Sergio Leone Web Board
Other/Miscellaneous => Off-Topic Discussion => Topic started by: titoli on September 15, 2011, 05:59:28 AM
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I decided to open up a topic instead of posting in the rrpower's thread because this renders the search easier. (And I know that this will also make rrpower happy too).
Tyson (2008) A good documentary on Tyson. I give it 8\10 in spite of having only Tyson speaking about himself. I was never a fan of him (boxing starting and ending for me basically with Alì) but I could appreciate some short scenes of him trainng before being the champ where it is clear what was his principal athletic virtues: fastness of trunk, arms and head. The psychological aspects are not new to any Alì fan like myself still hearing them being extolled by Tyson is not so obvious; as it is discovering he's just as logorrhoic as Alì was.
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People around here think I have a huge ego. Thanks Titoli, for putting the matter into perspective. O0
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And I thank you for reading me.
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And I thank you for reading me.
I never said you were a bad writer.
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People around here think I have a huge ego. Thanks Titoli, for putting the matter into perspective. O0
Seconded. Maybe we can get the administrators to rename the board Shortsful-Of-Titoli.
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Seconded. Maybe we can get the administrators to rename the board Shortsful-Of-Titoli.
That's why you'll keep the thread high.
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Young Man With a Horn (1949) Good music (though DD sings too sugary), but the plot sucks. The Bacall-Douglas story doesn't work, badly built and develop, and so Douglas subsequent behaviour. 5\10
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Merrill's Marauders (1962) Chandler dies on the screen and few months later will die on a surgery table at 43. This movie is very good, probably not Fuller's best because still has some hollywoodish crap vignette one could rather do without, but worth a full 7\10, maybe more.
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The Perfect Storm (2000) Not so perfect special effects, though. And as this is based heavily on those, that means a lot. I don't like Clooney to boot. You learn something about fishing though, so I give it 5\10.
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Speed (1994) At the moment a more over the top movie than this doesn't come to mind. Sly must have felt ashamed when he saw it: all action, like he was never able to do. I don't like Keanu Reeves but Sandra Bullock makes up for it. 8\10
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(And I know that this will also make rrpower happy too)
Haha you think I care that you're not posting in my thread? The only kind of person who that would bother is someone who is enough of a giant wiener to think their opinions on certain movies is important enough to warrant its own discussion.
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RR is always an astute observer of the human condition, and this post is no different. Rather than engage others in discussion, Titoli would rather be in a corner by himself. Fair enough I suppose.
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RR is always an astute observer of the human condition, and this post is no different. Rather than engage others in discussion, Titoli would rather be in a corner by himself. Fair enough I suppose.
"titoli", not "Titoli"
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There's no need to humor titoli by extending this thread any more than necessary. This will be my last post in the thread. If I want to respond to something he says here I'll cut and paste it into the appropriate thread and deal with it there.
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There's no need to humor titoli by extending this thread any more than necessary. This will be my last post in the thread. If I want to respond to something he says here I'll cut and paste it into the appropriate thread and deal with it there.
Good. That will spare me an answer.
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After the Fox (1966) A good comedy, probably more for strangers than italian audiences. Sellers isn't able to impersonate convincingly an italian (even less roman) character: the most he can do is inadvertedly fall into his famous indi character. Still, when he first meets Mature he gives a great scene, impersonating not so much an italian director but rather a movie producer. Strangely Buzzanca is the only italian main actor to speak english (the italian version is rather different as to soundtrack). The title song of the movie is delicious. 7\10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viJipACkwBw&NR=1
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After the Fox (1966) A good comedy, probably more for strangers than italian audiences. Sellers isn't able to impersonate convincingly an italian (even less roman) character: the most he can do is inadvertedly fall into his famous indi character. Still, when he first meets Mature he gives a great scene, impersonating not so much an italian director but rather a movie producer. Strangely Buzzanca is the only italian main actor to speak english (the italian version is rather different as to soundtrack). The title song of the movie is delicious. 7\10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viJipACkwBw&NR=1
Its hilarious in spots, O0 O0 O0, "more sand, I need more sand in the desert"
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What's New Pussycat? (1965) Rather unfunny, with the exception of a couple of jokes. Great women (my favourite being uncredited Françoise Hardy) and great songs won't earn it more than 5\10.
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M:I-2 (2000) It never ends: 2 h when 80' would have been more than enough. I can't say I don't like Cruise as much as Di Caprio or Penn, but he's not an actor. And the girl is not that pretty, just young (How did she get the part?). Some good stunts and some nice views of Sydney earns it a dubious 6\10.
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M:I-3 (2006) Hailed as a "masterpiece" by an italian critic (Fellini's biographer, btw) in the blurb on the cover of the italian dvd, this is a great action movie, which made me want to watch it again. The action never relents and, just as important, it has continuous changes of scene. 8\10
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Spiderman 2 (2006) I don't understand why people making Marvel comics movies must think that they are making films. I think that what induces people to read the comics and watch the movies is the over the top action. Yes, Peter Parker may have problems, but in the comic books they occupy a couple of pages, in the movies they steal more than 2\3 of the time. So, of course, you need a smaller budget, but it's hard to repress yawns at Parker talking with aunt, uncle, would-be girlfriend and himself. One would like more of Jameson (at least me) who was more heavily featured in the old animated cartoons. 5\10
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Crimson Tide (1995) Absurd in every facet, it has though some brilliant dialogues, so it's worth a 6\10.
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The Roaring Twenties (1939) A romanticized version of the gangster movie, with some good songs, a great (as usual) Cagney and a good Gladys George. Bogart is impeccable in a secondary part. But there are 3 elements which (I haven't checked elsewhere to see if they were) maybe should be noticed:
1) Cagney pays singing lessons to a reluctant would-be fiancée
2) He dubs Bogart as "rosebud" in a dialogue
3) A kid is given a sleigh for a present
Uh? Anyway, 7\10
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Outland (1981) It is funny to see how state of the art computer technology was applied to a vision of a distant future. Still the movie is good, especially in the last scenes, though one wonders how moronic the second hired killer can be. 7\10
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Man on Fire (2004) 140' for an action movie are too many, at least 60' are disposable. The plot is quite simplistic but the mexican locales helps vivifying it. I can't see Washington as convinving in the role, he comes out better as a victim than as a killing machine, Walken is as good as always, same for Giannini. Dakota Fanning is prettier and can act better than Jodie Foster but I can't stand children in this kind of movies anyway. The OST sucks. 6\10
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The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) This is very good in the first half but rather drops down when action moves to "Paris". 6\10
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Li'l Abner (1940) Perfect rendition of the cartoon. If you like that you like this.
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Spiderman 3 (2006) Only edge it has on the other two is that there's no n.4 in view. 5\10
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Spiderman 3 (2006) Only edge it has on the other two is that there's no n.4 in view. 5\10
They're rebooting the series.
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They're rebooting the series.
: :'(
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Les diaboliques (1955) Excellenr thriller, with no pauses that keeps you intrigued till the very end. I don't like Signoret (how she was able to trap poor Montand still baffles me) but I suppose she was playing (jenkins would agree, I think) a butch dyke and so she was spot on. Meurisse does little but is wonderful as usual. And the others too. Vera Clouzot maybe was not such a good casting, but she was the director's wife and she was good looking (especially paired to SS). 8\10
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Le pacha (1968) Another good police story from France. It could have earned more than 7\10 if more room had been given to the parisian locales more space. Instead the look of the movie is a bit claustrophobic. Dany Carrel is quite palatable.
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Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) I read the novel and didn't like it so much. Then I saw the movie and wasn't enthused either. But this time, on a big screen and not dubbed, the movie is enjoyable, the 40's are well recreated and the story flows quite well. 7\10
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Belles of the NIneties (1934) Great in the first part with lots of one-liners and great songs (well executed by MW and the Ellington orchestra); but the second part relies heavily on the weak plot and it's no fun. 6\10
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The Heat's On (1943) The weakest and last (before the cameo in Myra Breckindridge) effort of Mae West is notable only for some musical number, especially those courtesy of Hazel Scott. 6\10
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La chute de la maison Usher (1927) This is considered a classic, but I think it is sometime a bit too draggy. It has some great images and it must be viewed anyway by cinema fans. 7\10
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Little Miss Marker (1980) One of the best Matthau's comedies. 8\10
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Klondike Annie (1936) I expected more from Walsh and West. I give it 6\10 only for the songs (West is a fine singer with a voice full of bluesy shades) and some West lines. McLaglen is good but his performance is marred by the fact that I expect him any moment starting playing the buffon as in Ford's westerns.
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I'm No Angel (1933) West's masterpiece, good from start to end. A pity she doesn't look pretty (or prettier) though she makes up for it by panache. 9\10
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She Done Him Wrong (1933) Twin movie of the former and not half as good. Some famous line and little more. 6\10
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Point Break (1967) I had seen rhis before in a cinema in the early '70's and then on tv and never understood why it was so highly reputed. I can see it has some editing tricks, Marvin's presence and some spectacular scene like Vernon's dive, but the plot is not too imaginative and the single turns not quite elaborated (it's a mystery why Marvin needs Dickinson to go to bed with Vernon and how easily he gets inside the building where Vernon is). So I give it 7\10.
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The Time Bandits (1982) A good kids movie, which could have been very good if more room had been given to humor- or maybe they tried to but didn't succeed. The Connery episode is clearly a steal from Fellini's Satyricon and Pasolini's Flower of 1001 nights . 7\10
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Point Break (1967) I had seen rhis before in a cinema in the early '70's and then on tv and never understood why it was so highly reputed. I can see it has some editing tricks, Marvin's presence and some spectacular scene like Vernon's dive, but the plot is not too imaginative and the single turns not quite elaborated (it's a mystery why Marvin needs Dickinson to go to bed with Vernon and how easily he gets inside the building where Vernon is). So I give it 7\10.
Should be Point Blank, no?
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Should be Point Blank, no?
Yeah, of course. :-[
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The Killer (1989) Overlong, overblown, over...you name it. I like the killer to be unromantic, I don't like him to make friends with policemen, though he may have a honour code. You have 3 mexican standoffs, 2000 dead men and yawning al the time. I give it 6\10 just out of generosity and because it may be interesting how these movies are or were made in China.
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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) A well-made flick, with good narrative rhythm and very good special effects by Harryhausen. 7\10
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The Avengers (1998) Yawny at the beginning, when based more on humor, it gets better with special effects taking the helm. I wasn't a fan of the series but I have the impression that it was much better than this, especially as Fiennes is anonymous. Thurman anticipates her Kill Bill role. 6\10
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King Rat (1965) A more "serious" approach to a Stalag 17 kinda story which ends up being not half as good, quite boring in the first half, actually. Segal is obviously miscast in a sob role, Courtenay plays his usual role of obtuse officer; Fox might be an excuse to argue the existence of a gay subtext. 5\10
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King Rat (1965) A more "serious" approach to a Stalag 17 kinda story which ends up being not half as good, quite boring in the first half, actually. Segal is obviously miscast in a sob role, Courtenay plays his usual role of obtuse officer; Fox might be an excuse to argue the existence of a gay subtext. 5\10
I didn't like this one much either.
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Baron Prásil (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen)(1961) I gave to the wartime german movie a 8\10 waiting to see again this one after 40 years. I can say that this is great entertainment and humor. Still, in view of the different production values, I raise to 9\10 the vote given to the Albers flick and give the 8\10 to this one.
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Ukradená vzducholod (1966) Not the best Zeman, though it has its merits. But there are some parts (like those of the children dealing with the pirates) which are quite boring and long. 6\10
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Na komete (On the Comet) (1970) One of Zeman's masterpieces. I'm not totally convinced by the chromatic decisions. More colour would have benefited the images. 8\10
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(http://www.dvd-store.it/Copertine/Grande/karelzemancollextion-sin.jpeg)
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S*P*Y*S (1974)This comedy made me laugh more than 99% of american comedies are able to do. Nostalgia? Maybe. I like so much the underdog duo Gould-Sutherland and Paris as locale. It took me back in time. I see that at IMDB reviewers are divided, as for Wild Bunch. :D 8\10
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The Living Daylights (1987) A good contender for worst Bond ever. 007 offers this time an entertainment for kids only, there's little (if any) violence and sex. The plot is boring, the action scenes uninventive, the villains unimpressive and the girl (D'Abo) is just a pretty face (that's the only naked part, with the hands, she shows of her body)0. The new Miss Moneypenny isn't pretty and can't act: how did she get the part? 4\10 only because is a Bond.
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Licence to Kill (1989) Aware that the emasculated Bond of the previous movie had no future they went for the opposite route this time and, for almost half movie, the succeeded. The torture scene of Leiter and the shark comes unexpected in a 007 movie. The intrudoctury scene and the following one of Bond attacking Zerbe's ship are among the best ever of the series. Unfortunately from then on the movie loses momentum and makes it hard to get to the end. 6\10
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Casque d'or (1952) I'd give 9\10 were it not for two elements: the absence of colour (any movie set in late 1900 Paris must be in colour: one associates it too readily with the painters of the age) and the protagonists. Signoret is said unanimously to be at the height of her beauty in this movie: which makes me wonder all the more what poor Montand found in her heavy-jowled, puffy face. Reggianoi, I don't know: he always looked to me like a walking zombie, who found his real dimension after he turned 50: he surely doesn't look like somebody experienced like casque d'or might fall for. But otherwise the movie is perfect. 8\10
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I compagni (The Organizer) (The Strikers) (1963) I remembered it as good, but it's better than that. It wasn't a hit in Italy (and probably elsewhere) because I presume it was supposed to be a comedy while it's not. I think that more comedy in the dialogues would have been profitable. 8\10
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Hellzapoppin' (1941) This is the very first movie I saw in english, early '70's. I had gone to the cineclub to see another movie (can't remember which one) but they had changed program as the reels hadn't arrived. I couldn't understand a line of dialogue except that of Mischa Auer "What a woman" which I anticipated yesterday, 40 years later (talk about memory...). I liked most of the musical numbers (notably the famous boogie ballet) and for me it is still the best "demential" comedy ever made. And Martha Raye got swell legs. 9\10
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(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51reFRvHGTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
An excellent collection of Scorsese's first 3 shorts (I had seen before only The Big Shave, but the other two are, not surprisingly, much better) and 2 documentaries. 8\10
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A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) This is a good introduction to movies for beginners. For other more experienced viewers may be a source for some unknown title (I personally caught a couple) to check. But I would like to check on Scorsese's other movie travel (on italian cinema) before assessing this one. Anyway well worth 8\10.
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Casualties of War (1989) Good war melodrama, marred by Penn's performance (probably one of his worst, though I still have to know if he ever did a best one) and a not very inspired score by the Maestro (his usual arpeggios and pedali, with pan flute OUTA-like numbers). Still the story is gripping and in spite of the flag waving at the end I give it 8\10.
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I liked Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon but not much else.
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The Party (1968) One of the two best collaboration between Sellers and Edwards. Doesn't make you ROTFL but it's funny throughout. 8\10
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La bete humaine (1938) This has a great performance by Simon: probably bought her the profitable (artistically) trip to Hollywood. One of the best performances by a female actress I remember, she plays very well on the nuances of her role in the same take. Gabin is excellent as usual and so the rest of the company with the exception of the director himself who can't play at all. The plot is a promising thriller which unfortunately turns to melodrama (and with little credibility at that: never heard of Gabin's hereditary illness before) which almost spoils it all. Atrocious OST. 8\10 only because of Simon.
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The Party (1968) One of the two best collaboration between Sellers and Edwards. Doesn't make you ROTFL but it's funny throughout. 8\10
I agree, I do like this one too, especially accidental the blowing up of the set by Sellers stepping on the plunger, I've always wondered if it was a sly reference to the premature blowing up of the bridge in GBU.
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I agree, I do like this one too, especially accidental the blowing up of the set by Sellers stepping on the plunger, I've always wondered if it was a sly reference to the premature blowing up of the bridge in GBU.
It's a gag taken from a Laurel and Hardy movie.
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The World of Henry Orient (1964) I don't know what they wanted to do with this: a comedy, a melodrama? they ended up doing both and failed at the mixture. I also suspect that Sellers was an added ingredient to a project in which he played a secondary part and producers exploited his presence. But the film doesn't work. An added minus is Lansbury's already bloated face. 5\10
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I agree, I do like this one too, especially accidental the blowing up of the set by Sellers stepping on the plunger, I've always wondered if it was a sly reference to the premature blowing up of the bridge in GBU.
The Party is the funniest movie I've ever seen. I relate. The spirit of the thing is captured by Jack Davis in the poster art, whose name some of you may recognize from Mad Magazine:
(http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/Party2-EnlargedPicture.jpg)
The full poster:
(http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a432/Richard--W/TheParty1968.jpg)
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Nice posters O0
My favorite Sellers films are of course The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, After The Fox, The Bobo, and this one, then the rest.
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Nice posters O0
My favorite Sellers films are of course The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, After The Fox, The Bobo, and this one, then the rest.
Being There?
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Being There?
I don't like it as much as those mentioned to tell you the truth.
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Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) The movie is great until Graziano meets his future wife. Then it veers toward melodrama and loses steam. Still it has good reenactements of Graziano's fights thanx to Newman who looks better on the ring than Ryan, Stallone or De Niro. He must have practiced before being an actor, I presume; or he was fast learning before the movie. Also, I laughed at 2-3 jokes. Everett Sloane is great as usual. I am not convinced throughout by his performance though. What does CJ thinks of his brooklyneese? 7\10
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Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) The movie is great until Graziano meets his future wife. Then it veers toward melodrama and loses steam. Still it has good reenactements of Graziano's fights thanx to Newman who looks better on the ring than Ryan, Stallone or De Niro. He must have practiced before being an actor, I presume; or he was fast learning before the movie. Also, I laughed at 2-3 jokes. Everett Sloane is great as usual. I am not convinced throughout by his performance though. What does CJ thinks of his brooklyneese? 7\10
I haven't seen it in a while, so I couldn't say :-\
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(The performance I'm referring to is Newman's not Sloane's).
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Adieu, poulet (1976) A good police thriller loosely based on a novel I reviewed in Groggy's thread. Not as good as his source but very good thanx to Ventura's perfomance. 7\10
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(The performance I'm referring to is Newman's not Sloane's).
I don't remember it well enough to comment on it.
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Decision Before Dawn (1951) This is one of the few wa.r movies that gave me the impression I was watching a documentary. The travel of Oskar Werner really materializes what it was like at the time during the winter of 1944. The only reproach towards the movie is that germans are made to talk in english, which downgrades the rating to 8\10. Awed, anyway.
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Decision Before Dawn (1951) This is one of the few wa.r movies that gave me the impression I was watching a documentary. The travel of Oskar Werner really materializes what it was like at the time during the winter of 1944. The only reproach towards the movie is that germans are made to talk in english, which downgrades the rating to 8\10. Awed, anyway.
That's a good one. O0
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Le cave se rebiffe (1961) I saw this dubbed, so I can't be fair towards it, I presume. As this has Audiard's dialogues it should be seen in french, but I couldn't find subtitles anywhere. It hasn't got the brilliance of Tontons, and much of the plot (very different from the novel on which the movie is based) is quite uneventful). 6\10
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btw did you notice Kinski's bit in Decision Before Dawn? I was surprised to see him in something so early.
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btw did you notice Kinski's bit in Decision Before Dawn? I was surprised to see him in something so early.
No, I wasn't surprised, I knew he was in movies at that time.
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Moulin Rouge (2001) It manages to be even worse than Across the Universe (of course, it has not the Beatles and Joe Cocker) and it has to carry Nicole Kidman in a sexy and singing role. I was about to turn off after 10 minutes and the first measures of Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, but having payed 2 euros for the special edition I forced me to arrive at minute 60. Then I ff to the end. 1\10
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So I guess you and I haven't seen any of the same movies over the past decade :P
You bet.
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The Public Enemy (1931) This has been one of my favourite movies ever since I watched it as preteen. Some of the scenes have stuck in my mind, especially the incredible (pre-code, I assume) final one, but also the killing of the horse or the grapefruit. In spite of the preachy scenes with the Cagney's brother this earns a 9\10.
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The Public Enemy (1931) This has been one of my favourite movies ever since I watched it as preteen. Some of the scenes have stuck in my mind, especially the incredible (pre-code, I assume) final one, but also the killing of the horse or the grapefruit. In spite of the preachy scenes with the Cagney's brother this earns a 9\10.
hey, so you and I have indeed seen some of the same movies! ;)
I really liked this one; IMO it is better than Little Caesar (1931) Scarface (1932), Dillinger (1945)
btw, Frayling has discussed (eg. in STDWD's chapter on OUATIA) how Leone believed that much of the stuff in The Hoods , other than the childhood stuff, was lifted from gangster films.
Well, there is an incident in The Hoods, from the bottom of p. 247 - p. 251, where "Noodles" goes back to his mother's apartment to visit her, (and he brings her money as well), but he gets into an argument with his brother, cuz his brother was giving him crap about his being a gangster, etc.
If Leone is correct that much of The Hoods was lifted from gangster films, I wonder if that part was lifted from similar parts of The Public Enemy.
(by the way, I a while ago I started a thread to list all the stuff we can find in The Hoods that is lifted from gangster films http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=10253.0 If you can think of anything, please chime in! )
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So while reading p. 247 of The Hoods, I just noticed this passage:
" We stood outside undecided how to kill the hour.
There was a small movie house next door, showing two thrilling cowboy pictures, "Destry Rides Again," and "A Bloody Trail." "
I never heard of ABT (and couldn't find it on imdb either), but DRA is a western from 1939 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031225/ (I haven't seen the movie, but) i have seen it discussed here.
I find this interesting because -- while I haven't read the book in a while,if I recall correctly, that is one of the only things that date the book, other than the fact that it begins in 1916:
There is no specific mention of dates in the book, but on page 10 (in the opening scene in the boys' classroom), they discuss their "election fire" they have in the neighborhood, "... We don't care who's elected, Wilson or Hughes, we have a big fire just the same..."
We know that's 1916, cuz the 1916 Presidential election featured Woodrow Wilson vs. Charles Evans Hughes. So other than the book beginning in 1916, I don't recall there being any way to tell dates; but Destry Rides Again dates it as happening in (or at least not before) 1939. Furthermore, that's just a bit more than halfway through the book, so if the chapters are written in chronological order, perhaps it ends much later than that (assuming the stuff about Destry Rides Again is even true, rather than part of Grey's imagination). Remember also, the book does not have the part about Old Noodles coming back; that's all added for the movie. The book only has the equivalent of the movie's first 2 sections, and ends with the part that is the movie equivalent of gangster Noodles leaving New York -- which in the movie is 1933. But based on this Destry Rides Again reference, the book would actually end much later than 1939 (again, if that stuff was even true in the first place ;D)
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The Public Enemy (1931) (pre-code, I assume)
Indeed. From wikipedia: An amendment to the Code, adopted on June 13, 1934, established the Production Code Administration (PCA) and required all films released on or after July 1, 1934, to obtain a certificate of approval before being released.
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But based on this Destry Rides Again reference, the book would actually end much later than 1939 (again, if that stuff was even true in the first place ;D)
Or if Grey's memory were reliable.
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Or if Grey's memory were reliable.
yeah, I find the chapter on OUATIA in STDWD particularly amazing; perhaps cuz that is the one movie that was made after Frayling already knew Leone, and Frayling may have been there for the production/planning (just a guess); and/or cuz more of those involved in the film were alive and well with fresh memories when STDWD was written (or perhaps this is all in my mind, cuz OUATIA may be my fave movie of all-time). Anyway, one of the awesome things Frayling explains in that chapter is how the storyline, particularly the 1960's part, and the dreamy-fantasy stuff grew out of Leone's meetings with Grey, a man who could be said to be living in a sort of fantasy world himself. So Leone based the movie character on his interpretation of Grey's life.
Therefore, IMO we can say that the Noodles character in the movie is based more on the real Harry Grey (rather than on the Noodles character of the book).
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La grande illusion (1937) First time I saw this on tv didn't like it at all. Now, on a big screen and in the original mish-mash of languages (and probably uncut) I liked it better, but still can't see no masterpiece. The idyll final part is boring and didascalic. Fresnay is excellent, Stroheim's english accent french is risible. 7\10
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La grande illusion (1937) First time I saw this on tv didn't like it at all. Now, on a big screen and in the original mish-mash of languages (and probably uncut) I liked it better, but still can't see no masterpiece. The idyll final part is boring and didascalic. Fresnay is excellent, Stroheim's english accent french is risible. 7\10
I like the plot with Fresnay and Stroheim. The stuff with the goofy subalterns I can do without.
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Varieté (1925) I don't know why this movie is so critically esteemed. The plot is as hackneyed as can be, the actors nothing special (Jannings playing as usual the murderous cuckold). What makes it remarkable - and in line with the movies produced in Germany between 1919 and 1933 is the photography, the angles and the editing. In my opinion those two elements are not enough to grant it more than 7\10 but the movie is fascinating in parts, especially those of music hall scenes.
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The Navigators (2001) A run of the mill Loach flick, good but not memorable. You wonder what it makes it worth watching instead of reading an article on the same subject. 7\10
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Carla's Song (1996) Zero degree of inventiveness, I am embarassed as to picking the worst feature in it. Maybe it's the song itself heard toward the end. 1\10.
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I'd never rate a movie 1/10; cuz if I was watching a movie that was that bad, I'd have shut it off after a few minutes (and I only rate movies I have watched fully) ;)
Well, I think I gave even a 0\10 in the past. The fact is that having bought a 5 dvd box-set by Loach and having watched the other 4 movies which were not so bad, I thought that I had to be fair and tortured myself to the end. Wrong procedure? Well, debatable. In the beginning the movie's action played in Glasgow and I was interested to see what's the city like, as I plan to get there.
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Lone Star (1996) The detection part is just an excuse for a study of characters which could have been profitably shortened. But the stories are interesting and some dialogues (the one between the colonel and the girl soldier) are brilliant. 7\10
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The Twelve Chairs (1970) This is a comedy which didn't make me laugh once. Still it is viewable once because of the rhythm and Moody's performance. The ending is among the saddest I ever saw in a comedy. Odd that it was produced a year after 12+1. Having seen the Tate's movie before I was inclined to think this was the same movie. 6\10
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High Anxiety (1977) An hommage to Hitchcock which just doesn't click except, maybe, for the shower scene. The Zucker bros. were more disinhibited than Brooks and I prefer their style of spoof. 5\10
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Silent Movie (1976) This is one of the best Brooks, with a good rhythm and a good OST. Fans of old slapstick might appreciate it though better than newbies. And it doesn't make you rofl anyway. 7\10
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Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part I (1981) Same as High Anxiety: not funny enough to justify the vision, if you're looking for comedy. Had it been all on the level of the Inquisition musical part it might have worked, but the prehistoric, Roman times and French Revolution parts didn't make me laugh and are quite uninventive. 5\10
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War and Peace (1964) This is the Kolossal to beat all kolossals and it's worth watching even if you don't want to sit the almost 7 hours of the complete edition. Unfortunately the restoration of the original negatives wasn't enough to grant the spectacular colours the movie must have had originally and the night and indoors scenes suffer from this. But the battles (with thousands and thousands of Red Army soldiers engaged for the task) , the parties and the fire of Moscow sequence cannot but grant it a 8\10.
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Goldeneye (1995) The first Brosnan Bond is worth watching only for the title song and the tank chase in St. Petersburg, the rest you've seen it all (and better) before. 6\10
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Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) This is one of the best Bond ever in the central part, with great action scenes. The car chase in the german garage is one of the best sequences ever in the series. Unfortunately it is marred by you've-seen-it-all-before beginning and too stretched out ending, with the title song one of the worst ever. 7\10
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To Be Or Not To Be (1983) I saw the original Lubitsch movie too long ago (and dubbed and on the small screen) to be able to make comparisons but the story works here too, the mechanism being perfect. Brooks for once is convincing as an actor, Bancroft is past Mrs Robinson's prime but adequate, Durning miscast, the other ones good. 7\10
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Life Stinks (1991) And this flick too. No well, it isn't that bad, the first scenes with Brooks bumming being quite interesting and funny. But with Lesley Ann Warren entering the scene it falls into you've-seen-it-all-before and it's not quite funny to grant a vision. 5\10
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Young Frankenstein (1974) I saw it when it first came out and wasn't so enthusiastic then. But I saw it dubbed and that is a great disadvantage. Now, almost 40 years later, I see that it is a sort of classic, though it isn't the kind of no-holds-barred comedy I prefer. And Gene Wilder does nothing for me: he's not a good comedian. This thrives on Feldman-Leachman-Mars performances which should have earned them a triple nomination like it had happened for The Godfather. And I think that, for once, Brooks (who delivers his best - only?- directorial performance, Blazing Saddles not being as professional as this one) should have played the Hackman (I'm still not convinced it's him playing! ;D) blindman role. 8\10
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Young Frankenstein (1974) I saw it when it first came out and wasn't so enthusiastic then. But I saw it dubbed and that is a great disadvantage. Now, almost 40 years later, I see that it is a sort of classic, though it isn't the kind of no-holds-barred comedy I prefer. And Gene Wilder does nothing for me: he's not a good comedian. This thrives on Feldman-Leachman-Mars performances which should have earned them a triple nomination like it had happened for The Godfather. And I think that, for once, Brooks (who delivers his best - only?- directorial performance, Blazing Saddles not being as professional as this one) should have played the Hackman (I'm still not convinced it's him playing! ;D) blindman role. 8\10
O0
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Le mystére Picasso (1956) Fascinating movie on Picasso at work. Watching each painting developing from start to finish is engrossing because Picasso never starts with a definite idea of what the final result will be. The last painting is actually a failure as he is not satisfied with the result and cancels it in spite of endless reworkings. 10\10
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Le mystére Picasso (1956) Fascinating movie on Picasso at work. Watching each painting developing from start to finish is engrossing because Picasso never starts with a definite idea of what the final result will be. The last painting is actually a failure as he is not satisfied with the result and cancels it in spite of endless reworkings. 10\10
The Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan ( http://www.hakone-oam.or.jp/english/ ) has a pavillion in which the film plays continuously (which is where I first saw it).
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The Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan has a pavillion in which the film plays continuously (which is where I first saw it).
Where did you second see it?
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At the museum (been there more than once). But I have the DVD now.
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My Forbidden Past (1950) This is more a movie of actors with some good dialogues but all of them miscast because of their ages. Yes, Gardner is at the height of her beauty and Janis Carter is not far behind, but Mitchum and Douglas (who delivers a great performance) look old for their part. It's impossible to think that Carter would leave Mitchum for Douglas who looks on the verge of death any second. 7\10
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She Couldn't Say No (1954 )This is where you find "a child actor of the period who doesn't get on one's nerves." I wonder why so much is made of the Katharine Hepburn - Cary Grant comedies and not much about a classic like this, where you have a prettier girl who can play and a better script. 8\10
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The Producers (2005) A musical should be judged successful first on the songs. Then on coreographies and the script. This has no noteworthy song (all written by Mel Brooks, which does explain why they are not that good), no great jokes and no great leads. Still the idea of the nazi musical still has some bite, Uma Thurman at last looks sexy and the coreographies are very good. 7\10
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In Which We Serve (1942) I expected less from this which on the contrary it has a good script and some memorable scenes (like the blitz heard in the apartment and some scenes near the raft). I don't like Coward's performance: he shoots his lines too fast. 8\10
Here the complete movie:
http://www.archive.org/details/In_Which_We_Serve
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Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Cagney was awarded for this. Inevitably. The biopic is rather unoriginal, the musical numbers are good but not memorable like some Astaire's or Kelly's, the music is not up to what later served by the great american Broadway composers, but Cagney makes it a must watch it anyway. 9\10
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The Sound Barrier (1952) Couldn't have done worse in Hollywood. 4\10
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This Happy Breed (1944) The story is nothing worth remembering, just a series of vignettes inserted in the two WWs in-between years. Good performances by Johnson, Newton and Walsh (Mills looks too old for the part for a good 2\3 of the movie). I wonder why they shot this in colour. 7\10
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Spot on for both of those. O0
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The World Is Not Enough (1999) Probably the worst of all Brosnan's Bond. All action is mostly imbued in darkness or grey, the plot is mostly imenetrable and the villains are small stuff. Sophie Marceau could have been a plus but she was here past her prime already. 5\10
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Die Another Day (2002) It has too many ups and downs (one being Berry: how somebody could have the nerve to include her in a most beautiful women crap list is beyond me: probably a relative of hers) and the idea of the invisible car (though apparently not far from reality) is not well exploited. Cleese is a wonderful substitute for Llewellyn, but why one has to put up with an ugly Moneypenny?6\10
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Dive Bomber (1941) This is worth a watching both for the unusual Flynn character, too tame for his standards, and for some spectacular scene. Along the same lines will be followed, ten years later by The Sound Barrier, not brilliant and lively like this though. 7\10
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The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp (1943) A great movie. Can't understand all the fuss about being pro-german, while it should have been remarked that it is ferociously (though elegantly) anti-nazi. I didn't know what to expect from it and was surprised at each turn of the story, though it is far from being an experimental movie. 8\10
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A Matter of Life and Death (1946) A great beginning (the dialogue between Niven and Hunter) but then it turns into a Heaven Can Wait weak comedy. Some of the sets of the "heaven" part are, sure, remarkable, but that doesn't help saving one from boredom. 6\10
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The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp (1943) A great movie. Can't understand all the fuss about being pro-german, while it should have been remarked that it is ferociously (though elegantly) anti-nazi. I didn't know what to expect from it and was surprised at each turn of the story, though it is far from being an experimental movie. 8\10
Titoli, who replaced you with a sensible person. O0
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Khartoum (1966) I usually give this kind of biopics 7\10, but I give this 6\10 because from a movie in cinerama I expect more from a spectacular pov and this doesn't deliver like Zulu does. About the leads, I don't know if the choices were right.
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That movie wins some sort of prize for the most nonsensical narration ever recorded.
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49th Parallel (1941) Uh? Funny in the premise (Nazis in Canada) it is a chance for some of the worst performances by some english actors I do not usually put up with when they' are at their best, Olivier winning a raspberry for his french canadian trapper role. Massey: somebody here was wondering who he was when I reviewed his Lincoln flick, seems he was very active with Powell in those years, the problem being he continues playing Lincoln anyway. Still a kind of curiosity, worth watching at least once for its weirdness. 6\10
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The Battle of the River Plate (1956) I have always had a natural anthipathy for Quayle and here all the more as I think he shows all his inabilities as an actor, making some mistakes in his portrayal of a high officer. More tolerable as a NCO. Finch is superb, and we finally discover what M was doing before becoming 007's chief. Still the battle, though not a bore, is far from exciting as you never know what manoeuvres are being made. So the choice of depicting it only from the british side is can be original but in the end not interesting enough to give this more than 6\10.
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Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) I realized I had watched this movie eons ago thanks to the goat scene: I had wondered for decades what movie that could be...It fails because Powell is unable to decide between action and comedy, being very good in the first and mediocre in the second. Theodorakis's score is good. 7\10
The problem with all these war movies made by Powell is that the germans are fluent in english, speaking it even between themselves. That takes from them much credibility.
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I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) And also the viewer knows where the movie is going. A pity because though the love story is badly managed (one can't see what Hiller can find in Lovesey, or at least so much to make her abandon her wedding plans) the visuals are intersting, especially the storm at sea sequence. The highly original opening credits had made me hope for something better. 6\10
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I though that chick with the dogs Pamela Brown looked pretty good O0
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I though that chick with the dogs Pamela Brown looked pretty good O0
Yeah, a bit on the Ella Raines line, uh? And Petula Clark is so much different from her adult self: she got better, luckily for her.
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The Glenn Miller Story (1954) Mann couldn't do anything about the script which simply sucks. Stewart gives one of his worst performances ever: I'm beginning to think that his dubbed voice did great things for his consideration this side of the Atlantic. And he and Allyson are embarrassingly old for the part in the first half. But the second half on the movie, all based on Miller's hits, makes this a must for every jazz fan. I was actually amazed by the fact that it was in colour, cinemascope and stereo. Especially the clarity of sound is awesome when compared to other movies of the era (in facts that earned the movie an Oscar ). 4\10 for the story part, 10\10 for the music.
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The Benny Goodman Story (1956) This was written and directed by the writer of the Glenn MIller flick above but strangely the quality of sound isn't the same though very good. The story is less trivial than the former though it won't earn kudos for originality. But the fact that Donna Reed is spectacular to watch and Allen doesn't ham it like Stewart did as Miller make it a much better movie. The music is good throughout and better distributed than in Miller's movie. 8\10.
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Une affaire de goût (2000) I bought the dvd thinking it was some kind of thriller and the first half of the movie confirmed the impression. Unfortunately the story veers toward the Servant kind of ambiguous relationship master-servant (though here is reversed) without the original's subtleties. Not my kind of movie. 6\10
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Ghosts On The Loose (1942) Lame attempt at comedy by the East End (no more-) Kids, with a Gardner pretty but little visible and a Lugosi as chief of a Nazi spy gang of bums. 4\10
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The Devil Bat (1940) I wonder if people were thrilled by this stuff 70 years ago. I presume they were. I love this crap because it really it is never ashamed of going over the top, though once you've seen what the plot is about after 10 minutes you start to yawn. But Lugosi at work creating monster bats and the perfume trick will elicit at least a smirk from most. 6\10
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Man Hunt (1941) The story is heavily based on moronic assumptiog hasns which are so hard to digest in a movie so much connected to reality. That somebody might get near to Hitler in Obersalzberg and have it in the lens of his telescopic gun is ridiculous, but well. let's concede it for storytelling's sake. But the finale goes beyond whatever might have been created at Republic or Monogram in the same years. Still the movie thrives on the London recreated scenes and though, as usual, Bennett is impersonating for Lang with little credibility a prostitute (Lang must have had some kind of kink about this actress) her farewell scene with Pidgeon is worth alone watching the movie. 7\10
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The Rock (1996) Great action courtesy of Connery and Harris. Cage sucks as usual but is second banana in this and doesn't hurt much the result. 7\10
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Under Siege (1992) The last good Seagal. Memorable boobs offered by Eleniak whose female presence doesn't intrude at all in the plot development. Busey is good but TLJ is too over the top and his physical presence looks diminutive near to Seagal's. 7\10
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Ransom (1996) Good thriller. 7\10
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Becket (1964) Another Pamela Brown flick, CJ. She maintains herself well. Unfortunately she shows just her face. This movie is good for the script based on a Anouilh's pièce I haven't read (but will) and for O'Toole's performance: his finest hour? Burton's is his usual wooden self, he gives nothing to the character. Funny hearing Cervi reciting in english (Stoppa is dubbed: judging by his lips movement he recited in english, though) . I first saw this on tv in b&w. 8\10
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I read a very bad translation of the play which included Henry II spouting off such gems as "Show me the money!" I'm sure a better version exists, but based on that I'd say the film was an improvement.
