Judas and the Black Messiah (2020) - 9/10 - The story of Fred Hampton, the Black Panthers, and Bill O'Neal in 1969 Chicago is a pretty powerful film. Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield each gave excellent performances. The movie is well worth seeing.
Houseboat (1958) - 7/10 - Cary Grant stars as a man with an important job in Washington, D.C. who is away from home a lot. He has to return home when his wife dies, though, and finds that his three young children are practically strangers and that he doesn't know how to handle them. Sophia Loren is an Italian socialite who is in town with her father. She befriends the younger son at a carnival and eventually takes a job as a maid without letting on her real social status. It was a decent romantic comedy. The kids were a bit whiny and Cary Grant's character was rather clueless at times, but I enjoyed the film.
The Quiet One (1948) - 6/10 - This supposed documentary mixed documentary footage from the Wiltwyck School for Boys with fictional footage about a troubled 10 year old boy who doesn't talk and has issues because of the neglect from his family. The movie was nominated (in separate years) for Best Documentary and for Best Writing (screenplay) by the Academy. I think that the fictional footage far outweighed the documentary footage and labeling it as a documentary is misleading. It was okay and the kid portraying the troubled youth was good, but I think the story itself was too simplistic.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Wolfwalkers (2020) - 8.5/10 - In 1650, a hunter and his daughter Robyn move to Ireland to help the Lord Protector rid the area of wolves. However, the leader of the wolves is a girl named Mebh who can change into a wolf and she befriends Robyn. I thought it was a beautiful and entertaining film.
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - 7/10 - Poppy is a primary school teacher who goes through life acting excessively perky much of the time. This seemed fine mostly, though she was a jerk to the driving instructor (who was kind of tightly wound, but that's no excuse) and could be annoying when talking to strangers. The film shows slices of her life involving a student at school having problems, Poppy learning to drive, interacting with her sisters, taking dancing lessons, partying, etc. It kind of wanders around without getting to a point, but was okay for what it is.
Breaker Morant (1980) - 7.5/10 - During the Boer War, several Australian officers were court martialed on charges of murdering Boer prisoners as well as a missionary. An Australian major was assigned to defend them, though was not given a lot of time to prepare. The movie made for a pretty good courtroom drama.
The Official Story (1985) - 7.5/10 - In 1983, a high school history teacher whose husband works for the government starts to question where their five year old adopted daughter came from and whether her mother was one of the disappeared. The military dictatorship is on its last legs and protests are in the streets. The teacher investigates, but answers are hard to come by. I thought that this was a decent drama. Nothing really gets resolved, but there probably weren't very many answers or favorable resolutions for the families of the disappeared either.
The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) - 8/10 - A Syrian refugee named Sam Ali is separated from the woman he loves. She is in Belgium and he is stuck in Lebanon. In order to gain the ability to travel to her, Sam allows his back to be tattooed by a famous artist turning Sam into a living work of art. I thought that the acting was very good and it is shot extremely well also. A lot of story gets compressed into the last 20-30 minutes, but I think it worked and I enjoyed the film.
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - 7/10 - Poppy is a primary school teacher who goes through life acting excessively perky much of the time. This seemed fine mostly, though she was a jerk to the driving instructor (who was kind of tightly wound, but that's no excuse) and could be annoying when talking to strangers. The film shows slices of her life involving a student at school having problems, Poppy learning to drive, interacting with her sisters, taking dancing lessons, partying, etc. It kind of wanders around without getting to a point, but was okay for what it is.
Breaker Morant (1980) - 7.5/10 - During the Boer War, several Australian officers were court martialed on charges of murdering Boer prisoners as well as a missionary. An Australian major was assigned to defend them, though was not given a lot of time to prepare. The movie made for a pretty good courtroom drama.
The Official Story (1985) - 7.5/10 - In 1983, a high school history teacher whose husband works for the government starts to question where their five year old adopted daughter came from and whether her mother was one of the disappeared. The military dictatorship is on its last legs and protests are in the streets. The teacher investigates, but answers are hard to come by. I thought that this was a decent drama. Nothing really gets resolved, but there probably weren't very many answers or favorable resolutions for the families of the disappeared either.
The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) - 8/10 - A Syrian refugee named Sam Ali is separated from the woman he loves. She is in Belgium and he is stuck in Lebanon. In order to gain the ability to travel to her, Sam allows his back to be tattooed by a famous artist turning Sam into a living work of art. I thought that the acting was very good and it is shot extremely well also. A lot of story gets compressed into the last 20-30 minutes, but I think it worked and I enjoyed the film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
/Margot at the Wedding/ (Noah Baumbach): 6/10
His big Do-Over.
I think what Noah Baumbach wanted to do was to frame adulthood as a monstrous, impenetrable thing as framed from a young teen. The Squid and the Whale is about children viewing a divorce and this is about children viewing a marriage. Because so little occurs within Claude's POV this is only sporadically successful but it creates a family-world that is distant, chaotic, and intriguing. I wish Baumbach provided clearer entry into his story. He does a really messy job of setting up who Margot is, what her relationship with her son is like, and what we need to know about the family before we arrive, which makes it substantially more difficult to connect with these characters than should be the case. What we're left with is a collection of funny, cringe-y off-hand exchanges lampooning middle-aged Gen X East Coast progressives. We're always learning new information about these people but it never creates a portrait. Early on, the sisters joke about another sister being raped by a horse trainer and laugh. It's a shocking moment not because what they're saying is shocking, because we don't know what to make of it at all. We never really have any bedrock of context. Margot at the Wedding feels chaotic. It's a film where it feels like anything could happen at any time but none of it feels surprising, because we don't have any sense of what is real in this world.
A Do-Over but a compelling one. From a top level, this film's lasting legacy is that it represents a bridge between two of Noah Baumbach's major swings: dysfunctional families (Squid and the Whale) and horrible protagonists (Greenberg). Both films were served better by keeping their story drivers separate.
It takes a very long time for Margot to come into focus which is a odd whiff. We barely know Margot is a writer for the longest stretch. The strongest insight into who she is occurs a little more than halfway through the film when Margot is at a Q&A. I wish we had something like that earlier. At the time, this felt like a revelation for Nicole Kidman but today it feels like a warm-up for later ventures. The same is true for Jennifer Jason Leigh. We are told who they are rather than experiencing it in behavior. Jack Black is obnoxious but one gets the impression Noah Baumbach has the best idea of who he is. Watching Margot at the Wedding today, it becomes very clear that Noah Baumbach is more comfortable writing men, and also that he was never more comfortable writing women than when collaborating with Greta Gerwig.
