion when she wrote an article about the condition of waitress bunnies inside. She is taught public speaking by Dorothy Pitman Hughes (an excellent Janelle Monáe), a pioneering African-American small business owner, activist, child-welfare advocate, mother of three daughters and the co-founder of Ms. Magazine with Steinhem. There are flashbacks to her childhood (played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong) with her struggling but loving entrepreneur dad (Timothy Hutton) and teen years (played by Lulu Wilson) when she cared for her ailing mother - a journalist who was forced to publish under a male
pseudonym - which brought on her desire to fight for other women and their rights. Juliane Moore takes over during her life after age 40 with the years dealing with the magazine as Taymor incorporates generous amounts of fascinating real life newsreels of the time throughout the film. Both Vikander and Moore are standouts. Bette Midler is funny and grotesque as fiery Bella Abzug leader of the Women's Movement who was one of the founders of the National Women's Political Caucus. Overlong film - with superbly detailed production and costume design, and lushly shot by Rodrigo Prieto - is an interesting companion piece to the recent television film Mrs. America as it revisits an important tumultuous era.

The Silencing (Robin Pront, 2020) 6/10

A reformed hunter (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) turned alcoholic, whose daughter went missing five years before, spends his time hoping to find her. When the body of a dead girl is found it appears there could be a serial killer on the loose who may be the wayward brother of the cop (Annabelle Wallis) investigating the case. A cat-and-mouse game ensues between the hunter and the killer after he rescues a young woman who had been held captive and hunted. Cold bleak thriller is played out in the stunning surroundings of a small mining town in Sudbury Ontario with thick forests and a raging river playing a role during the chase. Despite the familiar tropes of the genre this is an engaging and brutal mystery with Coster-Waldau giving a spirited performance as the grieving father who might have a chance to resolve the mystery of his missing daughter.

Mackenna's Gold (J. Lee Thompson, 1969) 8/10

A perennial favourite from my childhood with an amazing cast, both in the leads and in support. Some of the cardboard sets and the too obvious back projection are quite jarring but the story is quite exciting about a group of people looking for a hidden valley full of gold. A lawman (Gregory Peck), who knows where the gold is hidden, is kidnapped by an old adversary (Omar Sharif camping it up delightfully) and his gang of cutthroat outlaws (Keenan Wynn and Ted Cassidy are both memorable). Camilla Sparv is a beautiful hostage who catches the eye of the lawman who in turn is lusted after by a scarred Indian (Julie Newmar who has a memorable underwater scene in a lagoon where she swims completely in the nude). Also scoring points is Telly Savalas as a greedy and ruthless sergeant. The group of "respectable businessmen" also wanting a piece of the pie are played by an eclectic group of character actors - Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle and Edward G. Robinson. Ford's Monument Valley is the spectacular backdrop for the film. An underrated Western that deserves a re-appraisal.

Mad as Hell: Peter Finch (Robert De Young, 2011) 7/10

Fascinating documentary about an actor-chameleon who hated being confined to set roles in life. A wanderering soul from Australia who kept moving, getting married - to a Romanian-born Russian ballerina, a South African and a black Jamaican - often uprooting his family between movie stints playing characters who were free spirits. Off movie sets life for him consisted of either quiet time of reflection dabbling in painting or hell-raising under the influence of booze with highly publicized affairs with Vivien Leigh and Shirley Bassey. Despite his tumultuous life he gathered a rewarding and very eclectic list of films on his CV winning Bafta Award nominations for Windom's Way (1957) & The Nun's Story (1959), and winning the award for A Town Like Alice (1956), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), No Love For Johnnie (1961), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and Network (1976). He was nominated for an Oscar for the latter two films, winning posthumously for Network. He also received a posthumous Emmy nomination for Raid on Entebbe (1977). His wives, children and co-stars talk with candor in this documentary about this very complicated man who in the end is remembered mostly for his love of the craft of acting.
Last edited by Reza on Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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The Queen of Spain (2016) Fernando Trueba 4/10
The Virgin's Bed (1969) Philippe Garrel 3/10
Golden Dreams (1981) Nanni Moretti 5/10
Dark Waters (1956) Youssef Chahine 5/10
Gay USA (1977) Arthur J. Bressan Jr. 6/10
The Boys in the Band (2020) Joe Mantello 4/10
Ordinary Justice (2020) Chiara Bellosi 5/10
Pinocchio (2019) Matteo Garrone 7/10
Bad Tales (2020) Daminao D'Innocenzo & Fabio D'Innocenzo 7/10
Ecce Bombo (1979) Nanni Moretti 4/10
Koko-di Koko-da (2019) Johannes Nyholm 6/10
Life for Life: Maximillian Kolbe (1991) Krzysztof Zanussi 2/10

Repeat viewings

God's Own Country (2017) Francis Lee 7/10
Lord Love a Duck (1966) George Axelrod 8/10
Life is Sweet (1990) Mike Leigh 7/10
"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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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Big Magilla wrote: I haven't tackled The Devil All the Time yet. The last thing I attempted to watch before The Boys in the Band was Enola Holmes, a godawful mess with an unbearable central performance and a total waste of usually very good actors in support.

I've never seen a film in which the breaking of the fourth wall was as intolerable. One minute she's talking to the audience, the next minute the actors in the scene with her, then the audience again, then back to the actors and repeat, repeat, repeat.
I decided to give Enola Holmes a miss. I was tempted but thought better of it and your condemnation of the film shows I made the right decision.

I really don't think you would make it through The Devil All the Time - a candidate for one of the very worst films of the year. I've liked Antonio Campos previous films but this is a disaster of major proportions. The only notable aspect of the film is that Netflix allowed him to film it on 35MM which is a nice change for digital which is rarely no match for film. Still I'd been interested in a what you thought about it.
"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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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

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Precious Doll wrote:
Big Magilla wrote: I watched the new version last night, one of the few recent Netflix additions I was able to get all the way through without being bored out of my skull.
Film wise Netflix makes such a huge amount of garbage and they are putting up their prices from next month. Have you attempted The Devil All the Time Magilla? That is an endurance test if.

I found the remake of The Boys in the Band totally unnecessary - what was the point when there is already a perfectly good version made in the era that it is set that no re-make can possibly surpass.

But Netflix are so so fucked. I've been making my way through the Youssef Chahine films that they acquired and would not have even been aware Netflix were showing if a friend hadn't alerted me to them. What is also annoying is that Netflix doesn't even have a decent algorithm set up to direct to 'product' like Amazon. Apparently, they are only interested in prompting specific films/series regardless of what ones viewing habits are. I have to go through a search every weeks when I watch a Chahine film when it properly encoded system would have them first on my recommended viewing list. I even had to jump through hoops to find The Boys in the Band.
I have to go through those same hoops which are very annoying. I find it easier to maneuver through the obstacles on my computer even though it's easier on my eyes to watch on TV.

I haven't tackled The Devil All the Time yet. The last thing I attempted to watch before The Boys in the Band was Enola Holmes, a godawful mess with an unbearable central performance and a total waste of usually very good actors in support.

I've never seen a film in which the breaking of the fourth wall was as intolerable. One minute she's talking to the audience, the next minute the actors in the scene with her, then the audience again, then back to the actors and repeat, repeat, repeat.
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