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O'Toole got the Golden Globe but the Osca went to Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady (a movie I haven't found the courage to watch yet). I presume the real competion should have been with Sellers for Strangelove: that would have been a tough decision to make: maybe the award to Harrison was an escape route, if I didn't know better about hollywood workings.
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Harrison was easily the best thing about My Fair Lady, but better than Sellers, O'Toole AND Burton? Definitely not. O'Toole apparently did something to piss off the Academy (his drinking perhaps?) as he never won despite getting repeatedly nominated for (mostly) deserving performances. I probably would have given Burton the Oscar for this one though.
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The Reivers (1969) I saw this one when first released and didn't make much of it, probably because I thought it was a McQueen movie. The star is actually Mitch Vogel and McQueen I'm not even sure comes second in order of importance. And anyway his performance is not well-suited to the half-comedic style of the movie. But the movie is well-paced, with lots of good scenes and manages to shy away from the risk of falling into the cheap melodrama most of this kind of hollywood products does. I'm curious to know if it was thanks to the Faulkner's source or to the screenplayers. 8\10
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The Hill (1965)This is one of the best movies ever as to actors performances. Hard to pick one as the best, none excepted. The direction is great. What doesn't work is the story: you end up having all the answers. Which doesn't happen in the first part, of, say, FMJ or, even more, in the play (and movie) that might have been an inspiration for this, i.e. The Brig. Still almost every scene (probably only the finale is trivial) is powerful, dominated by all the characters which happen to find themselves in the image. 8\10
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Spoils of War (2010) Fidani clone in the new Millennium. Worst war movie produced in the last 50 years? Reviews at IMDB concur on this evaluation. I spent 1 euro to buy the dvd in Paris and I deeply regret it. They ought to pay you to watch it. 1\10
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My Sister Eileen (1955) This kind of musicals are good as long as there is a good score. Here there's none. In the Jule Styne's collection of sheet music I own, including almost a hundred songs, there's not a single one culled from MSE, which is just too right. The casting is mediocre: Betty Garrett is too old for the part, Lemmon doesn't belong there, Janet Leigh is just pretty and does her routine but is not memorable. So the only thing to save is Robert (not yet Bob) Fosse's dancing numbers. His duet with Tommy Rall is worth watching and reminded me, guess what, of FFDM ;D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uFFGN5iZQY&feature=related
Fosse also plays perfectly his part. 5\10
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Män som hatar kvinnor (2009) One of the best serial killer movies I ever saw. Apart from the fundamental incredibility of the girl managing to have to do with sexual maniacs throughout her life, it has the great advantage of having swedish actors and landscapes and not the usual american ones. The multiple endings are effective. 8\10
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Under Siege 2 (2005 ) I was wrong when I said that number 1 was the last good Seagal: this is just as good thoough it takes it 3\4 of an hour to get going. 7\10
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Play it Again Sam (1972) The only Woody Allen movie I like, though I stopped watching them after Annie Hall. This is funny, which is all a Allen movie is meant to be. 8\10
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Tango and Cash (1989) lightweigh effort by the all involved, actors and director. Russell is playing a part meant for Mel Gibson and is quite goofy. Stallone is not brilliant as the part requires himtoo to be (but that is no news). 6\10
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Drôle de drame ou L'étrange aventure du Docteur Molyneux (1937)
Sadoul says that the screenplay by Prevert is much better than the movie, as Carné was still fresh at directing. What this comedy lacks is rhythm and maybe some of the actors aren't so good at comedy (Jouvet for one). This should have been re-made at Ealing in the following decade with Guinness, Morley and the other ones and it would have been a masterpiece. Still it's worth a 7\10 for his strangeness. The french dvd below has english subs.
(http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE0MTk2NjM0MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODUzMzA5._V1._SY317_CR3,0,214,317_.jpg)
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Mon petit doigt m'a dit... (2005) This is based on a Agatha Christie novel but, thank God, the action is moved to France. I haven't read the novel yet (I will in the next days) and can't make comparison. But for a good 4\5 the movie is highly enjoyable. The finale and the solution though are too incredible, especially the fact that the female amateurish investigator does her best to get killed without succeding. Still she is one of the main interests of the flick. 7\10
(http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/949/17867229nj1.jpg)
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Død snø (2009) The Nazizombies, yeah. Very entertaining with a good rhythm and original solutions to well-known plot twists and situations. A pity the songs in the soundtrack had no subtitles. 8\10
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Age of Consent (1968) Bah, rather weak melodrama. Embarrassing. I save partly the Mirren's buttocks. 5\10
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Age of Consent (1968) Bah, rather weak melodrama. Embarrassing. I save partly the Mirren's buttocks. 5\10
O0
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THe House Russia (1990) Rather plodding spy thriller, saved only from Connery's performance. Pfeiffer is ridiculous as a russian. 5\10
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Rising Sun (1993) Good thriller enhanced by Connery's presence. 7\10
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Otets Sergiy (1917-1918) Considered the best movie of pre-revolutionary Russia, it is still a pleasant watching thanx to the Tolstoj source and the Mozzhukhin's performance. 8\10
(http://s3.static69.com/m/image-offre/8/8/9/a/889a446110f4c53334f82808d6e535c4-300x300.jpg)
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Pikovaya dama (1916) A good rendition of Pushkin's source, though I can't say once youknow the plot you want to see it again. 7\10
(http://s3.static69.com/m/image-offre/b/2/f/0/b2f04bd57fe0949836ccccd145ba3da6-300x300.jpg)
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Chiny i lyudi (1929) Delicious transposition of 3 Cechov's stories: makes you want to read the literary sources (i tried once but found them boring after a couple of pages). 8\10
(http://s3.static69.com/m/image-offre/f/4/f/8/f4f85838d8b5963145d294428386178c-300x300.jpg)
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Privideniye, kotoroye ne vozvrashchayetsya (1929) Piece of crap worth only for the design of the jail, reminiscent of german expressionism. 4\10
(http://media.potemkine.fr/img/produit/1929/3760054369702_privideniye_kotoroye_ne_vozvrashchayetsya.jpg)
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Le mystère de la chambre jaune (2003) Not very imaginative version of Leroux's classic. To be seen if you don't want to read the novel and are curious about one of the locked room classics. The french dvd has english subs. 6\10
(http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/2613/themysteryoftheyellowro.jpg)
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Arsenal (1929) I didn't follow the storyline for a good 80% of the movie lenght. But the images and the superfast editing were sometime breath-taking. Some Leonish (guess that!) traits: a half-man (half-soldier?) crossing a street; and the faces with scrapped dentures were as impressive as any. 8\10
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Yagodka lyubvi (1926) This brilliant comedy burlesque short is as good as any average-plus american counterpart by the great ones like Chaplin or Keaton. And much more cinical: no love lost towards infants! 8\10. It is included as a bonus in the Arsenal dvd by Bach Films:
(http://silent-dvd.net/images/jaquettes/zone2/arsenal_bachfilms.jpg)
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Der Amerikanische Freund (1977) In the dvd are included some 30' of cut scenes that can be seen in sequence. And, that's the point, could be easily added to the movie without any consequence. The fact is that Wender' movies could last 30' or 30h, the result would be the same. This movie has, though, some features that makes worthwhile the vision compared to other works by the same director: Ganz's performance and the Highsmith's plot. 7\10
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Twenty-Six Commissars (1933) Heavy propaganda movie which takes some air towards the end with the sequences of workers in the oil fields and with the execution in the desert of the people of the title. 5\10
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Twenty-Six Commissars (1933) Heavy propaganda movie which takes some air towards the end with the sequences of workers in the oil fields and with the execution in the desert of the people of the title. 5\10
I assume this is based on the British occupation of Baku?
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I assume this is based on the British occupation of Baku?
Yep. Actually it is the more interesting part of the movie (historically speaking) as I hadn't any former knowledge of those events.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51o7S80uHAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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It was remade in 1966:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKb4Bk7kkjU
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Thanks titoli, I wasn't aware of either film. O0 Peter Hopkirk talks about this incident in one of his books.
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The Young Lady and the Holligan (Baryshnya i khuligan) (1918) Unredeemable piece of crap courtesy of Vladimir Mayakovsky, from an half-unknown italian story. Here the poet performs as an actor too and enough to say that his playing performance is infinitely better than his work as a screenplayer. This story should have lasted no more than 12' but they made it last 45'. But even at 12' it wouldn't have been worth salvaging anyway. 3\10
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Chess Fever (Shakhmatnaya goryachka) (1925) Delicious burlesque comedy short by Pudovkin, as good as Yagodka lyubvi. That makes me want to check on other russian comedies of the time, like those by Barnet. 8\10
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The Sailors of Kronstadt (My iz Kronshtadta) (1936) Good war movie about the civil conflict in 1919, when the white guards led by general Jagoda tried to capture the then called Pietrograd. To be noted the absence of musical background (though there is some music plotwise). A famous sequence: that of the sailors executed by drowning. 7\10
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Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) To be saved for some scenes with Cagney's performance, of course. 6\10
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The Mother (1926) It still displays some of the features which induced many to consider it one of the best movies ever made: the strenght of some images (the escape on the floes, e.g.) and the masterful editing. But the story it is too propagandistic to be convincing. 7\10
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Happiness (Schastye) (1935) A kind of comedy with realistic and surreal traits, it reminded me of some work by De Sica. Not completely succesful but a must see anyway. 8\10
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I Walked with a Zombie (1943) Probably the weakest of the trio produced by Lewton at RKO (the finale makes you wonder why the younger brother hadn't thought of it before) but still with many factors to recommend it, as the use of the sound. BTW, there's already a hit of the '60's (Shame and Scandal in the Family) put to use, though with different lyrics. 7\10
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The Leopard Man (1943) This is the one of the three Tourneur I hadn't seen before and it is excellent except for the finale, which is resolved too simplistically, without leaving anything to doubt. That's why Cat People is probably superior (though more than twenty years have passed since I saw it). Another masterful use of sound. Probably will be recycled as a noir. 8\10
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Kinoglaz (1924) Probably one is not strcken by Vertov's method after years of videoclips and commercials. But the techniques are all there, especially in Chelovek s kino-apparatom , which I saw more than 20 years ago in a cinema. Here there is less adventurous (for the time) editing but some of the subjects in front of the camera are still amazing, as the "awakening of a cocainomane" or the shooting in a madhouse. That's what earns this a 7\10 anyway.
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Scandal (1950) This Kurosawa starts as a good drama but then, after the lawyer makes his appearance, verges into melodrama, with some embarrassing scenes like the Xmas in the home of the lawyer. And it is too long, marred by the actor plaqying the lawyer who exaggerates his being a "worm" trying to imitate the animal. 6\10
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The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945) Men on a mission short movie by Kurosawa who manages to have results shooting in a studio, basing effects on dialogues and suspense. 7\10
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The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Reading a book on Kurosawa, Hamlet it is quoted as an inspiration for this movie. But from the first it is clear that the real starting point was the revenge part of Count of Montecristo, so much so that even an episode is culled directly from that source. This is an overlong melodrama, interesting at the start (the wedding party it is said to have been an inspiration for Coppola's Godfather's scene); also, the funeral scene is worth watching: but that, just as in Dumas's novel, it is going nowhere after a half hour, once you know what the case is all about. 150' are just too many. And all the preaching about the gangster politics of big concerns just are boring.6\10
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Red Beard (1965) A series of extended Dr Kildare-like episodes woven into an overblown (3 hours) melodrama about a japanese hospital in early 1800 Tokio (which hadn't that name yet). Yes, there are some good scenes, but you don't want to see them a second time. 6\10
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No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) Amazing. I don't remember having seen anything like this before the '60's. And all the more so as it is coming from a non-political director like K. But the most amazing side of the movie is the portrait of the female protagonist and her personal mal de vivre. 9\10
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One Wonderful Sunday (1947) A good, De Sica-inspired, movie for the first part, until the scalpers episode. But after the at home part and the veering into the open-eyed fantasy, it becomes boring. Add to that the ugliness of the girl and you have a generous 5\10.
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Dodes'ka-den (1970) A series of stories set ina japanese bidonville. Some better come off than the others, but on the whole it is entertaining if you like minimalistic narratives. 7\10
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The Most Beautiful (1944) Awful propaganda movie which can be watched though to try to understand how the japanese mind works (or used to)). 4\10
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Camicia nera (1933) Propaganda half-fiction, half-documentary flick which depicts italian vicissitudes before and after the IWW which led to Fascism and to how malary-infested lands were rescued and put to use for agricolture. Mussolini, in a final speech held in the newly built town, proves definitely who was the best comedian in Italy at the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn81ysnsBzU&feature=related
5\10
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Three Songs About Lenin (1934) Not the best Vertov, as the movie is interesting under a documentary point, more than the aesthetic one. But still is worth watching by people who are interested in Revolutionary Russia. 6\10
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Why We Fight (1942) I saw the first 2 episodes of the series and I much admired them. The rhythm is fast, the reconstruction of military events (the Poland invasion) clear, the few reconstructed scenes with actors not obtrusive (italo-americans dressed up as fascist speaking with a heavy american accent). I always hesitated about watching this, but I think I'll watch the other episodes too. 8\10
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Sanshiro Sugata 2 (1945) Kurosawa invented even the martial arts genre, apparently. This has all the ingredients of the movies to be in the 70's, even something of the Rocky series. And greatly anticipates the farce of the Inoki-Ali crap. Of course the spectacularity and the fast editing are not there: but the basics are all included. 7\10
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The Tales of Hoffman (1951) I'm not enthusiastic about thie Offenbach's work and I can't say that the Powell's visuals are exceptional, Talking about opera, the Ponnelle's work for Rossini and Monteverdi are rather more exciting. Anyway 6\10 for I like Tcherina.
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Chair de poule (1963) Good noir set in the south of France based on a James Hadley Chase's novel. Vaguely based on Cain's Postman it follows the genre's main rule that anything that can go wrong it does. But the twists of the plot sometime come unexpected so in the end it is entertaining. 7\10
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Le soleil des voyous (1967) I was amazed watching Robert Stack saying his lines in french, though being dubbed. then I learned that his mother tongues were french and italian: he learned english later: guess that.
Anyway this is a good caper movie, didn't expect so much. If you add the added attraction of one of my favourite actress (Margaret Lee) this makes it a solid 7\10.
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Du Rififi chez les Hommes (1955) First caper-movie and still a great title in the canon. The last 3 minutes with the race toward Paris make me give it a point more. 9\10
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The Tales of Hoffman (1951) I'm not enthusiastic about thie Offenbach's work and I can't say that the Powell's visuals are exceptional, Talking about opera, the Ponnelle's work for Rossini and Monteverdi are rather more exciting. Anyway 6\10 for I like Tcherina.
Pity, I was keen on seeing that one.
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Pity, I was keen on seeing that one.
If you don't like the Offenbach's opera I doubt you can make it beyond the first 20'.
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Les Barbouzes (1964) A distant relative to its predecessor Les Tontons Flinguers. It lacks the pace, the jokes, the gags of that one, though it was produced to bank in the success of the previous movie. Mireille Darc shows little of her graces and can't save the day but makes me give a mark more of what I would normally give. 6\10
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Black Narcissus (1947) This is a movie which could have been made only in colour, certainly one where the use of colour is the more important part of the story. The story? Bah, I do not care so much for it, probably my fault. The movies it reminded me during the vision where I Walked With a Zombie and The Exorcist. So I think that this work better without dialogues. And, sure great sets and pretty actresses: but could you believe that Deborah Kerr and KAthleen Byron could have chosen a nun's life? 7\10
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Code Name: Tiger (1964) Weak spy action movie, worth watching only for Daniela Bianchi's presence. I suspect though that the car pressing scene in Goldfinger was inspired by an analogous scene here. 4\10
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Rashomon (1950) Except for the "humanistic" finale and the staging of the second duel (it seems that none of the duelist can stand up) it's a perfect movie, though small in scope. I didn't remember there was a bolero in the soundtrack, but I saw this movie as a kid and no more since. 8\10
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Dersu Uzala (1975) Good adventure movie, kinda western set in the taiga.It has at least a memorable scene (the storm) and some good images, the actor playing Dersu being great. 7\10
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A Canterbury Tale (1945) As this dvd hasn't got captions I could understand about 50% of the dialogues. So I can't be fair toward it. bnut the little I understood doesn't make me give it more than a generous 6\10, as I couldn't find a single motive of nterest except for some shots of belligerant England. The movie is anyway famous for the "match cut" bird\plane, thought to have inspired the more famous one in Kubrick's 2001. Even in this forum opinions are at variance on the subject:
1) "but it seems to me that SK, whilst appropriating the device from Powell, actually improved upon it. In ACT, the transition occurs by linking two objects that have only the quality of flight in common. In 2001, however, the two objects are both tools employed by Man to kill (the "spaceship" is, according to things I've read, a nuclear weapon or weapons platform). The leap from Man's "first" weapon/tool to his most recent shows not merely that time has passed, but that Man, for all his technology, remains unchanged. Hence, "The Dawn of Man" title, which remains in force until the Jupiter Mission."
2) "Now that Michael Powell's A Canterbury Tale is widely available on video, we all can see where Kubrick got the idea (in that earlier film, a bird flying overhead in 15th Century England is matched with a shot of a WWII Spitfire, thus eliding the 5 intervening centuries). Kubrick's application is bolder, but it loses something when compared with Powell's original. "
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The Lower Depths (1957) Not my favourite Kurosawa. The limited action area and the characters are not helped by so imaginative dialogues and situations to keep the viewer interested. I had to fight sleep most of the time. 6\10
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Stray Dog (1949) A great police-procedural, noir however you may want to classify it. And of course Kurosawa doesn't limit himself to dish out a genre movie but goes beyond in delineating the character of the main figures. The scene of the chaser and chased finally laying down on the grass is memorable. But maybe some cut would have been in order. 8\10
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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) Only gripe I have about it is Robards as Capone: he doesn't look the part, he doesn't have the mimcry I presume Capone must have had (call it flamboyance, if you wish) and it's funny listening speak some italian words. Great charleston composed by Lionel Newman. Didn't realize Nicholson was there too. 8\10
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Zombie Beach Party (2003) Only thing this has going for it it's some gratuitous nudes and the final lez kiss, though not spectacular as it has no tongue playing. The rest is liable to put you to sleep. 3\10
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They're a Weird Mob (1966) I saw this dubbed about 30 years ago, but of course it loses much as it is based on linguistic differences. The comedy holds well, but what impressed me most even the first time was the representation of men at work: more impressive than anything by Loach. I could have done without much of the romance in the last part (but the confrontation between Chiari and his father-in-law to be is funny) and so it's a solid 8\10.
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The Glimmer Man (1996) It has a good pace but there's no memorable villain and the fight scenes, except for one or two, are all imbued in darkness. Still a watchable one for Seagal fans. 6\10
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Seeking Asylum (1979) Ferreri was, arguably, the best italian director between the end of the 60's and the early 70's. But after his "western" I couldn't name a single movie worth watching. The review I copied from IMDB tells it all:
Awful! Absolutely awful! No plot, no point, no end. It looks like the director turned the camera on and then the whole crew went to lunch. Every day. I'm trying to GIVE this video away but no one will take it. I'm giving it a 2 instead of a 1 because I like Benigni. Roger, I'm going to have to say thumbs down on this one.
As I detest Benigni I give it 0\10.
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Tales of Ordinary Madness(1981) I never read Bukowski and this movie didn't help me wanting to: but it saved me the effort. The protagonist is apparently able to find underage girls wanting to have sex with him: a drunkard, old, not good-looking man. He finds himself alone with Ornella Muti who ask him for sex (ahah) and he answers: "We'll do it first thing tomorrow morning". Still, having a previous literary source, the movie has a solidity other later works by Ferreri don't have. 6\10
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Ghosts - Italian Style (1967) A humurous take on the famous (in Italy) De Filippo's quite dreary comedy (drama?). They kept little of the original, but the end result is consistent if you like this kind of italian comedy. 7\10
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OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions (2006) Funny spoof of sixties spy movies but set in the '50's wen the Bruce's novels started being written. I'll try to check the twin title. 7\10.
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Analyze This (1999) Very good in first half, it loses its bearing once the comedy is superseded by the action. 7\10.
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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) No stop action: that it is main feature. I'd give it 5\10 but the excellent Paris chase sequence earns it 6\10.
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Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (1962) Bresson's take on the famous heroine has the advantage of being short and of having a good-looking actress for the main part. Actually, with the exception of Dreyer's masterpiece, all of the other movies on JdA seem having had a pretty protagonist. And still only Dreyer insisted on close-ups. 7\10
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The Seed of Man (1969) Ferreri probably meant something deep but I didn't get what it was. 4\10
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The Little Coach (1959) One of the best and cruel Ferreri, with lots of humor. 8\10
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Does anyone actually read these?
EDIT: You're a fucking loser
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Les Compères (1983) A comedy in the buddy vein of L'Emmerdeur. Of course, Depardieu is no Ventura but Richard is surely better than Brel as a comedian. 7\10
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Does anyone actually read these?
EDIT: You're a fucking loser
;D
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Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) I don't know how close this is to the Rostand's original but I presume it is very close. Anyway, it made me want to check the source so it's worth at least 8\10. Depardieu is perfect and the movie would be worth watching just for his performance.
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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) Not as good as the Zeman's and the Von Backy's, it has the only notable moment in the representation in theatre at the start of the movie: a rather fellinesque moment. The rest is quite predictable and I can't stand Robin Williams. But I like John Neville. 7\10
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The Red Shoes (1948) I remembered it as much worse (probably because of the dubbing) instead it is almost perfect except for the finale, which is misleading and uselessly melodramatic: the composer is not giving up his art for love as he pretends from the ballerina: who should follow instead the impresario's advice. 8\10
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Fantômas (1964) This first episode of a trilogy is the only one I missed watching in the cinema. This good series had the great merit of giving the Juve's role to a comedian like De Funés, like Sellers was given that of Clouseau. This is outstanding for the long chase sequence, showing good stunts some performed by Marais himself. Add to that the highly palatable Demongeot and you have a solid 7\10.
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La Vie Est Un Roman (1983) And a boring one. Assuming you understand what's the point of the three episodes alternating themselves in the narration. I can't help thinking that I was right in not following Resnais after Mon Oncle. 2\10
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Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) Hellmann and Taylor, in their respective fields, are surefire purveyors of sedatives. Here they combine to give the usual going nowhere Hellman flick, with no dramatic interest (though you expect it to manifest itself any moment: which is the only point of interest of the movie) and uninteresting dialogues. Road movies bettern than this were made in those times: Easy Rider, Duel and even Vanishing Point (a movie I'll try to rewatch). 6\10 because the era's artifacts may interest someone, as the songs (not by Taylor, thank God!) and watching Dennis Wilson play (he sucks but shows he's alive: you doubt Taylor is).
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The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009) Not up to the first episode of the trilogy, plot is muddled, stretched and with little suspense. No need to watch unless you want to complete the vision of the trilogy. 5\10
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009) Possibly even worse than the second episode, with a long trial sequence completely devoid of suspense and legal tricks. 4\10
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Medicine Man (1992) Passable half-comedy (Many won't agree about that definition but I think it is basically that) with a good as usual Connery, the only reason I bought the dvd. 6\10
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The Snorkel (1958) A Hammer thriller with a good beginning and a good ending marred by the subending (you watch the movie and know what I'm talking about). The main body of the plot is full of cheap effects and logical absurdities (Van Eyck kills a man, a woman and a dog and tries to kill the niece apparently without nobody suspecting him of anything). Added fun, for me, listening to a whole lot of british actors speaking fonetic italian and heavily "italian" accented english. 6\10
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Muriel (1963) I saw this movie some decades ago and couldn't remember a single thing about it. I'm sure than some years from now, if I'm still alive, I won't rememeber a thing either. But the movie is worth watching, though I do not consider it the masterpiece some believe it is. The plot is almost trivial, the tale about the algerian french torture and the killing of the torturer forced in the plot. But some narrative devices are still interesting and little seen in the hollywood type storytelling. 7\10
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La Guerre est Finie (1966) One of the best Resnais. I don't like the bombers part, too didactic and not rhyming with the rest of the plot centered on Montand existentialist and political crisis. I ought to check again some plot turns which did escape me, though it's the second time I watch the movie. 8\10
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Eyes Without a Face (1959) This is considered the first splatter movie and the scene of the removal of the skin from the face still is likely to give goosebumps to the mopre unexperienced viewer. Still the movie is boring in places, uninventive as to plot turns and it is worthy only for the figure of the masked girl, the b\w photography and the Jarre's score (which is included as extra in the italian dvd) : very good but suited to another kind of movie. 7\10
In the dvd is included the Franju's early documentary Le sang de betes (1949): not for the sensitive persons, Franju illustrates the activities of a couple of slaughterhouses in Paris. 8\10
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Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie (1972) nth viewing. Funny as ever.
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Les Anges du Péché (1943) Bresson's first feature still holds well after so many years basically because you never guess where the plot is leading to for most of the time. The redemptive finale spois it partially but it is still 7\10.
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La fièvre monte à El Pao (1959) This could have been much better if the finale had respected the developing of the story of an idealist and at the same time opportunist man. I don't know if Bunuel wanted the too redeeming end (i presume the finale was taken from the novel) but it doesn't rhyme with the rest of the movie, too simplistic. 7\10
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Le mépris (1963) A movie which concentrate so much on BB nude backside can't be bad. But apart from the too long sequence in the apartment I really liked this movie, even more than the first time (of course: the italian version was cut). Godard isn't good as Fellini at portraying the circus-like activity in the making of a movie, but helped by the marvelous photography and Lang's presence gets very near to that unsarpassable model. Palance is a bit too stiff for the part of the producer, a slicker actor would have been better. 8\10
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The Man Who Would Be King (1975) I saw it when released and considered it one of the best adventure movies ever. Don't understand why the dvd is cut, though. 9\10
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Mysterious Island (1961) Another good movie from Harryhausen. The plot is rather unoriginal but the special effects are top notch: the beehive sequence is among the best ever in the genre. 7\10
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Kriminal (1966) I saw this when released and though I liked it I was rather put down by the unfaithfulness to the cartoon source as to the character evilry. Now, I don't even like the story which is rather boring, unoriginal and full of amateurish plot turns. But it has the originality of having cartoons substituting film images well before Creepshow did the same. 4\10
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The Mark of Kriminal (1967) I liked this better than the first. Which is not saying much. The plot, absolutely unoriginal, moves faster than the first one, the protagonist is shown a little more amoral than in the first episode and the finale is unexpected. 6\10
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Satanik (1968) The great disappointment comes from Konopka, whose bovine face doesn't look like the cartoon model and is not particularly attractive. The plot moves slowly and uninterestingly, the only point of interest was watching Gepy sing. But that was for me only. 4\10
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Il boom (1963) This is maybe the bitterest italian comedy ever, a genre which already is renown for putting harsh ingredients in a supposedly light genre. I had not seen the movie in its entirety till now, having caught snippets of it now and then on the small screen. This is probably De Sica's best movie after his masterpieces of a decade before. I give it 9\10 only because I think the could have put more comedy into it.
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A Difficult Life (1961) This is a movie which has been much praised but I think that is not up to its fame. It has memorable scenes but it is not entirely convincing if not in the measure that Sordi persuades you. The historical parts are too emphatic, much more interesting those dealing with Sordi's private life, especially the famous scene outside the night club. The finale has been reneged by the director himself. 7\10
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) As a movie I prefer Serpico, this is rather a series of great single bravura scenes, though I think this is not Pacino's finest hour. He's predictable. Effective, but predictable. Maybe when released his performance was more effective, you weren't used to it. Rewatching this kind of movie I wondered though why they were made only in the '70's. 8\10
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) As a movie I prefer Serpico, this is rather a series of great single bravura scenes, though I think this is not Pacino's finest hour. He's predictable. Effective, but predictable. Maybe when released his performance was more effective, you weren't used to it. Rewatching this kind of movie I wondered though why they were made only in the '70's. 8\10
I far prefer DDA to Serpico. Pacino is always great; I found the supporting cast in Serpico to be awful.
I LOVE Sidney Lumet. But I think he made a terrible mistake with the casting of both Serpico and Prince of the City (with the exception of casting Pacino in the lead role of Serpico). I saw separate interviews with Lumet, describing Serpico and POTC, and in each interview he mentioned that he specifically wanted all newcomers (I guess so the viewer would be able to believe anything about the characters or whatever. Even though Pacino had recently made it big with The Godfather, that was still a supporting role, and it was the first movie he got big reviews for, and he wasn't the huge star yet, so Lumet considered Pacino as a newcomer). And the rest of the cast are nobodies. And with POTC, everyone was a nobody including Treat Williams in the lead. Well, IMO, with the notable exceptions of Pacino in lead as Serpico; and Tony Roberts and Jerry Orbach in supporting roles in Serpico and POTC respectively, the cast for those 2 movies was absolutely atrocious. Looked like the Gypsys Leone would use for the gang members in his dollars films. I mean, not that I give a damn about a guy looking good, but these were guys who couldn't talk straight, who were painful to listen to, and sometimes painful to look at. Just atrocious casting all around. Treat Williams delivered one of the worst leading performances in movie history -- and he was given a damn good role. It's a shame because both scripts were good and had the potential to be terrific movies. And Sidney Lumet was such a good director, made so many wonderful films. if he could do it over again, same movie but with a different cast, I think those movies would have been amazing. As it is, with the exception of Pacino, Roberts, and Orbach, these movies may have had the worst casts of all-time.
After seeing this, if I was a director I would think twice before ever deciding to make a movie with all newcomers. (Please don't respond "well what about Citizen Kane?" The answer is obvious: Welles had worked with all those guys before; they may have been newcomers to Hollywod, but they weren't newcomers to him. But for a director to just go specifically for a bunch of nobodies across the board, who he's unfamiliar with, is just a very, very dangerous proposition.
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btw, one of my law professors -- he works in a big law firm in private practice; but teaches one class in Law School, it's a required Law and Ethics class -- told us a whole long story that he'd been involved in when he was an Assistant US Attorney, and mentioned as a side comment, "oh, btw they made a movie about that case, it was called Prince of the City. That's when I decided to see the movie. I am not sure which characters in the movie (if any) are playing him; but I'd always been tempted to email him and find out. That movie involved so many different cases which resulted from Treat Williams's informing, so who knows whether my professor really was depicted in the movie, or if perhaps his case just touched this movie peripherally. He did mention, "this was the only case I ever lost as a prosecutor."
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Save the Tiger (1972) Terrific script, practically perfect except for some minor complaint (too sweety scene with the girl, the memories about war). I think it is even more actual nowadays than 40 years ago. 9\10
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Razzia sur la Chnouf (1955) Police thriller set in drug scene of Paris. Which I don't believe was anything like that: too many drugged people to be credible. And then all those mthods of dealing: too elaborate, probably it was more simple. There's an opium den like one could believe existed 20 years before, not in 1955. But there's also a gang bang of Lila Kedrova with a horde of black people (nothing graphic, of course)! The plot is not memorable but the movie is worth at least watching considering that Magali Noel is attractive (I presume she had nose surgery in the following years) and Bozzuffi sports some hair. 7\10
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Grand Slam (1967) Too long (almost 2 h) especially in the first part, but once the caper part starts is excellent, one of the best I saw. Music by the Maestro (only the main theme is worth mentioning). 7\10
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Grand Slam (1967) Too long (almost 2 h) especially in the first part, but once the caper part starts is excellent, one of the best I saw. Music by the Maestro (only the main theme is worth mentioning). 7\10
one of the best caper movies ever
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Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (1974) Translating songs in different languages is very hard, still Mort Shuman and Eric Blau did a tolerable job with Brel's. What doesn't work here is the singers: Shuman is simply terrible (his Amsterdam makes you puke) while Elly Stone (who didn't pay a visit to a dentist before shooting began) is Broadway singing at its worst. Much better Masiell. But if you like Brel (like I do) then you can't but like the movie, thinking of the songs in the original while you listen to their translation. So it's 8\10. And I'm no anti-translation of songs: actually I think that MacKuen's rendition of Ne Me Quitte Pas (in the movie the song is sung by Brel himself in french) is better than the too melodramatic original.
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Scream of Fear aka Taste of Fear (1961) I didn't like this: little suspense, little logic (does Stasberg imagine things or what?), Ronald Lewis acting is wooden, Lee is little seen, you name it... 4\10
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Max et les ferrailleurs (1971) Stretched out plot which makes no sense with a moronic finale. Romy Schneider, not as gorgeous as in the Sissi movie an age earlier, gives a great performance. 4\10
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We Were Soldiers (2002) Among the best war movies ever and good candidate for best Vietnam movie ever. I could have done without the final speech of the viet leader or the images of the dead vietcong's wife or girlfriend. But this is the first movie which gave me the feeling of what is like going to war: the sequence when the soldiers leave home at night not knowing if they will return I don't think it was to be seen elsewhere, but it is most saddening than all the images of war horrors one can imagine. 9\10
P. S. The movie is set in 1965, still the people are able to sing at the farewell party "Hold On, I'm Coming" to be released a year later.
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We Were Soldiers (2002) Among the best war movies ever and good candidate for best Vietnam movie ever. I could have done without the final speech of the viet leader or the images of the dead vietcong's wife or girlfriend. But this is the first movie which gave me the feeling of what is like going to war: the sequence when the soldiers leave home at night not knowing if they will return I don't think it was to be seen elsewhere, but it is most saddening than all the images of war horrors one can imagine. 9\10
P. S. The movie is set in 1965, still the people are able to sing at the farewell party "Hold On, I'm Coming" to be released a year later.
I saw this one decade ago. As I recall it, the first half moved way too slowly for me, but the second half, in Vietnam, was insane. I can recall few movies depicting the horrors of war better than the second half of We Were Soldiers did.
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Mr. Arkadin (1955) As it happens with other Welles movies (Lady from Shanghai, for example) this is better watched without sound and no inkling about what the characters say. I don't know if the two version I saw (this one (http://www.aventifilms.com/visuels/dossier_secret.jpg) and the other dubbed in italian I saw on tv in the '80's, which could be the same one as the french dvd) approach Welles idea of what the movie should have been like, but I doubt could have been much better of the final product(s). And I can't stand those fake hair and beard and moustaches Welles sport. Still the movie has some famous scenes (Welles apologues) and angles and photography (especially the Naples dock scene) which can't but earn it a 8\10.
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Before the Revolution (1964) I don't like Bertolucci and I remembered this as the best movie by him. Which probably still is though only for the two sequences shot with the background songs by Gino Paoli (masterfully arranged by the Maestro). 7\10
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Falstaff (1966) Perfect except for the little imaginative battle and Gielgud's performance: sometime a little bit over the top. 9\10
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We Were Soldiers (2002) Among the best war movies ever and good candidate for best Vietnam movie ever. I could have done without the final speech of the viet leader or the images of the dead vietcong's wife or girlfriend. But this is the first movie which gave me the feeling of what is like going to war: the sequence when the soldiers leave home at night not knowing if they will return I don't think it was to be seen elsewhere, but it is most saddening than all the images of war horrors one can imagine. 9\10
Glad I'm not the only one who likes this.
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We Were Soldiers (2002) Among the best war movies ever and good candidate for best Vietnam movie ever.
I've seen less Vietnam movies than I can count on one hand, but IMO at least one was clearly better: The Deer Hunter.
p.s. Does Forrest Gump count? ;)
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The Stranger (1946) Rubbish.
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The Stranger (1946) Rubbish.
yeah, it's a shitty movie.
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The Stranger (1946) Rubbish.
Agreed
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I also think it was a mistake to use Orson Welles as a Nazi. Of course, many great and beloved actors have played really bad characters in movies, but a Nazi is a whole different level of evil, it's someone that the viewer really has to just HATE with every fiber of his being; even though acting is all about transforming oneself into another character, when it's someone so well known and loved as Orson Welles, it's really difficult to summon the amount of hatred appropriate for a Nazi, and that automatically causes the story not to be taken all that seriously. The second Orson Welles comes on the screen, there is just a different feel than if someone else had, whom the audience has no prior feelings for.
Not that it's a good movie anyway, but I do think that having Welles play the Nazi was not a good choice.
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I also think it was a mistake to use Orson Welles as a Nazi. Of course, many great and beloved actors have played really bad characters in movies, but a Nazi is a whole different level of evil, it's someone that the viewer really has to just HATE with every fiber of his being; even though acting is all about transforming oneself into another character, when it's someone so well known and loved as Orson Welles, it's really difficult to summon the amount of hatred appropriate for a Nazi, and that automatically causes the story not to be taken all that seriously. The second Orson Welles comes on the screen, there is just a different feel than if someone else had, whom the audience has no prior feelings for.
Not that it's a good movie anyway, but I do think that having Welles play the Nazi was not a good choice.
Very valid point agreed. Welles, for me anyway, has always been hit or miss in his acting efforts.
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Very valid point agreed. Welles, for me anyway, has always been hit or miss in his acting efforts.
More misses than hits. i don't think, though, that the problem with The Stranger is Welles playing a Nazi. The real problem is that the plot is built on a spit and each plot turns adds to the inverosimilitude of the whole set up. I could name a dozen little credible plot factors off the cuff and they are very visible even to a casual viewer.
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At the Circus (1939) This should have been better of what it is: the premises were there all, but there are not classic scenes like in Races or Opera. And the jokes are quite lame. 6\10
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A Day at the Races (1937) Classic, but cuts in the romance and musical numbers would have been beneficial. 8\10
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A Night at the Opera (1937) Some prefer this to Duck Soup. I don't. 8\10
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Killing Zoe (1994) I forced myself to watch the first 20 minutes but couldn't make it beyond.
