Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov, 2008) 4/10
A kick-ass Angelina Jolie and a couple of car crash scenes make the film move along swiftly. Wimpy James McAvoy all but halts the film dead in it's tracks.
The Way Back (Peter Weir, 2010) 3/10
Prisoners in a Russian Gulag in Siberia escape and some of them manage to reach India. A story with such great dramatic possibilities surprisingly gets a listless treatment by Weir. Every episode along the way lacks drama.
Mildred Pierce (Todd Haynes, 2011) 3/10
The trials and tribulations of a woman starting out in the restaurant business and raising two daughters on her own.
There are so many things wrong with this version starting with it's length. It just goes on and on. Should never have been a mini series. Kate Winslet has absolutely no chemistry with the two actors who play her kids. In fact she looks bored throughout. The actions of Veda as a child (the smoking / the famous slapping scene) just don't ring true. Yet another remake that can't hold a candle to the classic 1945 version with Joan Crawford.
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959) 8/10
Stark, suspenseful story about petty thieves and how they operate. Brilliantly acted by a non-professional cast. Great photography.
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953) 5/10
Semi-silent comedy about M. Hulot's visit to a small town beach resort for a holiday. I found Tati's personal visual gags a bore but he draws marvellous performances from every member of the cast playing assorted types at the beach resort.
Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) 7/10
Dazzling puzzle of a film with great production design, music and effects. It was my second viewing (on a smaller screen this time around) and I still had to get help to understand the smaller plot points. I had great help from 16 year old Lara who attacked the film as if she was sitting for one of her exams. In fact it was amusing to see her stop the film every 20 minutes and ''explain'' the plot points to all of us. She ''got'' the film the first time round but was thrown off by the spinning top at the end...........didn't want to believe what ''it'' could be signifying.
Heartbreaker (Pascal Chaumeil, 2010) 2/10
Incredibly boring comedy about a man who breaks up impending marriages by showing the bride that her fiance is not as desirable as himself. Then he quietly convinces the woman that he isn't the man for her. The scam is usually at the behest of the girl's father. A funny premise is derailed for me by the fact that Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis have no chemistry. And dare I say that both actors' ugly looks put a damper on the romantic comedy aspects of the plot. Someone please tell Paradis that she needs to get the gap between her two front teeth filled. Let's face it she's no Lauren Hutton.
Character (Mike van Diem, 1997) 5/10
Oscar winning Dutch film about a young man who grows up unloved by his mother and is constantly persecuted (or so he thinks) by his father. The film is a marvel of production design with the filmmakers recreating Rotterdam of the 1920s. Extremely bleak and often very melodramatic.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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anonymous1980
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Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; rating
They Were Expendable (John Ford) - 9.5/10
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; rating
Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn - 6/10
A buddy of mine agreed a while ago that the original Star Trek was either the dumbest smart show or the smartest dumb show ever. I mean, that show was dumb. Beyond camp, it was dumb. Still enjoyable in some capacity and well-meaning, but...yeah.
This one is fun. In a very Star Trek way. Which is to say it's pretty dumb. Ricardo Mantelbaun is fantastically over-the-top in a way that immensely benefits the film. Kahn is a great villain who doesn't quite get to prove as much a threat as he should from across communications, and I think the new films should absolutely remake this movie and improve upon it. It's a bit anticlimactic by today's standards. And I never really feel The Genesis Machine as a true presence in the film. Or the father/son dynamic between Kirk and his boy. Really, I was amazed at how leisurely the film moves along. The FX are as corny as the performances, but it doesn't really affect the film's success or lack thereof.
It's diverting enough. I just don't think I like the old Star Treks very much. Of the newer ones, First Contact is pretty darn cool. I think Abrams' Star Trek dwarfs them all.
A buddy of mine agreed a while ago that the original Star Trek was either the dumbest smart show or the smartest dumb show ever. I mean, that show was dumb. Beyond camp, it was dumb. Still enjoyable in some capacity and well-meaning, but...yeah.