But as a directed work, it's beautiful. Baumbach only collaborated with Harris Savides twice (Margot, Greenberg) but they were both striking leaps into the filmmaker he would become. Such a shame that we lost Savides so young. The look of Margot is one of its most stunning achievements: it's so underlit.
His big Do-Over.
I think what Noah Baumbach wanted to do was to frame adulthood as a monstrous, impenetrable thing as framed from a young teen. The Squid and the Whale is about children viewing a divorce and this is about children viewing a marriage. Because so little occurs within Claude's POV this is only sporadically successful but it creates a family-world that is distant, chaotic, and intriguing. I wish Baumbach provided clearer entry into his story. He does a really messy job of setting up who Margot is, what her relationship with her son is like, and what we need to know about the family before we arrive, which makes it substantially more difficult to connect with these characters than should be the case. What we're left with is a collection of funny, cringe-y off-hand exchanges lampooning middle-aged Gen X East Coast progressives. We're always learning new information about these people but it never creates a portrait. Early on, the sisters joke about another sister being raped by a horse trainer and laugh. It's a shocking moment not because what they're saying is shocking, because we don't know what to make of it at all. We never really have any bedrock of context. Margot at the Wedding feels chaotic. It's a film where it feels like anything could happen at any time but none of it feels surprising, because we don't have any sense of what is real in this world.
A Do-Over but a compelling one. From a top level, this film's lasting legacy is that it represents a bridge between two of Noah Baumbach's major swings: dysfunctional families (Squid and the Whale) and horrible protagonists (Greenberg). Both films were served better by keeping their story drivers separate.
It takes a very long time for Margot to come into focus which is a odd whiff. We barely know Margot is a writer for the longest stretch. The strongest insight into who she is occurs a little more than halfway through the film when Margot is at a Q&A. I wish we had something like that earlier. At the time, this felt like a revelation for Nicole Kidman but today it feels like a warm-up for later ventures. The same is true for Jennifer Jason Leigh. We are told who they are rather than experiencing it in behavior. Jack Black is obnoxious but one gets the impression Noah Baumbach has the best idea of who he is. Watching Margot at the Wedding today, it becomes very clear that Noah Baumbach is more comfortable writing men, and also that he was never more comfortable writing women than when collaborating with Greta Gerwig.
But as a directed work, it's beautiful. Baumbach only collaborated with Harris Savides twice (Margot, Greenberg) but they were both striking leaps into the filmmaker he would become. Such a shame that we lost Savides so young. The look of Margot is one of its most stunning achievements: it's so underlit.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Yeah, I think I saw Rushmore when it came out, though I'm not sure. That one is on my list to watch or rewatch along with a couple of other Wes Anderson films. I'd never seen Royal Tenenbaums before this. The other Wes Anderson films that I've watched (and enjoyed) are The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom. I think that I watched Life Aquatic on dvd, but that was before I started tracking the movies I watched in 2006.Sabin wrote:Wait, this was your first viewing?gunnar wrote
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8/10 -
Here's what I watched today:
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020) - 5/10 - I thought this movie was kind of all over the place, jumping around without much cohesiveness. It did keep returning to Billie doing drugs, singing, getting beaten or called names, etc. The U.S. government sure did seem to have it in for her. I thought Andra Day wasn't bad, but I didn't really enjoy the film.
The Organizer (1963) - 8.5/10 - Marcello Mastroianni stars as a labor organizer in Turin in the late 1800s who gives advice to a group of textile workers who are concerned about long hours, injuries on the job, and other poor working conditions. Management tries a few things to try to bust the strike. A lot of people these days seem to be anti-union, but this film shows in part why unions were important for worker health and safety among other things. I thought it was very good.
I've got 10 more dvds checked out of the library to watch and then I'll probably start watching the Oscar nominated films from this year that are on Netflix and Prime.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Wait, this was your first viewing?gunnar wrote
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8/10 - Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three genius children when they separated in the late 70s. All three of the children were successful, but messed up in their own way. Twenty something years later, they all reunite under the same roof for a variety of reasons. Royal tries to reconcile with his children and wife, but doesn't find it an easy path. The adult versions of the kids are played by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson with Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, and Kumar Pallana also playing significant roles. The movie wasn't really what I expected going in and I thought it was fairly laid back overall for what it is. It grew on me as it progressed and I ended up enjoying it a lot.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Germany Year Zero (1948) - 8/10 - Edmund is a 13 year old boy trying to survive in the rubble of postwar Berlin where food and jobs are scarce. He is too young to work legally, but his father is elderly and sick while his older brother is afraid of being sent to a prisoner camp. Edmund is resourceful but this is a tough, tragic film, but also very well done.
Minari (2020) - 8.5/10 - In the 1980s, a Korean family moves from California to rural Arkansas. Jacob and Monica make a living sexing chickens, but Jacob's real dream is to have a successful farm where he can grow Korean produce. Monica's mother comes over from Korea to live with them and help watch the children - Anne and David. The film follows the family's successes and setbacks as they try to adjust to their new rural life. I thought it was very engaging and the acting throughout was excellent.
Lover Come Back (1961) - 7.5/10 - Doris Day stars as Carol Templeton, an advertising executive who gets upset with the tactics of a rival executive named Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) and sets out to steal his latest client out from under him. This was a pretty funny and entertaining movie. I think Pillow Talk was probably a little bit better, but this was good. Tony Randall plays Webster's boss and Ann B. Davis plays Templeton's secretary.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8/10 - Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three genius children when they separated in the late 70s. All three of the children were successful, but messed up in their own way. Twenty something years later, they all reunite under the same roof for a variety of reasons. Royal tries to reconcile with his children and wife, but doesn't find it an easy path. The adult versions of the kids are played by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson with Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, and Kumar Pallana also playing significant roles. The movie wasn't really what I expected going in and I thought it was fairly laid back overall for what it is. It grew on me as it progressed and I ended up enjoying it a lot.
Minari (2020) - 8.5/10 - In the 1980s, a Korean family moves from California to rural Arkansas. Jacob and Monica make a living sexing chickens, but Jacob's real dream is to have a successful farm where he can grow Korean produce. Monica's mother comes over from Korea to live with them and help watch the children - Anne and David. The film follows the family's successes and setbacks as they try to adjust to their new rural life. I thought it was very engaging and the acting throughout was excellent.