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Death Race 2000 (1975) The frame is the usual crappy dystopy you (or at least me) think the less movie space the better. The fun is all in the race, or at least a good part of it. Stallone is already well under steroids. 7\10
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The Big Store (1941) I didn't remember it was so good, probably because of the dubbing. On a par with any Marx movie except the masterpieces, though Groucho is not the up to his best. 7\10
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A Night in Casablanca (1946) Another good one, though the airplane scene is too long. 7\10
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A Night to Remember (1958) First outing of Bond and Q together (though I didn't spot them). A good thriller with no concession to melodrama. 8\10
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I could name a dozen little credible plot factors off the cuff and they are very visible even to a casual viewer.
How about the fact that this Nazi had managed to stay completely anonymous, they didn't know how he looked or even a single detail about his life, except this one detail that he loved to build clocks?! That idea is too laughable to even try to say with a straight face...
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inverosimilitude
You impressed me with this, but I find on consulting a dictionary that the correct English spelling is "inverisimilitude."
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You impressed me with this, but I find on consulting a dictionary that the correct English spelling is "inverisimilitude."
You impressed me more with the revelation that not only you consult dictionaries but even lend them some authority. What made you adopt this line?
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The Murderer Lives at #21 (1942) I read the novel last year and I thought it was an essential landmark in the history of mystery, of the same kind as Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Read the novel (or watch the movie) and you'll see why. The movie, and rightly so, leaves more room to humor and is absolyely enjoyable, though it is all shot in studio. 8\10
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Fantomas Strikes Back (1965) I saw it in a theatre, but it must have been 1967 or 1968. I thought it was funny at the time and it still holds well, expecially De Funès routines with the gadgets. 7\10
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Oh, Grandmother's Dead (1969) A very minor Monicelli. Which happens regularly when he tries to leave his natural turf of comedy. Here he strives for some black humor but you never laugh. Or even smile as the dialogues and the characters are so predictable. 5\10
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It's Alive (1974) A good b-horror, with the great assets of never showing the munster. Nothing you've never seen, but the suspense is created. 6\10 because Hermann's score is run-of the-mill.
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The Concert for Bangla Desh (1972) It takes me back in time, when I listened and listened to the triple LP, wondering what Leon Russell was mumbling in his rendition of JJF-Youngblood. There are some good renditions of known songs. But some are well under the originals: Something, for example. Bob Dylan put me, as usual, to sleep. 7\10
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La ricotta (1962) Thanx to youtube now this is easily accessible even to foreigners as it has 3 languages subs. I consider it the best Pasolini's movie (though it lasts only 30') with Accattone. Would have liked to know what Welles thought of his character: I don't seem to remember Bogdanovich asking him about that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-FxFN0VTAE
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This Island Earth (1955) It offers little originality except for the coloured scenes during the trip to the planet and the bombing of the planet itself. Of course the special effects are funny now, but they still make for a good visual quality. 6\10
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Feu Mathias Pascal (1926) This could have been tolerable with a half hour cut, especially in the first part. Pirandello himself is said to have appreciated the movie, though. 6\10
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This Island Earth (1955) It offers little originality except for the coloured scenes during the trip to the planet and the bombing of the planet itself. Of course the special effects are funny now, but they still make for a good visual quality. 6\10
I disagree. The special effects are the best part of the movie. It's very thin story-wise though and the spectacle's not good enough to compensate.
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I disagree. The special effects are the best part of the movie. It's very thin story-wise though and the spectacle's not good enough to compensate.
That's exactly what I meant: apparently I didn't make myself clear. sorry.
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The Driver's Seat (1974) Most of reviewers at IMDB give this one positive assessments. I agree and more. Critics, probably american ones, thrashed it at the time, probably because they didn't watch it or because it was italian; on the contrary I came to this movie by reading a contemporary review by an italian critic. The movie is at times fascinating, much of the effect based on the sexual undercurrent of the plot. I am not a Taylor's fan, even taking into account that she doesn't look here at her best. But watching the scene when she mangles her droopy breast (already appreciated in an earlier scene under a little covering bra), while she falls prey to some sort of sexual arousal, well, it makes me feel young again. >:D 8\10
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Taken 2 (2012) As good as n. 1. 8\10
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Don Giovanni (1978) I saw this 3 times and each time it gets better thanx mainly to Raimondi's performance: his acting is on a par with any great actor you could name. I read (not being an expert) that his vocal performance is not just as good. It doesn't matter for me: this is a movie, not the recording of a theatre performance. 9\10 because I can't understand how Losey could pick up (if it was him who did) the singer playing Don Ottavio: he is a pain to watch, and, always from what I read, doesn't sing well.
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Hellraiser (1987) Not very impressive horror, mainly because I couldn't understand the point of it all. Why should people strive to enter the hell or whatever it is? 6\10
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Hellbound - Hellraiser II (1988) More of the same. 5\10
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Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) The one I liked best, because, at least for the first part, is more based on thrilling and less on gore. 7\10
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The Lawyer (1970) A so-so courtroom drama, enlivened by Barry Newman's performance. Harold Gould looks fake from a mile. Lots of good-looking females. The OST sucks. 7\10
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Vanishing Point (1971) A movie which could have been on a par with Duel if it hadn't striven for meaning and concentrate instead on the action. The flashbacks are a nuisance, I would have preferred to know as little as possible about Kowalski. And the finale I always thought it was moronic. Still a 7\10.
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The Brig (1964) I first read the play about 30 years ago. Never had the chance to see the movie though, so only now is clear that Kubrick got inspired by this for the first part of FMJ. Still this is maybe better, dispensing with steadycam and funny sergeant. It leaves no room for breathing from start to end. Funny thing, it won first prize at the Venice festival in the "documentary" section: so it could maybe also make the "near-noir" list of CJ :D . 10\10
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Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) At first I thought jenkins (on whose recommendation I watched the movie) had taken advantage of the Colorado's new laws before they were promulgated. But then the car chase begins and let's render honour to whom gave me the heads up. 9\10
Unfortunately in 1974 there was no web, so they couldn't know about this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6U57QkUe8
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Vampires (1998) Excellent movie, with lots of suspence, new angles on the legend, a good cast. Even the usual Carpenter's OST does fit. The final result depends probably on having a good novel as a starting point. 8\10
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Ghosts of Mars (2001) Rehashing of everything you have already seen at least a dozen times plotwise. The set looks like the one you could use for a musical clip. Infacts the main villain is made to look like a memeber of the Kiss. I give it 6\10 only because Natasha Henstridge is a real looker and it's a pleasure watching her on the screen anyway.
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Creeepshow (1982) A little uneven but some excellent episodes, like the Leslie Nielsen's and E.G. Marshall's. 8\10
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Creepshow 2 (1987) This gets 8\10 just for "The Raft" episode, a real masterpiece. The other 2 episodes are good ones.
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Halloween (1978) I saw this when released and didn't remember a thing. I like the way Carpeneter dispose of blood maimings and other effects leaving much to imagination (though maybe I'm saying this 30 years after having seen everything as to gory effects on screen). Then there's the added attraction of young JLC's presence: ugly and sexy as usual. 8\10
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Halloween II (1981) For me it is as good as the first one, of which completes the story. 8\10
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Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Dull episode of the saga, with nothing to do with the first two. Kind of alien invasion story, with just one good terrific episode: the test room. 4\10
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From Hell (2001) First-rate thriller, marred by Johnny Depp's performance: he's more inept than Di Caprio at playing. Better as a football player for my team:
(http://www.sonoromanista.it/media/galeria/168/9/5/3/9/n_roma_pablo_daniel_osvaldo-3529359.jpg)
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Yunost Maksima (1935) A piece of heavy-handed communist propaganda which has little to recommend itself. I don't like the actor playing the main role, always eyes wide opened. The girl, on the contrary, is easy to the eye. 5\10
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Vozvrashcheniye Maksima (1937) More of same.
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Vyborgskaya storona (1939) The final part of Maxim Trilogy is slightly more interesting than the other two because of some depiction of historical events, though in a ridiculously mendacious form. Stalin is depicted as possessing some sense of humor, though of course he wasn't there in the first place. And the movie is overlong anyway. 6\10
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My Bloody Valentine (2009) Passable slasher flick, though a half hour too long. First movie in 3D I saw at home. 6\10
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Les brigades du Tigre (2006) Promising in the first part, then it dilutes what is left to tell and loses momentum. But Diane Kruger is worth watching anyway. Clovis Cornillac is miscast: too small for the part. 6\10
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Fiorina the Cow (1972) I had the dvd laying dormant on a shelf for years and I can't remember why I bought it in the first place as I am not a fan of the "decamerotic" genre. Still I suddenly realize I had to watch it when I realized this was based on the work of Ruzante, a '500 comedy writer who people like Nobel Prize Dario Fo consider better than Shakespeare. Now, I presume people who watched this, did it because of the main reason they watched the other decamerotic flicks: boobs and buns, i.e. And sure they abound here. But, as I have never read Ruzante's original writings (they are hard to come by and are written in a dialect which is uncomprehensible nowadays) I can't tell what the screenplayer did with it. 6\10
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Gamlet (1964) Kozintsev's version of Hamlet is probably the best cinematographic version around, though I haven't seen Olivier's since at least 30 years and I don't have any intention to see Branagh's or Gibson's. I can't say what liberties the director took with the original text and I do not particularly like the main interpreter, too old for the part. Still, though almost 2 and half hour long, this was a pleasure to see from start to end, never boring me. Thanx, for the main part, to the director and to Shostakovich musical comment (nothing you would listen to, though, without the images to go with). 8\10
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Hamlet (1969) This looks like it was shot not in the "disused train shed" (imdb) it was realy staged in but, except for a couple of scenes, in a closet, as it is all concentrated on the actors faces. A great minus is the fact that the actor playing Hamlet looks older than his mother and his uncle. And, especially in the first scenes, his acting is too hectic: at IMDB I'm glad to note that even mother-tongue english speaking people had some difficulty to follow his speeches. Marianne Faithful looks at her best but her delivery is amateurish. Hopkins is great, though, as said, doesn't look the part, probably because of his looking younger than Hamlet. Judy Parfitt is a parfitt, good-looking queen. 6\10
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Im Staub der Sterne (1976) They put a lot of money into this: sets, costumes, good looking girls (some nudes: but not many tits and buns to make this a sexploitation classi, alas) and great colours. Unfortunately the story, at 94', is at least an hour too long. 5\10
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lol
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I promessi sposi (1941) A good version which has the great disadvantage of being overcome by the definitive version made for tv in 1967 in 8 parts. It is not so much that they had to cut a lot for presentation in theatres, but that the cast can't compare with the one set up 25 years later. Especially the Don Abbondio's part is miserable as portrayed by Falconi: even worse than Sordi's. And Cervi, great actor that he was, doesn't look the part. Only the Innominato played by Ninchi is superior to those of later versions. 7\10
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nice title change ;D
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Tarantula (1955) This movie has got two attractions: Mara Corday (a beauty of the Ava Gardner brand) and the munster. Each time the creatures gets into action the movie becomes interesting because the special effects are almost perfect. The scene of the attack to the horses is frightnening. The rest of the story is boring. 7\10
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nice title change ;D
I capitalized on friends' suggestions.
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The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) The main interest of this lies in the fact that the monster isn't totally evil and the humans aren't totally good. Actually the "monster" (so it was dubbed in the italian title) is defending its own environment, so I presume most people roots for it. In facts they made two other movies in which it progressively becomes almost human. To not great avail, apparently. 8\10
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The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) I'd give this not a great rate for the first part: Matheson didn't invent anything an average pulp writer could have devised. But starting from the catfight the movie is an absolute masterpiece. The final thoughts of the hero, both when I read the novel and saw the movie, always made little sense to me. 8\10
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Tarantula (1955) This movie has got two attractions: Mara Corday (a beauty of the Ava Gardner brand) and the munster. Each time the creatures gets into action the movie becomes interesting because the special effects are almost perfect. The scene of the attack to the horses is frightnening. The rest of the story is boring. 7\10
Not to mention Clint Eastwood's award-worthy role.
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the definitive version made for tv in 1967 in 6 parts.
Would love to see it. But what's a poor boy in R1 supposed to do?
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But what's a poor boy in R1 supposed to do?
Try to sing in a rock'n'roll band.
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Eolomea (1972) Passable sf movie thanx to dialogues and editing, though the story is rather poor. 6\10
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Hot Shots (1991) Not as good as other Abrahams' efforts (but this is without the Zuckers), it has too many dull moments to be really enjoyable, but some gags are good. 6\10
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The Buddy Holly Story (1978) As a biopic, it stinks: usual mild anectodes and most of the controversy left out. But it is worth seeing because as a musical performer Busey is arguably even more exciting than the Holly left to us by the few clips of him. 7\10
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That'll Be The Day (1973) I didn't expect it to be what it is. It is interesting in the part that describes the protagonist adventures out of home. Very good performance by Ringo and Moon (should have tried more at movies). I read at IMDB that the sequel is even better. 7\10
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Manolesta (1981) Probably the weakest entry in the Milian-Amendola series. Giovanna Ralli is still very attractive at a not very young age: bu she shows ponly her face and neck. obnoxious kid. 3\10
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Jackie Brown (1997) After PF my favourite Tarantino, though not in his style thanks, I presume, to a solid basis in a novel I haven't read yet. 8\10
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The Terrorists (a.k.a. Ransom) (1974) One of the rare action Connerys I had completely missed. Good thriller with lame first half but then it gains momentum and the finale comes totally unexpected. Actually I still can't understand why
SPOILER
Connery subs for the British diplomat and causes the death of the undercover agent. Anyway 7\10
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Checked at IMDB and they have the same doubts. even about the
SPOILER
supposedly planted bombs.
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La nuit du carrefour (1932) The only things I found of some interest were the use of rumours alternated to the musical score in the opening credits and the selling of newspapers marking the time. The rest is boring, badly acted (Pierre Renoir is most probably the most insignificant Maigret in history) and the plot is both uninteresting and hard to believe. 4\10
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L'espoir (1939) In spite of Bazin's enthusiastic review I wasn't so excited. Interesting, but some scenes are stretched for no reason I could detect. And the rhythm suffers from that. 6\10
It can be seen at youtube but with no english subtitles, available in the french dvd I watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACNA33I-jdk
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Zardoz (1974) This is my third vision of this movie and I still think it sucks, like I thought when I saw ii in a cinema 40 years ago. Actually most of the time it is falling unashamedly into the ridiculous (though the scene where Connery dons a wedding gown had passed from my mind) when it is not simply boring, the plot being a rehashing of trivial themes of SF. The special effects are what might be worth seeing though: they are more effective of what I remembered and all the more so after 30 years of CGE's. 5\10
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La Fin du Monde (1931) First french talkie and a piece of crap. It seems that the original version (so I read at IMDB) ran at 180', while I saw the version running at about 100' (there's the american distributor cut which is less than a hour long: probably the best one). I doubt that the result could be much better at any of these different running lenghts. This movie is for the first part incomprehensible, kind of mystical melodrama. Then it veers toward kind of mabusesque intrigue (though the Mabuse in this case is a benign one) and then toward the catastrophic. In all these parts the result is ridiculous and boring. But I give 2\10 because the females are good-looking, especially for the times.
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La Jetée (1962) The best thing about this movie is the way it is narrated: by still photographs connected by a narrating voice and with a good OST. That makes the movie short and, as the story was concocted in presumably not more than a couple of hours, it saves you an hour or more of life to spend more profitably. 5\10.
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Forces occultes (1943)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X4IwkJdrCE
This anti freemasons and jews propaganda movie is interesting only for the cerimony of initiation. 4\10
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) I read the book a couple of times, solid candidate to best spy novel ever. The miniseries is just as good, as probably everybody here knows. Anyway, though Guinness was praised by everybody as huge for his performance, I admit that Richardson impressed me even more. Though he has little screen time compared to other characters he is remarkabke both in his mimicry and his delivery. But the cast is impressive all over. 10\10
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All Quiet On Western Front (1930) Producers showed it to Serghei Mikhailovic imagining he would be impressed...He wasn't, as we know. And really, he couldn't be. The only scene worth mentioning is the first battle scene, the rest is usual holliwoodish fare, with the anti-militaristic stance provided by the novel (i read it long time ago). The actors are all mediocre with the exception of Louis Wohleim (a Victor Mac Laglen stand-in), not helped by the dialogues (courtesy of Sherwood Anderson). I couldn't repress a laugh when I saw Beryl Mercer playing the ill mother (a year before Public Enemy). 6\10
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Perfect Prey (1998) I started watching this because I saw Bruce Dern playing a cop. But his role is modest. The plot is hackneyed as can be, not an element of originality rescuing from the usual serial killer trivialities. Kelly McGillis is a JL Curtis look-alike but not as sexy. A couple of scenes though are good: the first face to face with the killer and the interview in the prison. 4\10
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Le Professionel (1981) Audiard-Belmondo-Morricone: you'd think they could cook something good together but, as we know, only the Maestro delivered. Actually "Chi mai" works better without the images, on its own, because the movie sucks. Yet they had all the chances to make a good job, bu they were uncertain whether to make a comedic or a serious action movie so you never know where it's at. A pity because the women look very good (the lezzie inquisitor though it's moronic) , the car chase is fine and the finale, at last, hits the right mood. I'll try to read the novel. 5\10
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Fantomas (1932) At IMDb there are 4 generally good reviews of this one. Can't see why. It is without suspense, ridiculous when it attempts to it and constantly boring. 3\10
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Becky Sharp (1935) First "three tone technicolor" feature, judging from the french dvd release I watched I'd have guessed it was a colourized version of a b&w movie. Still it's a good movie for other reasons. The fast moving plot, based on a theatrical piece derived from Thackeray's novel (I read it long time ago and remebered nothing of it, though T. is probably my favourite victorian novelist) and the quite unusual (for Hollywood) basic amorality of the main character, overplayed by Miriam Hopkins in most scenes (but she's good-looking so I forgive her). 7\10
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http://archive.org/details/BeckySharp1935
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Hannibal Rising (2007) A run-of-the-mill sequel which adds little to what former episodes delivered better. 6\10
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Razzia sur la Chnouf (1955) Police thriller set in drug scene of Paris. Which I don't believe was anything like that: too many drugged people to be credible. And then all those mthods of dealing: too elaborate, probably it was more simple. There's an opium den like one could believe existed 20 years before, not in 1955. But there's also a gang bang of Lila Kedrova with a horde of black people (nothing graphic, of course)! The plot is not memorable but the movie is worth at least watching considering that Magali Noel is attractive (I presume she had nose surgery in the following years) and Bozzuffi sports some hair. 7\10
I've just read the novel (I'm on a kind of argot binge) and confirm that the movie follows closely the novel. Le Breton didn't want to risk what could have happened with his first novel (as explained by Dassin's interview on youtube I linked talking about it).
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Hannibal Rising (2007) A run-of-the-mill sequel which adds little to what former episodes delivered better. 6\10
I didn't like this.
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The Boston Strangler (1968) Excellent thriller, making excellent use of multipanel screen. What doesn't persuade me completely is the cast. Yeah. Fonda is wasted: the role is too small for him. Curtis has been praised for it, still, I'm not 100% sure he's here as good as in Sweet Smell of Success. His closing his eyes when murdering is too banal. Still the movie grips you from start to end. 9\10
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The Boston Strangler (1968) Excellent thriller, making excellent use of multipanel screen. What doesn't persuade me completely is the cast. Yeah. Fonda is wasted: the role is too small for him. Curtis has been praised for it, still, I'm not 100% sure he's here as good as in Sweet Smell of Success. His closing his eyes when murdering is too banal. Still the movie grips you from start to end. 9\10
I couldn't make it all the way through this.
The multipanel screen annoyed the hell out of me. Was there just for the sake of being there. Like in The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen.
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I couldn't make it all the way through this.
The multipanel screen annoyed the hell out of me. Was there just for the sake of being there. Like in The Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen.
If I remember well, in TCA the use was more for the hell of it. Here is more creative. As explained in the dvd featurette, the director wanted to create the impression of the entire city in turmoil. Or see also the scene where a victim is ironing while in the other panel Curtis is little by little getting to her: when they finally get into contact the screen becomes one again.
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Sweet Smell of Success (1957) I agree with former reviewers on other boards that the finale doesn't work. They weren't able to come up with a final twist like the brilliant one they devised for the cigarette girl hustle. A pity. So it is just 9\10. Strange that cigar hasn't reviewed this one as it has nighttime NYC at the center. This should have been the template on which modelling the Mike Hammer movies.
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Sweet Smell of Success (1957) I agree with former reviewers on other boards that the finale doesn't work. They weren't able to come up with a final twist like the brilliant one they devised for the cigarette girl hustle. A pity. So it is just 9\10. Strange that cigar hasn't reviewed this one as it has nighttime NYC at the center. This should have been the template on which modelling the Mike Hammer movies.
There are quite a few that we were leaving open for other reviewers, so as not to dominate the thread.
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The Age of Cosimo de Medici (1972) This is Rossellini's didacticism at work. You may be interested in some of the informations he gives on that era and the great characters who peopled it but it is still doubtful whether a book on the subject couldn't do a better work than this as, cinematically, there is little another good director couldn't have done. 7\10 Unfortunately the italian double dvd doesn't include the third part of the miniseries (probably released separately).
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The Conspirator (2010) A small but good courtroom drama about Mary Surratt, accused of being an accomplice of Lincoln's murderer. I could have done without the flashbacks and made it shorter, but it is worth a 7\10.
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Get Smart (2008) Run of the mill Hollywood reworking of the tv series without the ingredients that made it one of the best ever. So much so that the best scene is the chase. Carell is just impassible but not as charming as Don Adams, while Heywood can't hold a candle to Barbara Feldon, one of my first yens. It seems they're planning a sequel. 6\10
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The Conspirator (2010) A small but good courtroom drama about Mary Surratt, accused of being an accomplice of Lincoln's murderer. I could have done without the flashbacks and made it shorter, but it is worth a 7\10.
Sounds about right.
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Gallipoli (1981) Another boring effort from specialist Weir (thugh Picninc in Hanging Rock probably still remains unequalled as to being an alternative to sleeping pills). 90' wasted on nothing before at last explaining what the title promised. 3\10 because the main musical electronic theme was famous, though the use of Giazotto's adagio makes you skin cringe.
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Coluche, l'histoire d'un mec (2008) This is interesting more for italians, I presume, than the french themselves, for the analogies and the differences between the candidature to the Presidency of France in the elections of 1981 of this comedian and what is happening in Italy with the Grillo's movement. The difference lies in the web: Coluche was boycotted by the media and had no alternative. Just an informative movie. 6\10
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Gallipoli (1981) Another boring effort from specialist Weir (thugh Picninc in Hanging Rock probably still remains unequalled as to being an alternative to sleeping pills). 90' wasted on nothing before at last explaining what the title promised. 3\10 because the main musical electronic theme was famous, though the use of Giazotto's adagio makes you skin cringe.
Sounds about wrong.
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No Way Out (1987) I caught this on tv by chance. Actually I think I had seen it but didn't remember anything because it sucks. I can't remember either if I saw the original noir and read the novel, but I'm sure they are better than this one. Funny how this looks so older than even older movies, as it is shot with still current techniques as to photography but the technology is still that of the previous 30 ears: no cell phones, polaroid, an explanation of what a pixel is. 2\10
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The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965) A perfect rendition of the book. Only gripe I have is that no german talk is heard, apparently all the german judges and lawyers can speak a perfect english. But Burton is equal to Guinness and earns the movie a 8\10
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The Sleeping Car Murders (1965) The movie's finale works better than in the novel I reviewed a couple of days ago, probably because you don't follow the plot with much attention as on the page (still one wonders how one can suicide by shooting himself in the belly with a machine gun and not a spot of blood appear on the back of his mackintosh). Even the gay slant (not brought to the fore in the novel) makes sense and adds to the logic of the story. Probably the car chase at night into the streets of Paris is the only one in the history of cinema accompanied by the rhythm of a twist. 8\10
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xajyl2BMAAA
This 2000 documentary about Janis Joplin is very interesting for some of the interviews, especially those with her sister and friends. The interviews made in her hometown comeback are impressive. 8\10
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House of Games (1987) I was steered toward it by finding it mentioned in one of Carofiglio's books I rewieved these days. Well-made thriller about con artists. I presume that, like me, the not so naive viewer will get hip before the main character herself (a not pretty but attractive Lindsay Crouse) realizes it, to what game is being played, but still I think the pre-finale (with good dialogue between Mantegna and Crouse) and the finale are quite original. 8\10
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La grande bellezza - The Great Beauty (2013) The dvd (subbed in english in case somebody here hates himself) was forced down my throat today by a colleague who, probably, aspires to discuss it with me. Which I won't. This is the kind of italian movie which makes me stay home and read or watch some old movie, an italian one possibly. It has nothing: no story, no characters (they're all bogus: the one played by Sabrina Ferilli makes me puke with her forced roman dialect which no person would adopt with that insistence), moronic dialogues. Rome and his vistas can be impressive for foreign audiences, but for people who live in it there's no reason to be awed. This is the kind of movie which the late Luigi Magni would overtly deride as artsy-fartsy: no wonder people in Italy run in mass to watch the last Checco Zalone's lame comedy. 1\10
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Rome and his vistas can be impressive for foreign audiences, but for people who live in it there's no reason to be awed.
Naturally. But as someone who has never been to Rome (and is never likely to go) I was impressed.
And are you saying Toni Servillo wasn't playing you? I'm very disappointed.
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And are you saying Toni Servillo wasn't playing you? I'm very disappointed.
What do you mean by "playing me"?
Anyway, Servillo plays a character which Vittorio Caprioli has been playing throughout his career, 50 years before him. With the difference that the characters Caprioli played were less inconsistent and more funny than this one.
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What do you mean by "playing me"?
Oops, I forgot about your Humor Deficit Syndrome. Never mind.
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Oops, I forgot about your Humor Deficit Syndrome. Never mind.
As usual, kicking the ball in the grandstand.
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Oberst Redl (1985) A fictive interpretation of the Archtraitor Redl's case based on a Osborne's play which, in the end, makes little sense (the Archduke was planning his own death in Sarajewo?). Still the movie is very good, especially if one doesn't know about Redl's case. It's true that, apparently, it is still dubious how facts really stood, but to make Redl simply a victim of conspiracy looks to me quite hazardous. Visually excellent (not in the Visconti's approach, thank goodness) and with excellent players. 9\10
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Well, the film claims to be based on Osborne's A Patriot for Me, but aside from the early duel scene there aren't any similarities. Osborne showed Redl as a conscious traitor (albeit blackmailed by the Russians), with a heavier emphasis on his homosexuality. This must be one of the loosest adaptations on record.
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This must be one of the loosest adaptations on record.
Agreed. And explicitly said in the introductory written note (aside from the Osborne's quite inexplicable link). Still, having read some more on the matter in the german reviews of newer studies, it seems that the homosexual side of the matter and, still more important, the decisiveness of Redl's informations to the Russians about the plans for attack on Serbia were quite doubtful. I don't know whether this is another case of wanting to refute the simpler truths for more complicated plots's sake, but the story as it was traditionally relayed (and as I read it in Dulles anthology, with the footballer hired as a burglar into the Redl's home) is unsatisfactory and with too many loopholes left.
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You raise an interesting point, Titoli. The main source for Osborne's play (I don't know about the film) is Robert Asprey's The Panther's Feast. Don't know if you've read that one, but it's an "interpretive biography" - basically a novel masquerading as fact. Half of it is conversations that must be invented, unless Redl or his spymasters had stenographers transcribing their briefings (or Redl's lovers had photographic memories). Would be interesting to read the newer accounts you mention.
As for the movie, yeah, it's borderline absurd making Redl a martyr to the Austrian system. Artistically an interesting approach, but even the most sympathetic reading of Redl's actions don't go that far.
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In one of the reviews to this new (last year published) book
http://www.amazon.de/Oberst-Redl-Spionagefall-Skandal-Fakten/dp/3701731691/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388269900&sr=1-1&keywords=alfred+redl
on the case it is said that new documents prove the Russians didn't know about Redl's supposed homosexuality, but that he was him who offered his services to them merely to substain his expensive lifestyle.
The fact that he offered his services makes me think about Cicero, actually a doppelagent for the British. In facts:
http://www.amazon.de/Doppelagent-h%C3%B6chsten-Befehl-Guido-Schmitz/dp/3938098988/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388270553&sr=1-2&keywords=alfred+redl
seems by the title to confirm the view that he was "a double agent by higher command". A pity there's no review of this one, all the more amazing as it was published only last summer.
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Anatomy of a Murder (1959) I don't like Stewart's performance: he constantly overacts and voice is the usual mess (better dubbed in italian). Still, reading the book, one can't help thinking his youger self was designed to impersonate the character. The movie takes inevitable liberties with the book for dramatic effectiveness's sake (for example, the Lee Remick charcter isn't that exaggerated in the book, she doesn't make a pass at Stewart, though her enhanced whorishness is effective to induce doubts about her story). 7\10
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Anatomy of a Murder (1959) I don't like Stewart's performance: he constantly overacts and voice is the usual mess (better dubbed in italian). Still, reading the book, one can't help thinking his youger self was designed to impersonate the character. The movie takes inevitable liberties with the book for dramatic effectiveness's sake (for example, the Lee Remick charcter isn't that exaggerated in the book, she doesn't make a pass at Stewart, though his enhanced whorishness is effective to induce doubts about her story). 7\10
did you read the book before or after you saw the movie?
when you read a book and then compare it to a movie, you'll often be disappointed (or so do the people who read books tell me). I never read the book but IMO Anatomy of a Murder is at least a 9/10
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did you read the book before or after you saw the movie?
I read first a hundred pages, then watched the movie, and then finished the book.
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Goal! (1967) The movie on WC 1966 will give you the headache as the shooting is from the worst possible angles. the filmakers had trouble procuring passes for the pitches and had to opt for a catch-as-catch-can politics. The audio was in large part concocted in the editing room. Still the movie sucks as they should have more of what was happening outside the stadiums, of which there is next to nothing. A pity, as this was the last of the old WC or the first one of the modern ones and should have earned a better treatment. Thank God it was the first one to be televised with rather modern devices and in Europe it was possible to watch the matches live. 5\10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_dp4s1gAE
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It Happened Here! (1965) Excellent in the"documentary" part, it fails a little in the more melodramatic ones, especially that involving the doctor and the wounded partisan (we can do without the political discussion, let the images and the actions do the explaining). 8\10.
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Cybèle ou Les Dimanches de Ville D'Avray (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuG29zStZBA (french audio with castellano subs)
Hailed by many as a masterpiece I have to admit that, though not my cup of tea it kept me glued to the pc screen. Still it's not a movie I would see again. The actors (the little girl it's incredible) are perfect, the images and the music same (Decae and Jarre). So what doesn't work? It is the fact that the Kruger character is not credible. He lost his memory in Vietnam. OK. But as he was repatriated he must have been given his generalities by somebody (and he was one of the few jet pilots, not just a grunt. BTW, that makes me wonder if the French alreadt operated with jets in Vietnam. Bah). And he must have been granted a pension (the fact that he's pennyless makes him dependent on his fiancèe, which fact is important storywise but makes it little credible psychologically). And the death is also unsatisfactory (in fact is not shown): the cops are able, in the dark and from a distance, to see him getting near the girlie with a knife while the girl sleeps. Bah. 8\10
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Richard Pryor Live on Sunset Strip (1982) and Richard Pryor Here and Now (1983).
I like Pryor, though he rarely makes me laugh during the almost three hour run time of this double dvd which, for unfathomable reasons found a local release. Interesting only to compare with local stand-up comedians: they're just as good. Or bad. 7\10
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Deux Hommes Dans La Ville (1973) A series of incredibly melodramatic scene that makes you want to turn off the vision at every plot turn. I had to force myself to get to the end hoping for some good action scene (totally absent). Delon totally miscast, while Ilaria Occhini is prettier than I remembered her. Gabin, as usual, is class. But it is not enough. 3\10
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Count Yorga Vampire (1970) Good movie with a shoestring budget, with excellent lead and good-looking gals though not bare skin is to be seen: a great minus. 6\10
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Maigret voit rouge (1963 )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rFCNcnic9E&feature=kp (english captioned)
Mediocre story interesting for actors (Gabin is playing Gabin, as usual; but good Sanipoli, Costantin, Bozzuffi). 5\10
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The Professional (1983) Excellent for Morricone's slapped bass score and the car chase. The rest you saw it before and better. 5\10
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The Burglars (1971) I saw this in the theatres and some of the scenes remained impressed in my memory, especially when Belmondo and Dyan Cannon play the sex book game. I didn't remember though the best parts of the movie which are the action ones with Belmondo performing stunning stunts on his own. Add Sharif's performance and Morricone's good score and a 8\10 is well earned.
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Le Corps de Mon Ennemi (1976) At imdb two reviewers dub it as "ambitious". I agree: the plot is as uninventive as can be, the shooting tricks are wasted and the whole is unredeemed by Belmondo's presence. Some good strip tease earn it a 5\10.
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Fantômas contre Scotland Yard (1967) Last entry of the threesome and weakest. That termnated the series. 3\10
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The Cruel Sea (1954) Very good sea warfare flick. Great performance by Hawkins, the story is gripping though in a subdued vein. 8\10
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The Burglars (1971) I saw this in the theatres and some of the scenes remained impressed in my memory, especially when Belmondo and Dyan Cannon play the sex book game. I didn't remember though the best parts of the movie which are the action ones with Belmondo performing stunning stunts on his own. Add Sharif's performance and Morricone's good score and a 8\10 is well earned.
yes this was good, partly cuz it was unintentionally funny/ridiculous. Belmonodo playing the American - specifically ordering the steak and french fries as a contrast to Sharif's European food. Belmondo with the heavy French accent, not just happens to be an American, but supposed to be a specific contrast to the European. And some of the other shit was unintentionally funny in a ridiculous way. I do agree with the 8/10 rating.
And this obviously had a TOTALLY different feel But the original, The Burglar, with Dan Duryea (the original was better). Also, the Duryea movie explained his relationship with Mansfield (albeit awkwardly, in a dream) it was really unclear in the Belmondo movie.
I thought it was hilarious when the girl pulls the porn mag out of Belmondo's pocket. I LEAVE YOU FOR ONE MINUTE AND YOU BECOME A CRAZED SEX .....
I don't know of many movies that can pull off being so funny (in what I think was) accidentally
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Espion, lève-toi (1982) Gripping, though murky, story. But I could watch the lead Ventura and Piccoli no end. 7\10
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Any Number Can Win (Melodie en sous-sol) (1963). The finale is A+, the caper well-done, though I wondered if there wasn't an easier way to open up the door by which Gabin enters in the vault), the rest has a sumnambolic Gabin and a good Delon. 7\10
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The Steel Helmet (1951) It has its moments but the sequence inside the temple searching for the ambusher is hard to digest: where does he hide? And so is the boy. And some of the dialogues (especially between the north-korean prisoner and the black and the korean-american) are too programmatic. 7\10
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Army of Shadows (L'armée des ombres)(1969) One of the best Melville. The only gripe I have is the moronic choice by Cassel to denounce himself to help his ex airforce pal to escape or even die. A mystery how he can be sure he will be put in the same cell. 8\10
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Bob le flambeur (1956) Didn't like it as much when I saw it on tv dubbed many eons ago. A great noir, with a great performance by Corey, for once depicting a empty-headed girl as such. 9\10
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Léon Morin, prétre (1961) Recommended to insomniacs.
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Witness for the Prosecution (1957) I first saw it in a theatre in the mid sixties. Again on tv in the '80's. This third time of course in english and if I remember well probably the dubbing enhamces Laughton's performance. which I don't find so impressive as many do: I don't especially like his delivery, sometime he mumbles his lines. I like Power much better, if you ask me. Dietrich is too old I think, and little attractive. Or maybe is the role that is too moronic, as the whole plot: one wonders what a nurse is doing near a heart disease suffering patient, allowing him to smoke cigars and drink brandy.. But Dietrich's german scene with Power is remarkable. The forte of the movie are the dialogues, which make the whole movie appealing. 8/10
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All About Eve (1950) What I didn't like about it? I could be crucified for it bu it was the main duo Davis- Baxter. Especially Baxter: she's not attractive, she only has a register when playing the innocent girl (plainly showing her hand, especially to people who ought to be able to tell a good actress) or playing the bitch or just simply being interviewed (see the extra on the second disk): same way of telling the lines and pauses, same way to hang her head to acquire rhythm, bah. There should have been a role switching with Barbara Bates. And then, is it credible that the REAL Bette Davis wouldn't have got ridden of her in a second? Why should she be suffering her presence? About Davis, well, she's impeccable but there are few moments which go beynd the already seen (the scene with Merrill in the theatre especially). And I have to suffer her wrinkled face for the whole movie. So when Monroe and Bates enter the screen, well, I felt a sense of relief. I don't think that Colbert would have made a worse job out of it. And Swanson deserved that Oscar more than her (though they stole votes reciprocically favouring Holliday, my god). And Sunset Boulevard is the better movie 8/10
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Good Morning, Night (2003) I always thought tha Bellocchio's career might well have ended after his first 2 and 1\2 movies. This one confirms my pov. His approach to the Moro case is dubious: on one hand he centres his attention on the female character, on the other he can't help coming to grip with History. so it all ends up not being clear on both counts: We may know a little background of the girl, but nothing about what pushed her towards terrorism: having had a father in the Resistance is too weak a reason. On the other hand, I personally apprehended nothing new about the case (and there was and still is very much to know). So, though Bellocchio knows where to put a camera, it helps little for making his film a good one. Only the imaginary scenes with Moro (a great Herlitzka: cannot compare him to Volontè's performance in the same role, yet) walking free the streets of southern part of Rome really made an impression. 6\10
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Le trou (1960) Best prison movie ever. What did stick into my mind since the first time I saw it in the early '70's are Roland's precise gestures or the examination of the packet sent to the prisoners, and the final two words. Of course there is more to it, f.e. the perfect acting by all the interpreters, the one playing Roland being one of the real convicts who tried the escape.
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Unknown (2011) A mixture of Frantic and Regarding Henry, which keeps you involved for 2/3 of the story but then, as it usually happens, makes you push ff. And one's left with lots of unanswered questions. which shouldn't be the case with a thriller. 7\!0
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Le trou (1960) Best prison movie ever. What did stick into my mind since the first time I saw it in the early '70's are Roland's precise gestures or the examination of the packet sent to the prisoners, and the final two words. Of course there is more to it, f.e. the perfect acting by all the interpreters, the one playing Roland being one of the real convicts who tried the escape.
at the end
SPOILER ALERT
you're upset that the plot fails ... and then it hits you – wait a minute, that's a good thing, these guys are criminals!