This one is fun. In a very Star Trek way. Which is to say it's pretty dumb. Ricardo Mantelbaun is fantastically over-the-top in a way that immensely benefits the film. Kahn is a great villain who doesn't quite get to prove as much a threat as he should from across communications, and I think the new films should absolutely remake this movie and improve upon it. It's a bit anticlimactic by today's standards. And I never really feel The Genesis Machine as a true presence in the film. Or the father/son dynamic between Kirk and his boy. Really, I was amazed at how leisurely the film moves along. The FX are as corny as the performances, but it doesn't really affect the film's success or lack thereof.
It's diverting enough. I just don't think I like the old Star Treks very much. Of the newer ones, First Contact is pretty darn cool. I think Abrams' Star Trek dwarfs them all.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; rating
Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle (Alan Rudolph) - 6/10
Really on the fence about this one. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a sumptuous experience visually but it's incredibly flawed. This is a case of a filmmaker who is so focused on recreating the conversations that must have resulted in these famous quotations that he loses sight of creating an interesting narrative. I saw the turns in their relationships but I never felt them. I felt like I was watching two films: a dull biopic and a series of filmed conversations. The film felt studied to a fault and perhaps would have done better had it fictionalized a shorter period of time. When Rudolph takes us into Dorothy's future only to return (almost immediately) back to a better time, I felt as though I was supposed to feel a sense of return if not to a better era then one that made more sense, regardless of how vicious or fraudulent it may have been. But I didn't. And the grandiosity of the Algonquin Circle doesn't feel like anything breathtaking or miniscule but rather an afterthought.
And yet I didn't dislike this film because for a film I find so ultimately lacking in narrative rhythm, the scenes themselves have an incredible pull. I'm not terribly familiar with Alan Rudolph. I saw Choose Me a while ago and I responded to it but not as much as I was hoping. This film is ravishing to look at and experience for bits and pieces. I love how Rudolph covers his scenes, I love his sense of romanticism, I love Mark Isham's score. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a bit of a mixed bag. Her performance is one to grapple with but it serves the film that Rudolph wants to make. I can't really see anyone else in this curious role, one that I see won some awards and nominations but failed a successful bid for an Oscar which I completely understand. I think Campbell Scott is the real standout here. He's quite good.
For me, this film is an ouroboros preserved in ember. It makes me want to watch more Alan Rudolph films that are more...not this.
Really on the fence about this one. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a sumptuous experience visually but it's incredibly flawed. This is a case of a filmmaker who is so focused on recreating the conversations that must have resulted in these famous quotations that he loses sight of creating an interesting narrative. I saw the turns in their relationships but I never felt them. I felt like I was watching two films: a dull biopic and a series of filmed conversations. The film felt studied to a fault and perhaps would have done better had it fictionalized a shorter period of time. When Rudolph takes us into Dorothy's future only to return (almost immediately) back to a better time, I felt as though I was supposed to feel a sense of return if not to a better era then one that made more sense, regardless of how vicious or fraudulent it may have been. But I didn't. And the grandiosity of the Algonquin Circle doesn't feel like anything breathtaking or miniscule but rather an afterthought.
And yet I didn't dislike this film because for a film I find so ultimately lacking in narrative rhythm, the scenes themselves have an incredible pull. I'm not terribly familiar with Alan Rudolph. I saw Choose Me a while ago and I responded to it but not as much as I was hoping. This film is ravishing to look at and experience for bits and pieces. I love how Rudolph covers his scenes, I love his sense of romanticism, I love Mark Isham's score. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a bit of a mixed bag. Her performance is one to grapple with but it serves the film that Rudolph wants to make. I can't really see anyone else in this curious role, one that I see won some awards and nominations but failed a successful bid for an Oscar which I completely understand. I think Campbell Scott is the real standout here. He's quite good.