Lover Come Back (1961) - 7.5/10 - Doris Day stars as Carol Templeton, an advertising executive who gets upset with the tactics of a rival executive named Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) and sets out to steal his latest client out from under him. This was a pretty funny and entertaining movie. I think Pillow Talk was probably a little bit better, but this was good. Tony Randall plays Webster's boss and Ann B. Davis plays Templeton's secretary.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 8/10 - Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three genius children when they separated in the late 70s. All three of the children were successful, but messed up in their own way. Twenty something years later, they all reunite under the same roof for a variety of reasons. Royal tries to reconcile with his children and wife, but doesn't find it an easy path. The adult versions of the kids are played by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson with Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, and Kumar Pallana also playing significant roles. The movie wasn't really what I expected going in and I thought it was fairly laid back overall for what it is. It grew on me as it progressed and I ended up enjoying it a lot.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Cruel Sea (1953) - 8/10 - During WWII, Commander Ericson (Jack Hawkins) is in charge of the HMS Compass Rose, a convoy escort. Through the trials of war, he becomes friends with his first lieutenant (Donald Sinden). The war costs them family and friends, but they persevere and do their duty. I thought it was a very good film and while there is definitely action on occasion, it is more about the effects of war.
Another Year (2010) - 7/10 - Tom and Gerri are a happily married couple in their 60s. Tom is an engineering geologist and Gerri is a counselor. The movies shows them interacting with family and friend during the four seasons of a year. Their son, Joe, and one of Gerri's coworkers, Mary, spend the most time with them. Mary is kind of a mess, though. This is a slice of life movie and I thought it was okay, but I didn't find it really captivating. I liked the addition of Katie to the mix.
Nomadland (2020) - 8/10 - Frances McDormand plays Fern, a woman in her early 60s whose husband recently died and the place where they work is shutting down which will also be the end of the company town where they lived. She sells a lot of her belongings, stores some of it away and moves into her van, becoming a nomad. She works jobs at various places and then travels to other parts of the country, meeting other nomads and seeing the sights. It is kind of a melancholy movie, but is also pretty good.
Match Point (2005) - 7.5/10 - Chris Wilton is a former tennis pro who gives private lessons. He befriends the son and daughter of a wealthy family and becomes romantically involved with the daughter (Emily Mortimer), but also is attracted to the son's girlfriend (Scarlett Johansson). It was a good drama and fortunately Woody Allen didn't try to inject his usual brand of humor into the picture since it wouldn't have fit very well.
Hot Millions (1968) - 7.5/10 - When Marcus Pendleton (Peter Ustinov) gets paroled, he fakes credentials as a computer specialist in order to get a job at an insurance company so that he can embezzle money. His bosses either like him (Karl Malden) or are suspicious of him (Bob Newhart). Then there is his secretary (Maggie Smith)... I thought that the movie was pretty entertaining and while it wasn't usually laugh-out-loud funny, it was fun.
Paisan (1946) - 8/10 - The movie consists of six short stories about the interaction of Allied soldiers (usually Americans) with Italian citizens after the Allied invasion during WWII. While there is fighting with the Germans in three of the tales, the focus of the stories tends to more personal stories. My favorite was the fourth episode in Florence, but the others were all pretty good as well. I liked Rome, Open City more, but this is a good film.
Another Year (2010) - 7/10 - Tom and Gerri are a happily married couple in their 60s. Tom is an engineering geologist and Gerri is a counselor. The movies shows them interacting with family and friend during the four seasons of a year. Their son, Joe, and one of Gerri's coworkers, Mary, spend the most time with them. Mary is kind of a mess, though. This is a slice of life movie and I thought it was okay, but I didn't find it really captivating. I liked the addition of Katie to the mix.
Nomadland (2020) - 8/10 - Frances McDormand plays Fern, a woman in her early 60s whose husband recently died and the place where they work is shutting down which will also be the end of the company town where they lived. She sells a lot of her belongings, stores some of it away and moves into her van, becoming a nomad. She works jobs at various places and then travels to other parts of the country, meeting other nomads and seeing the sights. It is kind of a melancholy movie, but is also pretty good.
Match Point (2005) - 7.5/10 - Chris Wilton is a former tennis pro who gives private lessons. He befriends the son and daughter of a wealthy family and becomes romantically involved with the daughter (Emily Mortimer), but also is attracted to the son's girlfriend (Scarlett Johansson). It was a good drama and fortunately Woody Allen didn't try to inject his usual brand of humor into the picture since it wouldn't have fit very well.
Hot Millions (1968) - 7.5/10 - When Marcus Pendleton (Peter Ustinov) gets paroled, he fakes credentials as a computer specialist in order to get a job at an insurance company so that he can embezzle money. His bosses either like him (Karl Malden) or are suspicious of him (Bob Newhart). Then there is his secretary (Maggie Smith)... I thought that the movie was pretty entertaining and while it wasn't usually laugh-out-loud funny, it was fun.
Paisan (1946) - 8/10 - The movie consists of six short stories about the interaction of Allied soldiers (usually Americans) with Italian citizens after the Allied invasion during WWII. While there is fighting with the Germans in three of the tales, the focus of the stories tends to more personal stories. My favorite was the fourth episode in Florence, but the others were all pretty good as well. I liked Rome, Open City more, but this is a good film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Le fate / The Queens / Sex Quartet (Luciano Salce, Mario Monicelli, Mauro Bolognini, Antonio Pietrangeli, 1966) 4/10
I recall this film's release during the late 1960s/early 1970s in Pakistan. The film's poster promised sex and the film was a huge boxoffice hit. I was too young then so not allowed to see it. Have searched high and low for it for over 50 years and suddenly came across it today. It appears back then people could easily get excited at the merest hint of sex. This film is a damp fizzle despite the silly attempt by four directors to create four sex comedies starring four sexy bombshells. Too bad they forgot a script while they were at it and just went ahead and created yet another portmanteau film which was then a big rage in Italian cinema. Truth be told the four leading ladies are all decorative but spirited knockouts but are stuck in boring stories. In the first episode (directed by Luciano Salce) Monica Vitti titillates a man by showing her cleavage and legs and almost gets raped by him when he chases her across fields. Saved in the nick of time by a passing motorist she proceeds to do the same to him as well and gets chased once more. She is once more saved by another motorist who proceeds to turn the tables on her and she ends up chasing him. Mario Monicelli's frantic episode has a manipulative woman (Claudia Cardinale) using her baby to create havoc in the life of a doctor. She cons people out of money, stealthily beds the doctor, gets him involved in a kidnapping and calmly disappears just when he begins to show an interest in her. Raquel Welch flirts with a married man (Jean Sorel) in the third episode directed by Mauro Bolognini and their sexual climax is rather quaintly depicted by a fizzing Alka Seltzer tablet dissolving in a glass of water. Welch and Sorel make an amazingly good looking couple on screen. In the last and best episode (directed by Antonio Pietrangeli) the stunning Capucine alternatively acts passionate and then ice-cold with a waiter (Alberto Sordi) at a lavish party where her professor husband (Alberto Sordi) hires him to be their chauffeuer. All the stories are about sex yet there is nothing sexy about any of them. However, all four stars are delightful to watch in a film which was very typical of its kind back during the 1960s.