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No, it hits you they're betrayed after they trusted so much the newcomer.
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Get Smart (the 1995 series). 7 episodes about 20' each. the first 3 are on a level with those of the '60's, the rest are fillers. Elaine Hendrix is very pretty, but young Barbara Feldon is unapproachable (she's now 85, can't believe it).
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New York, New York (1978) Watching it again after 3 decades couldn't help but thinking that Tarantino took much of his style from De Niro's dialogue scenes. Some of these are masterful (the first dialogues between him and Minnelli) and make me give the movie a 8/10 , though maybe the film is too uneven. Watching the cut scenes in the extras I wonder if the 3 and1\2 hour version was much better. Minnelli, I have to admit it, is perfect here except when she sings, with her melodramatic style modeled on her mum's.
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Parola di ladro (1957) Rather flimsy Arséne Lupin-like story which strangely found somebody to finance it. Yes, the Becker movie on the famous thief was produced about the same years and then there was Big Deal on Madonna Street. But these were another class of movies. Why Marotta (my all-time favourite cinema critic) found it good is beyond me, though I checked it out because of his favourable opinion. Anyway the reason I mention it it is because I was amazed by a scene which I presume today couldn't pass a censorship board. Or maybe just couldn't be shot. The intended victim, a jeweller, is friendly with a gang of children, all aged between 8-10 years and to maintain their friendship (they actually will help him to neutralize the thief's intended robbery) he gives them cigarettes for presents, which they of course are shown smoking.
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The Sea Beast (1926)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv2Fji7njow
Call me Barrymore.
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Cleopatra (1963) For years this movie lingered on my mind for a single shot: the one where Taylor lies on a massage table, showing a naked half buttock. And that I had to walk along the aisle of the theatre because my backside was aching after two hours (same happened with Lord Jim). After more than 50 years, alas, can't say that I was so enthusiastic about the actress whose alcoholic sprees were taking the better of her who is not here as ravishing as 10 years before. And then her gander voice: awful. Still I must admit that her silent scene where she takes a fake revenge against Antony is well played. But of course it's the male actors who are the forte of the movie. Harrison, McDowall and Landau are great and Burton, after having sleepwalked through the picture for half of his allotted time, after the masterful Actium battle is up to the other three.
The sets are incredible: each one of them is a feast for the eye (the entrance of Cleopatra in Rome, of course, is masterful) so one wonders what doesn't work with the movie and why it was a flop. Of course, the answer lies mainly in the 2 hour cut ordered by Zanuck which went against the director's plan to distribute the movie in two parts of 3 hours each instead of the one we have of 4 hours. But I think that another, more important reason lies in the fact that most of the dialogues require a degree of attention higher than the one the kolossal viewer is willing to concede, leaning more, as they do, on the side of Shakespeare than the one of Margaret Mitchell. Still the movie earns a good 8\10 which, in the case that the missing two hours will come up, could be raised higher.
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California Split (1974) With Mash, Nashville and McCabe my favourite Altman. A pity I saw it again, for the third time, dubbed, but at least this tv recording doesn't have the re-editing of the u.s. dvd. 8/10 only because of the dub.
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Gosford Park (2001) Good representation of the high class of british society in the '30s. I could have done without the mystery part, though. 7\10
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I remember being bored stiff despite liking all the actors.
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I remember being bored stiff despite liking all the actors.
I've read your review: you were. But what I liked was the picture of the higher social echelon, especially in their relationship with their servants, starting from the treatment of Maggie Smith's servant under the rain. Of course, this is not a great Altman. But it is a good movie, which probably I could have appreciate even more had I watched it undubbed.
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Dracula (1931) I saw it in the early '80's and couldn't understand the enthusiasm about it: still can't, after having been nurtured on the Hammer versions. I'm not sure it makes a top ten Dracula movies. Most people say the spanish twin version is superior. 6/10
Dràcula (1931) One of the worst acted movies I ever saw, all actors ranging from mediocre to incompetent. But, yes, some scenes are better set than the twin english speaking version, but then, it makes little difference. 6/10
Dracula's Daughter (1936) This could have been a good one had not the code been in use. The bony faced female vampire was the perfect lez vampire but little could be made of it. A pity. 7/10
Son of Dracula (1943) I couldn't help laughing when Dracula and his wife to be go to a justice of peace to celebrate a marriage. The starting idea, though, was interesting: to be vampirized to acquire eternal life and then gettting rid of bridegroom Dracula anf getting back to former fiancé. 5/10
House of Dracula (1945) Main Universal monsters unite for this one, though I can't understand what the Creature is doing there. I liked Carradine's transformations from bat and his top hat. 6/10
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The Vampire (1957) Mexican variation on the horror theme. For the first time longer canines (the trick was copied from Hammer a year later). The story proceeds quite fast, the locales are different from usual. It's 7\10.
El ataúd del Vampiro (1958) Follow-up to the former, but with no originality. 5\10
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The Vampire and the Ballerina (1960) Polselli is the italian answer to Ed Wood. One really wonders if there's anybody who can take him seriously. Well, apparently there is. I give it 3\10 because some of the "actresses" convince me that the foreign versions might be worth finding.
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Titoli's ''garlic week''. O0
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La momia azteca (Attack of the Aztec Mummy) (1957)
La maldición de la momia azteca (The Curse of the Aztec Mummy) (1957)
La momia azteca contra el robot humano (The Robot and the Aztec Mummy) (1958)
Probably the worst trilogy ever made. People who dubbed Ed Wood as the worst director ever didn't surely watch this stuff. 0/10
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Frankenstein (1931) 7/10
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 8/10 (but can't help laughing thinking about Brooks rendering of the hermit's scene)
Son of Frankenstein (1939) 7/10 Lugosi's Ygor and Atwill's incredible policeman are the real stars.
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) Lugosi again omly reason to watch it. 6/10
House of Frankenstein (1944) Carradine as Dracula is the best thing here (6/10)
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King Kong (1933) It takes a long while to start, i.e. with the ape's entrance. Didn't remember the ape was so mean, with trampling people under its foot or throwing (or rather discarding) a woman away from the skyscraper after having seen is not its prey. 8/10
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The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) Much better than The Aviator, a good biopic made for tv, available in a longer version than the one I watched on dvd, at youtube (but it seems that the movie was actually even longer in his initial version. In fact some of the episodes, like the story with Hepburn, seem to be cut). A great TLJ, no comparison with mediocre LDC. 8/10
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Bonnie and Clyde (1967) I liked it better this time, probably because of the original audio and the big screen. But Beatty just can't play, there's not a single scene where he adopts the right expression. And even Hackman is not brilliant (though he picked up a nomination for this). Pollard is surely better. Why Dunaway didn't get an Oscar, though, is a mystery. And that was awarded to Hepburn makes me puke 8/10
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Family Plot (1976) I know I'm alone here, but to me this one and Frenzy are major Hitchcock. Not as good as his 4-5 masterpieces but in his Top Ten. I saw this one for the first time undubbed after having watched it at the time of release and maybe again in theatre and tv. It gets better and better. The car chase (not a chase, actually) is masterful. Only problem I have is with the final escape of Harris: a bit too easy. I'll check the novel. 8\10
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Flash Gordon: the Buster Crabbe's serials. The epitome of camp, the first two, in spite of some excedingly naive episode and fattening (especially in the interminable second part) are fine. The third is weak and unredeemed and can be usefully substituted by the soft-core (alas, once hard-core) 70's parody Flesh Gordon. 8\10
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Flash Gordon: the Steve Holland tv series. Over here, strangely, a dvd was released with 3 out of 31 tv episodes co-produced by USA and Germany in the early 50's. They are unreedemable: worst series ever made or a good candidate for first place. 1\10
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Predator 2 (1990) A very good sequel, not as good as the original of course. 8/10
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The Anderson Tapes (1971) This was the first non-Bond Connery movie I saw. Saw it again on tv and missed completely "introducing Christopher Walken": so it must have been before The Deerhunter. What I don't like about these caper-burglary-heist-gone-wrong movies is the fact that so meticulous criminal planners let themselves be fucked up by so stupid decisions or circumstances, as Connery does when he lets a particularly smart boy remain alone in his room: he should have known better. Anyway, 7\10.
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I like the Wolfman even less than Frankenstein's creature except in the Abbott and Costello's spoof. But anyway I bought the Universal box set and here it is:
Werewolf of London (1935) Little known but deserving entry as it is very different from the Chaney's formula. 6\10
The Wolf Man (1941) A good one.7\10
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) A good start (that's always when Chaney has still to transform), but the rest is you've seen it all. 5\10
She-Wolf of London (1946) A thriller, not a horror movie. 6\10
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My Favorite Brunette (1947) A good spoof of PI movies. Hope is in top form and some of his lines are very funny. 7/10
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The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) Not a great Preston Sturges or Harold Lloyd product, it earns a 6/10 only because of the lion scenes.
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Red Ball Express (1952) A collection of all the platitudes in a Hollywood war movie one has seen before. Why some people consider it a classic is beyond me. 2/10
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The Da Vinci Code (2008) Strangely, it doesn't have a fast pace as the novel, though it is almost a visual transcription of it. And I don't like both Hanks and Tattoo. 7\10
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Angels and Demons (2009) I liked it better than the first one, maybe because of the roman landscape. And in spite of some poetic licenses, like having foreign actors speaking ungrammatical italian with dire accents; carabinieri portrayed like they can speak english and have thoughts of their own; cars sprinting in downtown Rome like there were no traffic (and in the early evening at that). But the fire church scene is strong and well paced. Hanks looks better than in the first episode, Zimmer's OST mediocre as usual. 8\10
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The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) One of the best american comedies ever, though Davis and Cagney are too old for their part. 8/10
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California Suite (1978) The Matthau-May episode is funny, the Cosby- Pryor could have been better, the other two are forgettable melodramas.6/10
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The Outfit (1973) I read the novel a couple of times, but I'm not sure I had seen the movie. I probably did. A good one, though not exceptional because The Outfit itself doesn't look so powerful. That the last of the independents can win so easily make the organization look like a bunch of nincompoops. Anita O'Day's only feature? 7/10
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Is Paris Burning? (1966) Stilted dialogues, hollywooden vignettes, and too long anyway. Couldn't spot Gabin, Ventura and Bardot: the other ones were all there. I give it 4/10 only because of the guerrilla fight scenes and the final sequence of the bells and the parade.
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Queen Christina (1933) Garbo can't play (she always does the wrong thing with her arms and her delivery is risible, with the wrong accents and a husky voice) but her face, with that strange assembly of curves and angles owns the screen, no matter how the story or the character may give the impression of being false. And the scene in the inn is really memorable.
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Ninotchka (1939) A minor Lubitsch. Good until Garbo laughs, then it goes downhill, very hard to concile comedy with politics. But Garbo is a pleasure to see, especially in uniform. 6\10
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Mata Hari (1931) A medioicre melodrama. Only scene worth scene is the one where Garbo makes Novarro "lose his religion". A pity though that the currently available dvd version is not the pre-code one a later cut one. Garbo is unfortunately overdressed.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8EkNwoheI8U/VATQE_Fh-VI/AAAAAAAAIjE/6hqTKoDJf00/s1600/mh1.jpg)
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Dishonored (1931) Dietrichìs answer to the above. Of course Sternberg makes this rather silly plot interesting with many devices (music first). MacLaglen, though always wearing a silly grin, is tolerable. A pity the dvd quality is scarce. 8\10
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Blonde Venus (1932) The only reason to save this cheap melodrama is the cabaret performances of Dietrich. Stunning is the first one, where she strips from a Gorilla suit. 6\10
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The Devil Is a Woman (1935) Dietrich rules this, she's absolutely perfect in her role, how she wasn't awarded an Oscar is incredible. The finale is quite to be expected, but like many Sternberg's movies you just watch every scene (at least I did) open-mouthed. 8/10
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The Scarlet Empress (1934) Probably Sternberg's masterpiece and one of the Hollywood's great ones. It is perfect until the very last scenes, when Catherine escapes from the palace. From then on the production decided to do things cheaply, I guess, and brought the movie to a too fast conclusion. Still it gets 9\10. Dietrich delivers another Oscar-worth performance, totally ignored by the buffoons who awarded the prize and did ignore completely the movie. But Jaffe and Dresser are maybe even more impressive in quite difficult roles. I wonder what Stroheim thought about this movie.
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Have you been watching TCM? I know they recently had a Dietrich day on Summer Under the Stars, though I didn't have a chance to watch any of the movies.
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No. I have bought this:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/713mo8V0dGL._SY679_.jpg)
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A Foreign Affair (1948) Not as good as it would have been some years later, when Wilder perfected his kind of cynical comedy. Here the Hollywood clichés are given undue space, especially in the finale. Still watchable for the Dietrich songs and a handful of good lines. 7/10
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The Bone Collector (1999) Run-of-the Mill thriller, not as good as the novel. Washington is at his usual good, Jolie can't play and doesn't show skin. 7/10
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Morocco (1930) High-Class melodrama, with three perfect leads. The last shot is unforgettable (in fact it was the only thing I remembered of the movie I saw decades ago). 8/10
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Anna Christie (1930) A veritable piece of crap. But Garbo makes it watchable (once) not for her playing (extremely ridiculous in the confession scene) but her looks, of course. 6/10
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Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994)
It includes 3 episodes: the pilot:
The Time Element
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9tnEo-v7kU
Good, well played.
The Theatre
Run-of-the-mill.
Where the Dead Are Too long and quite unoriginal.
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Camille (1936) I don't like Garbo's hair-do, with all those curls, they detract from her beauty and makes them look older. Cukor's direction is as usual impeccable, with some touch of creative art like in the the scene where Daniels plays the piano while listening to Garbo's lies. But the story is still for the romantic female audience. Not for me, though Verdi managed to create a masterpiece out of it. 7/10
In the dvd it is also included the 1921 version featuring Rodolfo Valentino. A festival of overplaying especially by the star Nazimova which constantly spills into the ridiculous. And sets are really poor compared to those of the later version.
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Anna Karenina (1935) The Selznick touch it is evident in some of the lavish scenes, but I think that March is miscast: he can't be that glamorous as Taylor will be in Camille, though he's extraordinary as Rathbone and Garbo (I don't like her hair-do though it is better than in Camille). 7/10
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The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) A great love story movie and a formidable performance by Davis. And Flynn. The battle scenes though are poor: you take a theatrical text and put it on the screen to what end if not to spectacularize it? 8/10
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The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) One of the great Tecnicolor movies, a feast for the eye. Unfortunately the dialogues are brilliant only in the first scene between Flynn and Rains. 7/10
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The Sea Wolf (1940) Only the initial sea battle is worth watching. The rest you have already seen it before. 5/10
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Man Bites Dog (1992) The idea was good but was developed the wrong direction. Instead of concentrating on the "reasonings" of the killer, they should have shown more killings and the various murdering techniques, while keeping the interesting turn of the increasing involvement of the crew in the homicidal feats. 6/10
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Tales of Terror (1962) The Black Cat is the best of the three episodes, thanks to Lorre: the wine tasting competition is a classic with Price hamming it shamefacedly. 8/10
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The Last Voyage (1960) Not just a good disaster movie but a great thriller: it grips from the very first minute and doesn't let you go. 10\10
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Where the Truth Lies (2005) Usual mystery with usual plot twist (the last one is easily predictable) and usual OST, but this one has a lot of flesh of beautiful girls on display so it does earn a 7/10.
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Lady for a Night (1942) Lukewarm melodrama-comedy where the only good things are a couple of musical numbers. 5/10
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Lady from Louisiana (1941) The only interesting feature of this crime-melodrama is the story about the lottery racket and the flooding of N.O. decades before Kathrina. And the performance by Henry stephenson. But it gets no more than 5/10
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Pittsburgh (1942) Though he comes third in the credits, Wayne is the protagonist and it is strange watching him playing for once a heel type, though at last redeemed. Dietrich looks still beautiful, but does little more. Scott wins probably the only fist fight Wayne ever lost on the screen. 6/10
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Three Faces West (1940) Cheap propaganda stuff. 3/10
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The Shepherd of the Hills (1940) Had it been for the title alone I'd never watched it: what would you expect from it? But then Hathaway cannot be disregarded and so I gave it a try. I think for the first hour is a very good film, well managed plot-wise, but the last half hour, with all those miracles intended to make you weep makes the valuation go down a tack. Still the performances of Carey (the real protagonist of the movie, though Wayne is credited first), Betty Field (not ugly only because still young) and Wayne (this character reminded me of Nathan) and the rest of the cast; the landscapes exceptionally photographed in Technicolor; and some of the dialogues in that stream of consciousness style dave jenkins appreciates so much make me give it a 7\10
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Jet Pilot (1957) Von Sternberg (!) and Howard Hughes combined their forces to give us a veritable piece of crap. 3/10
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Hellfighters (1968) Better than the Green Berets, though Hutton never convinced me he could play. The action scenes are well made and enliven a too long movie. 6/10
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Wake of the Red Witch (1948) Uneven flick, which has a great start, a good middle part and then the usual melodrama stuff and an unexpected pre-finale which doesn't fit with what precedes but it is inevitable for the finale. The male leads are all good, Adele Mara looks much better than Gail Russel. 7/10
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The Shepherd of the Hills (1940) . . . the landscapes exceptionally photographed in Technicolor; and some of the dialogues in that stream of consciousness style dave jenkins appreciates so much make me give it a 7\10
Fair enough.
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Reap the Wild Wind (1942) Good CBDM adventure movie, with some miscasting (Goddard, older than the part and continuously overacting; and at least for the first part, even Milland) but good narrative pace. 7/10
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The Inner Circle (1991) Everybody at IMDB praises Hulce's performance while for me it's the main mistake of the movie: he plays the part of the projectionist like it was Amadeus. I also don't like the melodramatic parts of the plot, much more interesting the reconstruction of the "inner circle" and the dialogues between Stalin and the others. The finale partly redeems the melodrama. 7/10
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The Conqueror (1956) I resisted more than 30 years, but today found the guts to watch it. Any comment is useless. Maybe soon I'll find the right mood to watch Sound of Music.
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Seven Sinners (1940) I gave it another try after 30 years but I still can't find anything worth salvaging except Dietrich giving a great rendition of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". 4/10
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The Snake Pit (1948) I thought this was a noir or suspense movie instead is a ridiculous melodrama which starts well (you suspect there's some kind of conspiration going on) but gets worse and worse with two-cents psychiatrich explanantions. The only good thing is Betsy Blair (i didn't remember her as pretty in her other movies). 5/10
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The Fighting Seabees (1944) Piece of crappy war propaganda cum melodrama. Lots of stage shooting and back projectiions. Worth seeing for Wayne's dancing. 4/10
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Flying Tigers (1942) This is amazing in some respect. First of all, I can't remember a b&w movie or even a color movie until well into the 60's where so much use of fake blood is made. The special effects are remarkable (the airplane flying into the canyon comes first). Unfortunately there's also the usual dose (not much, thank God) of melodrama you could have done without, but it's a good propaganda movie. 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDXnUMjmnHY
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Tycoon (1947) Not bad romance-adventure flick in gorgeous technicolor with a great Hardwicke. Watchable once. 6/10
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The Phantom of the Opera (1943) I never liked the story, probably because the first version I saw was the boring De Palma one. Then I saw Chaney's: better but not impressed (but now that I saw some bits of the technicolor sequences I might change my assessment) and now this one, absolutely the best one, though it could have been much better and more horror-centered (even the disfigurement is ridiculous: I saw worse than what Rains displays). Anyway the Oscars it took are well earned, for once. 7/10
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The Invisible Man (1932) Were it not for some awkward scenes this would take 9/10. But thanx to narrative rhythm and special effects and the fact that Rains is seen omly at the end it gets 8/10.
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The Adventures of Busty Brown (1967) I thought it was another Aroused-style sexploitation, but unfortunately it was not. The current available version doesn't help, sure, as it is filled with cuts, so I can give it only 4/10 for the tits, what's left of them. :-X
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Double Agent 73 (1974) The problem with the two Chesty Morgan-Doris Wishman flicks is that they veer more on nudies (Wishman made some) than onsexploitation. So, as the stories are worth a spit, they result extremely boring. 4/10
Deadly Weapons (1974) Casting of Harry Reems makes one assume that hc scenes (or at least one) were shot and then cut. Not that they would have saved the enterprise, as boring as the other. Curiously, the guitar solo theme from OUTW was more or less plagiarized. 4/10
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Rhythm on the Range (1936) It starts well but then it bores. One good song (the first one) anf Frances Farmer beautiful. Martha Rye tries her best but it still bores. 5/10
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Rhythm on the River (1940) An early Wilder screenplay, with some typical touches (the cucumber cream joke). Levant and Rathbone spicy up the not completely usual story about ghostwriting. A scene with the best musical number has a band doing a jam in a hock shop to redeem their instruments: does it ring a bell?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9xNnJzmws
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) I remembered well: little comedy, no remarkable song, Bendix miscast and unfunny as can be. Hope the original novel is better. 5/10
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The Emperor Waltz (1948) I had always missed this early Wilder, with reason. Little irony on old Hapsburg monarchy, though early scenes might have been promising. The story is moronic but unredeemed by comedy. It seems that fault lies with production not with Wilder. The songs are forgotten while heard. The scene between Crosby and the King though is good. 6/10
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Holiday Inn (1942) Thank God you have here lots of musical numbers and those featuring Astaire are all good. It can't be an excellent musical, on the level of Astaire's best, because the females leads are not pretty (Rogers and Hayworth were too expensive for the production) and Abel can't compare to Horton. 7/10
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Going My Way (1944) The movie sucks but allowed me to understand the song "Swinging on a Star", though I still can't understand why many famous singers dirtied themselves with it. Crosby got an Oscar for his performance: and the movie won too, and Fitzgerald and the song as well. That year Double Indemnity got nothing. Usual shame on the Academy. 4/10
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The Bells of St. Mary (1945) This manages easily to be worst than the former, heaping icessantly all the worst ingredients of cheap melodrama, not saved by the few vocals of Crosby, good as they are in spite of poor material. And Bergman is no Fitzgerald. But I was stricken by a scene where you can see an earlier use, preceding that of Best Years of Our Life of the so called "depth of field": evidently Bazin missed this schlocky movie and can't blame him for it. 3/10
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Birth of the Blues (1941) Great music, though Mary Martin (here more appetizing than in Rhythm on the River ) doesn't fit and story doesn't keep the pace of the first part. 7/10
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Blue Skies (1946) The four Astaire numbers vary from good to memorable and so this earns the movie 8/10, even if you can do wityhout the rest of the movie.
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Musically sucks. As a horror story it has some points but in the end it sucks too. 4/10
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After the Thin Man (1936) This could have been tolerable at 60' but at 100' is boring as hell. 5/10
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Second Chorus (1940) Not the best Astaire movie, with Burgess Meredith plainly miscast, but then you have also Artie Shaw and the music numbers are still good. 7/10
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After the Thin Man (1936) This could have been tolerable at 60' but at 100' is boring as hell. 5/10
If hell turns out to be a 5/10, my afterlife won't be near as bad as I thought
I've envisioned hell as a constant loop of Patrick Wayne and Earl Holliman clips. And a sex scene with Jane Darwell.
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If hell turns out to be a 5/10, my afterlife won't be near as bad as I thought
I've envisioned hell as a constant loop of Patrick Wayne and Earl Holliman clips. And a sex scene with Jane Darwell.
The problem is you believe in afterlife.
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Another Thin Man (1939) Much better than the previous one, with a very good scene in the night club. 7/10
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Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) Not as good as number 3 but better than number 2. 6/10
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The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) As good as the previous one. 6/10
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Song of the Thin Man (1947) Another 6/10. This one has some interesting features: a young Keenan Wynn (he looks like a young Eli Wallach) ; a Gloria Grahame in blonde (though to me it makes little difference, as I don't particularly like her as CJ does); and a lot of jive.
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What Price Hollywood? (1932) Good pre-code melodrama worth a watching. The scenes featuring Lowell Sherman are first grade and the movie looks quite modern for the time, actually more than some current hollywood stuff. 7/10
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Sylvia Scarlett (1935) A festival of gay overtext by a gay director which, though totally incredible and uneven it is well played, as usual by Grant and Dennie Moore ( Hepburn is not surprisingly more feminine in male drag). Edmund Gwenn is incredibly a Harvey Keitel clone. 7/10
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Don't Look Now (1974) Clelia Matania as a Scotch woman? Ahah, I had missed that the first time. Still this movie fared better than the first time, but it is still too long, the short story is more well balanced. 7/10
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The Karloff "Mr. Wong" Series. The fact that it was discontinued after just 6 episodes (but only 5 with K.) tells it all. The problem is that the main character has none of those peculiar traits or habits that endear a character to the viewer. Wong is just Karloff disguised as a Chinese, that's all. The production values are scarce, the stories overlong. Most memorable line:"My name is Wong. James Lee Wong": 6/10
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The Caddy (1953) Watching this movie one realizes why many critics thought Lewis the heart and mind of the duo and Martin just a singing, good-looking straight man. But watching the best number of the film (which is not That's amore but What Wouldcha Do Without Me?) one understands why this couple was the best comic duo of the 50's. The problem is that the movies (with the possible exception of Artists and Models), were geared on Lewis, relegating Martin to a secondary part. But that it is not what happened in the live and TV shows, where the couple was such. As in many other movies the plot leaves little to Martin (mainly mediocre songs with the ecptions noted above) and Lewis does all the rest, which is not much and not so funny. 6/10
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Finian's Rainbow (1968) The only things to be saved are Astaire (great in everything he does, as usual) and some of the songs but not as they are performed: just compare Old Devil Moon as sung by Sinatra and how it is performed here by Petula Clark (who strains oddly to ape the melodramatic Broadway singing instead to stick to her dryer habitual style) and Don Francks. Or just some other song as sung by Maxine Sullivan and how is performed here. Tommy Steele was much better elsewhere, here is overacting. And anyway the movie is overlong. 6/10
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I rewatched it today with the director's comment and he agrees with me about the movie's running time being too long. Coppola makes many critical observations on the movie explaining how differently he would do things today and what he would cut. I'd give his comment 10/10 were it not that he can't be critical toward the too old-fashioned arrangements of songs (though it seems that Old Devil Moon might have been arranged by his father).
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The Errand Boy (1961) Lewis is not able to make a movie with a sure pace from beginning to end. Some gags are good (the swimming pool, the mimng on the syncopated tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS21T_p0pNA
) but some are lame. He admits, in the comment, that parts of the movie do not click. 6/10
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The Patsy (1964) As above.
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The Bellboy (1960) Better than the previous two as it has no plot but it is just a series of gag inside the hotel Fontainbleau (seen in Goldfinger?). Unfortunately not all the gags go beyond the lame or elementary, but i raise the previous rating to 7/10.
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The Nutty Professor (1963) Best Lewis movie without Martin. I could have done without the usual sermon at the end, salvaged though by the very last gag. 8/10
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Amblin' (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6490M2uzzeg
Early Spielberg effort which landed him a job on television. I think it is mediocre, though Jerry Lewis thought differently.
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House of Usher (1960) The first Poe-Corman-Price is a bit longish, especially at the start. The scenes with Damon have little interest, but when Price is on the screen the movie is great. 7/10
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Mein Fuehrer (2007) Not bad as some reviewers make it to be at IMDB, it has some (3-4) funny moments. A pity the movie just doesn't know where to go,pushing on the usual politically correct pro-jewish propaganda, which in a comedy works badly; or concentrating on satirizing the Nazi characters, without trying to have a coherent (and weak )plot. The actors, especially the one playing Hitler (even worse than the Russian-Hitler in The Fall of Berlin ) do not look or sound as convincing avatars. Still I saw it to the end, which I couldn't do with Life is Beautiful. 6/10
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42nd Street (1933) A pre-code musical said to be the first great one or about. Now, it is very different from later ones because actually only the last 15 minutes are with complete musical numbers and the great choreographies of Berkeley. But the story is more credible than most of the stuff done in classic Hollywood and so you have a gay director, a wild party of the crew, a backer who goes for the leading lady and then turns to a bloated Ginger Rogers (the ugliest girl around: hard to believe). A pity though, that the songs are basically only 3. 7/10
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Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) As idiotic as the game it's about, this is irritating for the reason that Kelly and Sinatra are cast as two naive teenagers when they are well above 30. Betty Garrett is probably the best of the lot but she is even more embarrassing as her age shows even more. The musical numbers are far from original (unfortunately they were concocted by Donen and Kelly, Berkeley only directed) and the songs forgettable, with the exception of the title song, of course, and the reprise of Strictly USA. The Technicolor though makes me give it a 6/10.
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Point of Order (1964) Kauffmann broght me to this movie,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJHsur3HqcI&index=19&list=WL
though I had already saved other movies by de Antonio to watch.
I must pick up some more infos on the background of the facts behind some of the dialogues which, at least to me, are not very clear. Anyway, though I had read much on the senator from Wisconsin about his activity in the late '40's-early 50's, I had completely missed this later episode which is quite revealing on multiple levels: about him, about early Tv and about the legal proceedings of political issues. I can't but recommend it.
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Desire (1936) This could have been a masterpiece if kept throughout in a comedy vein, unfortunately the romance mars about a third of the movie. 7/10
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Heaven Can Wait (1943) Impeccable movie, but the Lubitsch touch is palpable only in few scenes (memorable the dinner with the black butler) and the only comic relief to this romantic melodrama is served by Coburn, Pallette and Cregar. 7/10
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Salome (1953) This is odd as a biblical movie as the treatment of the main religious figure, The Baptist, is quite ironical. In fact John looks and talks like the madman he probably was and the dialogue with Hayworth when they first meet shows how removed from reality he was. Unfortunately the 7 veils dance is one of the weakest dance numbers by Hayworth, little flesh is showed and the music doesn't help. make it sexier. Laughton is not convincing in a Ustinov role. 6/10
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Circus World (1964) Why this bombed is unclear. Maybe the melodrama was too clichéd but then other movies before and after this one were full of it and were hits. was it maybe because Wayne didn't fit the part? Or Hayworth was too old? Or Cardinale too inept or miscast (why does she speak with a foreign accent when her character grew up in USA. BTW, if she was dubbed, then her voice was similar to her real one. But I don't think she was)? Still this movie has two great special effects scenes at the beginning and end and the circus numbers are brilliant: a pity the british dvd I watched was fullscreen and the colours faded: restored to original version it would have earned a solid 7/10.
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Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) What a wasted chance. Very good movie for about 3/4 but then the Ferrer and Ray characters are twisted unexpectedly (Ferrer a little less) and the linearity of the story goes right down the drain. A pity. I presume this is Hayworth's best ever performance though even her character is subjected to a double turnaround. 6/10
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The Verdict (1982) Wasn't much impressed the first time I saw it, dubbed. But now must admit is a serious contender for best legal thriller ever. Minor gripes about O'Shea, too clownish in his appearance for the role and some of the Newman facial routines (closed eyes, half-open mouth). Rampling has never been so persuading, looks like an actress, even though she displays only her usual, single expression. Warden and Mason are huge, I suspect that the first was never so brilliant, especially in some little but significant gesture: they should have shared the Oscar as non protagonists. I like also some political incorrectedness (by today's miserable standards) all the more so if compared to that wretched ultra political correct (and boring) movie which stole the awards this movie should have earned. 9/10
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The Verdict (1982) Wasn't much impressed the first time I saw it, dubbed. But now must admit is a serious contender for best legal thriller ever. Minor gripes about O'Shea, too clownish in his appearance for the role and some of the Newman facial routines (closed eyes, half-open mouth). Rampling has never been so persuading, looks like an actress, even though she displays only her usual, single expression. Warden and Mason are huge, I suspect that the first was never so brilliant, especially in some little but significant gesture: they should have shared the Oscar as non protagonists. I like also some political incorrectedness (by today's miserable standards) all the more so if compared to that wretched ultra political correct (and boring) movie which stole the awards this movie should have earned. 9/10
Terrific movie, I agree with the rating. But is not better than ANATOMY OF A MURDER.
I had a professor in law school who taught a whole course pretty much based on the premise that we should do whatever is moral and not worry so much about being strictly legal. This movie was like Exhibit A of his class.
Of course, this verdict in this movie will easily be overturned on appeal 😉
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Of course, this verdict in this movie will easily be overturned on appeal 😉
You're sure? On what basis?
(Of course, the defendant, whose interest was from the start to close the case asap, wouldn't appeal even more so once the truth has been revealed).
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All These Women (1964) I was fascinated by this movie ever since I saw it first on the little screen in b&w and little I knew what it was all about (I doubt I was in my teens). All the more so now that I watched it in colour on my cinema screen. Critics have lambasted it for reasons that elude me: I think that the colours are fascinating, the pace is fast, some dialogue pungent. As somebody at IMDB wrote, the main fault is that is not as funny as it would like to be. You don't laugh: but you smile. 7/10
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Thinking about The Verdict, it remains unclear why the admittance nurse, after having signed the false form not to be fired, left the hospital and Boston, especially as she wants to be a nurse, which she's not in NY. I must read the book.
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You're sure? On what basis?
(Of course, the defendant, whose interest was from the start to close the case asap, wouldn't appeal even more so once the truth has been revealed).
Because there is not a shred of decent admissible evidence
Newman's "expert witness" was crap. His one potential decent witness (the doctor who appears early on) the defendant paid off and he disappears. The document that is offered as evidence " I kept a copy" is ruled inadmissible by the judge cuz it is a copy.
This was simply a situation in which the jury said, we know what is right and we are going to do what is right, and we are going to disregard our legal duty. This case would be thrown out on appeal faster than you can say boo. And that is really the point of the movie here, about people doing what they feel is right rather than following legal technicalities: actual justice as opposed to procedural justice.
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Thinking about The Verdict, it remains unclear why the admittance nurse, after having signed the false form not to be fired, left the hospital and Boston, especially as she wants to be a nurse, which she's not in NY. I must read the book.
As I recall – and it's probably been five years since I last saw the movie – she quit being a nurse because of what happened that night at the hospital
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Yeah Newman is great, Warden is great, and James Friggin Mason, I worship the ground that guy walks on. One of his greatest performances ever
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Because there is not a shred of decent admissible evidence
Newman's "expert witness" was crap. His one potential decent witness (the doctor who appears early in) the defendant paid off and he disappears. The document that is offered as evidence " I kept a copy" is ruled inadmissible by the judge cuz it is a copy.
This was simply a situation in which the jury said, we know what is right and we are going to do what is right, and we are going to disregard our legal duty. This case would be thrown out on appeal faster than you can say boo. And that is really the point of the movie here, about people doing what they feel is right rather than following legal technicalities: actual justice as opposed to procedural justice.
In fact, walking out of the theater in 1982, a friend of mine even turned to me and said, "I can't wait for the sequel: The Appeal.
The film is a piece of shit. Just because it has great acting and moments of dramatic interest, that counts for nothing when the plot is completely worthless. As Drink points out, the verdict would undoubtedly be overturned on appeal. The filmmakers don't want to acknowledge that, so they misdirect the attention of the audience onto a putative feel-good story of good overcoming evil. But such circumstances bear no relation to the world as we know it. The whole film is an exercise in bad faith.
It's completely unlike a good trial film, such as Anatomy of a Murder, which, based on a actual court case, is legally plausible.
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Because there is not a shred of decent admissible evidence
The document that is offered as evidence " I kept a copy" is ruled inadmissible by the judge cuz it is a copy.
I'm quoting from Reel Justice, written by two law professionals. "Judge Hoyle (O'Shea) was wrong, because a genuine dispute existed about whether Concannon's (Mason) or Galvin's (Newman) version of the form was accurate. Hoyle should have admitted both versions into evidence and left it to the jury to decide which version is accurate." I don't know about a real jury, but the fictional one would have ruled against the defendant. So, apparently, the judge ruling against the admissibility of the nurse's form is more of a fictional ruse than a reality bound decision. And so, more important, the document is not a matter of discussion: it would have been evaluated both fictionally and not fictionally.
But there are other considerations (and you can give me an answer).
1) Newman has got the chance to ask a mistrial when Rampling's spy role is discovered. He refuses (he has just met the admittance nurse). Can that circumstance be brought to bear in an eventual appeal?
2) Always quoting from Reel Jusrtice: "...Concannon should have asked Hoyle to dismiss the case and enter a directed verdict for the defense." Would the plaintiff then be able to appeal and introduce the testimony of the admittance nurse?
3) Could the defense prevent the admitting-room nurse testimony at all as she was simply a rebuttal witness? Because this is where, I think, all the plot hinges on: once she is on the witness stand the defense is fucked up.
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The Rainmaker (1997) I expected more from this one, but it is mostly a tearjerker and the only brilliant moments are courtesy of De Vito, Scheider and the preliminary duels between Voight (never saw him hamming it like this) and Damon. Directed by FFC but it could have been anybody else. 6/10
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Chicago (2002) I forced myself to watch the first 15 minutes because I thought this was a courtroom drama. But couldn't make it beyond the amateurish acting, staging and music.
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I'm quoting from Reel Justice, written by two law professionals. "Judge Hoyle (O'Shea) was wrong, because a genuine dispute existed about whether Concannon's (Mason) or Galvin's (Newman) version of the form was accurate. Hoyle should have admitted both versions into evidence and left it to the jury to decide which version is accurate." I don't know about a real jury, but the fictional one would have ruled against the defendant. So, apparently, the judge ruling against the admissibility of the nurse's form is more of a fictional ruse than a reality bound decision. And so, more important, the document is not a matter of discussion: it would have been evaluated both fictionally and not fictionally.
But there are other considerations (and you can give me an answer).
1) Newman has got the chance to ask a mistrial when Rampling's spy role is discovered. He refuses (he has just met the admittance nurse). Can that circumstance be brought to bear in an eventual appeal?
2) Always quoting from Reel Jusrtice: "...Concannon should have asked Hoyle to dismiss the case and enter a directed verdict for the defense." Would the plaintiff then be able to appeal and introduce the testimony of the admittance nurse?
3) Could the defense prevent the admitting-room nurse testimony at all as she was simply a rebuttal witness? Because this is where, I think, all the plot hinges on: once she is on the witness stand the defense is fucked up.
It has been a while since I saw THE VERDICT. I don't remember all the details of the trial. I should watch it again.
