Suspect (Peter Yates, 1987) 8/10
A highly engaging, very watchable courtroom thriller. Cher plays an overworked public defender who must represent a homeless, deaf-mute (an unknown Liam Neeson) accused of murdering a Washington D.C. secretary for $9 (her body is found in what is now the parking lot of the Georgetown movie theater). Dennis Quaid plays a lobbyist and juror who joins forces with her to uncover what's really going on. There's an interesting commentary on the failings of the justice system as well as its treatment of the poor and the homeless, the latter of which is still a rampant problem in Washington. Fantastic use of D.C. locales and a good score builds this one into a suspenseful crescendo with a major twist ending -- certainly something I've never seen before. Cher is wonderful, gutsy and has great chemistry with Quaid. John Mahoney as the judge on the case is exceptional, wholly unrecognizable from his "Frasier" character. Definitely recommend this underrated film.
Edited By flipp525 on 1236263673
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock) 1954- 10/10
A Perfect film. I was lucky enough to see Universal's restoration in theaters last evening. I'm always in awe of Hitchcock's direction, and this was his most deserved nomination, in my opinion, being in complete control from the one room. Just captivating from the first frame onward...I love this damn thing.
A Perfect film. I was lucky enough to see Universal's restoration in theaters last evening. I'm always in awe of Hitchcock's direction, and this was his most deserved nomination, in my opinion, being in complete control from the one room. Just captivating from the first frame onward...I love this damn thing.
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Precious Doll
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--Bog wrote:Ok, sorry, I don't mean to harp on you at all...as I've said I am always thoroughly impressed with your film log. You have lots of time and love film and that is something we can totally agree upon. So...when you make time available to watch W., the Dassin film, The Eagle and the Hawk, and the Poe story in consecutive fashion...do you have any realistic expectations of enjoying yourself? Or is it always enjoyable to escape into film?
You make me feel like the film snob of film snobs every time I look (forward) to your posts.
Well I did watch them over two days.
After more then 30 years of consistent film going I have to admit that I have developed low expectations for most of the films I watch. After so many disappointments it's hard to get too worked up about much nowadays. But I find that even a number of mediocre and even bad films can have their pleasures. And I do get to get surprised now and again.
Last year I avoided lots of the newer films released in cinemas and I am continuing with this trend this year. Enough is enough of low brow horror, action, teen flicks & cartoons.
However if a film is by a filmmaker of note or has someone in it that I particularly like I'm prepared to watch it.
Dean Spanley (2008) Toa Fraser 4/10
The only pleasure of this was the presence of four wonderful actors: Peter O'Toole, Bryan Brown, Sam Neill & Jeremy Northam. I couldn't swallow what I found to be a rather silly story but the actors make it very watchable. Beautiful period detail too and a big improvement on Toa Frasers' first film, the insufferable No. 2.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1241620263
"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)
Death Race - 3/10
Eh. Good/bad, but just not good/bad good enough. Some of the absolute worst dialogue of the year and good Lord does Ian McShane deserve far better, but not a miserable time for mindless, and occasionally headless entertainment...y'know if you like watching people fucking DIE a lot. QUESTION: if Frankenstein has been driving for this long and Amos *does* get released and revealed as Frankenstein, then won't people say "Hey! He was only in jail for a couple of months?" What I'm saying is that Death Race has logic flaws.
I just realized that this is my second Paul W. S. Anderson film. I didn't line up with the droves to watch Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Alien vs. Predator when I was younger. I did enjoy Event Horizon for all its flaws and now I see Death Race...he's what you get when you cross Paul Greengrass with Tony Scott. Lots of cutting, lots of snapping in, but not as self-important as either one of those filmmakers. Normally I would say I'd prefer an abundance of Death Races to the majority of summer movies out there but in truth, summer movies haven't been that horrible in the past couple of years. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is committee-run bullshit, whereas Death Race (while certainly failing enjoyably satirize this race) is merely innocuous. It's so strange that the Bush Administration begins with the glorious throwback The Fast and the Furious and ends with something as violent as this. We started the Bush administration with Russell Crowe and ended with Dev Patel.