For me, this film is an ouroboros preserved in ember. It makes me want to watch more Alan Rudolph films that are more...not this.
"How's the despair?"
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anonymous1980
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Mr and Mrs Smith (Doug Liman, 2005) 7/10
How did I miss this film? Surprisingly a very entertaining, action packed, witty film about a bored married couple who discover they are assassins working for competing agencies and their targets are each other. Both Pitt and Jolie have incredible chemistry on screen. The film has elements of Prizzi's Honor and The War of the Roses.
How did I miss this film? Surprisingly a very entertaining, action packed, witty film about a bored married couple who discover they are assassins working for competing agencies and their targets are each other. Both Pitt and Jolie have incredible chemistry on screen. The film has elements of Prizzi's Honor and The War of the Roses.
eXistenZ (Cronenberg) - 6.5/10
I don't know what to make of this one. On the one hand, it kept me incredibly off-balance throughout in a way I enjoyed, approximating a lovers-on-the-run aesthetic from the 40's and 50's and felt like a heady miasma of colliding tropes and ideas. On the other hand, it ends so tritely, it doesn't really have anything to say about any of its ideas that I would call a complete thesis, and it's rather impossible to care for any of these characters. Mostly I just watched it and enjoyed what I was looking at for much of the time, dug its knowing perversions and little surface details: characters seem to walk and speak in loops from a game like The Sims, not just in their walking or speaking but in their very behavior. Ultimately, Cronenberg is playing fast and loose with the beginnings of what I'd call a pretty stellar batch of ingredients for something and it's not incredibly good, but I did enjoy it.
The use of visual effects and props are astonishing.
I don't know what to make of this one. On the one hand, it kept me incredibly off-balance throughout in a way I enjoyed, approximating a lovers-on-the-run aesthetic from the 40's and 50's and felt like a heady miasma of colliding tropes and ideas. On the other hand, it ends so tritely, it doesn't really have anything to say about any of its ideas that I would call a complete thesis, and it's rather impossible to care for any of these characters. Mostly I just watched it and enjoyed what I was looking at for much of the time, dug its knowing perversions and little surface details: characters seem to walk and speak in loops from a game like The Sims, not just in their walking or speaking but in their very behavior. Ultimately, Cronenberg is playing fast and loose with the beginnings of what I'd call a pretty stellar batch of ingredients for something and it's not incredibly good, but I did enjoy it.
The use of visual effects and props are astonishing.
"How's the despair?"
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anonymous1980
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Big Magilla
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Big Magilla wrote:The Reluctant Saint (Edward Dmytryk, 1962) 7/10
Maximilian Schell as St. Joseph of Cupertino, the patron saint of air travelres. poor students and people with mental disabiliteis.
I thought the now de-sainted Saint Christopher was the patron saint of all travelers, didn't know there was a sub-patron for frequent fliers. Actually, there is a Saint Bona who is the patron saint of stewardess.
Dmytryk was a hack, but for a hack, he did make a fair amount of interesting films (as well as Bluebeard and The Carpetbaggers).
Edited By Damien on 1305335507
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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Big Magilla
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The Reluctant Saint (Edward Dmytryk, 1962) 7/10
Maximilian Schell as St. Joseph of Cupertino, the patron saint of air travelres. poor students and people with mental disabiliteis.
His was a simple story. He was the village idiot, albeit probably an idiot savant, until he became a deacon and then a priest in 17th Century Italy. Schell, in a one hundred eighty degreee turn from his Oscar winning performance in Judgment at Nuremberg the year before, is excellent, as is Akim Tamiroff in a rare "good guy" role as the bishop who sees his worth when no one else does. Dmytyk's understated direction is also quite a change of pace for the director of The Caine Mutiny and The Young Lions.
