Darling (John Schlesinger, 1965) 9/10
Schlesinger's cynical indictment of the glamorous and hedonistic lifestyle of “swinging London” during the sixties as seen through the debauched life of a young girl. It is a life of disillusion for Diana (Julie Christie) who uses men - a television interviewer and voice of reason (Dirk Bogarde), a hedonistic advertising executive (Laurence Harvey) and via a loveless marriage to an Italian Count (José Luis de Villalonga) - to climb up the ladder of success and becomes a world famous model. However, life is lonely at the top. The visuals capture a specific time and place making it all seem dated but a closer look reveals a relevance to today's celebrity mania. Sharply edited and written with excellent performances - Christie (who is beautiful but in an unconventional way making her seem like a real person) won an Oscar and became an international star.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
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Elvis and Nixon (Liza Johnson, 2016) 6/10
Bizzare meeting between Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon) and President Nixon (Kevin Spacey) in the Oval office in December 1970. Presley wants the President to give him a badge as "Federal Agent-at-Large" to fight the drug culture. The celebrity shy President, aghast at meeting the entertainer, is persuaded by his aides to meet him in order to appease Southern voters. The historic meeting resulted in the two discussing their families, the Beatles, karate and Presley's need to become an undercover agent in order to prevent the country from disolving into anarchy. Yes bizzare indeed. Shannon, quite unlike the real Presley, is riveting in an understated performance and manages to come up with a superb approximation. Spacey does a broad turn - hunched up and crab-like - and is equally fun to watch. The build up to the actual meeting concentrates on Shannon's Presley which is good but also spends too much time on boring peripheral characters. This is nothing but fluff - but fluff that is amusing.
Bizzare meeting between Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon) and President Nixon (Kevin Spacey) in the Oval office in December 1970. Presley wants the President to give him a badge as "Federal Agent-at-Large" to fight the drug culture. The celebrity shy President, aghast at meeting the entertainer, is persuaded by his aides to meet him in order to appease Southern voters. The historic meeting resulted in the two discussing their families, the Beatles, karate and Presley's need to become an undercover agent in order to prevent the country from disolving into anarchy. Yes bizzare indeed. Shannon, quite unlike the real Presley, is riveting in an understated performance and manages to come up with a superb approximation. Spacey does a broad turn - hunched up and crab-like - and is equally fun to watch. The build up to the actual meeting concentrates on Shannon's Presley which is good but also spends too much time on boring peripheral characters. This is nothing but fluff - but fluff that is amusing.
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Queen of Earth (Alex Ross Perry, 2015) 8/10
Is this an homage to the angst ridden dramas of Ingmar Bergman ("Persona") or to Woody Allen ("Interiors")? It touches on the "happy and loving" relationship between two best friends when in fact there is intense resentment and anger lurking beneath the surface. A mostly two character drama filmed in close-up about friendship, resentment and madness. The psychologically scarred Catherine (Elisabeth Moss), whose over indulgent father has committed suicide and she has recently been dumped by her boyfriend, retreats to a cabin by a lake owned by her "best friend" Ginny (Katherine Waterston). She mopes around in a stupor much to the irritation of her prickly friend - there also appears to be an unresolved sexual tension between the two. The past merges into the present as flashbacks not only reveal the extent of their relationship but also helps to further unhinge the ill woman. Moss displays every emotion - from teary-eyed anguish to exhilaration - with the camera disturbingly close to her face. In contrast Waterston plays the role with a dead-pan expression throughout letting her eyes do the talking. Both actresses are superb in this turbulent pas des deux of an emotional breakdown.
Is this an homage to the angst ridden dramas of Ingmar Bergman ("Persona") or to Woody Allen ("Interiors")? It touches on the "happy and loving" relationship between two best friends when in fact there is intense resentment and anger lurking beneath the surface. A mostly two character drama filmed in close-up about friendship, resentment and madness. The psychologically scarred Catherine (Elisabeth Moss), whose over indulgent father has committed suicide and she has recently been dumped by her boyfriend, retreats to a cabin by a lake owned by her "best friend" Ginny (Katherine Waterston). She mopes around in a stupor much to the irritation of her prickly friend - there also appears to be an unresolved sexual tension between the two. The past merges into the present as flashbacks not only reveal the extent of their relationship but also helps to further unhinge the ill woman. Moss displays every emotion - from teary-eyed anguish to exhilaration - with the camera disturbingly close to her face. In contrast Waterston plays the role with a dead-pan expression throughout letting her eyes do the talking. Both actresses are superb in this turbulent pas des deux of an emotional breakdown.