Eh. Good/bad, but just not good/bad good enough. Some of the absolute worst dialogue of the year and good Lord does Ian McShane deserve far better, but not a miserable time for mindless, and occasionally headless entertainment...y'know if you like watching people fucking DIE a lot. QUESTION: if Frankenstein has been driving for this long and Amos *does* get released and revealed as Frankenstein, then won't people say "Hey! He was only in jail for a couple of months?" What I'm saying is that Death Race has logic flaws.
I just realized that this is my second Paul W. S. Anderson film. I didn't line up with the droves to watch Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Alien vs. Predator when I was younger. I did enjoy Event Horizon for all its flaws and now I see Death Race...he's what you get when you cross Paul Greengrass with Tony Scott. Lots of cutting, lots of snapping in, but not as self-important as either one of those filmmakers. Normally I would say I'd prefer an abundance of Death Races to the majority of summer movies out there but in truth, summer movies haven't been that horrible in the past couple of years. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is committee-run bullshit, whereas Death Race (while certainly failing enjoyably satirize this race) is merely innocuous. It's so strange that the Bush Administration begins with the glorious throwback The Fast and the Furious and ends with something as violent as this. We started the Bush administration with Russell Crowe and ended with Dev Patel.
"How's the despair?"
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HarryGoldfarb
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Slumdog Millionaire: 8/10
I had the bad luck of catching this film after the Academy Awards. I hate overpraised, overestimated films. I can understand how come this film managed to become the favortie of every award show this year. I can even respect its title as the best film of the year (which in my humble opinion, it isn't)... but 8 Academy Awards? Why? Best Sound Mixing? Best Cinematography? Even when I was kind of rooting for a win by Rahman, the song would have been enough.. but Score? The Departed has 4... Why does this film have to be in the same league as Amadeus and From Here to Eternity? Is this a masterpiece i couldn't recognize at first glance? I don't think so... But certainly it is a better than good film. I liked Boyle as a Director. Trainspotting is one of my all time favorite films. And the editing work was superb. As I said, I liked it a lot, but 8 Oscars?
Vicky Christina Barcelona 7/10
The exact opposite feeling... 1 nod? just a nod?
Of course Cruz was wonderful and after watching the film I have to agree with the Academy. She's built one of those performances/characters that filled the whole screen every time she appears on. The first time we see her, well.. I laughed a ot just by looking at her (of course it was an effect of both the script and her performance, the anticipation the script builds towards this character has a reason). But the script was really good... the use of music was great and Allen did a great job. So did Bardem with his performance, very underrated.
I had the bad luck of catching this film after the Academy Awards. I hate overpraised, overestimated films. I can understand how come this film managed to become the favortie of every award show this year. I can even respect its title as the best film of the year (which in my humble opinion, it isn't)... but 8 Academy Awards? Why? Best Sound Mixing? Best Cinematography? Even when I was kind of rooting for a win by Rahman, the song would have been enough.. but Score? The Departed has 4... Why does this film have to be in the same league as Amadeus and From Here to Eternity? Is this a masterpiece i couldn't recognize at first glance? I don't think so... But certainly it is a better than good film. I liked Boyle as a Director. Trainspotting is one of my all time favorite films. And the editing work was superb. As I said, I liked it a lot, but 8 Oscars?
Vicky Christina Barcelona 7/10
The exact opposite feeling... 1 nod? just a nod?
Of course Cruz was wonderful and after watching the film I have to agree with the Academy. She's built one of those performances/characters that filled the whole screen every time she appears on. The first time we see her, well.. I laughed a ot just by looking at her (of course it was an effect of both the script and her performance, the anticipation the script builds towards this character has a reason). But the script was really good... the use of music was great and Allen did a great job. So did Bardem with his performance, very underrated.
"If you place an object in a museum, does that make this object a piece of art?" - The Square (2017)
Ok, sorry, I don't mean to harp on you at all...as I've said I am always thoroughly impressed with your film log. You have lots of time and love film and that is something we can totally agree upon. So...when you make time available to watch W., the Dassin film, The Eagle and the Hawk, and the Poe story in consecutive fashion...do you have any realistic expectations of enjoying yourself? Or is it always enjoyable to escape into film?
You make me feel like the film snob of film snobs every time I look (forward) to your posts.
You make me feel like the film snob of film snobs every time I look (forward) to your posts.