Revenge (Tony Scott, 1990) 6/10
For many of us this is where we discovered the charms of the stunning Madeleine Stowe. With Costner in the lead they both made an unbelievably good-looking screen couple. And although they don't really have screen chemistry they still manage to convey it by fooling the audience using their larger than life movie star presence especially during their totally improvised sex scene. Slick, old-fashioned thriller is based on a novella by Jim Harrison which has its roots from a time gone by when the female in the plot was used merely as a pawn in one-upmanship between two male protagonists. A retired US Navy pilot (Kevin Costner) travels to Mexico at the invitation of an old friend (Anthony Quinn) who is a powerful and brutal millionaire living in a lavish hacienda with his much younger sexy wife (Madeleine Stowe). He playfully banters with his "affectionate" friend and on the side falls in love with his wife. Big mistake. The eye-opening brutal revenge that follows - a severe beating, a slashed face and banishment to a brothel - is rather excessive but in keeping with the macho outlook of the plot. Scott takes the clichés and runs with them all - the luscious cinematography, the soft-porn sex scenes and Stowe's beautiful face, red lips and curvy body straight out of Vogue magazine are in tune with the director's former screen trade of making television commercials. Quinn does nothing he hasn't done countless times before during his long screen career but he easily remains the most magnetic character here. He has two marvelous brief moments in the film - scooping up caviar with his fingers and greedily devouring it and later angrily lifting a rowdy Rotweiller and flinging the dog into a swimming pool - that perfectly sums up his earthy character. Once the revenge part of the plot kicks in the film slows down as Costner interacts with a bunch of oddball characters played by Sally Kirkland, John Leguizamo, Tomas Milian and James Gammon. It's all pretty watchable harking back to a time when Costner was a huge movie star and was busy finding his true calling in Hollywood.
Les salauds vont en enfer / The Wicked Go to Hell (Robert Hossein, 1955) 8/10
This Pulp-Noir is almost two different films with the first half set in a prison and focusing on an antagonistic relationship between two cell-mates played by Henri Vidal and Serge Reggianni. The noir elements set in once the two men escape prison and find themselves trapped in a bleak landscape. Having abandoned their stolen vehicle and one of them badly mauled by a dog, they find themselves trekking in the intense heat through wet marsh land. On a remote beach, amongst sand dunes, they come across a shack where they find an artist and his girlfriend (Marina Vlady). The screenplay, based on a play, is essentially a three-hander and so in a sudden skirmish the girl's friend is shot leaving the three squabbling characters to their fate. Both men fancy the woman who is cunning enough to play one against the other in her plan for revenge. Hossein, seen briefly as one of the prison inmates, makes his directorial debut with this tense drama and provides the marvelous Vlady (they were both married to each other at the time) with a spectacular role as the femme fatale. She plays the part as an innocent yet her eyes keep betraying her underlying cunning which both men fail to see much to their eventual regret. Vlady, then only 17, makes full use of her stunning feline-like physique as the camera follows her up and down the beach, into the water and during numerous clinches with both men. Hossein maintains the bleak atmosphere throughout and does not cop out with the ending which is seen in an extreme long shot making it yet another of his many great visual choices in the film.
I recall this film's release during the late 1960s/early 1970s in Pakistan. The film's poster promised sex and the film was a huge boxoffice hit. I was too young then so not allowed to see it. Have searched high and low for it for over 50 years and suddenly came across it today. It appears back then people could easily get excited at the merest hint of sex. This film is a damp fizzle despite the silly attempt by four directors to create four sex comedies starring four sexy bombshells. Too bad they forgot a script while they were at it and just went ahead and created yet another portmanteau film which was then a big rage in Italian cinema. Truth be told the four leading ladies are all decorative but spirited knockouts but are stuck in boring stories. In the first episode (directed by Luciano Salce) Monica Vitti titillates a man by showing her cleavage and legs and almost gets raped by him when he chases her across fields. Saved in the nick of time by a passing motorist she proceeds to do the same to him as well and gets chased once more. She is once more saved by another motorist who proceeds to turn the tables on her and she ends up chasing him. Mario Monicelli's frantic episode has a manipulative woman (Claudia Cardinale) using her baby to create havoc in the life of a doctor. She cons people out of money, stealthily beds the doctor, gets him involved in a kidnapping and calmly disappears just when he begins to show an interest in her. Raquel Welch flirts with a married man (Jean Sorel) in the third episode directed by Mauro Bolognini and their sexual climax is rather quaintly depicted by a fizzing Alka Seltzer tablet dissolving in a glass of water. Welch and Sorel make an amazingly good looking couple on screen. In the last and best episode (directed by Antonio Pietrangeli) the stunning Capucine alternatively acts passionate and then ice-cold with a waiter (Alberto Sordi) at a lavish party where her professor husband (Alberto Sordi) hires him to be their chauffeuer. All the stories are about sex yet there is nothing sexy about any of them. However, all four stars are delightful to watch in a film which was very typical of its kind back during the 1960s.
Revenge (Tony Scott, 1990) 6/10
For many of us this is where we discovered the charms of the stunning Madeleine Stowe. With Costner in the lead they both made an unbelievably good-looking screen couple. And although they don't really have screen chemistry they still manage to convey it by fooling the audience using their larger than life movie star presence especially during their totally improvised sex scene. Slick, old-fashioned thriller is based on a novella by Jim Harrison which has its roots from a time gone by when the female in the plot was used merely as a pawn in one-upmanship between two male protagonists. A retired US Navy pilot (Kevin Costner) travels to Mexico at the invitation of an old friend (Anthony Quinn) who is a powerful and brutal millionaire living in a lavish hacienda with his much younger sexy wife (Madeleine Stowe). He playfully banters with his "affectionate" friend and on the side falls in love with his wife. Big mistake. The eye-opening brutal revenge that follows - a severe beating, a slashed face and banishment to a brothel - is rather excessive but in keeping with the macho outlook of the plot. Scott takes the clichés and runs with them all - the luscious cinematography, the soft-porn sex scenes and Stowe's beautiful face, red lips and curvy body straight out of Vogue magazine are in tune with the director's former screen trade of making television commercials. Quinn does nothing he hasn't done countless times before during his long screen career but he easily remains the most magnetic character here. He has two marvelous brief moments in the film - scooping up caviar with his fingers and greedily devouring it and later angrily lifting a rowdy Rotweiller and flinging the dog into a swimming pool - that perfectly sums up his earthy character. Once the revenge part of the plot kicks in the film slows down as Costner interacts with a bunch of oddball characters played by Sally Kirkland, John Leguizamo, Tomas Milian and James Gammon. It's all pretty watchable harking back to a time when Costner was a huge movie star and was busy finding his true calling in Hollywood.