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Mother's Day (Gary Marshall, 2016) 1/10
Hideously cringeworthy film totally bereft of the funnies with the director (his last film) referencing old jokes and situations from his previous films. The attractive cast of stars - Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts (who decided on that ugly wig for her?) and others - go through the motions playing an assortment of moms - divorced, single, homophobic & racist, bombshell, gay, working out; all moms who don't ring true. And Marshall was a director who, along with his jokes, seems to have been stuck in a time warp. Skip this one.
Hideously cringeworthy film totally bereft of the funnies with the director (his last film) referencing old jokes and situations from his previous films. The attractive cast of stars - Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts (who decided on that ugly wig for her?) and others - go through the motions playing an assortment of moms - divorced, single, homophobic & racist, bombshell, gay, working out; all moms who don't ring true. And Marshall was a director who, along with his jokes, seems to have been stuck in a time warp. Skip this one.
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Star Trek Beyond (Justin Lin, 2016) 8/10
The USS Enterprise responds to a distress call and goes into unchartered space and ends up attacked and destroyed with some surviving crew members taken prisoner and others - Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), Dr "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Lt. Uhura (Zoë Saldana), Scotty (Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the script), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin) - scattered across a rocky and treacherous planet. The villain - a disgruntled (aren't they all?) lizard faced psycho (Idris Elba) - is after an old relic which he wants to use to destroy mankind....at least that's what I understood in between various tiny naps....the middle portion was noisy and boring with thousands of drones in attack mode. The film picks up with the crew members joining up on the planet and figuring out a way to get back to civilization proving teamwork is the way to go about it. The spectacular finalè has Kirk grappling with the psycho in a gravity defying starbase. The third film in this reboot of the old series has dizzying effects and has enough action and wisecracks - the sequence involving "The Beastie Boys" is particularly funny - to keep the fanbase satisfied. And the young cast is quite perfect and now very comfortable in their roles.
The USS Enterprise responds to a distress call and goes into unchartered space and ends up attacked and destroyed with some surviving crew members taken prisoner and others - Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), Dr "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Lt. Uhura (Zoë Saldana), Scotty (Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the script), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin) - scattered across a rocky and treacherous planet. The villain - a disgruntled (aren't they all?) lizard faced psycho (Idris Elba) - is after an old relic which he wants to use to destroy mankind....at least that's what I understood in between various tiny naps....the middle portion was noisy and boring with thousands of drones in attack mode. The film picks up with the crew members joining up on the planet and figuring out a way to get back to civilization proving teamwork is the way to go about it. The spectacular finalè has Kirk grappling with the psycho in a gravity defying starbase. The third film in this reboot of the old series has dizzying effects and has enough action and wisecracks - the sequence involving "The Beastie Boys" is particularly funny - to keep the fanbase satisfied. And the young cast is quite perfect and now very comfortable in their roles.
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Summer of the Seventeenth Doll / Season of Passion (Leslie Norman, 1959) 7/10
Two sugarcane croppers, Roo (Ernest Borgnine) and Barney (John Mills), spend seven months of the year working hard in the field and then return to Sydney for five months during their offtime to the waiting arms of their girlfriends. This has been going on for 17 years but this time Barney discovers his girlfriend has gotten married and Olive (Anne Bancroft) has arranged for Pearl (Angela Lansbury) to be her substitute. Matters come to a head and old enmities come to the foreground between the two friends when sensible Pearl delivers a couple of hometruths and spoils the comfortable equation. Based on an acclaimed Australian play this shrill drama - all the actors shout out their dialogue hysterically - comes to the screen with four major stars speaking with the wrong accent. However, this is an extremely rare film that seems to have vanished and no longer mentioned anywhere. Borgnine and Lansbury are both very good while Mills appears uncomfortable. Baxter gives her usual wide-eyed campy performance with nostrils flairing and shreiking out her lines in her whiskey soaked smoky voice. Watching her emote is an exercise in what not to do as an actor. And she is the best part of the film as usual.
Family trivia: Borgnine and Baxter visited my grandfather's house for lunch in Sydney while the stars shot this film on location. Borgnine loved the dessert - "gajjar ka halwa" - which my mother had made.