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Precious Doll
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Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) Roy Del Ruth 4/10
Phaedra (1962) Jules Dassin 2/10
The Eagle and the Hawk (1932) Stuart Walker 4/10
W. (2008) Oliver Stone 4/10
Totally pointless but Josh Brolin nails Bush.
Phaedra (1962) Jules Dassin 2/10
The Eagle and the Hawk (1932) Stuart Walker 4/10
W. (2008) Oliver Stone 4/10
Totally pointless but Josh Brolin nails Bush.
"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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Big Magilla
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Parkins was Sharon Tate's maid of honor, did commentary on the Valley of the Dolls DVD in 2006 but has otherwise pretty much disappeared.
Poor George Sanders. One wonders if roles like this one didn't cause the boredom that drove him to his suicide. It might have been interesting if he had done something in drag. He's just seen sitting at a piano which he is presumably playing, gets up and goes to his dressing room where he removes the wig while talking to O'Neal.
Poor George Sanders. One wonders if roles like this one didn't cause the boredom that drove him to his suicide. It might have been interesting if he had done something in drag. He's just seen sitting at a piano which he is presumably playing, gets up and goes to his dressing room where he removes the wig while talking to O'Neal.
--Big Magilla wrote:The Kremlin Letter (John Huston, 1970) 2/10
Muddled spy drama with Patrick O'Neal, as uncharismatic a lead as one can find, Richard Boone as a maser spy with an annoying phony Southern accent and a penchant for calling O'Neal "nephew", Barbara Parkins in a catatonic state long before her character goes into one for real, George Sanders in drag, Bibi Andersson as a drug addict, Max von Sydow as her torture happy husband, Orson Welles, Dean Jagger and Lila Kedrova in unflattering cameos. Quite possibly the nadir of Huston's career.
I remember being very amused at seeing pictures of George Sanders in drag (that long blonde wig) in magazines from the very early 1970s.....later saw the film as well. And what became of Barbara Parkins? I really liked her back then in films like Valley of the Dolls (1967) and Puppet on a Chain (1970). I never saw the tv series version of Peyton Place....although I believe it is coming out on dvd finally.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1241620289
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Big Magilla
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The Kremlin Letter (John Huston, 1970) 2/10
Muddled spy drama with Patrick O'Neal, as uncharismatic a lead as one can find, Richard Boone as a maser spy with an annoying phony Southern accent and a penchant for calling O'Neal "nephew", Barbara Parkins in a catatonic state long before her character goes into one for real, George Sanders in drag, Bibi Andersson as a drug addict, Max von Sydow as her torture happy husband, Orson Welles, Dean Jagger and Lila Kedrova in unflattering cameos. Quite possibly the nadir of Huston's career.
Muddled spy drama with Patrick O'Neal, as uncharismatic a lead as one can find, Richard Boone as a maser spy with an annoying phony Southern accent and a penchant for calling O'Neal "nephew", Barbara Parkins in a catatonic state long before her character goes into one for real, George Sanders in drag, Bibi Andersson as a drug addict, Max von Sydow as her torture happy husband, Orson Welles, Dean Jagger and Lila Kedrova in unflattering cameos. Quite possibly the nadir of Huston's career.
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Big Magilla
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The word strange has numerous meanings:
1. unusual, extraordinary, or curious; odd; queer: a strange remark to make.
2. estranged, alienated, etc., as a result of being out of one's natural environment: In Bombay I felt strange.
3. situated, belonging, or coming from outside of one's own locality; foreign: to move to a strange place; strange religions.
4. outside of one's previous experience; hitherto unknown; unfamiliar: strange faces; strange customs.
5. unaccustomed to or inexperienced in; unacquainted (usually fol. by to): I'm strange to this part of the job.
1. unusual, extraordinary, or curious; odd; queer: a strange remark to make.
2. estranged, alienated, etc., as a result of being out of one's natural environment: In Bombay I felt strange.
3. situated, belonging, or coming from outside of one's own locality; foreign: to move to a strange place; strange religions.
4. outside of one's previous experience; hitherto unknown; unfamiliar: strange faces; strange customs.
5. unaccustomed to or inexperienced in; unacquainted (usually fol. by to): I'm strange to this part of the job.