Les salauds vont en enfer / The Wicked Go to Hell (Robert Hossein, 1955) 8/10
This Pulp-Noir is almost two different films with the first half set in a prison and focusing on an antagonistic relationship between two cell-mates played by Henri Vidal and Serge Reggianni. The noir elements set in once the two men escape prison and find themselves trapped in a bleak landscape. Having abandoned their stolen vehicle and one of them badly mauled by a dog, they find themselves trekking in the intense heat through wet marsh land. On a remote beach, amongst sand dunes, they come across a shack where they find an artist and his girlfriend (Marina Vlady). The screenplay, based on a play, is essentially a three-hander and so in a sudden skirmish the girl's friend is shot leaving the three squabbling characters to their fate. Both men fancy the woman who is cunning enough to play one against the other in her plan for revenge. Hossein, seen briefly as one of the prison inmates, makes his directorial debut with this tense drama and provides the marvelous Vlady (they were both married to each other at the time) with a spectacular role as the femme fatale. She plays the part as an innocent yet her eyes keep betraying her underlying cunning which both men fail to see much to their eventual regret. Vlady, then only 17, makes full use of her stunning feline-like physique as the camera follows her up and down the beach, into the water and during numerous clinches with both men. Hossein maintains the bleak atmosphere throughout and does not cop out with the ending which is seen in an extreme long shot making it yet another of his many great visual choices in the film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
/The Squid and The Whale/ (Noah Baumbach) - 8.5/10
The casting of Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as Walt and Joanne is pretty miraculous in humanizing these two caricatures. It's like they're Frasier and Lilith. Arguably, Linney plays Joanne as warmer than she is intended. It's fascinating that the other point of identification for the audience are outsiders: Walt's Girlfriend (Sophie), School Therapist, etc. We can't identify with Walt because his allegiance is already sworn from minute-one. Maybe Little Frank (Owen Kline, wonderful). Essentially it's a film about deprogramming Walt from his father's sway. I don't think the film entirely sells that deprogramming by including one therapist session where he remembers that his father wasn't ever there. But its one of the few Noah Baumbach films where it's admirable and ambitious that the protagonist (Walt) is such a little shit -- and a redeemable one at that.
It's also quite interesting that everybody in this film is in a holding pattern. There are so many scenes that I wish had been included but none of them would serve the story, which is largely the story of a shitty parenting decision that must run down the clock to its inevitable decision. The whole movie feels like joint custody. That said, there isn't really a wasted scene or moment. With its specificity of detail and economy of scene, I understand why it swept every groups' awards for Best Screenplay -- oh, and y'know, they probably watched this story happen from afar.
I think it's a little too brief. I'm missing something. And the ending doesn't quite pack the wallop it should. But it's very, very good. There are also scenes and line-readings that leap out as so Wes Anderson inspired (his E.P.), they feel like cut scenes from The Royal Tenenbaums.
The casting of Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as Walt and Joanne is pretty miraculous in humanizing these two caricatures. It's like they're Frasier and Lilith. Arguably, Linney plays Joanne as warmer than she is intended. It's fascinating that the other point of identification for the audience are outsiders: Walt's Girlfriend (Sophie), School Therapist, etc. We can't identify with Walt because his allegiance is already sworn from minute-one. Maybe Little Frank (Owen Kline, wonderful). Essentially it's a film about deprogramming Walt from his father's sway. I don't think the film entirely sells that deprogramming by including one therapist session where he remembers that his father wasn't ever there. But its one of the few Noah Baumbach films where it's admirable and ambitious that the protagonist (Walt) is such a little shit -- and a redeemable one at that.
It's also quite interesting that everybody in this film is in a holding pattern. There are so many scenes that I wish had been included but none of them would serve the story, which is largely the story of a shitty parenting decision that must run down the clock to its inevitable decision. The whole movie feels like joint custody. That said, there isn't really a wasted scene or moment. With its specificity of detail and economy of scene, I understand why it swept every groups' awards for Best Screenplay -- oh, and y'know, they probably watched this story happen from afar.
I think it's a little too brief. I'm missing something. And the ending doesn't quite pack the wallop it should. But it's very, very good. There are also scenes and line-readings that leap out as so Wes Anderson inspired (his E.P.), they feel like cut scenes from The Royal Tenenbaums.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
20th Century Women (2016) - 7.5/10 - Annette Bening stars as a single mother in 1979 Santa Barbara who is raising her 15 year old son, Jamie. in a fairly open and permissive manner. She is worried that she is not doing enough to help him become a successful man so she enlists the help of the young artist (Greta Gerwig) who rents a room in the house and her son's best friend (Elle Fanning). I thought that the performances were really good and while it seemed to lag a little at the end, it was an interesting and entertaining film.
Greyhound (2020) - 7/10 - Tom Hanks stars as the commander of a destroyer which is part of an escort for a merchant convoy crossing the Atlantic in 1942. They encounter a wolfpack of u-boats and have a harrowing 50+ hours before they are in reach of air cover again. I thought that it was a decent war movie - good, but not great. It is based on the book "The Good Shepherd" by C.S. Forester, which I enjoyed more than the film.
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) - 9/10 - Jasna Djuricic stars as Aida Selmanagic, a translator at the UN base outside of Srebrenica in July 1995. The Serb army is poised to invade despite a UN ultimatum. Aida does what she can to protect her husband and two sons along with others in the face of an impending massacre at the hands of the Serbs and the inability of the UN forces to protect anybody. This is a pretty powerful and tragic film set amidst the real event from the Bosnian War that some still deny. Djuricic does a great job and I think was worthy of a nomination for Best Actress, though I haven't seen the movies with those who actually got nominated to compare.
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - 7/10 - Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in this film about a man who supports himself along with his wife and child by marrying middle aged women and then murdering them for their money. He is successful for quite a while before the police start searching for him. He meets his match in the form of Annabella Bonheur (Martha Raye). It's a decent film, but I don't think it is in the same class as The Great Dictator and Limelight.
The Lobster (2015) - 7.5/10 - Single people in this world are taken to the Hotel where they have 45 days to find a partner that they have something in common with or else they are transformed into animals. I thought this was a strange movie, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The movie starts with David (Colin Farrell) moving into the hotel with his brother (a dog). We get to know a number of the other residents, each of whom has their own idiosyncrasies. The movie changes pace somewhat in the second half, but it is still good.