Two sugarcane croppers, Roo (Ernest Borgnine) and Barney (John Mills), spend seven months of the year working hard in the field and then return to Sydney for five months during their offtime to the waiting arms of their girlfriends. This has been going on for 17 years but this time Barney discovers his girlfriend has gotten married and Olive (Anne Bancroft) has arranged for Pearl (Angela Lansbury) to be her substitute. Matters come to a head and old enmities come to the foreground between the two friends when sensible Pearl delivers a couple of hometruths and spoils the comfortable equation. Based on an acclaimed Australian play this shrill drama - all the actors shout out their dialogue hysterically - comes to the screen with four major stars speaking with the wrong accent. However, this is an extremely rare film that seems to have vanished and no longer mentioned anywhere. Borgnine and Lansbury are both very good while Mills appears uncomfortable. Baxter gives her usual wide-eyed campy performance with nostrils flairing and shreiking out her lines in her whiskey soaked smoky voice. Watching her emote is an exercise in what not to do as an actor. And she is the best part of the film as usual.
Family trivia: Borgnine and Baxter visited my grandfather's house for lunch in Sydney while the stars shot this film on location. Borgnine loved the dessert - "gajjar ka halwa" - which my mother had made.
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Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016) 8/10
Stillman goes the Merchant-Ivory route by way of this handsome adaptation of Jane Austen's novella "Lady Susan". Whatever fun there is in this film it is in the playing of the title character by Kate Beckinsale. She is a precursor of Alexis Carrington Colby of "Dynasty" fame, played with so much relish by Joan Collins dressed to her teeth in padded shoulders while sipping champagne. Beckinsale maintains a modern touch and has as much fun dressed in crinolines and corsets playing an intelligent selfish and extremely unsrupulous scheming widow who flagrantly seduces single and married men, manipulates the life of her daughter and uses the generosity of relatives in order to maintain her former opulent lifestyle. I am not a fan of Stillman's earlier rather staid style but here he seems to have let his hair down and revels in the deliciously wicked goings on. Sharply written film with superb performances across the board.
Stillman goes the Merchant-Ivory route by way of this handsome adaptation of Jane Austen's novella "Lady Susan". Whatever fun there is in this film it is in the playing of the title character by Kate Beckinsale. She is a precursor of Alexis Carrington Colby of "Dynasty" fame, played with so much relish by Joan Collins dressed to her teeth in padded shoulders while sipping champagne. Beckinsale maintains a modern touch and has as much fun dressed in crinolines and corsets playing an intelligent selfish and extremely unsrupulous scheming widow who flagrantly seduces single and married men, manipulates the life of her daughter and uses the generosity of relatives in order to maintain her former opulent lifestyle. I am not a fan of Stillman's earlier rather staid style but here he seems to have let his hair down and revels in the deliciously wicked goings on. Sharply written film with superb performances across the board.
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Woody Allen: A Documentary (Robert B. Weide, 2011) 8/10
A celebration of an outstanding career. The elephant in the room is the 1992 Mia Farrow-Soon-Yi Previn "scandal" - which is fine and how it should be. Fascinating bits about his early life and career as a writer, with an array of "talking heads" - former co-stars, writers, family members, technicians - giving testament to his comic genius. The documentary does not delve too far beneath the surface of the man but covers the aspects which are important to the man - his acclaimed output of writing and acting on stage, television and in movies.
A celebration of an outstanding career. The elephant in the room is the 1992 Mia Farrow-Soon-Yi Previn "scandal" - which is fine and how it should be. Fascinating bits about his early life and career as a writer, with an array of "talking heads" - former co-stars, writers, family members, technicians - giving testament to his comic genius. The documentary does not delve too far beneath the surface of the man but covers the aspects which are important to the man - his acclaimed output of writing and acting on stage, television and in movies.
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A Promise (Patrice Leconte, 2013) 2/10
Lifeless and shockingly chaste film which is surprising considering it is french director Leconte's english language debut. The plot - set in 1912 Germany - concerns a love triangle between an elderly ailing industrialist (Alan Rickman), his young wife (Rebecca Hall) and his protegé (Richard Madden) who is tutor to his son. Beautiful sets and costumes, lush cinematography (by Eduardo Serra) and a lovely score (Gabriel Yared) cannot compensate for a dull plot and indifferent performances.
Lifeless and shockingly chaste film which is surprising considering it is french director Leconte's english language debut. The plot - set in 1912 Germany - concerns a love triangle between an elderly ailing industrialist (Alan Rickman), his young wife (Rebecca Hall) and his protegé (Richard Madden) who is tutor to his son. Beautiful sets and costumes, lush cinematography (by Eduardo Serra) and a lovely score (Gabriel Yared) cannot compensate for a dull plot and indifferent performances.