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Primal Fear (1996) Good courtroom thriller, which you won't see a second time once you know the end. I detest Gere, Norton plays well his usual his half.moron routine, very good Laura Linney: not pretty, but she knows how to work with a cigarette (something Meryl Steeps never learned).
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The Verona Trial (1963) Lizzani just did his homework for this representation of one of the most troubled period of recent italian history. Woolf and Mangano are good but I don't like the dubbers. The OST (but is it really an original one? I'm sure I've heard it somewhere else) is absolutely incongruous. 6/10
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The Young Lions (1958) I remember this as one of the first movies, if not the very first one, I watched as a film, not as some kind of alternative reality. Must have seen it again another couple of times. At imdb I read that the book is much better: not a great feat. This is heavy melodrama badly acted by Brando (I must have developed an irritation toward him lately) not helped by the inconsistency of his character (it seems that the book is much better in this respect). Martin and Clift are good but their characters are just as inconsistent. 6/10
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Another Time, Another Place (1958) I had bought the dvd long time ago just because Connery was there and I was curious to see him in the first important part (though no lead, or maybe yes as he sure is in the first third of the movie) of his career (though in the credits his name is wrongly preceded by the word "introducing"). Well, I presume the female audience may still find something interesting in this heavy melodrama and I must admit I wasn't bored by it, as the story proceeds fast and lets you hanging all the time about what it is really about. Of course I won't watch it again. 6/10
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The Young Lions (1958) I remember this as one of the first movies, if not the very first one, I watched as a film, not as some kind of alternative reality. Must have seen it again another couple of times. At imdb I read that the book is much better: not a great feat. This is heavy melodrama badly acted by Brando (I must have developed an irritation toward him lately) not helped by the inconsistency of his character (it seems that the book is much better in this respect). Martin and Clift are good but their characters are just as inconsistent. 6/10
pretty crappy movie
And I get that having a "gray hat" generally makes for a more interesting movie than having a blatantly evil bad guy, but here it is bullshit. Brando'a character is a proud German soldier who supports Hitler and then after the war is over he's shocked, shocked to learn that there's extermination going on here ::)
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I forgot to add that Schell's performance is the best of the movie as he is the most credible character. I like his voice and his germanized english and I gave the movie that rating because of the hospital scene.
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A Hard Day's Night (1964) I must have reviewed it here already. First saw it on tv in 1971 or 1972. One of the movies I'll take with me in the tomb.
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Back to the Future Trilogy. Had I noticed before the OUATITW quotation of the pan shoot from above the railway station? Anyway, the pace is always fast and some of the lines are still funny (the one about Reagan and Lewis and Wyman still the best). I give 8 to the first and 7 to the other ones.
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The Seventh Seal (1957) It gets better and better, with original audio and big screen. Probably the best movie on the Middle Ages.
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And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
I'm not a Monty Python fan and this didn't make me change my mind. Their comedy is based on magnification and opposition, not a great imagination effort. 5/10
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The Image Makers (2000) A late Bergman, though based on a play and shot on video. But one has to be thankful for that as, though there is a little teatrality there is less melodrama than in his late horrors like Fanny and Alexander or Scenes from a Wedding. 7/10
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And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
I'm not a Monty Python fan and this didn't make me change my mind. Their comedy is based on magnification and opposition, not a great imagination effort. 5/10
I like the Pythons at sketch length. Their films are interminable.
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Had seen it before dubbed. But the original audio does little to make it better. Boring even more than the above. 4/10
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The Meaning of Life (1983) Lots of SE and money put into it to disguise the fact that the movie is aseries of bad jokes stitched together. Depressing. 3/10
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Wild Strawberries (1957) One shouldn't watch Bergman's movies in his teenage: What do you expect to understand? Still I liked the movie, though I couldn't remember a thing except for the masterful dream sequence (best ever with the one in 8&1/2, a long way from those disneylike Hitchcock did). It has defects (as Kauffman pointed out, some narrative strains have no development) but of course they are compensated by some moments of masterful creativity.
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The Devil's Eye (1960) The Hell scenes (with a Satan who might have been a Liberace double, though I doubt Bergman ever knew who the piano player was) are very good, unfortunately two or three protracted scenes are only based on quite going nowhere dialogues and make the movie dull in parts.
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The Wild One (1953) I remember this as the first movie I ever saw on TV, though I'm probably wrong. I read lately the short story on which it was based on, a much better work than the melodramatic story concocted around it by Hollywood. Brando doesn't persuade me: he's not so good, looks goofy, even though the inconsistency of his character doesn't help him. Marvin is miles above him. Though I saw it again (but eons ago) didn't remember good Flippen and Carey were in it. The only merit the movie has is that generated a year later the italian spoof which launched Sordi's career and is still a comedy classic.
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The Enemy Below (1957) First time I saw it, in the '80's, was on a small screen and, I'm sure, in B&W. I thought it was good, a 7/10. Now, on a big screen and in colour, it gets 8/10. It would get more were it not for the hollywoodish inserts of moronic nazi reading Mein Kampf in a sub (nobody in Germany read Mein Kamp, figure it out in a sub under attack) and similar idiocies. Still it doesn't portray the Germans as Idiots and Americans as geniuses, actually I didn't even remember the finale, which is quite acceptable. So it gets 8/10. BTW there's a musical moment which can profitably be compared to the one in Casablanca we discussed a few days ago.
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The Enemy Below (1957) First time I saw it, in the '80's, was on a small screen and, I'm sure, in B&W. I thought it was good, a 7/10. Now, on a big screen and in colour, it gets 8/10. It would get more were it not for the hollywoodish inserts of moronic nazi reading Mein Kampf in a sub (nobody in Germany read Mein Kamp, figure it out in a sub under attack) and similar idiocies. Still it doesn't portray the Germans as Idiots and Americans as geniuses, actually I didn't even remember the finale, which is quite acceptable. So it gets 8/10. BTW there's a musical moment which can profitably be compared to the one in Casablanca we discussed a few days ago.
Agree I liked this one too. 8/10
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Superman III (1983) Not the best in the series, but not that bad either. Still the plot is interesting only at the start, but after the kryptonite makes its appearance it is too childish. BTW, during the class reunion, we can hear the Beatles singing Chuck Berry and Earth Angel. BTTF was made two years after this one: do I have to assume that these songs are mandatory for such occasions?
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Mafioso (1962) Though I had watched it only once and eons ago I remembered much of this one. Impossible to forget. I see that at the time of the re-release in USA it grossed more than $300.000,00. At IMDB the lower rating is 7/10. So I wonder why in Italy it wasn't a bigger hit and doesn't come to mind of most when talking about Sordi's achievements. Probably because it is so disturbing. Sordi is his usual huge, though toward the end he is forced to play some false note because of plot reasons (impossible he doesn't get hip sooner to what the game is about). I wanted to give it 8/10 because of it, but when I saw him left by the truck on the road carrying a rabbit and something else (a pheasant?) in his hands I raised it again to 9/10.
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Alice's Restaurant (1969) The first thing that hit me about this movie was the poster, which I saw many years before I saw the movie itself. It remains the only thing worth keeping about the whole enterprise (including listening to the self-calling song which inspired it) because I can't find a single reason to watch this movie. Which amazes me because I remembered it as a good one. As a '60's archeological artifact gets a 5/10.
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The Spiral Staircase (1945) Probably the movie that terrified me most, considering the age I was when first saw it. it is still a good thriller, perfect as to direction and pace, though there are some plot holes (the murderer would let himself be caught if he killed the housekeeper, and some). 7/10
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Miller's Crossing (1990) Boring as hell, it could last the double or half lenght and it wouldn't make a difference. the characters are just the same from start to finish and they just have to adjust to the uselessy intricated plot to make ends meet. 4/10
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Point Break (1991) Why I bought it I can't remember. Anyway, it has good action scenes and the joke of the ex-presidents. Too long and repetitive, though, and too filled up with bum reflections on surfing. 6/10
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Vivre sa vie (1962) This has got to do with prostitution as much as Inside Llewyn Davis with music. A pity because at the start it seemed that Godard wanted to make a movie. The story it's interesting until the girl gets herself a pimp: from the on it's all a waste of time. Michel Legrand signed probably his worst OST. I give it 6/10 because of the exteriors of Paris.
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La sua giornata di gloria (1969) See the review at IMDB. But the rating there is too generous. 1/10
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Centochiodi (2007) Olmi is a director, his images are always well concived. But the story is thin and weak, almost embarrassing. 3/10
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The Man of La Mancha (1972) Much better than I thought, in spite of the poor musical score with the exception of the famous song I knew as sung by Elvis and Le Grand Jacques. But it's a song as mimed by O'Toole that really moves me. O'Toole delivers a memorable performance, it might even be his best one (according to some at IMDB). Loren is perfect and the rest of the cast same. I might even re-watch it. As a movie it gets 8/10 but considering the mediocrity of the score gets 7/10.
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Desire (1943) Crappy melodrama. 0/10
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Telefon (1977) Run-of-the-mill thriller which I remembered as better. Probably is the technology that looks terribly inadequate, but even more striking is the moronic premise. The finale though is tense, so I give it 7/10.
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Whiplash (2014) Yes, a whiplash on your intelligence. I watched it through only because a musician told me to do it . A collection of all (not one left off) formulaic tropes of Hollywood plots. The only originality is, as usual, in the choice of the talent of the protagonist. What irritated me most though was that Simmons got the Oscar that should have gone to Anton Walbrook or whoever else for the same role. 4/10
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One Minute to Zero (1952) Quite uneven Korea war flick, too larded up with love story between Mitchum and pretty Ann Blyth, completely disposable. Some battle scenes reminded me of western shot in the roman country. Still a couple of scenes (the exodus and Hamilton Burger's finale) make a vision viable. 6/10
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What irritated me most though was that Simmons got the Oscar that should have gone to Anton Walbrook or whoever else for the same role.
wow, titoli finally said something in this thread that's true!
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Mill of the Stone Women (1960) Boring italian horror. I hoped the french version had some nudity of Scilla Gabel, but apparently no foreign version was prepared. So no reason to watch it. 4/10
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The Sunshine Kid (1975) They gave the Oscar to Burns, but the performance is by Matthau: Burns does little, Matthau's is one of his masterpieces. The movie gets 8/10 just for Matthau.
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The Sunshine Kid (1975) They gave the Oscar to Burns, but the performance is by Matthau: Burns does little, Matthau's is one of his masterpieces. The movie gets 8/10 just for Matthau.
"You might have eaten. You didn't have lunch."
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Time Without Pity (1957) The plot cannot be taken seriously: I presume it took very little time to put it on paper. For the first half hour it is interesting, as Losey makes something out of some scenes helped by a good Redgrave (see the fellinian visit to the vaudeville theatre with a ridiculous Plowright). But then the plot becomes boring untl the incredible, moronic finale and the very bad performance of McKern does require a great force of will to make it to the end. Miss Moneypenny does not enchant me as she will some years later. 5/10
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Angel (1937) Visually perfect, with a couple, maybe three Lubitsch touches (most memorable: the veal steaks). Actors perfect, Dietrich still looking gorgeous. Still the stuff is really thin, making a mountain out of a molehill. 7/10
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Dennis the Menace (1993) Only people happy with this crap were surely the bookies who gobbled up all Matthau's earnings. 2/10
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Gotti (1996) Good HBO production with excellent performances. 8/10
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Boss of Bosses (2001) Same story as above but from the other POV. These movies make you wanna to know better the real facts and characters. It is strange though that it seems the story of Castellano reminds one of Godfather I and II: reality following fiction. 6/10
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Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) Funny no-brainer with no characters, good action scenes but as usual too long. 8/10
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Crime Inc (1984) The only fault I find in this 6 hours British documentary is that 30 years have passed. Still some interview, some videos, mand old newsreel make this required reading for everyone interested in the matter. 8/10
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Le beau mariage (1982) A movie built on little which delivers even less. The to main characters have little, if any, solidity: if they behaved like they were adults instead of early teenagers (assuming there are still goofy teenagers like these two) there wouldn't be any movie. Main point of attraction is Arielle Dombasle. 5/10
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La femme de l'aviateur (1981) Talk, talk, talk. I give it 6 only because of the Paris landscape.
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Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Not the best Harryhausen I think: I prefer the Sinbad. But the Talos scene is probably his best ever and it compares easily with any of King Kong. 7/10
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Pauline à la plage (1983) Arielle Dombasle shows her naked tits and in bathing suit her ass can be appreciated. But the movie is terrible melodrama, with plot turns which at best can be considered boring. 4/10 only for Dombasle (her hair-do though detracts from her appearance).
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Perceval (1978) The movie at first is amazing for the effort to recreate the pictorial images of some art practices of pre-renaissance times. But then the choice of having the narrative parts sung or recited by the actors after a while it bores: shortly, the movie is too long. But the problem I have with it is probably that I first saw it almost at the same time with Ronconi's Furioso which is head and shoulder above it, though it would be not correct to compare the two works, both literary and filmic. Still to me the 5 hours of Ronconi's serial seem shorter than the 2h13' of Rohmer. 8/10
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Les nuits de la pleine lune (1984) I should rewatch the earlier Rohmer : I liked them because of their irony toward characters who were not honest toward themselves, doing something which contrasted with their spoken comments, but in an almost jamesian way, hard to pick up. These characters of the late '70's early 80's have little linearity: it is easier to make a movie about them because you don't know what moves them. Like here: but at least the finale confirms what she is in spite of her repeating to herself that she's in love wither companion: a strumpet. 7/10
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The Puppet Masters (1994) Heinlein's novel came out before Finney's Invasion of Body Snatchers, patently "inspired" (copied) from the earlier one. Though Finney's book is good, Heinlein's is probably the best horror-Sf novel, or at least a good contender for top slot. The movie isn't as good as Siegel's, though it has Sutherland: It has good scenes, but the sequence of the beehive is boring. 7/10
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) The Diamond number alone would make this worth watching and it's one of the best musical numbers ever committed to film. Monroe is above perfection here but throughout the movie is never below unique. A uniqueness which is due also, apart from her beauty, line delivery and glamour, to her ability as a singer: she's the best singer among great actresses, with the possible exception of Dietrich. Oddly her name was in the opening credits below Russel's, who does a great job but just cannot compete: that is clear from the first scene. The movie falters a bit in the middle part so it gets only 8/10. A musical number partly visible in the trailer was cut: I'd like to know what it was and if it's available.
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Le rayon vert (1986) This is to movies, to stick to current events, what Purple Rain is to songs: zero degree of inventiveness, the kind of stuff everybody with a bit of imagination and basic technical ability should be able to deliver. I had seen it before and couldn't remember a thing: now I know why. 0/10
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The Insider (1999) Boredom. I was about to cut vision after 20 minutes. Got to the end to know the facts but 2 & 1/2 h. to get to the point is too much. Pacino goes through the motions while Crowe is miscast and adds bad playing to the character. The rest is pure hollywood triviality. 4/10
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Donnie Brasco (1997) They adjusted facts to story (probably to make Pacino have a greater role) but if it would have been better to cut off the familiar vicissitudes of the cop which slow down the narration terribly and tell more about the illegal activities. 7/10
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Donnie Brasco (1997) They adjusted facts to story (probably to make Pacino have a greater role) but if it would have been better to cut off the familiar vicissitudes of the cop which slow down the narration terribly and tell more about the illegal activities. 7/10
You gotta learn to use commas.
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You gotta learn to use commas.
You gotta learn to read.
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Rounders (1998) Dahl remakes Cincinnati Kid or The Hustler or you tell it. Not bad, but not memorable. 7/10
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Hell in the Pacific (1968) One of the movies of my life. And not only because it is a great one. I watched it in 1969 and remember still that afternoon with my father. Today I saw the dvd with the stupid bombing finale, which in Italy was never seen before. But today was impressed with the use of sound and the Schifrin's OST.
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L'onorevole Angelina (1947) Terrible. I don't think it has some kind of interest except for italian cinema historians as it has some elements better developed in later works. The story is poor but the romantic subplot makes it embarrassing. It was shot a stone's throw from where I live. 5/10
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L'ami de mon amie (1987) This has got some interesting elements, but in the end it turns out to be the usual romantic comedy Hollywood has ladled to us over a century. One or two good dialogues make it worthwhile for a single vision. 7/10
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Die Marquise von O...(1976) Still good after all these years. But I don't like Ganz: ugly looking and with a screeching voice. 7/10
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L'amour l'après-midi (1972) I realized this one was the only "conte moral" I had missed. No great thing: certainly the weakest of the six. It starts by playing on the ambiguity of the first 5 but the problem is that the character doesn't know himself what he wants to do: betray the wife or not? 6/10
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Impostor (2001) For a cheap production it has very good sets: I think that is the best feature of the flick. I can't remember if I ever read the 6 pages of the original story, but it is apparent that the screenplayers put too much of their own into the story, especially the middle part. That was because after the movie was planned as a short episode they decided to fatten it up to a feature. 6/10
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Cube (1997) Good thriller with few frills (the idiot genius, the artificial confrontations. BTW, why the leader kills the doctor? Just because she had hinted to his personal problems? Weak reason). 7/10 or maybe 8/10.
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Mars Attacks! (1996) The problem I have with this movie is that I can't decide if the director wanted to make a comic movie or not. If he did, then it is not funny enough and it is overlong. I think the Abrahams bros. would have made a better job. Moderately entertaining. 6/10
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Stargate (1994) I had seen it before but remembered only the incredible Jaye Davidson, really upsetting, as he looks from a shot to another attractive and disgusting, handsome and ugly, male and female. Spader is one of the worst amateurs I ever saw: with Michael J. Cox this could have been a much better movie. The story could have done without the usual plot devices (the community in thrall, the romantic involvement etc) but it can be seen a couple of thimes for the special effects. 7/10
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Who is Michael J. Cox?
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Who is Michael J. Cox?
A Porn star >:D
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A Porn star >:D
;D ;D ;D
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Gattaca (1997) Dull as hell. 1/10
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Gattaca (1997) Dull as hell. 1/10
Yea just watched it also, first time, it was pretty dull.
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eXistenZ (1999) Cronenberg, as usual, starts projecting hi movie by devising the most repellent device for the viewer (in this case a semiorganic schtumpf which can be implanted in a kind of auxiliary asshole to allow for a realistic community rolegame) and then builds on it a not original playing of reality vs imagination. Less boring than other movies he did, it doesn't get beyond a generous 6/10
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There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) Lame plot built around Berlin's songs, some classics and some not. The highlight is Monroe's After You Get What you Want.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlooRreqEt4
Amazing how she masters the phrasing better than most professional singers. She's Hollywood actress number one in my book, mastering both comedy and drama. Audiences, as usual, were ahead of critics who didn't give her credit for her acting ability. Johnny Ray is embarrassing and given a weak number to boot. The rest is okay for the musical numbers. 710
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How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) First Cinemascope movie. So-so comedy with a couple of good jokes. The best scenes are the duets of Bacall with Powell (huge, as usual) and Monroe with Wayne. 7/10
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The Abyss (1989) An Abyss of boredom, except for the 20 minutes of still good SE. I saw the 170 minutes version. It could have been good at 80'. The idea that aliens could give a f... about what happens to us, since Klaatu gave us the first warning, is ridiculous. In movies the only good alien is a bad alien. 3/10
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In movies the only good alien is a bad alien.
I could safely assume that you are not a fan of E.T. either.
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I could safely assume that you are not a fan of E.T. either.
Never saw it and I don't like it.
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Good man. O0
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Never saw it and I don't like it.
This is exactly right. O0 O0 O0
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Strange Days (1995) At 90' it could have been good. At 80' VG. But at 140' one could be tempted to turn the vision off. A pity because there are some good ideas and scenes to make this a palatable thriller (maybe cj could even tell us is a neo-noir and give it 10/10 as usual). I give it 6/10
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The Cell (2000) An original thriller, whose best parts are of course the ones played in the mind of the protagonists, in the realm of surreal. 6/10
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The Sixth Sense (1999) 100' of boredom just to deliver a "surprise ending". Anybody cares? apparently many do. I don't. 2/10
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The Sixth Sense (1999) 100' of boredom just to deliver a "surprise ending". Anybody cares? apparently many do. I don't. 2/10
I assume you already knew the ending by the time you watched this movie now. In that case, the rating is almost meaningless.
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No, I hadn't seen the movie before and didn't know about the ending. But my point is that whatever the ending the movie is boring.
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Cul-De-Sac (1966) I presume some would sell this as a pre-neo-noir or whatever involuted label they would devise to attach to this black comedy which pilfers elements from many genres, noir too. It is not boring, but it aims higher of what it accomplishes, the Pleasance character being too easily disposed of by his increasing madness. 7/10
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I assume you already knew the ending by the time you watched this movie now. In that case, the rating is almost meaningless.
No, the 6th Sense is famous because of its ending but is actually a great film because of all the rest. Character development, acting, cinematography... It's really great. Once you know the ending, you're watching a much better movie than your regular horror thriller. It's one of these films where you can definitely answer "You don't get it" to people who say it's boring. It's not. Anyway, if the 6th sense is boring and Cube is a "good thriller", my best guess it that Titoli is not half as good at understanding English than he thinks he is.
There are worst people in this thread though. People who dislike E.T. Those people not only "don't get it": they have no soul.
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The Sixth Sense (1999) 100' of boredom just to deliver a "surprise ending". Anybody cares? apparently many do. I don't. 2/10
At the time of release I heard that this was film with a surprise ending. I hate surprise endings, so I wanted people to spoil it for me, but everyone I asked who had seen the film refused to divulge the twist. So I gave up. But later a friend who hadn't seen it either rented the video and I couldn't get out of watching it. So about five minutes in I realized what the twist is going to be--actually, anyone who has seen a season of Twilight Zone should guess it at once. So I'm watching the film having understood the ending and I'm looking to see if the filmmakers cheat or play fair. And of course they cheat--they constantly edit scenes in such a way as to not give away the twist. This is almost as bad as the lying flashback--cuts have, by convention, a fixed set of meanings, and the filmmakers took advantage of those conventional associations to mislead the audience at several turns. The longer the film went on, the more incensed I became. When we got to the surprise, I let rip with a loud fart.
titoli's valuation is, if anything, too high. Noodles_Leone reveals himself to be, not for the first time, a sucker.
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If you think I'm gonna actually argue and not just troll inside of Mr Tits' Palace, you've just discredited your views.
Still, like I said, I don't care about the twist ending. The movie works. The real story works and is told in a compelling way. I'm seeing actual human beings struggling with life (and death). It's good.
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titoli's valuation is, if anything, too high.
You don't say that to me. >:(
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Repulsion (1965) Though I think that a 20' cut would have been beneficial, I can't deny that the movie has got some fascination. I thought I had seen it before at the cinema, like I did with Cul-de-sac, but I probably didn't. Worth a watch. 6/10
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The Sixth Sense was inspired by an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? By definition then, it's as clever and well-constructed as a mediocre kid's show.
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Do you mean that OUATIA is exactly as good as The Hoods?
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Still, like I said, I don't care about the twist ending. The movie works. The real story works and is told in a compelling way. I'm seeing actual human beings struggling with life (and death). It's good.
You mean "actual ghosts." Which, whether they exist or not, can't be "actual" human beings.
It's a BS story told in a BS way. The fact that you like this AND E.T. indicates that you should never be listened to on anything.
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You mean "actual ghosts." Which, whether they exist or not, can't be "actual" human beings.
It's a BS story told in a BS way. The fact that you like this AND E.T. indicates that you should never be listened to on anything.
He said, while arguing in Titoli's thread.
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Delicatessen (1991) A piece of shit.
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See?
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I haven't the chance to go through all 42 pages in this thread but whats your rating on John Carpenter's The Thing?
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I haven't the chance to go through all 42 pages in this thread but whats your rating on John Carpenter's The Thing?
I liked it, though I haven't seen it in decades.
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I liked it, though I haven't seen it in decades.
This is so scary. We're like psychic twins now!
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Knife in the Water (1962) I saw it first in the early '70's, in a cinema, of course. Then again on TV, but this third time undubbed. I remembered little of the plot development, actually I thought there was a mounting tension between the 2 males which is not the case, as the fight comes almost by chance. I think that all the speech of the wife to the boy is too didactical ("You will become like him") and it doesn't rhyme with the character who doesn0t seem to have a gripe with the husband. But still it is the best Polansky with Chinatown (though I haven't seen The Pianist).
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But still it is the best Polansky with Chinatown (though I haven't seen The Pianist).
No love for Tess?
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No love for Tess?
I think I couldn't make it beyond the first 15'.
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The Thing (1982) As a thriller is well paced, right from the start. The special effects are still effective, maybe even too much. What doesn't work is the fact that you can see it is all shot in a studio, with a few exceptions. Still it earns 8/10.
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Nella città l'inferno (1959) The only, superficial, thing in common with forerunner (?) Caged is the "progress" of the naive inmate to prostitute. But there all connections end. First of all Masina is as miscast as can be: not only she's very old for the part, as noted by jinxy, but she's made to talk with a roughly venetian accent which is clearly not hers (she's from Bologna's vicinity), so she's twice a bogus. The Magnani character is just as bogus, as all the other ones of the inmates in the movie, about whom we know little, if anything. The jail looks like a summer camp with bars, run by benevolent nuns and no Hope Emerson in sight.
Magnani is full of advices to her companions, which doesn't explain her violent reaction to Masina's tribute to her mentor. A good bad lady, melodramatic as can be. Masina's acting is embarrassing, her gestures and mimicry can be anticipated 2 seconds before. Same for most of Magnani's, who has the advantage, though, to speak her native tongue, though she sometimes (too many times) slides into an italian which doesn't rhyme with her character's linguistic faculties. Same goes for the direction, that betrays too many times itself in too clearly staged shots. The only moment where the movie overcomes itself is with the uncredited appearance of Sordi: as monumental as he was in the late '50's. 6/10
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The only moment where the movie overcomes itself is with the uncredited appearance of Sordi: as monumental as he was in the late '50's. 6/10
I forgot to mention him! Yeah, that was a surprise when he cameo-ed, a very pleasant one. Who was the old man?
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I forgot to mention him! Yeah, that was a surprise when he cameo-ed, a very pleasant one. Who was the old man?
No idea. Never seen before.
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Madigan's Millions (1968) Actually shot in 1967, I think. So it should be Hoffman's screen debut, though the movie found a distributor only after The Graduate was a hit. The only good thing is Elsa Martinelli, though Hoffman is impeccable in comedic routines quite lame. Lots of roman exteriors and well known faces of italian b movies make this crap get a 4/10.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eleqXRSnUmY
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The Seven Year Itch (1955) The screentest of Matthau shows how this could have been a better movie, though the censorship mangled the original theatre text. But of course you watch the movie for Monroe, as adorable as usual. Unfortunately, for a comedy, it's not very funny. 6/10
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Lady of Burlesque (1943) Actually, there is little of burlesque risqué, for censorship reasons. The names of Wellman and Stanwyck (here as a mediocre singer but as amazing, for a non professional, dancer) rescue this from being a simple serial episode of the crime genre. But the only memorable scenes are those with Stanwyck: if you're a fan of hers don't miss it, otherwise go elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCa1qNPINgE
6/10
As I have also the novel, I'll check it asap.
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The Misfits (1961) You could see the last half hour and get the gist of it. The first 90' are pretty boring, though Gable is huge and Marilyn is her usual good too except that their characters are inconsistent. But the last part, with the horse chase, thanx to Huston is interesting, though based on usual hollywooden melodrama. 6/10
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Killing Them Softly (2012) So you're a delinquent planning to hit a local mobsters cardgame hive with the certainty that the mobsters won't come after you because the blame will be put on the hive's mob representative who did the trick before himself and is still there not only to tell it but with his role untouched (this is for d&d). So who the half delinquent picks up for the job? A half-moron just out of prison who picks as pard a junkie who is half stoned all the time, of course (and what is the music YOU would pick up when he does his smack? Of course not VU's Heroin). They do the trick and, of course, the junkie spills the beans at once to one of the mob's connections. OK. So what would you do if you were not a half-moron? Leave town, of course: you have the money to do it. But of course nobody does so they just patiently wait for mob's hitmen to get to them. They're lucky one of the hitmen is even more moron than they are, so they have some respite. As the plot is so simple it has to be filled up with dialogues on, mostly, sex. And that makes it even more boring. Pitt is as credible, as a hitman, as Gandolfini is. I give it 6/10 only because of the spectacular Liotta's killing.
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Girls in Prison (1956) Promising title for 90' of boredom. 2-3 girls are pretty, but all they show is their faces. 2/10
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Monkey Business (1952) A comedy which doesn't make you laugh. Some scenes are ermbarrassing (Grant as Indian, honeymoon revival). Rogers was 41 and looks like 60, Monroe towers over the whole cast in her small role. 5/10
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Something's Gotta Give (1962) What was shot of the Monroe's last movie shows that this was a comedy with a very good potential thanx to MM and Dino. The famous swimming pool scenes take your breath away as MM once inserted in the story, though I doubt they could have made it on the screen (MM shows her naked buttocks). A pity at least another third of the movie could not be shot because of the star's tantrums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVfKpx-aSRk
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Something's Gotta Give (1962) What was shot of the Monroe's last movie shows that this was a comedy with a very good potential thanx to MM and Dino. The famous swimming pool scenes take your breath away as MM once inserted in the story, though I doubt they could have made it on the screen (MM shows her naked buttocks). A pity at least another third of the movie could not be shot because of the star's tantrums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVfKpx-aSRk
O0 O0 O0
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Let's Make Love (1960) Lame romantic comedy, too long and, even worse, too centered on Montand instead of MM. But some musical numbers, though not executed at the best both on stage and by Cukor, make it watchable. 6/10
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Le ultime ore del Che (2004) Very interesting documentary on the last hours of the juvenile icon. I kept wondering all through the vision what would have happened to him had Washington not ordered to kill him in cold blood. Maybe it was his luck. 8/10
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Killing Them Softly (2012)
I give it 6/10 only because of the spectacular Liotta's killing.
What I seem to understand, criminals from Boston are a different breed. The novel has even more dialogue to hide the simple plot so if you want to enjoy more of the language, read it. Some of it hits more than misses for me, especially the dialogue concerning the suicidal women with Russell.
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Chapaiev (1935) Routine war propaganda movie, which was considered a masterpiece for too long a time. Propaganda, steretypes and everything you have learned from war movies made in the '30's and '40's. I give it 6/10 onl because the battle senes are well made (even the demonstration on the kitchen table) and there's no MacLaglen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTt2yNo0FBk&list=WL&index=64
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The Insider (1999) Boredom. I was about to cut vision after 20 minutes. Got to the end to know the facts but 2 & 1/2 h. to get to the point is too much. Pacino goes through the motions while Crowe is miscast and adds bad playing to the character. The rest is pure hollywood triviality. 4/10
I just saw this movie, and also considered keeping it on only to find out what happens, but shut it off halfway through. It's awful. (Besides, I could get the facts in 5 minutes from Wikipedia. Not that the movie is accurate anyway.) Russell Crowe is atrocious, the accents are awful, as is the camerawork. Pacino and Plummer are great actors, but they are not on screen nearly enough - at least not in the first half, the only half I saw. Crowe and his wife are awful awful awful.
By the way, Dickie Scruggs, the lawyer, was later sent to prison - for trying to bribe a judge who was ruling on a dispute over legal fees he was having with other lawyers in a different lawsuit. Scruggs is a millionaire many times over from his various lawsuits. Anyway, a few years ago, he was among a team of lawyers that won a big lawsuit (or perhaps a settlement?) from insurance companies related to Hurricane Katrina. The legal team got $26 million to split among themselves, but then they started squabbling over how to split it. So a judge has to decide how the $26 million legal fee will be split. So Scruggs has one of his lawyer buddies go to the judge in the case and offer him a $40,000 bribe to rule favorably for Scruggs in the case. The judge immediately reports the bribe attempt, and Scruggs is arrested and gets a stiff prison sentence. This multimillionaire, all his millions were not enough for him. He was sentences to 7 years in prison. Read about it on wikipedia.
This guy is a crook. The Wall Street Journal editorial board has been bashing him for years - as I recall, some state attorneys general whom he is buddies with gave him cases to sue companies ... and he gets paid with contingency fees. So he has the full powers of a state attorney general, in cases he is taking not for the public good but for contingency fees. Then, of course, who do you think is among the biggest political donors to the attorneys general? Is there something corrupt about that or what????
If you want to read more about it, just Google "Dickie Scruggs Wall Street Journal." A whole bunch of articles will come up. A crook that guy is, and his cronies, the state attorneys general
As I was saying .... THE INSIDER is a crappy movie ;)
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The Arrangement (1969) I saw it in the '80's but having read the novel lately, I gave it another try. The first curiosity was the naked scenes featuring Dunaway (!) and Kerr (!!!): they're all bogus. They're wearing panties in the bed scenes with Douglas and the buttocks are courtesy of understudies. :-\
Then there is the question of Boone being younger than Douglas but playing his father: ridiculous. The novel is a 500 pages brick based on a main character with little credibility, hanging between vague aspirations and drab reality (or so he thinks), surrounded by characters just as inconsistent. The movie follows the text quite closely but strangely, though the novel sold a million, it bombed. Probably the main problem was Douglas, who in spite of his efforts, CANNOT play credibly a tormented soul (see his Van Gogh). I don't think it's worth more than 5/10
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The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick (2001) A series of interview to friends and fans. It concentrates on the mystic phase of the writer. Only for fans and completists. 6/10
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Rabid (1977) Regular zombie/vampire flick by Cronenberg who, although keeps grinding some of his themes, this time keeps the plot going though the movie's small budget. But the movie is worth watching anyway if you like Marilyn Chambers. I do. 7/10
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Noi donne siamo fatte così (1971) A lesser Risi. Saw in a theatre, saw it again yesterday and won't see it again. 5/10
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Noi donne siamo fatte così (1971) A lesser Risi. Saw in a theatre, saw it again yesterday and won't see it again. 5/10
Here is the only funny episode: "A Working Day".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Herx00gqaqo
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The Merchant of Venice (2004) Edwige Fenech was executive producer for this adaptation which starred Giancarlo Giannini in the title role, dubbed visually by Pacino. Irons is his usual catatonic self. The play is uneven, it is worth watching only when Giannini 's got the word (how annoying is the squeaky voice speaking in english emitted by Pacino). I'll watch asap the bbc rendition and evaluate better. Giannini takes anyway 10/10, the rest (including Shakespeare) a generous 6/10.
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Here is the only funny episode: "A Working Day".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Herx00gqaqo
A variation on a joke Hitchcock used to tell, one he originally read as a cartoon, I believe. The new stuff is everything after the lady leaves the concert performance. The final simulation of the cymbals being played against the non-diegetic soundtrack is a nice touch (pun intended). The visual style, of course, owes everything to Jacques Tati, but it's very well done. It gave me several chuckles.
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I'm sure the turnaround on herself as the train passengers step beside her was taken somewhere but for me it was the funniest moment.
I remembered two other episodes from the movie. One of these (title: L'allumeuse, i.e. The seductress) might even be appreciated by non italian speakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zb-gfvAX90
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I'm sure the turnaround on herself as the train passengers step beside her was taken somewhere but for me it was the funniest moment.
It is very funny.
I remembered two other episodes from the movie. One of these (title: L'allumeuse, i.e. The seductress) might even be appreciated by non italian speakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zb-gfvAX90
This is OK. I get the gist and the twist, but obviously I'm missing something.
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It is very funny.
This is OK. I get the gist and the twist, but obviously I'm missing something.
If you get the gist and the twist can't see what else you can be missing. The gist is that while she's dining with her husband to be, the old man is aware she's looking at him, which makes infuriate his wife; then she stares at the moustached sicilian who thinks she wants to seduce him with her pervert husband's complicity ; and then it's the turn of the dyke. And finally the twist.
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If you get the gist and the twist can't see what else you can be missing. The gist is that while she's dining with her husband to be, the old man is aware she's looking at him, which makes infuriate his wife; then she stares at the moustached sicilian who thinks she wants to seduce him with her pervert husband's complicity ; and then it's the turn of the dyke. And finally the twist.
Well, I didn't get that it was her husband-to-be, and I didn't get that the second guy thought the flirting was all with the husband's complicity and finally I wasn't sure the woman who came in was a dyke. But otherwise . . . .
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Abbasso la ricchezza! (1946) Lame comedy with a couple of good moments. Magnani and De Sica rehearse for characters fully developed in the years to come. Magnani singing a famous roman song is the highlight of the movie. For inscrutable reasons the dvd is english captioned. 6/10
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Ma non è una cosa seria (1936) Based on a Pirandello's play, as the director says, is as non-pirandellian as can be, with no reason to watch it except for the usual impeccable Camerini's direction and the De Sica's performance. 5/10
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Gli uomini che mascalzoni (1932) Now the only reason to watch it is De Sica singing the famous song by Bixio Cherubini. This romantic comedy has got the advantage of lasting barely a hour. 6/10
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You'll Never Get Rich (1941) Very promising at the start as a comedy, it gets boggled in the mire of the army stuff, not the best landscape for Astaire's antics, though they're a joy to see anyway. Only a great song and dance number, this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn7YcPQgPDo
But even the dancing duet at the beginning is great. 6/10
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The Third Reich, in Color (Das Dritte Reich - In Farbe) (1998)
A random collection of material which manages to be very interesting as it redefines your visual idea of those years. A must see for all the people interested in the era. 8/10
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Frantic (1987) Liked it more this second time. A great thriller maybe just a 10 minutes too long and the finale could have done without Seigner's death. The Maestro ladles the usual music already heard at least a dozen times before. 8/10
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Hitler eine Bilanz Teil 05 Der Kriegsherr (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_pLBjLQbWg
Interesting documentary about Hitler as warlord, mainly for interviews with veterans. 7/10
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Capone (1975) Uhm, Browne's screenplay is well..., takes liberties with facts, if I remember well what Allsop and Kobler wrote down. I don't think Browne had better sources at the time. So one may wonder at how Capone got the clap, which led him first to madness and then to death, as he is shown living like a monk and got himself just a love story with a wealthy girl who was killed in an failed attempt at killing her lover. Or the fact that what got him into prison were not the untouchables (nowhere to be seen) but Nitti's betrayal. And how Torrio came to the decision to retire is all a work of fantasy. Gazzara is even more unconvincing than Robards in the role: he lacks the vulgarity, the flamboyance of Capone. But he reaches greatness when playing Capone before dying, gone mad: De Niro has nothing on him. This must have been Stallone's first major role: he is inexpressive as usual, but refrains from the goofy mimicry he'll adopt for his future famous characters. So this is probably his best role before F.I.S.T. A city car chase it is probably the best one set in 20's Chicago. The OST apes Rota. 7/10
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L'allenatore nel pallone (1984) THE b-movie about football. It can't be understood outside of Italy, maybe not a great loss. But even funnier than Banfi (here at his best) is The Baron Liedholm because he's unchanged here commenting the result of a fake match as when he was commenting real matches. 7/10
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Le stagioni dell'aquila (1997) A collection of sequences from fascist newsreel. Some I had never seen before. The italian dvd has got english subtitles. 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnpQF4HNvr0
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Le notti bianche (1957) I caught snippets of it on tv and thought it was boring. So I postponed the integral vision. Then I bought a box set where it is included and finally gave it a try. It is still boring but there are some interesting features. The scenography of an entirelly studio reconstructed Leghorn. Some shots like the almost final one of Schell going from Mastroianni to Marais. But the movie is too long for a very thin story. The casting of Schell is all wrong: I never liked this "actress" who can only laugh or cry (Calamai, though showing her age, is still much sexier). And then, it is hard to think that Mastroianni would be wasting much time with her and that she would take Marais over him for no apparent reason. Some of the dialogues are stilted. Mastroianni improvising that "dance" adds another minus. Still he is above his material and shows why he was among the best actors ever. So it's 5/10.