Brazil (1985) - 8/10 - Sam Lowry (jonathan Pryce) works for the government in a society that is heavily bureaucratic and totalitarian. They rely heavily on paperwork and antiquated machinery. Sam discovers an error made by the government in arresting the wrong man and looks into it while also pursuing the woman who frequents his dreams. Robert De Niro was really good in a supporting role and the rest of the cast in the strange world was also pretty good. The movie may not be for everyone and is kind of absurd and surreal (in other words typical Gilliam), but it is also entertaining.
Greyhound (2020) - 7/10 - Tom Hanks stars as the commander of a destroyer which is part of an escort for a merchant convoy crossing the Atlantic in 1942. They encounter a wolfpack of u-boats and have a harrowing 50+ hours before they are in reach of air cover again. I thought that it was a decent war movie - good, but not great. It is based on the book "The Good Shepherd" by C.S. Forester, which I enjoyed more than the film.
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) - 9/10 - Jasna Djuricic stars as Aida Selmanagic, a translator at the UN base outside of Srebrenica in July 1995. The Serb army is poised to invade despite a UN ultimatum. Aida does what she can to protect her husband and two sons along with others in the face of an impending massacre at the hands of the Serbs and the inability of the UN forces to protect anybody. This is a pretty powerful and tragic film set amidst the real event from the Bosnian War that some still deny. Djuricic does a great job and I think was worthy of a nomination for Best Actress, though I haven't seen the movies with those who actually got nominated to compare.
Monsieur Verdoux (1947) - 7/10 - Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in this film about a man who supports himself along with his wife and child by marrying middle aged women and then murdering them for their money. He is successful for quite a while before the police start searching for him. He meets his match in the form of Annabella Bonheur (Martha Raye). It's a decent film, but I don't think it is in the same class as The Great Dictator and Limelight.
The Lobster (2015) - 7.5/10 - Single people in this world are taken to the Hotel where they have 45 days to find a partner that they have something in common with or else they are transformed into animals. I thought this was a strange movie, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The movie starts with David (Colin Farrell) moving into the hotel with his brother (a dog). We get to know a number of the other residents, each of whom has their own idiosyncrasies. The movie changes pace somewhat in the second half, but it is still good.
Brazil (1985) - 8/10 - Sam Lowry (jonathan Pryce) works for the government in a society that is heavily bureaucratic and totalitarian. They rely heavily on paperwork and antiquated machinery. Sam discovers an error made by the government in arresting the wrong man and looks into it while also pursuing the woman who frequents his dreams. Robert De Niro was really good in a supporting role and the rest of the cast in the strange world was also pretty good. The movie may not be for everyone and is kind of absurd and surreal (in other words typical Gilliam), but it is also entertaining.
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/Kicking and Screaming/ (Noah Baumbach) - 7/10
A quick hop back to '95 from '98 (Mr. Jealousy) to see his first film and then onward...
Noah Baumbach's first film feels in the shadow of Whit Stillman, right down to the casting of Chris Eigeman. It's a young man's movie about four overly-educated post-grad friends who are paralyzed with indecision about taking that first step forward after college, and make observations along the way that range from pointed to obnoxious. I could chalk it up to a 90's thing that nothing much happens, but it is interesting to see Noah Baumbach's New Yorker detective lens applied to lazy Gen X-ers smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, making masturbation jokes ("Have you jerked off today?"), kicking over bongs, youthful hook up, and white mid-90s angst. He manages to create the necessary plot-points out of baby steps on, off, on, and off the metaphorical bus that would evade other filmmakers, and he lands it with a little more weight than expected (the airport scene that Mike D'Angelo wrote about in Scenic Routes).
Even if Baumbach didn't go onto bigger, better things, these 90 minutes make 1995 look good.
A quick hop back to '95 from '98 (Mr. Jealousy) to see his first film and then onward...
Noah Baumbach's first film feels in the shadow of Whit Stillman, right down to the casting of Chris Eigeman. It's a young man's movie about four overly-educated post-grad friends who are paralyzed with indecision about taking that first step forward after college, and make observations along the way that range from pointed to obnoxious. I could chalk it up to a 90's thing that nothing much happens, but it is interesting to see Noah Baumbach's New Yorker detective lens applied to lazy Gen X-ers smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, making masturbation jokes ("Have you jerked off today?"), kicking over bongs, youthful hook up, and white mid-90s angst. He manages to create the necessary plot-points out of baby steps on, off, on, and off the metaphorical bus that would evade other filmmakers, and he lands it with a little more weight than expected (the airport scene that Mike D'Angelo wrote about in Scenic Routes).
Even if Baumbach didn't go onto bigger, better things, these 90 minutes make 1995 look good.
"How's the despair?"
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Love and Monsters (Michael Matthews, 2020) 7/10
Old fashioned but imaginative coming-of-age adventure film set on a post-apocalyptic earth with massive creatures rampaging while pockets of human survivors hide from them in bunkers below the ground. The story revolves around a road journey undertaken by a cowardly and naive young man (Dylan O'Brien) to reach the love of his life from whom he became separated seven years before. She lives in a commune 80 miles away and separating them is the countryside infested by all manners of insects and animals transformed into gigantic size by radiation that showered down on earth during the apocalypse. The screenplay regurgitates elements from countless B-movies from the 1950s as the harrowing journey teaches the young man to put aside his fears as he learns about friendship and the will to survive while fighting for his life. Along the way he gets help from a dog and two adventurers - a little girl and a burly hunter (Michael Rooker). The film's raison d'être are the set pieces involving the creatures which come spaced at regular intervals as he battles giant centipedes, a massive frog, a shark-like creature that moves swiftly underground, poisonous leeches and a giant crab which plays a part during the film's spectacular conclusion. O'Brien is the heart and soul of the film who starts off as a bumbling nerd prone to freezing at the first sight of danger but surely and steadily takes on the mantle of a hero. He provides amusing gravitas to a film that could very easily have succumbed to camp. The creepy creatures earned the film an Oscar nomination for its visual effects.
Return of the Frontiersmen (Richard L. Bare, 1950) 6/10
MacRae's first of two westerns, right at the start of his very brief movie career - the second one ("Oklahoma") was huge and came at the end - is a routine oater. He gets to sing, of course, but the two songs come right at the start in quick succession before the film segues into it's mostly serious but predictable plot. The sheriff's son (Gordon MacRae) is framed for a killing and depends on a "friend" (Rory Calhoun) and a woman (pretty Julie London who doesn't get to sing) to help prove his innocence. Solid fast paced actioner has him in and out of jail, constantly getting chased by a posse, on the run with London as his hostage, involved in shootouts until the obvious conclusion followed by the obligatory clinch. The film's technicolor cinematography is a major plus.