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Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood, 2015) 7/10
Slick Hollywood interpretation of the moral agonising over collateral damage during drone warfare. Two long sought terrorists are found to be in a house in a shanty town in Kenya. The colonel (Dame Helen Mirren) in charge of the operation gives orders to shoot but a young girl is discovered to be in close vicinity to the target. The talky but suspenseful screenplay ricochets between various characters across the globe - the drone pilot (Aaron Paul), various politicians (Alan Rickman, Iain Glenn, Jeremy Northam) and a ground agent (Barkhad Abidi) near the target - who face the dilemma and consequence of the attack keeping the child in view. It is almost like watching the jury members arguing the "case" as in "12 Angry Men". Filmed in real time the suspense is maintained at a crackling pace although the screenplay rings false in showing the two teary-eyed drone pilots - a rah-rah-rah American "apple pie" moment. The film has it's heart in the right place but the truth is that drone warfare would be less problematic if we could believe that so much weepy agonising actually took place by the men and women holding the drone trigger.
Slick Hollywood interpretation of the moral agonising over collateral damage during drone warfare. Two long sought terrorists are found to be in a house in a shanty town in Kenya. The colonel (Dame Helen Mirren) in charge of the operation gives orders to shoot but a young girl is discovered to be in close vicinity to the target. The talky but suspenseful screenplay ricochets between various characters across the globe - the drone pilot (Aaron Paul), various politicians (Alan Rickman, Iain Glenn, Jeremy Northam) and a ground agent (Barkhad Abidi) near the target - who face the dilemma and consequence of the attack keeping the child in view. It is almost like watching the jury members arguing the "case" as in "12 Angry Men". Filmed in real time the suspense is maintained at a crackling pace although the screenplay rings false in showing the two teary-eyed drone pilots - a rah-rah-rah American "apple pie" moment. The film has it's heart in the right place but the truth is that drone warfare would be less problematic if we could believe that so much weepy agonising actually took place by the men and women holding the drone trigger.
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Island of Doomed Men (Charles Barton, 1940) 3/10
Pulpy schlock has dead-pan, sadistic Peter Lorre running a diamond mine on a remote island and working his slaves to the bone. A government agent ends up locking horns with him. Wish this film had some elements of camp because Lorre (who is good) cannot sustain the dull plot.
Pulpy schlock has dead-pan, sadistic Peter Lorre running a diamond mine on a remote island and working his slaves to the bone. A government agent ends up locking horns with him. Wish this film had some elements of camp because Lorre (who is good) cannot sustain the dull plot.
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Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson, 1956) 8/10
Loosely based on the story of Ruth Etting the last woman to be hanged in England. A woman (Diana Dors) murders a socialite in cold blood and reflects on her life while waiting on Death Row for a reprieve which never comes. This was the film that proved that Britain's sex bomb could indeed act and was not a mere carbon copy of Marilyn Monroe. Dors gives a superb performance as the brooding unrepentant murderess. The flashback scenes of her romance with a nightclub piano player (Michael Craig), who jilts her, are superbly photographed with the camera placed at odd angles to show the deteriorating relationship of the two lovers. Most of the scenes set in the prison, with Dors interacting with a sympathetic matron (Yvonne Mitchell) and other staff, are rather repetitious and tedious. The film also does not explore in depth the argument against capital punishment. This is a downbeat film with excellent performances.
Loosely based on the story of Ruth Etting the last woman to be hanged in England. A woman (Diana Dors) murders a socialite in cold blood and reflects on her life while waiting on Death Row for a reprieve which never comes. This was the film that proved that Britain's sex bomb could indeed act and was not a mere carbon copy of Marilyn Monroe. Dors gives a superb performance as the brooding unrepentant murderess. The flashback scenes of her romance with a nightclub piano player (Michael Craig), who jilts her, are superbly photographed with the camera placed at odd angles to show the deteriorating relationship of the two lovers. Most of the scenes set in the prison, with Dors interacting with a sympathetic matron (Yvonne Mitchell) and other staff, are rather repetitious and tedious. The film also does not explore in depth the argument against capital punishment. This is a downbeat film with excellent performances.