The Goddess (John Cromwell, 1958) 4/10
What a chore to sit through between Paddy Chayefsky's maudlin screenplay and Kim Stanley's overbearing performance as a high strung actress modeled on Marilyn Monroe. The story unflolds in vignettes with the key scenes missing - we're told the woman is a great actress but we never see her acting except outside the range of the cameras. We're told she's had a nervous breakdown and a suicide attmept but we don't see those either, merely the aftermath. Stanley, at the time, was consdiered the female Brando, but Brando could be subtle when he wanted to. There is nothing subtle about Stanley's performance which hits you over the head with a sledgehammer. Nor do most of the other actors come off any better - not Steven Hill or Lloyd Bridges as her husbands, not Betty Lou Holland as her equally wacko mother, not Joan Copeland as her aunt, though she does try, and not Elizabeth Wilson as her combination nurse, secretary and companion. The one exception is Patty Duke who has a lovely bit as Stanley's character as a grade-schooler. Unfortunately she' only in one scene.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1305331293
Maximilian Schell as St. Joseph of Cupertino, the patron saint of air travelres. poor students and people with mental disabiliteis.
His was a simple story. He was the village idiot, albeit probably an idiot savant, until he became a deacon and then a priest in 17th Century Italy. Schell, in a one hundred eighty degreee turn from his Oscar winning performance in Judgment at Nuremberg the year before, is excellent, as is Akim Tamiroff in a rare "good guy" role as the bishop who sees his worth when no one else does. Dmytyk's understated direction is also quite a change of pace for the director of The Caine Mutiny and The Young Lions.
The Goddess (John Cromwell, 1958) 4/10
What a chore to sit through between Paddy Chayefsky's maudlin screenplay and Kim Stanley's overbearing performance as a high strung actress modeled on Marilyn Monroe. The story unflolds in vignettes with the key scenes missing - we're told the woman is a great actress but we never see her acting except outside the range of the cameras. We're told she's had a nervous breakdown and a suicide attmept but we don't see those either, merely the aftermath. Stanley, at the time, was consdiered the female Brando, but Brando could be subtle when he wanted to. There is nothing subtle about Stanley's performance which hits you over the head with a sledgehammer. Nor do most of the other actors come off any better - not Steven Hill or Lloyd Bridges as her husbands, not Betty Lou Holland as her equally wacko mother, not Joan Copeland as her aunt, though she does try, and not Elizabeth Wilson as her combination nurse, secretary and companion. The one exception is Patty Duke who has a lovely bit as Stanley's character as a grade-schooler. Unfortunately she' only in one scene.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1305331293
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Big Magilla
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Mao's Last Dancer (Bruce Beresford, 2010) 7/10
Beresford's best film since Driving Miss Daisy and last year's better ballet movie. It works best if you don't know too much about Li Cunxin, the internationally reknown Chinese ballet star who defected to the U.S. in 1981. Othwerwise it might play like a standard biopic. Good performances from Chi Cao, principal dancer of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, personally selected by Li to play him, and Amanda Schull as his first love. Joan Chen stands out in the supporting cast as Li's mother.
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet, 2010) 7/10
Slight, but charming look at the life of an aging magician as an indifferent world shrugs at his waning art. It was written by Jacques Tati but never made into a film by him. Most of it takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland which has been under-utlized as a film location. The artwork whets the appetite for a live action film to be made there.
Beresford's best film since Driving Miss Daisy and last year's better ballet movie. It works best if you don't know too much about Li Cunxin, the internationally reknown Chinese ballet star who defected to the U.S. in 1981. Othwerwise it might play like a standard biopic. Good performances from Chi Cao, principal dancer of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, personally selected by Li to play him, and Amanda Schull as his first love. Joan Chen stands out in the supporting cast as Li's mother.
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet, 2010) 7/10
Slight, but charming look at the life of an aging magician as an indifferent world shrugs at his waning art. It was written by Jacques Tati but never made into a film by him. Most of it takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland which has been under-utlized as a film location. The artwork whets the appetite for a live action film to be made there.