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (Richard L. Bare, 1957) 6/10
Big screen Western quite interchageable with similar television oaters being simultaneouly shot on the Warners backlot. This is one of numerous Randolph Scott B-films which, despite the low budget and familiar plot, has a certain appeal mixing a revenge plot with comedy. It does not compare favourably with the many psychological Budd Boetticher-directed westerns Scott made during the same time period but this little forgotten gem has a charm of its own. An army veteran (Randolph Scott) and his two partners (James Garner & Gordon Jones) go up against a crooked businessman (James Craig) who has a small town under his greedy control. Plenty of shootouts, two plucky ladies - sweet but tough shopgirl (Angie Dickinson) and jaded saloon singer (Dani Crayne who sings "Kiss Me Quick") - many comic moments that are actually funny and the screenplay even throws in an Indian attack. Scott is stiff as usual but both Garner and Jones make a fine comic pair with the two actresses providing sex appeal.
Old fashioned but imaginative coming-of-age adventure film set on a post-apocalyptic earth with massive creatures rampaging while pockets of human survivors hide from them in bunkers below the ground. The story revolves around a road journey undertaken by a cowardly and naive young man (Dylan O'Brien) to reach the love of his life from whom he became separated seven years before. She lives in a commune 80 miles away and separating them is the countryside infested by all manners of insects and animals transformed into gigantic size by radiation that showered down on earth during the apocalypse. The screenplay regurgitates elements from countless B-movies from the 1950s as the harrowing journey teaches the young man to put aside his fears as he learns about friendship and the will to survive while fighting for his life. Along the way he gets help from a dog and two adventurers - a little girl and a burly hunter (Michael Rooker). The film's raison d'être are the set pieces involving the creatures which come spaced at regular intervals as he battles giant centipedes, a massive frog, a shark-like creature that moves swiftly underground, poisonous leeches and a giant crab which plays a part during the film's spectacular conclusion. O'Brien is the heart and soul of the film who starts off as a bumbling nerd prone to freezing at the first sight of danger but surely and steadily takes on the mantle of a hero. He provides amusing gravitas to a film that could very easily have succumbed to camp. The creepy creatures earned the film an Oscar nomination for its visual effects.
Return of the Frontiersmen (Richard L. Bare, 1950) 6/10
MacRae's first of two westerns, right at the start of his very brief movie career - the second one ("Oklahoma") was huge and came at the end - is a routine oater. He gets to sing, of course, but the two songs come right at the start in quick succession before the film segues into it's mostly serious but predictable plot. The sheriff's son (Gordon MacRae) is framed for a killing and depends on a "friend" (Rory Calhoun) and a woman (pretty Julie London who doesn't get to sing) to help prove his innocence. Solid fast paced actioner has him in and out of jail, constantly getting chased by a posse, on the run with London as his hostage, involved in shootouts until the obvious conclusion followed by the obligatory clinch. The film's technicolor cinematography is a major plus.
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (Richard L. Bare, 1957) 6/10
Big screen Western quite interchageable with similar television oaters being simultaneouly shot on the Warners backlot. This is one of numerous Randolph Scott B-films which, despite the low budget and familiar plot, has a certain appeal mixing a revenge plot with comedy. It does not compare favourably with the many psychological Budd Boetticher-directed westerns Scott made during the same time period but this little forgotten gem has a charm of its own. An army veteran (Randolph Scott) and his two partners (James Garner & Gordon Jones) go up against a crooked businessman (James Craig) who has a small town under his greedy control. Plenty of shootouts, two plucky ladies - sweet but tough shopgirl (Angie Dickinson) and jaded saloon singer (Dani Crayne who sings "Kiss Me Quick") - many comic moments that are actually funny and the screenplay even throws in an Indian attack. Scott is stiff as usual but both Garner and Jones make a fine comic pair with the two actresses providing sex appeal.
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People of the Wind (1976) - 8/10 - This documentary follows the migration of the Bakhtiari people in western Iran, one of the largest nomadic people still around. Every year, they spend 6-8 weeks traveling over the mountains in the spring from their winter pastures to their summer pastures. This film followed them through the entire journey, showing the troubles they run into, the interactions between people, and so on. They reverse the trip in the fall and there was a silent documentary back in the 1920s that covered one of those. This was a very good and interesting film. It seems like a tough way of life and I've read that many of the young people these days are leaving the nomadic life to live in cities.
Lone Star (1996) - 9/10 - Chris Cooper stars as a county sheriff named Sam Deeds who was likely elected in large part because his late father is a legend in town, having been sheriff for around 30 years. When an old skeleton is found at an old firing range, circumstances lead Sam to think that his father might have been behind the killing back in the 1950s. Cooper gives a very nice understated performance as he goes around in his role as sheriff and digging up secrets from the past. Elizabeth Peña is very good as the high school teacher/former sweetheart of Sam. The flashback sequences to the 1950s are worked in seamlessly and effectively with Matthew McConaughey as (then) deputy Buddy Deeds and Kris Kristofferson as Sheriff Charlie Wade. I loved the movie quite a bit.
Pennies from Heaven (1981) - 7/10 - Steve Martin is a song salesman named Arthur during the depression who is married to shy and unassuming wife. He has a fling with a schoolteacher while on the road and changes each of their lives. I didn't really care much for the story, though there is a lot to like in the film. Bernadette Peters does a really nice job as Eileen, the schoolteacher. There are lots of dance numbers with lip syncing and those were generally pretty good. I especially liked the one in the bank which captured the feel of those early '30s numbers very well and also the number with Eileen and her students in the classroom. The 'Follow the Fleet' number, the title song from the diner, and others were good too. Steve Martin did a good job, even if his character is a creep.
Emma (2020) - 7.5/10 - I wasn't really enjoying this film during the first half hour, but in retrospect that may have had more to do with Austen's story than the acting involved. Then I started liking the film quite a bit more and think it is a pretty good film overall. The costumes and settings are excellent and there are some pretty good performances here from Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Mia Goth, and others. This is my least favorite Austen novel, though I still thought it was very good and the film does it justice. I haven't seen the Paltrow version yet so I can't compare the two.
Lone Star (1996) - 9/10 - Chris Cooper stars as a county sheriff named Sam Deeds who was likely elected in large part because his late father is a legend in town, having been sheriff for around 30 years. When an old skeleton is found at an old firing range, circumstances lead Sam to think that his father might have been behind the killing back in the 1950s. Cooper gives a very nice understated performance as he goes around in his role as sheriff and digging up secrets from the past. Elizabeth Peña is very good as the high school teacher/former sweetheart of Sam. The flashback sequences to the 1950s are worked in seamlessly and effectively with Matthew McConaughey as (then) deputy Buddy Deeds and Kris Kristofferson as Sheriff Charlie Wade. I loved the movie quite a bit.