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Franco Cristaldi e il suo cinema Paradiso (2009) An interesting documentary on one of Italy's most important producers. Lots of interesting interviews and never seen screen tests of famous actors, the most impressive being for me the one in english of Frank Wolff for Salvatore Giuliano. The italian dvd is english captioned. 8/10
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Blind Date aka Chance Meeting (1959) CJ would probably dub it noir, or semi-noir or whatever label turns up handy to him but really it is a good small-budgeted detective movie, with a great Stanley Baker (very well dubbed by Gazzolo) and the other 2 good leads. I saw it in the '80's but liked it best this time. I'll try to re-watch The Criminal which is even better. 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9x8rsiOdTQ
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Adolf Hitler – Eine Bilanz: Der Erpresser (1995) Lots of clips I had never seen before. 8/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZDctl0ukE
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A Foreign Affair (1948) Not as good as it would have been some years later, when Wilder perfected his kind of cynical comedy. Here the Hollywood clichés are given undue space, especially in the finale. Still watchable for the Dietrich songs and a handful of good lines. 7/10
I just saw this movie, on TCM.
I'm not really qualified to comment, since I am not really into comedy, but I guess this is decent as far as that goes. Yes, very cynical.
I can never understand how Jean Arthur was such a star in her day. She has maybe the most annoying voice of any actress in Hollywood history.
I did not like Dietrich's songs, although she is always interesting to watch, she performs them well. The songs themselves are stupid. And in the "Ruins of Berlin" song, her voice sounds awful. The "Black Market" song is not really a song; she is just talking with music playing in the background.
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George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) A good documentary as it concentrates on H.'s personality, especially his involvement with spirituality, finally persuading me to remain atheist. Featured is the worst version of "What Is Life" one can ever dream of; and though his split personality is spoken of often, not much is made out of it as this was produced by family. But in 3h and 1/2 of material is hard not to find some new item even for diehard fans. 8/10
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Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (2016) This has been praised over here like the spaghetti answer to Marvel or DC stuff (or words to that effect). Actually it is something in the Gomorra or Romanzo criminale style plus the superhero, but effectively so. the problem is the love story which takes too much screen time: a cut of 30' would have made this a 8/10 stuff. I give it 7/10 in spite of the amateurishness of most of the cast (though the girl seems to have great jugs) as it is very original and funny watching to superheroes fighting while pronouncing lines with roman accent.
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Perfect Friday (1970) Normally this would get 7/10 like CJ gave it, but Andress is still in her prime here (not, alas, like will happen in an italian sexy comedy a few years later) so, although when I saw it in the cinema it was 10/10, I still give it 8/10
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Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vkPr-YE_g
Not much of a History, but rather a collection of interviews wih some important figures of italian crime fiction. Some of the writers are very hard to classify as noir: I would like to see the face of Gadda (but also of Sciascia) if they dubbed him as a crime writer, let alone noir writer. But it is a good introduction to the genre. 8/10
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Nordic Noir: The Story of Scandinavian Crime Fiction (2010) As above.
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Le Fanfaron (1962) I was curious to watch it with Trintignant dubbing himself, but no big affair. His italian voice (Paolo Ferrari, a very good actor always relegated to character acting) is much better. The roman accent of Gassman is part of his character (and of most of the italian comedy characters) and can't be translated into any other language. Still I am always fascinated by this great movie.
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Snatch (2000) A Tarantino rip-off, with some interesting editing trick but cartoon characters, even more artificial than their models. 6/10
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Snatch (2000) A Tarantino rip-off, with some interesting editing trick but cartoon characters, even more artificial than their models. 6/10
You're describing a 8/10.
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Snatch (2000) A Tarantino rip-off, with some interesting editing trick but cartoon characters, even more artificial than their models. 6/10
In the commentary Guy Ritchie states that the editor, Jon Harris, saved the picture since Ritchie didn't think there was much to what he shot.
You're describing a 8/10.
What would you give it?
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In the commentary Guy Ritchie states that the editor, Jon Harris, saved the picture since Ritchie didn't think there was much to what he shot.
Of course, I didn't hear any commentary. Actually I saw a dubbed copy.
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Of course, I didn't hear any commentary. Actually I saw a dubbed copy.
Nothing of major interest except for the editing information and the scene where Brad Pitt is being introduced is him taking a shit behind the car. Also, I have no idea on a dubbed version would sound when it came to Brad Pitt's character's accent.
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Nothing of major interest except for the editing information and the scene where Brad Pitt is being introduced is him taking a shit behind the car. Also, I have no idea on a dubbed version would sound when it came to Brad Pitt's character's accent.
Neither have I.
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La Nuit Des Espions (a.k.a. Double Agents; Night Encounter) (1959)
The idea was not bad for a movie made on a budget where the only cost was the film. But the story doesn't hold the interest for 80' and you end up not caring who is who. 3/10
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Er ist wieder da (2015) The idea was far from original, but it had to be put in images sooner or later. The problem is that the movie hangs between comedy and drama, between politically correct and uncorrect. I think a politically uncorrect comedy would have suited the subject better, but Teutschland and comedy do not go together well. 8/10 though.
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Collateral (2004) As it plays at night somebody dubbed it noir, but it is the usual action movie with absurd premises (the killer buffoon who tries his best to get caught, like going around with the same taxi driver, the same identifiable taxi with a corpse in the trunk and doing interminable pseudo-deep reflections and dialogues which allow the movie to run 2h instead of 90'). Still it has good scenes and gets 7/10.
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Collateral (2004) As it plays at night somebody dubbed it noir, but it is the usual action movie with absurd premises (the killer buffoon who tries his best to get caught, like going around with the same taxi driver, the same identifiable taxi with a corpse in the trunk and doing interminable pseudo-deep reflections and dialogues which allow the movie to run 2h instead of 90'). Still it has good scenes and gets 7/10.
From the way it read, I thought it was gonna be a 5/10 score. Ripping this directly off the wikipedia page for Neo-Noir: Robert Arnett states that "Neo-noir has become so amorphous as a genre/movement, any film featuring a detective or crime qualifies."
Seems like the term 'neo-noir' is just a catch all.
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From the way it read, I thought it was gonna be a 5/10 score. Ripping this directly off the wikipedia page for Neo-Noir:
Seems like the term 'neo-noir' is just a catch all.
Not only a catch all but a marketing tool. It's cool to be noir.
For me the real Neo Noirs are the ones that strongly embrace the visual stylistics of Noir, the shadows, the Dutch angles, depth of field, high and low angles, etc., etc. along with a good noir-ish plot. So far from 1960 to the present I have about 100 films that I've seen that I consider Neo Noir, the rest are just Crime films. I thought Collateral had sufficient enough style to be included, I think I gave it a 7/10 also.
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Inferno (2016) It simplifies the novel and makes it more logical. Usual timewaster. 6/10
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The Shuttered Room (1967) Straw Dogs plus a horror-like moronic tag which helps making it be considered in the wrong genre. But without the horror part this is much better than Peckinpah's minor movie: the use of landscape and direction are first-rate and so the pace of the narrative. Oliver Reed is a convinging thug and the jazzy OST pleasing. 7/10
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American Ultra (2015) Crappy b action movie. If you jump the dialogues you have 20 minutes of good action scenes with a couple of original, I presume, turns. 5/10
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Cincinnati Kid (1965) Interesting that Peckinpah had worked on the movie 2 weeks before Jewison took the helm. P. was, strangely, shooting in B&W but, as J. observed, as many shoots include black and red cards, it was odd to opt for no colour. Anyway the movie gets 8/10. For the first time I really liked Ann-Margret.
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The Sound of Music (1965) I've finally forced myself, after 50 years, to watch it. Hadn't realized before that JA was playing again Mary Poppins, even taking the bag from that character. Unfortunately the movie can't hold a candle to the Disney masterpiece.The story is the zero degree of inventiveness, the dialogues stink so it remains the music. I've discovered a couple of songs, apart from My Favourite Things, one could even be very good. 4/10 to the movie, 7/10 to the score.
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Sans mobile apparent (1971) Routine cop movie based on a Lombino's 87th Pr. novel. I think it was very badly directed and Trintignant miscast. Laura Antonelli beautiful as usual, best thing in the movie. Morricone's score has the arrangement of the '60's stuff (whistle, Flugelhorn solos) but the tunes are not as catchy. 5/10
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Suicide Squad (2016). Suicide movie for kids, boring as hell. 2/10
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Suicide Squad (2016). Suicide movie for kids, boring as hell. 2/10
Is this your first comic book movie?
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Is this your first comic book movie?
No, it isn't. I reviewed many before here. But this was boring and absolutely unoriginal. Actually I like the D.C. and Marvel comic heroes, but here just all that crap with Smith's daughter makes me puke. The Special effects are 15 years old, maybe more. The first fight with the Mussel (or whatever they were)) Men embarrassing. Shall I have to continue?
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No, it isn't. I reviewed many before here. But this was boring and absolutely unoriginal. Actually I like the D.C. and Marvel comic heroes, but here just all that crap with Smith's daughter makes me puke. The Special effects are 15 years old, maybe more. The first fight with the Mussel (or whatever they were)) Men embarrassing. Shall I have to continue?
I hope I didn't infer the feeling as though I judging your original score. I haven't seen Suicide Squad and never really cared much for it from the trailers. I was just wondering because I haven't noticed any other comic book reviews, I guess I wasn't paying much attention. But I do enjoy reading your write ups so please continue if you have more to say.
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Mechanic Resurrection (2016) At IMDB nobody saves it. but I think it's just a run-of-the-mill action movie with some good action scenes and a tolerable pace. 6/10
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The Infiltrator (2016) Another John Leguizamo movie. It seems this guy's everywhere, like Nicole Kidman was a few years ago. Usually these undercover cop movies are talky, slow-paced and, with a few exceptions, boring. This is no exception, especially as there's not the Mafia's subcultural codes and mafiosi odd characters to enliven it. Also, the protagonist is anonymous as his character, and that doesn't help: my first meeting with Brian Cranston and can't say I had missed him. 5/10
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Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016) Kickboxing flick. I presume it's the regular slop served. 6/10?
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My Voyage to Italy (2001) A very personal journey which risks to be misleading to those who think the movies picked up for examination by Scorsese are the most influential in Italian cinema. Maybe abroad they were, but I think that the main genre of italian cinema was the comedy. It is the comedy that kept, and still keeps, the italian cinema alive or about. Scorsese's opinions are just about right (especially his appreciation of I vitelloni) except in his evaluation of Visconti, especially when he liquidates his masterpiece Bellissima as a minor effort. But that it is not surprising, as that movie is both a comedy, where you have to appreciate the shades of the languages spoken by the characters, and it makes fun of neorealism to boot. 8/10
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Edge of Darkness (2010) Mediocre Mel Gibson thriller with not an ounce of originality and with an improbable and slow-moving, almost actionless plot. 4/10
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Starship Troopers (1997) Read the novel too long time ago, will have to return to it. I don't remember there were two beautiful girls like the ones here, but that was for the best as the action in the movie gets slowed down, as it is only to be expected, especially in the first part. Still it's a good time-waster, with lots of winks to Kubrick's FMJ, Vietnam's TV coverage and USA jingoistic rhetoric. 7/10
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Edge of Darkness (2010) Mediocre Mel Gibson thriller with not an ounce of originality and with an improbable and slow-moving, almost actionless plot. 4/10
The mid 80s British mini series it's based on, also called 'Edge Of Darkness', is way better.
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The mid 80s British mini series it's based on, also called 'Edge Of Darkness', is way better.
Yes, that one was pretty good. Great roles for Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker. Directed by Martin Campbell, later director of 2 of the best Bond movies. 9/10
The Mel Gibson film is ok, not more. 5/10
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Eight days a week (2016) Some recording one may have missed, good colorization of old b&w very well known material and good editing of pics. Usual very well known facts in the new interviews. But of course is strictly fans material. 8/10
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Bronson (2008) I thought it was a crime movie but it is only the portrait of a psycho (and so the story has little to say: a good hour is made up of repetitions of the first prison experience). I kept wondering why the british authorities (but most of all the prison guards) put up with such a scum for so many years and always gave him a chance to start all over again. In a USA jailhouse he would have lasted, maybe, a month. Over here, without any question, a couple of days. I watched it through just to see if anything different happened, but it doesn't: so one can see the first 20 minutes and turn off. 4/10
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All Women Are Bad (1969) At IMDB somebody hinted at noir elements, but this is just a piece of sexploitation, boring as hell, not redeemed by a good dose of boobs and buns by not beautiful females. Only point of interest might be the supposedly first appearance on film of Gerard Damiano. 3/10
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Geißel des Fleisches (1965) Austria's contribute to sexploitation, it has a good beginning, with quality display of boobs and buns, but after the scene with the hitchhiker the plot goes stretched, boring, with interminable going nowhere trial and cop scenes. A pity. Herbert Fux is good as usual, though the premise of his character is moronic: he kills women because they find his looks repulsive (!). 6/10
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Winter Kills (1979) Another '70's conspiracy thriller, a self-proclaiming re-reading of the Kennedy's murder, which manages somehow to keep you interested in spite of unexplained plot twists (the multiple attempts on Bridges life). Not as good as Parallax View or Condor, but well worth a watching, especially for the final scene with Bridges and Huston, which alone could raise the rating to 8/10..
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Okasareta hakui (Violated Angels) (1967) Hadn't realized how much furnished were jap girls backwise. This is a T&A sexploitation flick I had wanted to watch, but didn't manage to, since the early '70's when it was shown in a small cinema over here. But I had no idea that it was about a serial killer and quite disturbing at that. Still at not even an hour of lenght it is 15' too long, trying to give some reason for the psycho's behaviour. 7/10
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Pasazerka (Passenger) (1963)
Considered by many the best movie on concentration camps, it is certainly a remarkable movie but it suffers, maybe, from its not having been completed by the prematurely dead author. What doesn't work, for me, is its not making clear the game the protagonist plays with her victim (is she a lesbian?): but maybe the subtitles translator didn't make her/his work fine. On the other hand, the recreation of daily life in the camp it has all the force of a documentary. And the absence of whatever trace of melodrama gives it a 7-8/10.
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Vivre sa vie (1962) This has got to do with prostitution as much as Inside Llewyn Davis with music. A pity because at the start it seemed that Godard wanted to make a movie. The story it's interesting until the girl gets herself a pimp: from the on it's all a waste of time. Michel Legrand signed probably his worst OST. I give it 6/10 because of the exteriors of Paris.
Saw this last night agree a 6/10
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Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) A half of it is a noir and, at the same time, a reflection about it. The other half is the usual Allen's boring crap. 7/10
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Deadline - U.S.A (1952) As formulaic as can be, you've seen and heard it all before. Famous last lines, which contradict though the main plot which shows that press, far from being unstoppable, actually can be stopped by money. Anyway, it gets worse and worse. 5/10.
On youtube.
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Lola rennt (1998) Thrice-told tale Rashomon-like in Tarantino's style. A time-waster with no pretensions. 6/10
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In the Heat of the Night (1967) What would have been the choice had GBU been entered in the Oscar race of 1968? Namely, what would have been the choice between Steiger and Wallach? Anyway this gets 8/10.
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In the Heat of the Night (1967) What would have been the choice had GBU been entered in the Oscar race of 1968? Namely, what would have been the choice between Steiger and Wallach? Anyway this gets 8/10.
Wallach for me.
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Ustinov's Six Poirots
For a Ustinov fan of course they're all mandatory viewing. Ustinov is not playing Poirot but Ustinov, which is an advantage: the character comes up as sympathetic and sometimes funny, the opposite of what the original Christie's concept. But of course the problem is the screen time devoted to the non Ustinov scenes. In the first two movies the locales and some of the actors manage to save you from boredom, but the following three tv movies, in spite of actors like Dunaway or Curtis, just can't make it. Oddly (or maybe not, as it is a Golan-Globus production), in the last movie (Appointment with Death) though the cast and locales are comparable to those of the first two movies, the screenplay is weak and even Ustinov is a bit dull.
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Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) I don't think this is so much worse than the chronologically - storywise - first three episodes. But it's hard to fill up 150'. And then the casino locale was a good idea but it wasn't exploited at all. But the worst thing is the casting. Do people at Disney thing that by choosing ugly actors (the chinese girl makes my skin cringe even more than the artificial monsters) audiences can sympathize or identify themselves more easily? 5/10
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The Mack (1973) Ambitious but not delivering blaxploitation flick. The main problem is that you don't see what the story is aiming at: to show the rise and fall of a pimp? Yeah, the story might be aiming at just that but there's no show. Crime story, yes a little of it but in 2h of film there is very little of it. I'd say the movie best asset is documentary: to show how black people dressed and talk in the '70's. But probably something better is out there to be found. 5/10
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John Carter (2012) Good timewaster though with nothing you haven't seen before. Overlong, as usual, but with a good finale. 7/10
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American Moon (2017) Italian documentary on the Moon Hoax, it persuades me that there is something fishy about the whole business. The most important issue, in my opinion, apart from the pictures supposedly shot there which are evidently fakes, are the reactions, at the end of the movie, of the three astronauts of Apollo 11 , at the news conference after their comeback (they look like they have lost a parent) and when they are asked by an movie director to swear they really have been up there and they run away. What keeps me from falling for the whole plot theory is the fact that too many people (and surely not as dependable as the 3 austronauts would have been: I'm referring to those who shot the "movies" who should have been Hollywood pros, surely not inclined to secrecy) would have had to be involved in the shenanigan and nobody has yet come to the fore. Same for the other plot theories. Anyway it is interesting even if more that 3 h long. 8/10
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Cloportes (La métamorphose des cloportes) (1965)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059491/
There is a reason if this one is not as well known as other french crime movies. And it is that it is a not well concocted mixture of comedy and noir. It is not as brilliant as "Les tontons flinguers" and not a good revenge movie as "Le deuxième souffle" or "Grisbi". A pity because Boudard/Simonin/Audiard (and Ventura) should have granted an excellent product. Worth watching but I can't give it more than 6/10, hoping that the novel will clarify some points not very clear of the plot.
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Mission: Impossible. Fallout (2018) Overlong, as is usual nowadays. And "impossible" to follow the plot, unless you want to pay attention: which is not why you watch timewasters like this. But the Paris scene and the choppers chase and the final fight make this one a must for the fans of the series and of action movies. 7/10
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Misssion:Impossible (1996) I had missed this so far, at the time because I couldn't put up with Cruise. No great loss. It is funny how the gadgets (state of the art, or about) look more outdated than, say. the Connery-Bond's of 30 years before. Still a good time-waster with some good action scenes, like the one in the CIA vault (an updating of the one in Topkapi) and the final one. 7/10
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Un prophète (2009) Clear the Goodfellas inspiration (there's also the deer incident to quote it) but then a supeficial comparison between the two shows why this is a minor flick. The director is clearly unable to provide depth to the story and characters. You have Corsicans vs Arabs, but it could be Eskimos vs Zulus and little, apart from languages, would change. True, I saw a dubbed version (they still dub movies over here, alas) but I don't think that would provide much more characterization. So the story is the simple, usual story of murders, betrayals and counter-betrayals, prison violence: nothing you haven't seen before and better made (there's not a single action scene worth remembering). The movie is overlong, the actors (with the exception of Arestrup: but I should watch the movie undubbed) passable. I was about to give it 7/10 but as I don't plan to watch it ever again I think 6/10 it is the right rating.
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Gotti (2018) The review "Hot Garbage" at IMDB tells it all about it. I'll add that Travolta plays his character the way these characters are played in movies since Coppola. 2/10
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Fixed Bayonets (1951) Cheap looking, all in studio shot Korean war flick. Those painted backgrounds are an eyesore which would hurt you even if the story were tops, which is not. A couple of scenes are good but not memorable, the characters stock-in-trade, the tanks made of wood, the explosions a little less effective as those of January first and so on. Not the best Fuller, only for completists. 6/10
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The Crimson Kimono (1959) Fuller's worst movie? Probably. All wrong from start to finish. The plot hangs on a spit, the racial subtext makes you puke, the actors suck (though I saw it dubbed in spanish). 3/10
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House of Bamboo (1955) Gangsters make Tokio. Ryan is competing for most moronic gang boss in the history of the genre; he couldn't tell an infiltrated government spy in his outfit not even if that one was wearing a uniform. The way he thinks of disposing of Stack beats everything a retarded goon might devise. The love story subplot with the racial subtext stinks as much as the one in Kimono. The action scenes are few and irrelevant. Only memorable clip is the Tuco in the bathtub alike scene: only this time Cameron Mitchell is not entitled to say to Ryan:"When you have to shooot...". Still it rates 5/10 for some spectacular shots of Tokio.
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House of Bamboo (1955) Gangsters make Tokio. Ryan is competing for most moronic gang boss in the history of the genre; he couldn't tell an infiltrated government spy in his outfit not even if that wearing a uniform. The way he thinks of disposing of Stack beats everything a retarded goon might devise. The love story subplot with the racial subtext stinks as much as the one in Kimono. The action scenes are few and irrelevant. Only memorable clip is the Tuco in the bathtub alike scene: only this time Cameron Mitchell is not entitled to say to Ryan:"When you have to shooot...". Still it rates 5/10 for some spectacular shots of Tokio.
I'd give it a 6/10 for the visuals.
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I'd give it a 6/10 for the visuals.
Of course, critics and Fuller himself see a gay subtext in the Ryan-Stack relationship. BS. The usual way to confer a pinch of depth to an awkward plot (i.e. justify Ryan's imbecility).
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Baby Face Nelson (1957) A stellar cast for a fast-paced, no frills story. The dialogues are tops (see the first one between Rooney and De Corsia) and the finale is a punch in the guts.I'm no expert but it might be Rooney's best performance. Carolyn Jones, with her Louise Brooks haircut, is more attractive than other dozen molls of the genre: here looks much younger than a year later when she will play as a kind of mature doll for the young Presley in King Creole. I give it 8/10 only because it is a cheap production and Siegel can do little about it.
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Machine Gun Kelly (1958) Very good for the first 2/3 it gets down the drain with the kidnapping episode. There's no way to justify in a credible way how the whole business is led on (the gangsters giving their names in front of the victims, the parents of Susan Cabot coming to the lair to entertain the kidnapped girl and so on). Yes, this time the psychological ruminations of the critics are justified, but they don't make the episode better. Susan Cabot gives a great performance, she's the protagonist of the story and of the movie; Bronson, on the other hand, it is not up to the psychological complications of his character. The opening sequence, except for the terrible dixieland score, might remind you of ToE. Still, it is a movie shot in 10 days and it shows. 7/10
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The Postman (1997) A solid piece of crap. A good start, when it is only action, but then it gets into propaganda of the Hollywood values and it gets boring as hell for almost 3 hours. 4/10
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The Postman (1997) A solid piece of crap. A good start, when it is only action, but then it gets into propaganda of the Hollywood values and it gets boring as hell for almost 3 hours. 4/10
Agree! Also pretty boring visually.
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Ice (1970) Are they still making film like this these days? I hope not. But in the '60's stuff like this found easily a promoter and a small audience. Today one can watch these flicks only for nostalgic reasons, fighting boredom all the time. 4/10
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Ice (1970) Are they still making film like this these days? I hope not. But in the '60's stuff like this found easily a promoter and a small audience. Today one can watch these flicks only for nostalgic reasons, fighting boredom all the time. 4/10
Never saw it looks like I didn't miss much.
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Never saw it looks like I didn't miss much.
In case you can't sleep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyQuE00dR-k
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Of course, critics and Fuller himself see a gay subtext in the Ryan-Stack relationship. BS.
Nobody needs to be a critic or to be Fuller himself to see that.
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Milestones (1975) This should have maybe been made more profitably a few years later. And a fiction in documentary style probably wasn't the best approach. As of now probably the movie is of no interest, at least it wasn't to me. 6/10
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The Flim-Flam Man (1967) Best con man movie I saw it's the italian farce "Totò truffa '62". This might be the best american con-man movie and it gets 8/10. I saw it twice in the early '70's, and I didn't know it was in colour till now. I think it is better in b&w, Scott's make up doesn't show up that way.
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Three Days of Condor (1975) It was movies like this which made me love the american movies in the '70's until Star Wars came and wasted it all. A contender for best thriller ever and surely makes my top 5. Dunaway never looked so cute, even younger than 8 years before, and for once the female presence in the plot doesn't slow down the rhythm, which is irresistible from the start. The fight with the mailman is one of the best ever and, hey, is silent, the contenders do not throw insults or threats at each other. And the open finale is spot on. 10/10
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Hopscotch (1980) Garfield was dissatisfied with Death Wish so he took some helm for his award winning novel-based movie. The movie introduced the Jackson character and changed some locations. Some of the events were reshuffled I say with positive results. The casting was perfect. The novel has got some parts which are quite dull (the one in USA) which are better developed in the movie (the attack on the house). So though the movie is more comedy inclined thanx to Matthau it lacks some of the sentimental relationship between work partners. But is 8/10 for both media.
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Aliens (1986) I had read somewhere this was better than the previous one. I don't think so. This is more action based, the other one thrived on suspense. Unfortunately the action is far from original, the characters are as trivial as can be plus the usual, bothersome child. And it is ridiculous how the futuristic technology is so behind the one of 30 years later. A funny book could be made about how the technology of most sf or fantasy movies of the '80's and 90's was so much behind the mark of the real one of 1 or two decades later. 6/10
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Close-Up (1948) Cheapy cheap crime movie with cheap plot, cheap actors, cheap sets. No noir at all, for me. It would be interesting to know how this was supposed to find a distribution. On youtube 3/10
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La vérité (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWnsdigcny0&index=23&list=PLnOzJBoZkqfSCrTviWOYBPoK6FANFs9HC (french with english subs)
A veritable piece of heavy melodrama, can't understand all the positive reviews I've read that induced me to view it. The only good thing about it is BB, of course. The rest, in the hands of a better director could have been an effective study of a modern (at the time) city girl personality, who can be in love with a guy though at the same time having fun with others. But the relationship is drawn in sketchy vignettes, the courtroom drama unnecessary, causing Vanel and Meurisse to just go through the motions of their art trying to give substance to characters who just don't have it. 2/10
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Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) A masterpiece? Can't see why. It drags and drags, there is little narrative substance and Prévert's dialogues tend to repeat themselves. So it can't hold a candle to Les enfants. Only good thing I find is, predictably, MILF Arletty, who in those years was having fun with the Boche >:D. A strictly female movie? Yes. So it gets 6/10
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Legend (2015) London gangster movie which dallies too much on the sentimental side of the story. Quite original, though, as it strays away from the usual italo-american mafia clichés, though I wonder whether american speaking audiences manage to follow some of the mumbled dialogues. 7/10
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La bonne année (1973) I could watch Ventura's face for hours, still this movie needs to be watched only for the first 15 minutes and the last 30', the rest is the usual Lelouch's sentimentalism: good, maybe, only for the female audience. Some scenes are terrible (the dinner with the "intelos") but Ventura's release from prison, the heist and the finale are worth watching. (It remains unexplained why the cops are not waiting for Ventura's comeback to Fabian's home and catch him with his part of the grisbi. But, of course, this is Lelouch). 7/10
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) I said about MI6 that you shouldn't have to rack your brain about what the whole plot is about when watching a no-brainer, as the plot is delivered in words and not in scenes. But with this movie is different. You don't get at once what is going on and some plot lines and scenes should be rewatched but the plot proceeds by scenes, not only by dialogues. So that makes the story watchable and re-watchable. But there are some weak points. The Doomsday creature is something already seea a dozen times at least and there was no need for it and make the movie over 3 hours long. And the actress playing Lois Lane if not plain, as anonymous as can be and manages to make me regret Kidder. Affleck as Batman is even worse than Keaton: he looks old and not as classy as Bruce Wayne ought to be. Superman is passable, but it's a hard task for anybody to outclass Reeve. The Lutor character is neither funny like Hackman's nor awe-inspiring: and probably the actor is just too young for the part. And American English is the language spoken in Krypton. Anyway I give it 7/10 but could even be highere after rewatching it.
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Justice League (2017) Follow-up to the above, is entertaining with good visual and enough change of sets to make it not boring. It clocks at 120' and that helps. 7/10
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Executive Suite (1954) This is good for the first half, which would earn even an 8, then it goes down the drain when it starts making move the characters with little or no credibility, ending with the final Holden sermon on the good red, blue and white values (namely good capitalism vs. financial speculation). So what's left are the great acting performances of Holden (who, possibly, steps even higher in my consideration: most undervalued Hollywood actor ever?) and Calhern. Stanwyck, alas, is the best looking female of the lot in spite of her age, but her character is no credible, though she acts perfectly as usual. Winters has got little screen time but is just as formidable, especially in her final scene with Jagger: unfortunately she's ugly, so I'd rather not see her. Foch is good and passable. And I can't find anything wrong with Allyson's s: only with her usual insipid character. 6/10
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L'emmerdeur (1973) I didn't remember it was such a good comedy, probably because I had seen it dubbed. And a great direction: see the masterful sequences shot in the narrow two hotel rooms. Ventura is simply huge, I can't remember Matthau in the remake, but Matthau can't play a killer (he could at the start of his career, but not later) while Ventura is completely at ease here. Castelnuovo is very good and I didn't remember Gammino was in it. The running lenght is 81': perfect, there's not a single moment of respite. I give it 9/10 only because of Brel's not so persuasive performance.
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Un aller simple (1971) This could have been much better with a revised screenplay (to make the plot clearer in places), better actors (except for the short appearances of Giannini just before stardom in Italy and two of the italian beauties of the time: Pitagora and Piccolo) but mostly for Giovanni's mediocre direction. The movie is good in the central part, after the protagonist crosses the border between Belgium and Netherlands. But the finale is not convincing (I still don't get why the protagonist delivers himself to the police and the capital punishment). So I give it a 6/10.
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Le chat (1971) I watched this on the advice of Delon but it isn't the masterpiece he rated it. The story is not gripping and it has only the advantage of being not long. Gabin is his usual self, but the problem I have is with Signoret, whom I just can't see on the screen, even in her earlier movies. She's ugly and that's that. 7/10
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Harry In Your Pocket (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugXOLpsULSg
This is about dip. It drags, it doesn't concentrate enough on the techniques of pickpockets, the characters are all stale and with no originality (Sarrazin playing the young apprentice, would you ever have guessed it?) and 103' are just too many (in Italy it was cut, still not enough). So you better watch the Bresson's masterpiece on the same theme, if you haven't already. 6/10 for the locations in Seattle,Vancouver and SLC.
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Harry In Your Pocket (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugXOLpsULSg
This is about dip. It drags, it doesn't concentrate enough on the techniques of pickpockets, the characters are all stale and with no originality (Sarrazin playing the young apprentice, would you ever have guessed it?) and 103' are just too many (in Italy it was cut, still not enough). So you better watch the Bresson's masterpiece on the same theme, if you haven't already. 6/10 for the locations in Seattle,Vancouver and SLC.
Never heard of this, I may have seen the Bresson, I don't remember it though I'd have to see it again. thanks
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House of Cards (1968 )
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5kredu
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5krebs
An absolute no brainer with a plot hanging on a spit which has some point of interest as long as you don't know what is all about (actually, one doesn't know what REALLYwas all about even at the end). To me it was interesting listening to a couiple of famous voices by second line italian actors (but famous dubbers at the time) speaking in english. Actually Mulè manages to be funny even in that language (he was the voice, among others, of Yogy Bear) in the short scene at Trevi fountain. And then you have Welles dying at the Coliseum: worth watching just for that. 6/10
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The Internecine Project (1974) A decent time-waster, with a great cast, but little inventive and credible. 6/10
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The Midnight Story (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43KR-6pKTHc&list=PLnOzJBoZkqfSCrTviWOYBPoK6FANFs9HC&index=33
I forced myself to watch it for a half hour but couldn't make it beyond. 2/10
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Leaving Neverland (2019) I'm not a MJ fan but I recently started to appreciate some of his recordings, though he wasn't a great singer (but he might have been had he not died so young and acquired some bass registry). This doc should sweep away any doubt (if ever there was in sane people) about his personal problems with sex but it concentrates (probably inevitably) on his (and their parents) victims and little on him. In fact, what is missing is the J.'s story prior to the peak of his fame and the beginning (?) of his child abusing. I have got 2 or 3 bios of Jackson that I still have to wade through but I have little hope to find there the answers. Because his sexual life must have started well before his 30's and I doubt he was the subject of some child molestation (considering he was surrounded by all those bros and, especially, by that father) and that he was caste until Thriller or Bad. Actually, I had suspected till now that he suffered from some kind of sex disease, that he couldn't get it up. But as one of the molested victims attests in the doc, he was quite able and ready (though, apparently, didn't know about the efficacy of lube). So the interest of the doc lies in the portrait of the mothers (more than the fathers: and that is significant) of these children. I think Jackson, like all pedophiles who possess a degree of power (priests, for example) not only picked carefully his would-be child-victims but, firstly, he was careful in picking their parents, especially their mothers. Throughout the doc I was thinking (not being a parent myself ) what the reaction not of my father (there wouldn't have been no bodyguard or Joe Jackson to save Michael in that case) but of my mother if Jackson had proposed to her to let me sleep, as a 7 yo, with him. It wouldn't have been the same reaction of the two mothers of the doc: I know it. The doc is almost 4 hours long and it could have been shortened. The musical comment too melodramatic. 8/10
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The Taming of the Shrew (1967) A good reduction of the play to keep it under 2h, concentrating on the main couple. The pace is fast for a Shakespeare play (at least, if you're used to watch integral renditions of the Bard's works). My only problem is with Burton: he's not a comedian and he makes me regret even the John Cleese of the BBC production. Taylor is probably at the height of her beauty and I can pass over her screeching voice. Zeffirelli manages to find good locations and costumes, as usual. It certainly earns a 8/10 because Taylor is eye candy.
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Korol Lir (King Lear) (1971) Some have put this on a level with Welles best Bard's movies, but I can't see why. It has the advantages of a film transposition but there are few images that stays in your mind (actually only the opening of the crowd to make place for the final duel). The movie gets rid of some monologues and scenes (most notably the "dive" at Dover) and so it has a good narrative rhythm. But I can't understand why for the two evil sisters were picked up ugly actresses: they should be attractive as, or even more, than their Cinderella relative. So the only reason to watch it is the Lear of Jüri Järvet: visually a mixture of the scientist of Metropolis and Lloyd's of Back to the Future. I have to see Scofield and Olivier in the part but I doubt they can do better. So that's the only reason to give this a 8/10.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) Cagney, Rooney and Powell (Dick) doing Shakespeare? Well, this play is not Hamlet, so the operation was not so incredible, even conceding the far from correct american english spoken by some. I first saw the play eons ago, in italian, in a public open air place: bored to death. I saw it again in english in the BBC version with no better results. This one, though at first saw the same results coming, it gets better and better as the story proceeds. Rooney is impressive because, although he was 14-15 when he shot the movie, and already with an incredible filmography behind him, here he looks no older than 10. So one not knowing who he is, can't but be flabbergasted by his professionalism, actually his overacting. Cagney, well, he plays Cagney, as usual: take it or leave it. Still the Reinhardt-Dieterle combination is above, I presume, any possible theatrical rendition of the play and, I admit, made me understand what the all stuff was about. I rate the movie above the play: 8/10
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Theatre of Blood (1973) Apparently this is the only filmed performance of Price as a shakespearean actor available on the tube. The movie in itself is worth little. 5/10
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As You Like It (1936) This is considered by most critics (and audiences) a masterpiece. I can't see why, apart from the famous "world is a theatre" speech. This version though has got the advantage of being around 100', dispensing with most useless speeches, so if one has never seen this play, it makes for a good starting (and probably ending) point. They have a poor man's Garbo for the role of Rosalind, and kinda teutsch at that! Olivier thinks he is Douglas Fairbanks but does the little his part requires impeccably. 6/10
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Wattstax (1973)
Can't be missed by Stax fans, though these are the last fires of what was the most important label of soul music. The free concert held in L.A. by Stax musicians is alternated by unfunny monologues of Richard Pryor and mumbled musings by a variety of black people, probably most of them earning their life as pimps, hustlers or pushers. Musically, as to be expected, the highlights are provided by Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, Staples Singers and Albert King. 6/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_P6ZWUJIa0
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) I remember as a child being intrigued by the title and wondering what it could be about. Then much later I understood the word play but still didn't manage to watch the movie because I wasn't persuaded by the snippets I caught on tv. I've finally managed to watch it and found it sucks, as I had thought all along. The usual incredible, nevrotic characters and the little inventive plot. The players were all nominated to Oscars: Taylor won it (not much competition that year), Dennis earned it, Segal is miscast as can be, I find that Burton speaks his theatrical diction, as phony as can be. 4/10
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Doctor Faustus (1967) Cheap production (the Burtons apart) and it shows. Marlowe's play might have offered many chances to set up a delirious images festival, but no idea whatsoever, directionwise, comes to the fore. (See, for a term of comparison, Bene's Salomè). The more I see Burton reciting in his original voice, the less I like him. Taylor's mature beauty was exalted in the Zeffirelli's Shrew, here just shows her age. 4/10
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L'avare (1980) I can't judge De Funés performance as Harpagon, having no terms of comparsison so far. Surely, this is probably the only Molière's character he could have played. But though his marionette's acting is effective in the more farcical scenes, I have doubts about the rest. Galabru, Menez and Gensac are very good, as to be expected, the juveniles do their task efficiently but not memorably. 7/10.