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Father Takes a Wife (Jack Lively, 1941) 6/10
Minor fluff with charming leads. A business magnate (Adolphe Menjou) decides to retire and get married to a flamboyant stage actress (Gloria Swanson) much to the consternation of his son (John Howard). The newly weds predictably bicker on their honeymoon and get involved in the rehabilitation of a penniless singer (Desi Arnaz) causing more problems. Not quite a screwball but has enough zany elements to qualify as one. Of interest strictly to see Swanson in one of her few sound films and she is game playing in perfect tandem with the debonair Menjou, both "relics" from the silent era. This was Swanson's last sound film before her spectacular comeback nine years later as "Norma Desmond". Sophisticated but silly drawing room comedy also has sparkling bits from wisecracking Helen Broderick and Desi Arnaz who gets to sing.
Minor fluff with charming leads. A business magnate (Adolphe Menjou) decides to retire and get married to a flamboyant stage actress (Gloria Swanson) much to the consternation of his son (John Howard). The newly weds predictably bicker on their honeymoon and get involved in the rehabilitation of a penniless singer (Desi Arnaz) causing more problems. Not quite a screwball but has enough zany elements to qualify as one. Of interest strictly to see Swanson in one of her few sound films and she is game playing in perfect tandem with the debonair Menjou, both "relics" from the silent era. This was Swanson's last sound film before her spectacular comeback nine years later as "Norma Desmond". Sophisticated but silly drawing room comedy also has sparkling bits from wisecracking Helen Broderick and Desi Arnaz who gets to sing.
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Ladies in Love (Edward H. Griffith, 1936) 4/10
Excellent cast wasted in routine romantic fluff - three women in Budapest move into a big apartment together in order to impress their dates although love does not go as planned. The budding singer-dancer (Loretta Young) is dumped by a Count (Tyrone Power) she is in love with, tries to drink poison which is mistakenly taken instead by her friend (Janet Gaynor) who works as an assistant to a magician (Alan Mowbray). She is saved by the doctor (Don Ameche) next door who loves her. The worldly golddigger (Constance Bennett) is having an affair with a wealthy man (Paul Lukas) who leaves her for a young nymphet (Simone Simon). Save for the lively cast this is a rather soggy tale with none of the relationships believable nor is the exotic European backdrop particularly convincing.
Excellent cast wasted in routine romantic fluff - three women in Budapest move into a big apartment together in order to impress their dates although love does not go as planned. The budding singer-dancer (Loretta Young) is dumped by a Count (Tyrone Power) she is in love with, tries to drink poison which is mistakenly taken instead by her friend (Janet Gaynor) who works as an assistant to a magician (Alan Mowbray). She is saved by the doctor (Don Ameche) next door who loves her. The worldly golddigger (Constance Bennett) is having an affair with a wealthy man (Paul Lukas) who leaves her for a young nymphet (Simone Simon). Save for the lively cast this is a rather soggy tale with none of the relationships believable nor is the exotic European backdrop particularly convincing.
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Autumn Leaves (Robert Aldrich, 1956) 8/10
A lonely young man (Cliff Robertson) persistently woos and convinces an equally lonely middle-aged woman (Joan Crawford) to marry him. Needless to say true love does not run it's course for the couple when the man's ex-wife (Vera Miles) shows up on their doorstep and it appears she is having an affair with his father (Lorne Greene). Superb melodrama with a latter day butch Crawford in one of her best roles - her grim face is in a perpetual state of anguish as her young husband is caught out to be a liar in the throes of a psychotic breakdown. Charles Lang's noirish cinematography (this was the third consective Crawford film he shot), full of shadows, enhances this soggy material into something quite tragic which the star manages to lift and take to a completely different and higher realm. Also creating the appropriate mood is the hit title tune sung by Nat 'King' Cole.
A lonely young man (Cliff Robertson) persistently woos and convinces an equally lonely middle-aged woman (Joan Crawford) to marry him. Needless to say true love does not run it's course for the couple when the man's ex-wife (Vera Miles) shows up on their doorstep and it appears she is having an affair with his father (Lorne Greene). Superb melodrama with a latter day butch Crawford in one of her best roles - her grim face is in a perpetual state of anguish as her young husband is caught out to be a liar in the throes of a psychotic breakdown. Charles Lang's noirish cinematography (this was the third consective Crawford film he shot), full of shadows, enhances this soggy material into something quite tragic which the star manages to lift and take to a completely different and higher realm. Also creating the appropriate mood is the hit title tune sung by Nat 'King' Cole.