Pennies from Heaven (1981) - 7/10 - Steve Martin is a song salesman named Arthur during the depression who is married to shy and unassuming wife. He has a fling with a schoolteacher while on the road and changes each of their lives. I didn't really care much for the story, though there is a lot to like in the film. Bernadette Peters does a really nice job as Eileen, the schoolteacher. There are lots of dance numbers with lip syncing and those were generally pretty good. I especially liked the one in the bank which captured the feel of those early '30s numbers very well and also the number with Eileen and her students in the classroom. The 'Follow the Fleet' number, the title song from the diner, and others were good too. Steve Martin did a good job, even if his character is a creep.
Emma (2020) - 7.5/10 - I wasn't really enjoying this film during the first half hour, but in retrospect that may have had more to do with Austen's story than the acting involved. Then I started liking the film quite a bit more and think it is a pretty good film overall. The costumes and settings are excellent and there are some pretty good performances here from Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Mia Goth, and others. This is my least favorite Austen novel, though I still thought it was very good and the film does it justice. I haven't seen the Paltrow version yet so I can't compare the two.
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Tenet (2020) - 6/10 - Trying to save the world from a Russian oligarch with time reversing technology. I thought it was kind of boring, but not as bad (or as good) as I've heard from other...just okay. I enjoyed Inception a lot and perhaps I would have enjoyed this more had I seen it in the theater.
A Foreign Affair (1948) - 7/10 - John Lund portrays Captain John Pringle, an army office stationed in postwar Berlin. He is seeing a German nightclub singer (Marlene Dietrich) who may have ties to various Nazi officials in her past. He has to scramble when a U.S. Congresswoman from Iowa (Jean Arthur) comes to Berlin as part of a delegation and decides to investigate the singer. I thought it was a decent movie. Clearly not one of Billy Wilder's best (or Arthur's or Dietrich's for that matter), but pleasant enough.
Five Graves to Cairo (1943) - 7.5/10 - A British officer is left stranded in Egypt as the Germans advance early in WWII. He stumbles into a hotel, delirious from the heat and sun. When he regains his senses, he pretends to be a waiter at the hotel in order to stay free of the Germans who have since arrived to occupy the hotel. I thought that this was a pretty decent war film. I liked it more than A Foreign Affair, but not as much as many of Wilder's other directing efforts.
The Sky Above, The Mud Below (1961) - 4/10 - This documentary follows six Europeans and their bearers as they attempt to cross 450 miles of jungle and mountains in New Guinea. I found the narration to be very dull and the footage to be interesting at times, but usually not so much. The First Contact movie I watched recently was much more interesting.
Prince of the City (1981) - 7/10 - Treat Williams stars as Danny Ciello, a narcotics detective who (as some sort of penance) decides to cooperate with prosecutors investigation police misconduct. At first he refuses to implicate cops, especially his squad and friends. He is very cocky and wears a wire and also tells prosecutors about three times he did something wrong in his 11 years on the force. Things unravel over time as prosecutors push him to do more and start chipping away at his own conduct. They even try to pin the French Connection job on him. Danny isn't really a very likable protagonist and the film meanders on for far too long. There's some decent stuff here, but it is somewhat buried in the excess at times.
A Foreign Affair (1948) - 7/10 - John Lund portrays Captain John Pringle, an army office stationed in postwar Berlin. He is seeing a German nightclub singer (Marlene Dietrich) who may have ties to various Nazi officials in her past. He has to scramble when a U.S. Congresswoman from Iowa (Jean Arthur) comes to Berlin as part of a delegation and decides to investigate the singer. I thought it was a decent movie. Clearly not one of Billy Wilder's best (or Arthur's or Dietrich's for that matter), but pleasant enough.
Five Graves to Cairo (1943) - 7.5/10 - A British officer is left stranded in Egypt as the Germans advance early in WWII. He stumbles into a hotel, delirious from the heat and sun. When he regains his senses, he pretends to be a waiter at the hotel in order to stay free of the Germans who have since arrived to occupy the hotel. I thought that this was a pretty decent war film. I liked it more than A Foreign Affair, but not as much as many of Wilder's other directing efforts.
The Sky Above, The Mud Below (1961) - 4/10 - This documentary follows six Europeans and their bearers as they attempt to cross 450 miles of jungle and mountains in New Guinea. I found the narration to be very dull and the footage to be interesting at times, but usually not so much. The First Contact movie I watched recently was much more interesting.
Prince of the City (1981) - 7/10 - Treat Williams stars as Danny Ciello, a narcotics detective who (as some sort of penance) decides to cooperate with prosecutors investigation police misconduct. At first he refuses to implicate cops, especially his squad and friends. He is very cocky and wears a wire and also tells prosecutors about three times he did something wrong in his 11 years on the force. Things unravel over time as prosecutors push him to do more and start chipping away at his own conduct. They even try to pin the French Connection job on him. Danny isn't really a very likable protagonist and the film meanders on for far too long. There's some decent stuff here, but it is somewhat buried in the excess at times.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
First Contact (1982) - 8/10 - This documentary is about the first white men to venture into the highlands of New Guinea and make contact with the natives there. They were three brothers who were prospecting for gold in the early 1930s and they brought along a number of porters from the lowlands. The two surviving brothers (the third, Mick Leahy, died a few years before the documentary) are interviewed as are a number of natives from one of the villages. The natives were children or young adults at the time of first contact. Interspersed are pictures and film from the original expeditions. The natives interviewed had a pretty favorable memory of the expedition and the people. It was pretty interesting, especially the film from the 1930s and the interviews with the natives.
Love and Monsters (2020) - 8/10 - Seven years ago, the world became infested with all sorts of monsters which were mutated from existing animals. Joel Dawson is a 24 year old who has been living in an underground colony since that time, but he is basically useless in any kind of a fight so he never ventures outside. After reconnecting with his old girlfriend over the radio, he decides to make the 85 mile trip to reunite with her even though he has zero survival skills. The film follows his journey across the monster filled California landscape to the ocean. The visual effects were pretty cool and I thought that the movie was a lot of fun. It has a decent story, plenty of humor, a fair amount of action, and so on.
Love and Monsters (2020) - 8/10 - Seven years ago, the world became infested with all sorts of monsters which were mutated from existing animals. Joel Dawson is a 24 year old who has been living in an underground colony since that time, but he is basically useless in any kind of a fight so he never ventures outside. After reconnecting with his old girlfriend over the radio, he decides to make the 85 mile trip to reunite with her even though he has zero survival skills. The film follows his journey across the monster filled California landscape to the ocean. The visual effects were pretty cool and I thought that the movie was a lot of fun. It has a decent story, plenty of humor, a fair amount of action, and so on.