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The Pelican Brief (1993) Until a few days ago I read the novel, I was sure I had seen the movie. It was not so (probably I had persuaded myself I had seen it because I didn't want to see a Julia Roberts movie. Roberts and Kidman are the two actress I like less, second only to Joan Crawford). But the novel is a good contender for best Grisham novel. And the movie was put in the hands of Pakula who put style in the narration. It is not up to Condor (from which the novel was inspoired, as admitted by the author himself who names that movie in the novel) and it is not up to All The President's Men, but it is a solid political thriller which could have been made in the 70's. 8/10 for both novel and movie.
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The Chamber (1996) Grisham took informations on the Death Row procedures and stuck a story on it. So you read the novel if you're interested on what is like to be a guest in that area and bound to be terminated in a gas chamber. The movie has consequently little to go on and the casting is one of the worst I remember among recent Hollywood stuff. Hackman just doesn't fit as the racist southern klukker and O'Donnell is unremarkable. Only Dunaway is perfect and still good looking at 55 but hers is a minor part. As it is usual for this contrived kind of plot, they do not manage to persuade you that State murder is so terribly wrong. 6/10
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Christmas with the Kranks (2004) This is interesting because the book got me amazed for the first half at how the author managed to show how the consumer society works cruelly on individuals and I expected (though I should have known better, Grisham being a good storyteller, but not a good writer) the story to proceed mercilessly in this critic approach to the end. Instead, Grisham goes for the Life Is Wonderful option and the result (even more visibly so in the movie) is the usual, nice and forgettable Hollywood comedy. 7/10
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Zorba the Greek (1964) I watched this in a cinema, it must have been june 1965. I was a kid and didn't understand what the movie was about. Actually the plot is weak. The scene of the spoil, Kedrova's performance (and Oscar awarded: but hers a "supporting role"? ) and Teodorakis tune are worth saving. Papas wasted in a minor role, Bates looking like a dark-haired Peppard (and just as inexpressive. A great piece of miscasting) and finally Quinn overacting an over the top character: spot on, but I prefer him in more shaded parts. 6/10
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La cena delle beffe (1942) This is famous for the scene where Clara Calamai shows her breast. I was curious to watch Valenti but his acting is so over the top as to be embarrassing. Nazzari (in his life's performance) fares much better, with a bevy of famous italian minor characters to be found in the movies after the war. But the reason to sit through this crappy melodrama are nowadays only to see the beautiful Calamai (especially in the first scenes) and the pretty Ferida, thinking about the sad end waiting for her and Valenti at the end of the war. Valentina Cortese, though prettyish, will be much more attractive a few years later. 3/10
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La fine è nota (1993) This italian movie was based on a mystery novel published in 1949 by Geoffrey Holiday Hall, The End Is Known, who some (among whom, most notably, Leonardo Sciascia) consider a classic. The action is moved from NYC and Montana to Rome, Sardinia and Paris. The plot is slightly adapted to the locations and times, but basically it hinges on the hard to digest premise of the novel: i.e. that the police doesn't do its elementary homework on whom should actually be the prime suspect and lead to the solution at once. Still the writer was primarily interested in depicting some characters, especially Crazy Jessie and also some wartime scenes are well worth reading. In the movie, apart from the atrocious performances by the male "actors" (including the overpraised Cecchi) the direction and script are unable to make you interested in the characters, in spite of the good choice of locations. Valeria Moriconi (too pretty for the part of Crazy Jessie) and kaprisky give good performances, the rest of the females, even my beloved Melato, are so-so. 5/10 to the movie and 7/10 to the novel.
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Assolto per aver commesso il fatto (1993) A weak late Sordi. Inspired by the career of bogus financier Parretti, who managed to purchase MGM without money of his own. The movie lacks zest, in spite of Sordi's presence and his character and the other ones are no more than lines of dialogue. It shows how the italian comedy had lost the great writers of 20-30 years before. 4/10
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Minority Report (2002) I remebered little of it, only Cruise opening up screens with the hands. Solid timewaster with good action scenes and plot turns. I don't like the photography, though. 8/10
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeHqMB93uSI
This is one of the best 50's italian comedies, there are scenes i'm never tired of watching (and I've been watching the movie for 50 years, ever since I saw it in a theatre). But I doubt english subtitles can render the surrealism of Totò and Peppino's dialogues. Anyway, maybe worth a try. 9/10
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeHqMB93uSI
This is one of the best 50's italian comedies, there are scenes i'm never tired of watching (and I've been watching the movie for 50 years, ever since I saw it in a theatre). But I doubt english subtitles can render the surrealism of Totò and Peppino's dialogues. Anyway, maybe worth a try. 9/10
I got about 2/3rds of the way through it (pretty funny) before I had to go to a 4th of July fireworks celebration. I'm at the part where, just after his son comes back from the Alps and they first discover the counterfeit 10,000 lira notes floating around town.
What are the scenes you never tire of watching?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeHqMB93uSI
This is one of the best 50's italian comedies, there are scenes i'm never tired of watching (and I've been watching the movie for 50 years, ever since I saw it in a theatre). But I doubt english subtitles can render the surrealism of Totò and Peppino's dialogues. Anyway, maybe worth a try. 9/10
Mustafa - 10/10.
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What are the scenes you never tire of watching?
The ones featuring Totò and Peppino (and Giacomo Furia). Especially the dialogues when Totò keeps on distorting Peppino's surname (Lo Turco). But the sequence where Totò pays a visit to Peppino's print shop and from there they go to the bar and then to the metro station and to meet Furia is simply masterful.
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The ones featuring Totò and Peppino (and Giacomo Furia). Especially the dialogues when Totò keeps on distorting Peppino's surname (Lo Turco). But the sequence where Totò pays a visit to Peppino's print shop and from there they go to the bar and then to the metro station and to meet Furia is simply masterful.
Yes those were good but like you mentioned the dialog didn't work as well when you had to read it in subtitles, having to get rid of Mustafa was pretty funny also.
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Yes those were good but like you mentioned the dialog didn't work as well when you had to read it in subtitles, having to get rid of Mustafa was pretty funny also.
But it is not only that you have to READ the dialogue, but that lots of things get lost, inevitably, in the translation (and in THIS translation, specifically).
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Yes those were good but like you mentioned the dialog didn't work as well when you had to read it in subtitles, having to get rid of Mustafa was pretty funny also.
But even funnier was when Mustafa came back and Toto tried to explain it really wasn't him.
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An Enemy of the People (1978) Steve McQueen playing Ibsen? I had forgotten about it. How he came to star in this poor production is probably the most interesting part of the whole affair, but I never read a McQueen's bio and don't intend ever to. 6/10
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American Made (2017) Tom Cruise hasn't learned to act after all these decades in business, still sporting that grin or half grin that it's all he can manage to show he can vary expressions. But he's usually able to provide entertainment. In this case, even something more, as the story is very engrossing, the rhythm is fast and, as it deals with USA dirty dealings in Central America, it is less superficial than the usual Cruise's broth. Still there's no preaching, just letting facts speak for themselves. A solid 8/10. Strange that nobody here, unless the search button, as usual, doesn't work, took notice.
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American Made (2017) Tom Cruise hasn't learned to act after all these decades in business, still sporting that grin or half grin that it's all he can manage to show he can vary expressions. But he's usually able to provide entertainment. In this case, even something more, as the story is very engrossing, the rhythm is fast and, as it deals with USA dirty dealings in Central America, it is less superficial than the usual Cruise's broth. Still there's no preaching, just letting facts speak for themselves. A solid 8/10. Strange that nobody here, unless the search button, as usual, doesn't work, took notice.
Never heard of it.
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Some famous scenes featuring Totò with english subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui3ybjNiH2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWdF5fSKCiU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwIzOSCcYEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzJ4n0B_Ysw
Another movie entirely subtitled, but I can't remember how bad or good it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rNsgAmF7jQ
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Gunn (1967) Unfortunately couldn't find subtitles so I lost about 50% of the dialogues and couldn't make out the why and wherefore of the schemer's plot. but I can tell that this is based on rehashing of old material: see the first episode of the Gunn series itself (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTMVMRJtF68), the Spillane's "Juno was a man" trick; even the final song is an unashamed steal from The Vogues Five O'Clock World. The problem with all these movies made in the mid- sixties is that they lack grittiness, they all look too slick, both as to locales and as to characters. And I include the Harpers, the Tony Romes and the rest. It will be Don Siegel who, gradually, will change the look of the detective stories starting from Madigan, through Coogan's Bluff and finally with Dirty Harry, the first of the new breed. Edwards tries to include some Bondism (the moronic kill with the spear gun), some nudity, some torture (the squash) but all subdued and unimpressive. Still the plot, as far as I could make out, was intriguing and the rhythm was good. Halfway between 6-7/10.
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A classic "italian comedy" from the Golden Age (the 60's) (among the best 10 ever? Probably):
I Knew Her Well:
Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xt2jIx5IEM
You can download the english captioned movie here:
https://k2s.cc/file/5a3d466a3a12e/I_Knew_Her_Well.mkv
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Der Untertan (1951) A solid plot based on a novel which caused a lot of discussion and the movie itself didn't escape censorship in Germany for its harsh satire on nationalism (the toilet paper scene must have caused discussions, I presume). The characters, especially the protagonist, seems to have been inspired, figuratively, by Grosz's drawings which came 20 years after the years in which the action here is set. But the whole story should have had a better director to give more force to the images. 7/10
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Nachts wenn der Teufel kam (1957) This is based on the serial killer (but there's no certain proof he was such) Bruno Lüdke during the last years of Nazi rule. The movie starts off as a thriller, with the search by a cop for the killer of a woman for whose crime an innocent (Werner Peters) was accused and waiting for execution. Mario Adorf is playing the killer by imitating Jerry Lewis (half open eyes, pouting lips) and staring at the floor like in a Rohmer's movie. I don't think he's that good. Much better are Karl Lange and Hannes Messemer as the SS bonze. In fact it is when the political aspect of the affair becomes predominant that the movie gets more interesting. I don't think that even CJ could dub it as a Nazi noir. But still a good movie from Siodmak. 7/10
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Lo scapolo (1955) A good early Sordi english captioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPecZpIm6uA
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Das Mädchen Rosemarie (1958) I skipped this one for a decade (it was a daily mainstay on some private network over here) thinking it was a melodrama on prostitution. Well, I was wrong about the plot, but right in skipping it. The plot looks like it was patched up every day just before shooting: what are there Adorf and his companions (the girl is beautiful B.B. lookalike Karin Baal) there for? Their songs want to be a commentary on the action but they are bad musically (at the end they ape Weill's Moritat) and pretentious lirically. Same for the Frank character: he's there for what? The german industrialists cheat on their wives with whores: so what? Does that make by itself a criticism on capitalism? On the post-war economic miracle? The story gets worse and worse and at the end I give it 4/10
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Made in U.S.A. (1966) I'm currently reading all of the Parker's novels by Richard Stark and, after having read The Jugger I was curious to see what Godard had made of it. A mess, as usual. He changes sexes of the characters and finds a use of about 3 minutes (out of a total of 82') of the original plot. The rest is, as usual, an avalanche of pseudo-political reflections which, to a common viewer sound incomprehensible and, to the more knowledgeable one, even stale. There is a couple of lines which made me smile, though, and so I give it a 3/10. BTW, I don't think Westlake ever managed to watch it (even because there was some trouble about his author's rights).
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Rosaura a las 10 (1958) The novel on which is based is one of the most important literary mystery novels ever written, in the line of those by Sciascia, Gadda, Dürrenmatt etc. Unfortunately the book didn't find a director up to the task of delivering a work at least as good those we mentioned. And the fault lies mainly in the photography, quite mediocre. This can be seen especially in the "dream" (which is not, actually) sequence, not up to the standards of any similar sequence in any b or c Hollywood noir production. Even the direction is little or no imaginative, so the movie can be appreciated only for the plot, one of the best ever (but the book is great in the use of the different language of the various characters and the changing depiction of their psychology by the different narrators). A pity, but it earns a 7/10 anyway.
Here with english subs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVxHPFw54ts
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Le couperet (2015) A mystery why Westlake's novel The Ax didn't find a Hollywood line and had to wait for Costa-Gavras to make it in France. The Cohens could have found here an ideal subject for their talents. And this could have been a perfect vehicle for Jack Lemmon (in fact the actor picked up for this movie looks and plays like a poor man's Lemmon). Westlake's novel is one of the best (or simply the best?) noir of the last 20 years and the movie follows it quite literally, except for some very small differences. And in the end, if you have read the story you don't need to watch the movie. But if you don't intend to read the novel, the movie gives you a perfect idea of the great plot devised by Westlake, though inevitably missing some of his famous ironic touches and subtleties. 8/10
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Joker (2019) 0/10
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Where's your review of Il traditore?
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The Departed (2006) I was sure to have seen it, but couldn't remember a thing about it and why I had given away the dvd. So I rewatched it and remembered why: a good thriller with no connection to reality and, though better than other Scorsese's stuff, not even remotely comparable to his major works. Di Caprio simply can't act and Nicholson, alas, hamming it too much (but he was miscast to start with). 7/10
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Beware of Mr. Baker (2012) A doc on the famous drummer. A brain completely fucked up from drugs makes his life very interesting. Now I understand what went wrong with Cream and Blind Faith. I also appreciated his rating of Bonham and Moon. 10/10
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Where's your review of Il traditore?
I say again.
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Il traditore (2019) Regular biopic with most of the action set in courtrooms. Most of the facts are, to italians, common lore, so there-s the risk that they may pass over no-italians heads. I like two scenes, the Falcone killing and the confrontation between Buscetta and Calò, the rest may fill in historical particulars for those interested in the matter. It surely made me want to read about the stuff. Very good performances by the actors playing Contorno and Calò. 7/10
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The Weather Underground (2002)
A doc about a group of idiots playing in the '70's at the revolution by putting bombs near what they considered targets. Some of them still believe in what they did, with one exception who's ashamed when he thinks about what he did. 8/10
Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBR6EP665tE
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Parasite (2019) Do the Asians have a sense of humor? I can't remember a single asian comedy, let alone farce, made in those countries(not counting the Woody Allen adaptation of a not comic movie). Probably they have a sense of humor different from the western one or they can't find many reasons to laugh. Anyway, I thought this was going to steer, after the elaborate premise, in a black comedy vein, instead it turns into drama, asian style, i.e. a massacre. The solution was the easiest one, but it was a let down of an already boring movie (I was tempted to turn off the vision many times). Incredibly, a famous italian song of the 60s turned up unexpectedly. I wonder if it was a hit over there at the time or just a choice by a knowledgeable director. Anyway for me is a 5 or 6/10.
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Macbeth (1986) Italy's foremost Opera expert calls this the best Opera movie ever together with Rosi's Carmen. The debt to Welles version is quite apparent, as it is the one to Kubrick's anthropoid monkeys for the original presentation of the band of witches. The only reserve I have is for Shirley Verrett's singing, though I'm not an Opera expert. But it is a very good movie and a great shakespearian experience. 8/10
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The Client (1994) Having just found the novel in Paris and read it, I gave a try to the movie and the last wins hands down. In facts, Hollywood made a good work of eliminating half of the superfluous blabber which made a good 200 pages story in a 550 pages brick and adding some good touches which make the movie more logical and entertaining. Though the boy they picked up for the main role can't act (but not his fault: they should have told him what to do) Susan Sarandon is tolerable, though not playing a difficult role, and Tommy Lee Jones goes through the motions of his small part. 7/10 to the movie and 6 to the book.
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Topaze (1951) I wonder why this play was so praised. Maybe a century (or about) ago could seem something very cynical or I don't know what else. But after all these years we've seen more and better. The direction is not existent and Fernandel is, yes, perfect: but for him is a run of the mill job. 6/10
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César (1936) Having read the first two plays of the trilogy Marius and Fanny I was curious to see how the story was going to end. But, as somebody wrote at IMDB, there really was no need of this. In fact, at Hollywood they picked up the first two parts and left out this one to make a movie in 1961. And actually Fanny is head and shoulder above the other two parts. I wonder why they didn't pick up a good-looking actress for the Fanny role: she is said to be the best looking girl of Marseille but looking at Orane Demazis one wonders who recommended for the part: somebody very powerful and, probably, blind. Raimu is very good, looking like Louis Calhern. The other ones are good too, but the story is too stretched and easily predictable. 6/10
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Giulietta degli spiriti (1965) Saw it in the eighties but couldn't remember a thing about it. Well, it was worth watching though it has some faults (btw, Rota's score is forgettable). The colours are magnificient and some elements reminded me of Shining (the two girls, the spirits themselves. And Milo's orgy in the villa reminded me of EWS). But the main complain is about Masina and Milo. I can't stand Milo (but she had at the time a sex affair with Fellini, so she got the part, I guess) and Masina is just miscast: it is only natural that her husband (both on screen and off) is philandering about. A prettier actress (and there are lots of them on the set) would have made the matter of betrayal more substantial. And that somebody like the spanish guest and Milo's stepson may even think of bedding her is ridiculous. Also, there are some scenes like the one with the spiritualist (or whatever he/she) is that are redundant and useless. Still other parts (especially the "real" ones) are good and the dialogue with her hypocrite husband marvelous (Flaiano's hand, I'd bet). 7/10
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The Cold Equations (1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxdaVfrKnok
One of the greatest sf short stories. It seems also a bad movie was made out of it.
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Laissez bronzer les cadavres (2017) Having just read the novel (1971) I found out that there was a movie recently made based on it. This is a gangster movie, though it is about the prolonged fight inside a country property between the gangsters who stole some gold, a cop and some other people in the middle (or about). Actually the movie follows it to a T with just some small difference (like having Marilyn Jess (!) playing the short role of a male chip in the novel). As the novel had no what you may call a character but just names to carry on the plot, the movie can be considered just an extended movie clip, and that may cause you a permanent headache, as it is a unrelenting changing of image with different angle, colour, content. Still, it has the advantage of lasting less than 90', of having a story and no moralizing speeches. So it earns, like the novel, a 7/10.
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Zodiac (2007) Good thriller, but it should have been trimmed of all the usual hollywood banalities, like, for example the family troubles of the protagonist (an inept Eddy Merckx lookalike). The 1969 and following era is reproduced brilliantly without the fanfare for Tarantino's achievement. 7/10 (I could have given it a 8 with a more capable protagonist).
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Zodiac (2007) Good thriller, but it should have been trimmed of all the usual hollywood banalities, like, for example the family troubles of the protagonist (an inept Eddy Merckx lookalike). The 1969 and following era is reproduced brilliantly without the fanfare for Tarantino's achievement. 7/10 (I could have given it a 8 with a more capable protagonist).
n_l will throw a hissy fit, telling you how it is OBJECTIVELY the greatest movie since Leone died.
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Eastern Promises (2007) Unfulfilled, alas. This is a veritable piece of shit. I thought it was a russian mafia movie, but is trivial melodrama. And you also have to put up with Cassell. 2/10
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Eastern Promises (2007) Unfulfilled, alas. This is a veritable piece of shit. I thought it was a russian mafia movie, but is trivial melodrama. And you also have to put up with Cassell. 2/10
Now I will throw a fit.
This is a great movie. At least 9/10
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Stir of Echoes (1999) Based loosely on the Matheson's novel, probably the first one with the shining trick, it was distributed after The Sixth Sense and wasn't a hit. A pity because it is a much better than that one. Though any viewer knows right on what the plot is about and the finale it is unfair to the viewer (what was the shot in the basement for? It is presumably a suicide, but then...) still it is has a good narrative rhythm even because "just" less than 100' long (today it would be at least 40 minutes longer). 7-8/10
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Folle ? tuer (1975) Not the best Manchette's work, though it earned him the french Edgar as best novel of the year. It has good moments though, like the hanging and the department store chase, which are just hinted at in the movie which follows the main line of the plot but with relevant differences. I won't go into that, I just say that one may prefer the novel or the movie, I don't think one may grow enthusiastic about both. The novel is harsher, the movie rather tamer (with the exception of the scene where the boy got a Mae Clarke treatment) but less stretched as to credibility (but a great hole in the plot is about who did put the bomb in the killer's car). The cast is good: Jobert, Milian (and Lonsdale) but Milian is too restrained as the cold blooded killer. Both novel and movie get 6-7/10.
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The Tourist (2010) Almost entirely shot in Venice, it has a good piece of miscasting with Depp (who sleepwalks through the part) and Jolie (who shows more than her age, at the time 35). But this romantic comedy with a spy plot has got two good chase scenes and a couple of good comedy moments. Among the many italian actors my beloved Renato Scarpa as the tailor has a very limited but appreciable role; De Sica's son does his homework and the intolerable Frassica plays a carabiniere almost spoiling the funniest moment of the movie. 6-7/10
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) Boring attempt at a comedy-action movie (in the True Lies vein) rather stale as to originality of action scenes and dialogues. 4/10
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A Thousand Clowns (1965) Had never heard of it, found on youtube. Most incredible thing about it is that this sentimental half-comedy earned an Oscar for Balsam. To discover how he came to be nominated over Saks and Gordon (his mates in this venture) could be intriguing. How he got the statue is inexplicable too, though the contenders that year were not particularly fearsome. 6-7/10
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A Thousand Clowns (1965) Had never heard of it, found on youtube. Most incredible thing about it is that this sentimental half-comedy earned an Oscar for Balsam. To discover how he came to be nominated over Saks and Gordon (his mates in this venture) could be intriguing. How he got the statue is inexplicable too, though the contenders that year were not particularly fearsome. 6-7/10
We saw this in film class (1974); before this all I knew of Robards was from Once Upon a Time in the West.
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We saw this in film class (1974); before this all I knew of Robards was from Once Upon a Time in the West.
Interesting to know he was not so famous over there exactly as over here. I had had so far the impression that he was a familiar name in the U.S.A.
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Interesting to know he was not so famous over there exactly as over here. I had had so far the impression that he was a familiar name in the U.S.A.
Before Once/West, I'd say that Robards was most famous/known for his Broadway career.
Robards was a winner of a Tony Award, two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award, making him one of 24 Triple Crown of Acting winners. He was also a United States Navy decorated combat veteran of World War II.
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Der Untergang (2004) I hadn't realized this was 16 years old. The reconstruction is obviously fascinating. I would have done without some episodes and dialogues outside of the bunker but maybe that's because I read much on the subject. 8/10.
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Avec la peau des autres (1966) So-so spy-story notable only for the cast and the Wien places of the time. Lots of talk and little action. 6/10
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L'Alpagueur (The Hunter Will Get You)(1976) The first half is tedious as the plot hangs on a spit and is quite childish (the "Hawk, rather than being the most terrible criminal of France is the most imbecile: he lets live the boy he hires for the jewelry hold up which is a job he could on his own and who causes his downfall at the end, as the guy is the only one who could identify (gay theme: he had picked up the boy earlier for sex); in the second bank heist he is sure that the boy he hires by buying him a motorcycle won't leave while he's doing the hold up. The trailer episode with Belmondo makes you puke. The movie starts having some vitality toward the end, after the prison break and earns it a 6/10, even thanks to a good OST. But I won't watch it a second time.
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Cent mille dollars au soleil (Greed in the Sun) (1964)
Great adventure movie. The finale is just too fast and banal. But for a couple of hours keeps you riveted to the screen with wonderful images of the Sahara. 8/10
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Serie noire (1979) Uneven, as it alternates comedy and drama and so even the characters do not appear to be well defined and credible. Blier's especially is absurd in the finale and so the wife's, her insisting where D. got the money (and how does she come to infer that the money is related to the double murder, as all the papers concur in describing the old woman as pennyless?). The part with D. and the Greek at D.'s home doesn't make sense and could have been cut out profitably. D. thinking that B. won't check on him and wonder where he got the money is incredible. I'll check the Thompson book (with little hope it will make more sense than the movie). 6/10
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L'As des As (1982) This one has got some strange merits. Wonderful photography and reconstruction of Berlin in 1936. But the plot, as usual, takes up the persecuted Jewish family with the orphan kid and proceeds aound that instead of concentrating on the Belmondo's don't-give-a-damn figure put against the Nazis. A pity. 5/10
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Les Aventuriers (1967) This movie doesn't know which way to go and so the result is quite uneven: romantic adventure, adventure of the title, crime. But it has some good parts and watchable at least once thanks to Ventura and Delon. 6/10
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Le Magnifique (1973) A kinda Walter Mitty variation, with a very funny slapstick approach in the first part. But when it comes to the part dealing with the writer's real life the plot is quite hackneyed and really boring. Caprioli doesn't belong there, picked up only for co-production's sake. 6/10
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Capone (2020) Depressing movie on the last year of the gangster. It is more about a sick man than a infamous mobster, though his memories haunt him and are given a little room in the plot to vivify it. But for people who had to assist people with the same pathology it could be disturbing. Which might also explain some of the low rates at IMDB. Though a HBO production I still find hard to understand how it could find somebody to produce it. 6-7/10
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Capone (2020) Depressing movie on the last year of the gangster. It is more about a sick man than a infamous mobster, though his memories haunt him and are given a little room in the plot to vivify it. But for people who had to assist people with the same pathology it could be disturbing. Which might also explain some of the low rates at IMDB. Though a HBO production I still find hard to understand how it could find somebody to produce it. 6-7/10
You gave it higher marks than the reviews I've heard.
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You gave it higher marks than the reviews I've heard.
Yes. Because the low rates were given by those who expected the usual gangster biopic. This is about a a man with neurological disfunctions getting aggravated each passing day. Of course, that man being who he was, that makes some kind of difference in the treatment of the case, but it was an approach which makes the movie interesting, especially if you had the misfortune to deal with similar pathological cases, like I, unfortunately, had.
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Peur sur la ville (1975) Plotwise this is almost idiotic, the story being below the credible. But the flick must not be missed because of the Belmondo's stunts, doubled only for a couple of shots showing him walking above a metro car. In facts there is the roof chase above the Galeries Lafayette rooftops (which might very well be the best of the kind ever), followed by a car chase in the streets and finally one in the metro. That is the only, but solid, reason to watch this movie. 6/10
Morricone's theme average:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8svSFZc3Qto
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Okasareta hakui (Violated Angels) (1967) Hadn't realized how much furnished were jap girls backwise. This is a T&A sexploitation flick I had wanted to watch, but didn't manage to, since the early '70's when it was shown in a small cinema over here. But I had no idea that it was about a serial killer and quite disturbing at that. Still at not even an hour of lenght it is 15' too long, trying to give some reason for the psycho's behaviour. 7/10
It is based on the Richard Speck's case of the year before.
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It is based on the Richard Speck's case of the year before.
I'll check it out.
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Yea, agree ran a bit too long but it was interesting stylistically.
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Trois jours ? vivre (1957) Ventura plays a secondary role while the leads are the french Farley Granger (Daniel Gelin) and my second (after Signoret) unfavourite french actress Moreau. This thriller is interesting as to the finale, as the "good" (but actually bad) guy lives in the end, while the bad (but in this case innocent) guy dies. Tolerable, but to be seen just once, though it's time I read Musset's Lorenzaccio to better appreaciate it, who knows. 6/10
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Serie noire (1979) Uneven, as it alternates comedy and drama and so even the characters do not appear to be well defined and credible. Blier's especially is absurd in the finale and so the wife's, her insisting where D. got the money (and how does she come to infer that the money is related to the double murder, as all the papers concur in describing the old woman as pennyless?). The part with D. and the Greek at D.'s home doesn't make sense and could have been cut out profitably. D. thinking that B. won't check on him and wonder where he got the money is incredible. I'll check the Thompson book (with little hope it will make more sense than the movie). 6/10
Just finished the novel. Which is head and shoulder above the movie, thanx to the narration in first person by the protagonist, much more sympathetic and alive than D. The wife makes the connection with the double murder because she finds the social security card of the Greek in the bed. And the protagonist (whose name is Frank but always called "Dolly"(!) in the novel) boss comes to understand how things went because he knows where the lady got the money and who she really is. The plot is practically identical except for the last chapter: which makes a whole lotta difference, explainig how things ended for the boss, the girl and the narrator. And the finale of that last chapter (told alternatively in italics and normal characters) just mixes up things for the narrator once more.
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Prisoner of Honor (1991) Ken Russell's take on the Dreyfus case. Being a tv movie there's no much room for the director's visual oddities except for the short theatre episode. And being 83' long, much of the story is left aside. Still a 6/\0
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The Boston Strangler (1968) Excellent thriller, making excellent use of multipanel screen. What doesn't persuade me completely is the cast. Yeah. Fonda is wasted: the role is too small for him. Curtis has been praised for it, still, I'm not 100% sure he's here as good as in Sweet Smell of Success. His closing his eyes when murdering is too banal. Still the movie grips you from start to end. 9\10
Just watched it again. I think the first time I saw it was on TV and in Pan & Scan which decimated the multi screen effect. Agree, for me a 7-8/10. I feel the last quarter dragged once Curtis was in the sanitarium.
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Noticed Tony Curtis films on TCM. Even included Taras Bulba, which has great film score by Franz Waxman; I remember buying the soundtrack album used in 1984, as was long out of print. Now I also have purchased a later-issued CD.
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I reckon 'The Boston Strangler' should have boosted the career of Tony Curtis. Maybe it was controversial at that time but i reckon it is a good chilling mystery. I'll give it a rewatch before giving it a rating. It's a pity that Tony Curtis returned to soppy comedies after making this.
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Death Wish II (1982) Action moves to LA. I've never been there (and don't plan to, even with no china virus) but I doubt I could easily find a certain person just by walking (!) around. Still the vigilante manages to find all the members of the gang and doesn't even bother to ask the first two to tell him where he can find the others. Jimmy Page is the author of the ost. Still a good time waster. 6/10
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The Battle of Algiers (1966) I saw this twice before and never particularly impressed if not by the great final scenes. But even the thriller main body of the story acquires value on a bigger screen with the Casbah labyrinth being a great set. There are some melodramatic scenes which do not belong to any of the two parts of the story, which are made even worse by Morricone's (or Pontecorvo?s) comment. So I give it 7-8/10.
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The Battle of Algiers (1966) I saw this twice before and never particularly impressed if not by the great final scenes. But even the thriller main body of the story, on a bigger screen, acquires value on a bigger screen with the Casbah labyrinth being a great set. There are some melodramatic scenes which do not belong to any of the two parts of the story, which are made even worse by Morricone's (or Pontecorvo?s) comment. So I give it 7-8/10.
this is better than 8/10
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Copland (1997) Corrupt cops dull story, it gets 4/10, with a good Keitel and a miscast-as-can-be De Niro. But it is funny because it was shot at a time when Hollywood thought it could still make you believe that a cop shooting at a car driven by two blacks (hi on something and with drugs in their possession) because they had deliberately bumped on him and run away and so killing them, needed to be covered up by his colleagues. Which is the shenanigan on which the whole story turns. Also, there's a mention of an arrested "choke-hold" cop later killed by his colleagues.
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this is better than 8/10
I didn't like it so 8 is even high for me with that movie.
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La femme du boulanger (1938) French comedy is specialized in bitter-SWEET stories (the italian ones preferring BITTER-sweet ones) and this was an early example. It actually should be titled The wife of Raimu, because the actor towers over it all from start to end. But the basic story, though it has its moments, lacks credibility because the character of the wife lacks substance. She's young and married to a baker who's double her age, not satisfying her sexually and she abandons him him first chance for a shepherd younger and fit. So why does she comes back to him? Because the lover is a God fearing italian, who's afraid of the priest come to the rescue of the lost sheep and runs away. Ridiculous. And not only nowadays but even at that time. I haven't read the original novel and not intend to check whether this was a finale devised for the stage and movie adaptation. But it just doesn't work. Still, as said, the movie is worth watching for the way Raimu renders the reaction of the cuckold through many different emotional stages. 7/10
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Tot? le Mok? (1949)
One of the best Tot?'s comedies, a spoof of P?p? le Moko can be seen on youtube with accurate english subtitles, though unfortunately the numerous word-plays are impossible to translate effectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyAufVJ7QPk
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At 41'48" Tot? does the same gesture replicated by Pesci in Goodfellas at the end of the "funny" scene.
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Miseria e nobilt? (1954)
This is really one of the funniest movies ever produced in Italy (together with the companion piece Un turco napoletano. There's a third on not as funny). Sophia Loren is simply astonishing. Some of the funniest scenes are known by heart by most italian people. Here with english subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxOslIibVJI
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Miseria e nobilt? (1954)
This is really one of the funniest movies ever produced in Italy (together with the companion piece Un turco napoletano. There's a third on not as funny). Sophia Loren is simply astonishing. Some of the funniest scenes are known by heart by most italian people. Here with english subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxOslIibVJI
thanks
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Huh, that opening credit gag was used in The Importance of Being Ernest (1952), also a stage play.
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Miseria e nobilt? (1954) watched it, it was chuckle inducing.
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Miseria e nobilt? (1954) watched it, it was chuckle inducing.
Some of the effects get lost as the passing from the neapolitan accent which can't be rendered simply with an english translation (apart from the letter scene, where the client mangles the language but with an another accent, while in the english translation of course you just have the mangling). In the scene of the introduction of the sham nobles to the Loren's father the 4 impersonators speak with a kind of refined italian by, for example, making open vowels closed. And so on.
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Some of the effects get lost as the passing from the neapolitan accent which can't be rendered simply with an english translation (apart from the letter scene, where the client mangles the language but with an another accent, while in the english translation of course you just have the mangling). In the scene of the introduction of the sham nobles to the Loren's father the 4 impersonators speak with a kind of refined italian by, for example, making open vowels closed. And so on.
That's kind of what I figured. It must be like the way the Abbot and Costello classic jokes wouldn't translate I suspect. Stuff like Who's On First and the Racehorse joke below.
Lou Costello: I just bought me a racehorse and I gotta take care of him. What do you feed a horse anyway?
Bud Abbott: Well, a horse eats his fodder.
Lou Costello: He eats his father?
Bud Abbott: Certainly.
Lou Costello: That?s fine. Then what does his father eat?
Bud Abbott: He eats his fodder.
Lou Costello: Well, whata ya know! Then what does the horse?s mother eat?
Bud Abbott: She eats her fodder.
Lou Costello: What are they ? cannibals!!?
Bud Abbott: Certainly not. Every horse has to eat his fodder.
Lou Costello: Oh, I see. He eats his father and then his father eats his father and his mother eats her father and, before you know it, there won?t be no fathers left for Father?s Day!
Bud Abbott: No. No. To feed a horse you take a bag and put his fodder in it.
Lou Costello: You mean you put his father in a bag?
Bud Abbott: That?s right, and you hang his fodder on his nose.
Lou Costello: Now ain?t that a pretty picture ? a horse walking around with his father hangin? on his nose!
Bud Abbott: Well, if you?re gonna run him in a race, if the track is wet will he run well?
Lou Costello: I think so ?
Bud Abbott: What I?m asking is .. . is he a mudder?
Lou Costello: How can he be a mudder? Ain?t a she always a mudder?
Bud Abbott: Certainly not. Sometimes a he makes a better mudder than a she.
Lou Costello: Whata you know. Look, suppose the mama horse has little horses, does that make her a mudder?
Bud Abbott: Well, that depends on her feet.
Lou Costello: Ya learn sumpin? every day, don?t cha?
Bud Abbott: A mudder is a horse that likes to run in mud on account of having sore feet.
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The italian version of Many Rivers to Cross (1955) was retitled A Neapolitan in the Far West making the Irishman or Scot speaking with that accent. Of course no distributor would care to import, let alone dub an italian comedy.
Are you going to check Tot? le Mok??
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The italian version of Many Rivers to Cross (1955) was retitled A Neapolitan in the Far West making the Irishman or Scot speaking with that accent. Of course no distributor would care to import, let alone dub an italian comedy.
Are you going to check Tot? le Mok??
yea soon
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I've seen that there are now lots of old italian movies, mostly comedies, posted by the same fella who posted the two Tot?, w. english subtitles. I don't know how effective subtitles are, especially w. Tot?, but anyway check these ones:
Tot?, Peppino e la malafemmina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4pJW4tmwTo (I don't think you can translate it, but this is a superclassic over here, especially the letter scene)
Il monaco di Monza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDnQuwTgv5k (i like it, but maybe not to everybody's taste)
Some Sordi (w. Cardinale): Bello Onesto Emigrato Australia Sposerebbe Compaesana Illibata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSEoshh63NI
Lo Scapolo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPecZpIm6uA
There are other ones, of course, but these ones are worth watching.
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Two movies on the Great War. Uomini contro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYTQQNRBD4
and a real classic: La grande guerra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wixLm8nm88 (this one hasn't got english subtitles. But you can download them here: https://subtitleshub.net/subtitles/movieid-39829/)
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Winterset (1936) What a piece of crap. I read a contemporary review written by an italian writer who saw it at the Venice Film Festival and led me to think this one was some kind of proto-noir or whatever CJ might like to dub it. Actually it is some heavy melodrama shot at the same RKO sets seen in the Rathbone's Holmes movies, only that this time they are supposed to be NYC's crummiest parts. The plot is dumb, the lines are as corny as you can devise (courtesy of Maxwell Anderson) and the actors follow suit. 0/10
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Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) I saw it in 1975 but dubbed so I was curious to watch it again to check if it was as good as I remembered it or better. The scenes are well thought up but the problem is that the comic duo is the lamest ever, if I have to judge by this movie. Enjoyable and that's that: 6-7/10 (maybe I'll watch it again 40 years and odds from now).
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4 passi fra le nuvole (1942) Some consider it as some kind of precursor of neo-realism, but actually it's a comedy reminding one of Capra and anticipating the lighter italian comedies of the early '50's. The first part, based on misunderstandings, is pleasing but second is too melodramatic. Still a 6-7/10 thanks to Cervi, great as usual, and to the whole cast. P.S. Edith Piaf liked it.
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In the Street (1948) Scorsese gave me the heads up about this in an interview where he names the most important movies about NYC. This shot is not a feature or a documentary but just a series of images caught on not the most elegant streets of the city.
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The Connection (1961) This doesn't work fine like The Brig, though being based on a play by the same author and played in a single closed area. The dialogues or monologues have no relevance whatever the characters have no consistency, even for junkies: apparently, they do not have to go to work or steal or con to earn their dose, their connection being a benefactor who services them for free and at home. Actually they all look quite healthy compared to Sinatra whose only drug use was famously Jack Daniels. Clarke made better movies, especially the shorter one Dutchman, which over here was distributed together with Simon del desierto. The jazz playing is badly recorded be-bop which, by 1961 was already outdated. 2/10
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The Bowery (1933) NYC in the Gay Nineties made in California. Still a good recreation, in the first 25' is excellent as to narrative pace and mood of the times capture; then it becomes the usual 30's comedy, with stock characters. Beery is good when he just sticks to grimaces but Raft, praised for his performance, I just can't put up with: I never considered him an actor. Cooper here is tolerable. 7/10
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Black Widow (1954) The title tells partly the story and the explanation doesn't make acceptable how the culprit may have strangled the victim. I watched this because Carlos Clarens dubs it noir, but noir it isn't. Just a mystery shot with some NYC exteriors but all shot in studio with back-projections and drawings of Manhattan skyline. Great Cinemascope. 6-7/10
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Black Widow (1954)
I haven't seen this one. But I'm strangely drawn again and again to Black Widow (1987) with Debra Winger, which I rate 8/10
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The Super Cops (1974) I had missed this at the time: poor distribution, I guess. Anyway, though based on real facts and characters, with Gordon Parks directing, this is a more misses than hits. The problem is that it doesn't take a straight direction toward cops drama or cops comedy, hanging between the two. So the viewer is wondering all the time what he has got to expect. The fact that Semple jr did the script may have counted for much about that (was he picked because he scripted the Batman series and the real cops earned Batman and Robin nicknames?) and Lieberman acts like an idiot most of the time: totally inept acting. Still this retains something of the "genre" (cops in NYC, I mean) with lots of exteriors. Fielding-s score is immemorable. 6/10
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Vice Squad (1953) A police procedural, not a noir. It has a good start, not just with the first murder scene, but with the arrival of Robinson at the police station when all of the many cases from the night events pile up on him without interruption. Then it becomes routine, with only the bank heist exteriors being different from usual. With the exception of Goddard, absolutely miscast, all the players are ok, LVC having a bit irrelevant part and Binns being good as usual as a DeCorsia valid clone. 6-7/10
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Gang Busters (1955) This is a C production with a wrong title and a story that at first goes one way to veer toward the end in another direction. Based on the vicissitudes of a real criminal it is just the kind of movie one wish they made oftener only better. No women in this (one appears for a few seconds) no sermons (they are concentrated at the start so they are easily got rid of), only action. And the action grows as the movie goes along. The protagonist is good, I haven't seen him elsewhere. 7/10
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Double Jeopardy (1955) This looks almost like a noir travesty, with most of the elements there but superficially treated and with no credibility whatever as to how the characters act and the plot develops. 5/10
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Patterns (1956) Phony, stale melodrama about struggle between the presumed old ways and the new ones of running big business. 4-5/10
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In Old Chicago (1938) I saw it because I thought it was a western, instead is a disaster movie and awful in every respect. You can jump directly to the last 20' to watch the fire expand but even the special effects are poor and can't compare with those (if I remember well) of San Francisco (1936) whose success probably inspired this production. 2/10
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Beau James (1957) I don't know how much respect for facts is in this biopic but it made me curious about the man in question, former mayor of NYC and composer of a good song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKSu32XEYwg
Hope has a good number of one-liners and delivers a fair performance without clownery. But the rest is forgivable and the direction barely tolerable. 6/10
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Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) If I saw it before it must have been eons ago. Anyway, very suspenseful, though it can remind one of Romero's zombies flicks. 7-8/10
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Repossessed (1990) Bland spoof, miles away from the Zuckers products. 4/10
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Walking Tall (1973) This is the movie Stallone (with the exception of First Blood) tried to make for 30 years, never succeeding. It has got his dose of corn, but less of what I expected and the action scenes, without special effects, still hold well (the woman shot in the face and the other killed in the car especially). Sure, Baker ends up resembling the character he probably inspired (Halloween's Jason) always resurrecting from most incredible killing attempts, but it is never boring. 7/10
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The Driver (1978) This must have been the first movie I watched on vhs, in 1982. It is still VG as I remembered it. Some, at IMDB, dubs it as "partly western, partly existential neo-noir" (I don't remember whether CJ had come up yet with that term). To me is just a thriller where, as the end doesn't go awry, where Adjani is no femme fatale at all (though being french) it cannot be dubbed noirish if not for many night and interior shot. Anyway, O'Neal and Adjani can't act for life (we know that) but their characters require that (in)ability. Dern, is playing an asshole, maybe too literally. Still this is good from beginning to end, with no love scenes diversions, though the Dern scheme and the empty bag trick (would anybody trust an exchanger without checking first?) are hard to swallow. 8/10
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Freebie and the Bean (1974) This buddy cops is strange. You don't know what they were mainly intending to do: a half comedy, half surreal (the dialogues are sometime reminding one of Tarantino) stuff or just plain action? In facts the best scenes are the two spectacular car chases, especially the first one, which have nothing to envy to the best known ones. Morley is good as the criminal transvestite but the Caan-Arkin couple doesn't persuade me. Comedy is not Caan's bag of tricks and Arkin, for me, is one of those whom I never could see why they were in the business at all. But, though the main plot is quite lame and some of the scenes quite stupid on a cartoonish logic, it earns my 7/10.
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Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969) This is the only Fellini I had missed (together with his last one: but that one I just stopped the vision after 15 minutes, really crap) because I thought it was a documentary about him I had seen. Instead it is a fake documentary about himself and probably his most funny one, though humor will be lost on non-italian viewers. In fact I wonder what NBC paid Fellini for: if they wanted a documentary, they were cheated. All the people here are dubbed (with the exception of Mr and Mrs Fellini) by professional dubbers who lend them various (and fake) dialect accents and none of them are real characters but all of them are all extras well known to italian b-movies watchers (4-5 of them I spotted are not listed in the IMDB page). Though the first part may look quite serious (or kinda) with Fellini talking about his everlasting Mastorna project, the second half is definitely funny with b-movies dialogues and characters (but some of the funny attitude could already be seen in the Mastroianni's episode). A must for Fellini fans who liked Satyricon or Roma of which can be considered some extra footage. 7-8/10
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The Exorcist III (1990) I had always skipped past this one after having gone through number 2 which is boring as hell. But after having heard more than one positive comment about it I gave it a try as I am a fan of the original. This is not as boring as the number 2 but after a good first half loses direction and it becomes too talkative, with little logic (the old woman on the ceiling, the murder of the nurse: who did it? the murder attempt on Scott's daughter: can he realy beat the devil's scheme?) and when the finale arrives it is too trivial. Maybe reading the novel could help digesting better the story but I don't think I'll give it a try. And some parts of Scott's performance (his explanation to the clinic's director) are really hard for me to understand. 6/10
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The Final Days (1989) The follow-up to All President's Men as seen from the other side. Boring for those who are not interested in the subject, probably. The fact is that we see Nixon as he behaves with other people, with a single exception. So the movie doesn't try to assess him roundly and one might end up wondering if maybe he wasn't a victim. But for example, he denies vehemently a pardon to his cronies but nothing definite is said about the pardon he got for himself. Sure, probably whoever watches this knows about it, but that would have been something to dwell upon. And so on. There are also some funny parts like the car ride with Brezhnev. But in the end one might watch it if he has read the book, or wants to visualize the facts or even watching a great performance by the lead. 7/10
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Mine vaganti (2010) This collected a lot of awards in Italy and I see enthusiastic comments at IMDB. I don't get it, sorry. Well I understand the awards, I can easily believe there were many much worse movies made in Italy that year, as often in the last 40 years. Anyway, this has got bogus story (just incredible even 40 years before, but the story writers of then could have made a good comedy out of it), bogus characters and bogus dialogue. And the actors generally stink. 0/10
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Happy Family (2010) After the excruciating vision of Loose Cannons (Mine vaganti) I dared to watch even this one only because of Abatantuono, who is one of the few actors I put up with. And he made me laugh and didn't let me down even this time. But the rest stinks, though the actors are competent. But the story stinks, the characters are artificial and banal as can be, and the love story makes me puke. 1/10
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Across The Bridge (1957) A thriller? Yes. A noir? That's for CJ to decide. But this is just good and not just for the suspense. Lots of Graham Greene, though it seems the short story on which it was based had little of the movie. Bernard Lee is here as Scotland Yard inspector and he's not as effective as M. 7/10
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The Fourth Protocol (1987) A so-so spy flick good only for the Caine's performance as underdog spy-catcher, especially in his harrypalmerish confrontations with his superiors. 6/10.
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Commando (1985) I remembered it was better, but after rewatching it it can be saved only for the escape from the airplane sequence and some oneliners by Schwarze (I stop here otherwise it could turn into politically incorrect) the rest is banal, with the added minuses of the father-daughter scenes and those with the black airline hostess. 5-6/10
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Spectre (2015) I thought I had reviewed it here but apparently I was wrong. The weakest of the Craig's series: mediocre script, mediocre action scenes, mediocre female fauna (casting Bellucci in her fifties? Where were you 20-30 years ago? A black Moneypenny who makes you regret the aging Maxwell of the late Moore's) and the photography in yellow and black. The two main villains are the worst ever in any Bond movie: Scott just can't play, I presume he was cast by the same person who picked up Bellucci. Waltz is the most inept Blofeld ever, He has got an anonymous face and, worse, an anonymous delivery coupled with a an indifferent voice. The only thing I save is the very first part of the introducing scene shot in Mexico City shot without cuts.
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Der letzte Akt (1955) To say that it takes many liberties with facts is to minimize the case. It seems that Traudl Junge acted as consultant for this one as she will be l for Der Untergang (actually based on her book). But one would never guess it. It adds some melodrama, some positive character, some positive message. So, apparently, the filmakers weren't interested in simply telling the facts. The actor playing Hitler can't even start to be compared to Ganz, but his scene with Greim is effective. Also the episode of the flooding of the unterbahn, though cheaply made, is worth mentioning as it never appears in other movies on the same subject. 6/10
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Above the Law (1988) Seagal's first and not a very good one, too much preaching and little action, actually only one sequence is worth watching. As bad as his made for tv ones.. 4-5/10
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Count Dracula (Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht) (1970) I had always steered away from this one, as I detest the director (of which I appreciate only the movies featuring Lina Romay) but having read recently Lee's boring autobiography (mostly about his golf experiences and keeping mum about most of his military experiences) in which he praises it I gave it a try. Well, I have to admit that this would be worth watching only for Kinski's
performance as Renfield: he doesn't speak an (audible) word but it doesn't matter and you know the character anyway. But Lee considers this the most accurate Dracula he played and he's probably right. Unfortunately the action, for budget reasons, is moved from London to Budapest, but even the studio scenes do not compare with those of Hammer (or Corman). Still there are moments of interest and I put it above Coppola's boring rendition. Nicolai's main theme is blatantly modeled on Morricone's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion of the same year: so you may suspect it was Morricone who stole from Nicolai. Anyway 6-7/10.
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La signora di tutti (1934) I came to this not because of Max Oph?ls but because I wanted to watch an italian actress about whom I had read as one of the most important in our cinema but that I had not even an idea of what she looked like. Isa Miranda, from Milan, was a homegrown Dietrich-like blonde. She has a good screen presence, quite unusual for italian actress in those times. The problem is her speech delivery, which sounds artificial, highly unnatural (not helped, of course, by a foreign director and by awful lines). The movie is heavy melodrama with a plot that hangs on a spit which often just doesn't make sense. The dialogues are banal or ridiculous and you can save some device by the director (like a 3 layers flashback or some unusual shots). Not worth watching 3/10
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Hitler - Eine Karriere (1977) Best documentary on the subject, both as to variety of material and soundness of comment (of course Joachim Fest is the greatest Hitler's biographer). 10/10
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Hitler - Eine Karriere (1977) Best documentary on the subject, both as to variety of material and soundness of comment (of course Joachim Fest is the greatest Hitler's biographer). 10/10
I've seen this: very good, English language version.
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Fridericus (1937) Admittedly not the best of old Fritz movies, it didn't make me know about the subject more of what I knew before. The King of Prussia says he's fighting for peace but nothing explains how and why. So it is an anecdote after another, a suspense scene of a possible kidnapping, a short romance scene. But the final battle is well made, though it probably won't equal the one to be seen on Der grosse Koenig (I'll report on this later: this nazi stuff is all on YT). But the movie has got a fast pace, well-acted (Gebuehr and Minetti, especially. Carola Hoehn is the best looking of a series of not very young actresses). 6-7/10
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Der grosse Koenig (1942) I expected more of this, especially after the brilliant opening with battle scenes which, as to grandiosity, well compare with those of the russian War and Peace of 1965. Unfortunately the following ones are only suggested and the movie concentrates on the King's private happenings, filled with political reasonings and discussions that explain little about the war aims of this guy. Which probably mirrored the contemporary situation about Hitler waging war against the world for no apparent reason. In fact, sometime the king's speeches (and Gebuehr's delivery) seem a Hitler's parody. Probably the german audiences of then (I'm not certain about those of today) could follow the unrolling of the events, but a foreign viewer certainly can't without a recent reading of the history of the 7 year war. How the unattractive Soderbaum got the only relevant female part is another mystery. So I give it a 7/10.
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Hitler (1962) I came to this reading a Robert Mitchum biography where it said that his brother John played Goering here. Well, one could have a field day listing all the errors and inventions they made here but still I presume this is the only fiction movie which deals with Hitler's sex life. Not many years ago a book was published which argued about H.'s homosexuality from which all of his actions were made to spring from. Here a hint is in a line Roehm says during a confrontation with H. in the night of the long knives, but basically H. is shown as suffering from impotence due to some kind of Oedipus complex. The movie cannot but look like a kind of parody and Basehart reminds me more of Chaplin playing Hitler than H. himself. Still the movie is interesting in the scenes with Basehart and the good looking german actress playing Geli Raubal: as we know little for sure about their relationship they can take liberties and look realistic (but I don't think H. had her killed; rather, like Otto Strasser wrote, I rather believe it was him who did it in a rege fit). The german girl playing Eva Braun is not so good looking and her character just isn't real: but the scene where she "cures" H. from his problem is well done and B. there is even very good. So this earns a 6/10.
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Contract on Cherry Street (1977) Cop-Mafia TV-movie. You can tell how bad it is by seeing how little screen time was given to Silva, still considered at the time (in the USA not in Europe, where he got lead parts) just a face to fill up the screen. At least an hour (but probably more) cut could have been beneficial, and the job could have made a good time-waster if only to watch the cast (Sinatra, Balsam, Guardino). But nothing more. Too much talk and little action. Still the last crane shot compares with any of Richards FML: only thing worth remembering. CJ could find some NYC exterior worth watching. 4/10
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King of the Underworld (1939) Probably most moronic (a joke in the movie) gangster movie ever. Actually it plays like a (conscious?) parody of the genre though I'm not sure how much of it was meant to be. What makes it worth seeing are some of the brilliant dialogues which prove how much Bogart was good at comedy: I laughed at 5-6 good ones and this earns this crap 7/10. Kay Francis is not pretty but attractive, never noticed her before.
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Las Vegas Shakedown (1955) Cheapy cheap piece of crap. Grand Motel dubbed it at IMDB. Yeah, a series of melodramatic moronic stories around a fake casino in fake LV. A pity because O'Keefe is as good as usual and Grey as cute too and the first 10 minutes make you believe it could be interesting. 3/10
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King of the Underworld (1939) Probably most moronic (a joke in the movie) gangster movie ever. Actually it plays like a (conscious?) parody of the genre though I'm not sure how much of it was meant to be. What makes it worth seeing are some of the brilliant dialogues which prove how much Bogart was good at comedy: I laughed at 5-6 good ones and this earns this crap 7/10. Kay Francis is not pretty but attractive, never noticed her before.
Kay Francis is more known for romantic leading lady roles pretty good in The Jewel Robbery and One Way Passage with William Powell before his teaming Myrna Loy.
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Kolberg (1945) I wonder again how Kristina S?derbaum landed all these lead roles in nazi Germany movies: she couldn't be any sane male's wet dream. Still one has to put up with her bloated face occupying most of the screen and most of not political discussions or battle scenes of the movie. The political discussions occupy most of the first part and there is no need for them because what the matter is all about is simple and could easily become intelligible by the events: but probably Dr. Goebbles, who supervised the editing, wanted the link to the present be inescapable for anyone. So the battle scenes are what this must still be watched for. But I like also Wegener and his dialogues with George. 7/10.
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Dunkirk (2017) This should have been titled "The Channel" as the action is almost entirely set there. But this is really crappy, with patriotic-stale dialogues that weren't heard on the screen since the late forties (and with a reason). The action scenes are nothing memorable and the other scenes are melodramatic or just to be expected. 3/10
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Week-end ? Zuydcoote (1(964) This is the real Dunkerque movie. But I don't understand why they had to mislead the audience with such a cutie title. It is good or even excellent as it renders perfectly how casual the situation was there varying from moment to moment and how Belmondo is trying to cope. Unfortunately they had to insert the love interest (though it is Catherine Spaak) and after the attempted rape scene the story tries to survive to itself, Still for the first 3/4 it is VG: 7-8/10
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Bait (1954) I refuse to consider it a noir. Only because it has a moronic crime twist (Haas doesn't need to set up that convoluted strategy to get rid of his partner, especially assuming that he would get rid of his own wife) this doesn't make it more than a kind of cheap drama. At youtube is posted as a "romantic movie" and probably it is just that. But it is not so bad as most say it is. 5-6/10.
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Speer und er (2005) This miniseries was released a year after Der Untergang, so the Hitler here looks quite ludicrous after the performance of Ganz. But this is a must for all those interested in the matter, especially, of course, on the figure of Hitler's architect. It is partly biopic, well stuffed with interviews of various people (among whom are three of Speer's children) and original video and audio material. The reconstruction of the Spandau incarceration and Speer's "battle with the truth" (which was no battle at all but a masterpiece of opportunism) are well documented. 8/10
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Mon Petit Chou (1961) An episode of the series Route 66 it has a good direction by Peckinpah and a great performance by Lee Marvin. But the story is weak. Macha Meril sings (dubbed) two of my favourite french songs quite well.
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F?hrmann Maria (1936) Love stories are not my cup of tea, but this here is in the phantastic vein (Love Beats the Death) and it actually keeps you interested from start to finish. The music is good (and the composer manages to put a few notes of the Horst Wessel Lied). The photography is top notch and the actors too. 7-8/10
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Der Choral von Leuthen (1933) The best of the three Otto Gebuehr-Old Fritz movies I've seen, more centered on the king's figure and without the many annoying secondary characters. The sub-plot is well integrated in the main one and leaves little room for molasses. The battle scenes are good but not as impressive as they might have been: this is mainly Gebuehr's flick. 7-8/10
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Jud S?? (1940) Much has been written about it but I think that most of it is not well-centered. The propaganda anti-jews in the movie is all shouted but in reality the gojim characters are far from being praised and come off worse than their victims. S?? himself is far from being a completely despicable man: he gives his money away to better the condition of the Stuttgart Jews. And comes to rape the director's wife (yeah, it is again Kristina S?derbaum, here because Dr Goebbels wanted her absolutely to play the part. Another of his crimes) after he asked her father for her hand and being denied by him with a lot of curses. But one could talk a lot about it, even considering that the first cut angered the Doktor and other scenes had to be re-shot. The fact is that Harlan is not a great director and so the movie hasn't got any memorable moment if not, in my opinion, the scene of the hanging. The movie was a great hit and it seems it was shown to the extermination squads in war zones before they went into action. But today it is only quite boring. 4-5/10
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Twelve Angry Men (1954) The original teleplay, apart from some less developed characters compared to the 1957 version, has got a different finale. Which I prefer, as it doesn't have the melodramatic revelation about Lee J.'s motivations. The actors are all below the ones of the movie (even the two who were in both versions, who gave better performances later) with the exception of Fell (which I prefer to Balsam)and Abel who is not as stiff as Marshall. 6/10
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Der Anst?ndige (2014) "A documentary that uses a cache of letters, diaries and documents to reveal the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler." But it is quite boring and there is little footage one hasn't seen before if he's interested in nazi stuff. There is just a moment when Hitler stops a standard bearer to adjust the flag, staring impressively toward the camera. 5-6/10
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Jinnah (1998) I watched it because Lee thought it was his best ever performance, which probably it is. Usual biopic about matters I didn't know a thing about (i.e. the independence of Pakistan). I can only say it is better than Ghandi. 6-7/10
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Sapphire (1959) This mystery is just an excuse to talk about racism in England at the time and does it in a very detached way: it is like it is, no preaching. There is a very noir sequence (the attempted escape of Johnny) and the jazzy OST is annoying. 7/10
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La pupa del gangster (Gun Moll) (1975) Noir blends into italian comedy? I had never dared to watch this one which I thought it was just another Loren-Mastroianni flick (which it is). But reading Woolrich's filmography in Nevins biography of the writer I found out that this was based on one of his stories which now I have to read (if I find it). I presume that the part taken from the story was the one about the collar (in fact the title of the story is "Collared": double meaning, of course) I doubt the rest was inspired by Woolrich. Anyway, the movie has got 2 or 3 jokes and the usual Julienne chase in the Milan streets. I give it 6/10 because the whole sequence about Loren going to and fro from her apartment to DI Lazzaro's is mildly funny. On youtube w. english subs.
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The Day After Tomorrow (2004) This is good for the SFX in the first half, very impressive. The second half has got only the raid into the ship, with the wolf pack lurking there, to mention. I still don't get the merits of Spiderman as an actor: he's not good-looking, he can't act: how he got there? 6-7/10
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Four O'Clock (1958) One of the best Hitchcock's teleplays, with masterful last 5 minutes. 8/10
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Le silencieux (1973) Why did I ever miss this freaking good spy thriller with my favourite italian (or french) actor? Probably because of the italian title. This is good from start to end, no respite, though based on the usual plot of "man on the run" (this time from KGB killers). 8-9/10
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Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960) Good c stuff with fast pace, some funny moments (especially the first part with the "education" of the children) and some good exchange though the story is completely made-up. There's also a good song. 7/10
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Meteor (1979) One of the few Connery I had missed, it could have been a 7-8 20 minutes shorter and a destruction scene more. The cataclysmic scenes, especially the last ones in NYC are well made. Funny listening to Wood (but her parents were russians) and Keith (uh?) speak russian. 6/10.
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Unbreakable (2000) Usual Willis with no action but with a fantasy side, it makes you wonder where it is leading to till the end but it is not worth the effort. 5-6/10
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No Time To Die (2021) This could have been the best of the Craig had it been shortened of at least 45,50 minutes. Sure there's the sentimental relationship and (alas!) a Bond's little daughter, but the problem are the too long dialogues which really are useless. Still there are some good action scenes like the long (23') pre-credit shot in Matera, the Norvegian one and the finale (but larded with too many dialogues) with some good sets. As usual the Zimmer's OST is undistinguished and when the original Monty Norman's theme can be heard again after being ignored in the last one(s?) I felt almost like starting breathing again. But, of course, tears may come when the Armstrong's song starts playing in the finale: reminding us how great was John Barry and how mediocre were those who came after him. (Zimmer though had the decency of quoting the song in the early part of the movie). Another surprise was Ana de Armas: she has got the looks of a Bond girl, she's funny and compared to the rest of the female harem makes you think you're watching a Bond movie. Funny that, after more than half a century they made use of the original Fleming's idea in the novel of YOLT of the poison garden. Last good news is the demise of Woltz's Blofeld. 7-8/10
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Le sang ? la t?te (1956) This one reminded me of La femme du boulanger: again a woman married to an older man (Gabin doesn't look like the son of the man playing his father, rather like his older brother) who thinks about making money and not about her. She betrays Gabin with her old beau who is just the usual character of good for nothing and with whom she has only a short dialogue which reveals nothing about her decision to run with him (which she won't do in the end). She betrays Gabin to force him to change his ways, apparently. But her decision to leave him for the young lover seemed quite serious, she goes back home to take a suitcase (does she fill it up?) and a pair of earrings. But she must have sent a letter to her father-in-law (explaining why it doesn't work with Gabin) at least the day before. So her character just won't gel and in the end it's just the usual bitter-sweet, so french, movie story which may interest the Gabin fans and that's that. 6/10
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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) The first half is very good, 8-9 for this kind of action movie, the girl playing the robot is sexy and bitchy as she should be. And Schwarzenegger is as funny as at his best. The second half it drags, though it has action scenes. So it is 6-7/10
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Deep Impact (1998) Another variation on the meteor destroying NYC and the East Coast. The destruction scenes are excellent and the space mission is well done, with a different colour palette usual in these kinda movies. But the melodramatic stories built around them make you puke. 4/10
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Training Day (2001) Rogue cop vs. Rookie cop. Piece of crap, a good tense scene with Hawke in the latinos home but solved without much imagination. And the finale is interminable. 4-5/10
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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) This is about exaggerated magical tricks, a kind of plot is built around it and is moderately amusing thanx to the screenplay and Carrey. But Carel is another of those guys one wonders how they got into the business. I reviewed him here for the Get Smart revival and just comparing him to Don Adams make you understand what I'm talking about. 6-7/10
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Training Day (2001) Rogue cop vs. Rookie cop. Piece of crap, a good tense scene with Hawke in the latinos home but solved without much imagination. And the finale is interminable. 4-5/10
I have not seen it in about 20 years but liked it a lot back then.
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I have not seen it in about 20 years but liked it a lot back then.
Oh, absolutely. If you accept to suspend your disbelief and believe that: 1) a rookie cop on his first day in the narcotics division accept to smoke dope at his colleague's intimation; to let his colleague steal $40000 from a criminal entering in his home with a fake warrant; to see him kill in cold blood a dope peddler after having stolen his money and still following in the latinos home which is a trap to have him killed but he's saved by the fact that in the morning he had rescued the cousin of one of the latinos from rape without any help from his colleague. 2) That the rogue cop has managed to stay in service such a long time without nobody apparently being aware of his not very clean MO. So he planned the trap for the rookie for weeks, trusting the fact that the rookie would accept his misbehaviour, without suspecting he might be one planted to uncover his misdeeds and report. Now, I have little trust in any police department, especially in the USA's big cities. But this goes beyond any credibility.
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If you accept to suspend your disbelief and believe that: 1) a rookie cop on his first day ......Now, I have little trust in any police department, especially in the USA's big cities. But this goes beyond any credibility.
I play softball with a retired police officer, 20 years for city of Phoenix, AZ. We talked a bit about TV/film cops, and he said that in 20 years he NEVER had reason to even take his gun out of its holster.
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I play softball with a retired police officer, 20 years for city of Phoenix, AZ. We talked a bit about TV/film cops, and he said that in 20 years he NEVER had reason to even take his gun out of its holster.
My point was more about police corruption than about police violent behaviour. About the last, on youtube there are tons of videos showing Fearless Fossdick attitude by U.S. cops toward even minor infranctions: inevitable in a country where firearms are easily available. The movie in question is annoying for the absolute violence exerted on characters, making one an absolute dupe and the other one a confirmed criminal.
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The Bourne Identity (2002) This is good until it's time to explain what it was all about. Even a great movie like Three Days of Condor suffered from the same defect. Better leave explanations aside. especially when they are ridiculous like here. 6-7/10
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New Jack City (1991) I can't remember how this ended up in my watchlist, but I forced myself to watch it for a half-hour. Usual plot, amateurish acting and preaching. 1/10 because the initial aerial shot ending on the bridge scene was promising.
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David Copperfield (1935) The only memory I have of David Copperfield at all is of the miniseries made over here in 1966 starring Giannini in the main role. This one is notable only for the actors, the older ones. Having not read the novel I can't say anything about the reduction of the plot which plays like heavy melodrama. Mia Farrow's mother looks like Theresa Wright's twin sister. Elizabeth Allan is beautiful, I wonder why she wasn't more in top movies. But Fields, Oliver and Pawle (Benny Hill's clear inspiration) are the ones who dominate the scenes they're in. Unfortunately Rathbone has got little screen time, though he looks quite ludicrous in the role.
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Now You See Me (2013) A good time-waster with no attempt to tell a rational story but entertaining most of the time. 7/10
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Now You See Me 2 (2016) Same as previous one.
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Shade (2003) A kinda Cincinnati Kid / The Sting cocktail, not very inventive. 5/10
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Swordfish (2001) Mediocre thriller, it has got a not completely bad finale with the bus in the air. But it is hard to get there. 4-5/10
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The Peacemaker (1997) Another timewaster with a couple of passable action scenes. 5-6/10
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Momentum (1956) A good Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode based on a good Woolrich story.
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Post Mortem (1958) As above. Both telefilm are close to the original story. Joanna Moore is pretty, but I missed her both in Touch of Evil and Ride a Crooked Trail.
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Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) No, it is actually FFC's Dracula. I had watched it on tv but I gave it another try counting on the dubbing may have had a negative effect on my opinion. But it is actually the reverse. Nobody here speaks English but a kind of neutral version of it, even Hopkins (worst Van Helsing ever). Of course, Coppola is a master technician and it shows in many sequences, with great costumes, photography and sets. But I still wouldn't trade it with the more basic Hammer's stuff. And I certainly wouldn't trade the two anorexic actresses with the big boobed Hammer's fare. Quotations from Exorcist and Hunchbacks of Notre Dame reveal that Coppola probably didn't know himself where he was heading for. The film still is very faithful to the literary source (somebody on the internet counted it as the second movie most near to the novel) but it is the most distant from what one does expect from a vampyre movie as it developed from Nosferatu onwards. And I'm satisfied with that one. 7/10
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Green Lantern (2011) Good CGE scenes but the rest is the usual filler. 5/10
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Black Hawk Down (2001) I had skipped this for no sure reason, the title probably just didn't inspire me. I was wrong: this is a must-see, though it has many defects. The best thing it does is depicting the chaos of a war battle. In fact, it could have easily done without the first 30' and explain what it was all about during the beginning of the action. The movie reminded me of Zulu, at least as the basic concept, there is less concentration on the characters, thank God, though in the final part there is the usual preaching accompanied by the usual annoying dirge. 7/10
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The Death of Stalin (2017) This is based on a comic book, not the best ground to build an historic movie. But as we still know little of how things really went after Stalin died, this is just as good as any other movie based on that event. One has also to consider that the approach is rather a satirical one to add to the inaccuracy of some events. But as that autocracy was probably even more absurd than, say, Hitler's one can even accept that as a good pov. 7-8/10
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Searching (2018) This is peculiar for the narrative style, as the story is told through what passes through images caught by mechanical devices (pc, tv surveillance cameras). The plot is based on a violation of a ground rule of detective fiction, so in the end it has little relevance, just a bit of entertainment value because of the way the story is told. 7/10
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John Wick (2014) A passive videogame, to watch and forget. Apparently the son of the russian crime czar didn't know who Wick was, his father never told him about him, let alone assuming he never knew him personally. Which makes you conclude that Wick retired at the very least 20 years before the events: how old is he? But who cares about coherence? 6/10
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The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) The title made me think it was a hard-boiled detective mystery. Instead is an action thriller with a woman playing the indestructible superhero. And it works for the first half, when the protagonist has no clue what kind of mystery is hiding behind her amnesia. Then the action starts and it's good until the little daughter makes the scene and some embarrassing tearjerking scenes are served which make the rating go down the drain. 6/10
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My Blue Heaven (1990) Mild family comedy, with Martin as miscast as can be (but for me is miscast in all movies because I can't remember him making me laugh in the other 2-3 movies I saw). 4-5/10
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The Blue Knight (1973) A '70's Wambaugh I had missed. Of course I did, it was a 188' TV movie. More of a cop drama than an action one, it has one of the greatest Holden performances. He was 54-6 when he shot it, playing a 50 year old. But he looks much older: which suits the character. The plot is nothing original, you guess many developments and how is gonna end quite soon. But the intensity of Holden's performance make you pass over all that. Funny to see a young Sam Elliott without mustache. 7-8/10. On youtube.
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The Blue Lamp (1950) British answer to The Naked City. Well directed, it's like two movies shot in different style: those with the criminals in noir style and those with the cops in a more regular one. 7/10
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The Choirboys (1977) I saw it eons ago and wasn`t enthused. After so many years and now not dubbed, I am annoyed and bored. These cops are like the collegiates of the softcore b movies: idiots or just not credible. Yes, Wambaugh was a cop, but really it is hard to believe that not a single LA cop had a normal IQ. And the vice squad stories are embarrassing. A cop`s girlfriend is a stripper and SM Domina. He likes being whipped but two colleagues catch him in the act. Uhm. So what? Instead of telling them to MYFB he suicides after an incredible scene. And the cops all happy because they forced the chief not to punish them after one of them killed an innocent gay passerby. 3-4/10
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The Squeeze (1956) Directed by Aldrich, written by Edwards and starring Dick Powell (and Richard Jaeckel). A little crime yarn good at the start but a quite lame finale. Interesting the gay (not so) subtext. 6/10 On youtube.
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Natural Born Killers (1994) 4/10
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Mean Streets (1973) Re-watched after so many decades. It is still interesting but in the light of what Scorsese (and De Niro) did later it looks like a something incomplete: you're waiting for violence to erupt but only at the very end something like that happens. But what is not working is the relationship between Keitel and De Niro. The last one's character is what drives the story: the problem is that there's not an apparent reason for Keitel to be attached to him so masochistically if not pure idiocy. So it's 6-7/10
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The Iceman Cometh (1973) Not my cup of tea, granted. I like characters to be credible unless it is farce. The actions and the monologues (especially the last, interminable one by Marvin) are tedious. The whole shenanigan of converting the drunkards to sobriety and their plans is just fattening up of the story that makes sense only when after more than 2 hours Marvin reveals what he's done. But the other stories of what the characters were and why they turned to booze are of no interest and quite predictable. The character played by a beefy Jeff Bridges is so stupid that one wonders why is there at all. So it is even hard to judge the performances by a great cast. I give to the quite edited (but not enough) theatrical text 4/10 and to the movie 5/10.
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The Iceman Cometh (1973) Not my cup of tea, granted. I like characters to be credible unless it is farce. The actions and the monologues (especially the last, interminable one by Marvin) are tedious. The whole shenanigan of converting the drunkards to sobriety and their plans is just fattening up of the story that makes sense only when after more than 2 hours Marvin reveals what he's done. But the other stories of what the characters were and why they turned to booze are of no interest and quite predictable. The character played by a beefy Jeff Bridges is so stupid that one wonders why is there at all. So it is even hard to judge the performances by a great cast. I give to the quite edited (but not enough) theatrical text 4/10 and to the movie 5/10.
I didn?t make it through this one
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The Merry Widow (1934) Horton is very funny here: he and the music (of course) make this watchable. There are some Lubitsch's touches but not as inventive as in other efforts of his. Chevalier is playing himself as usual and so McDonald: far from pretty but oddly attractive. 7/10
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Doctor Strange (2016) The CGI are excellent and so are the chromatic choices. Effective quotation of the 2001 tunnel sequence. So this could earn a 8/10 were it not for the endless dialogues which are hard to make sense of. So it's 7/10.
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) Apart from being based on what is arguably the best spy novel ever written, this is a competition of actors. Cheers went to Guinness and rightly so, but the other ones are just as impressive and, in my book, Richardson comes up as the winner: if one knows about the plot he can't but appreciate how even in the non spoken parts he plays the character to a t. But the other ones are great too and there is little one can add. 10/10
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Just Cause (1995) Strangely I had missed this Connery, a thriller first presenting itself of the "mockinbird" judicial racial legal kind and then getting into the serial killer one. Of course, one oughtta be able to dig how things are when Connery meets with Harris (vg performance) still is a decent time-waster thanx to a good cast. 7/10
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The Hidden (1987) I read Hal Clement SF classic thriller, alas, half a century ago. This is based on that one, though almost nobody apparently bothered to notice it. And it's a good one, though the actor playing the policeman is rather inept. 7/10
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Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958) Quite mediocre Lewis-Tashlin effort, with a slew of songs Harry Warren must have penned in a couple of days. Two or three gags are passable, but it is hard even to give it a 6/10.
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Fantastic Four (2005) Re-watched it and it is still good, even because it is shorter than two hs. The actors are the spit image of the original comic books characters with the exception of Jessica Alba: she spoils the whole effect. Still a solid 7/10
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Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) Not as fun as the previous one, too long and the character of SS too inconsistent. 5-6/10
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Accused of Murder (1956) What struck me in this run of the mill cop movie is the looks of the 2 female leads: ugly and old. Vera Ralston was about 33 at the time but she looks well in her '40s. But even in her youth I doubt would have troubled anybody's dream. Virginia Grey was 39 but she could have subbed for Bette Davis in Baby Jane. LVC has got a more relevant part than usual and it's the only reason to watch this one. 5-6/10
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Accused of Murder (1956) What struck me in this run of the mill cop movie is the looks of the 2 female leads: ugly and old. Vera Ralston was about 33 at the time but she looks well in her '40s. But even in her youth I doubt would have troubled anybody's dream. Virginia Grey was 39 but she could have subbed for Bette Davis in Baby Jane. LVC has got a more relevant part than usual and it's the only reason to watch this one. 5-6/10
Agree
Visually, it all looked too artificial, and antiseptic. The streets are too clean and too empty, the dime a dance ballroom too big, the police office too big and too clean. Also the widescreen enhances all of the above. Noirs should be more claustrophobic, in my opinion. Accused of Murder had a few shots that looked good, but not many, you didn't see any Dutch angles and not much visual style.
I think once you see Noirs like The Naked City, Side Street, The Sniper, Kiss Me Deadly, The Line-Up and others heavy with on location work the studio set back lot Noirs look anemic in comparison. Catch The Money Trap (1965) where mixing back lot with on location just doesn't look right.
Yea the leading ladies were definitely not eye candy, lol.
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Starship Troopers (1997) This still holds well as to the CGI, the bugs are well devised because you never can guess how they will strike and how they will be destroyed. Of course, the whole scheme makes little sense, as it makes no sense in a distant future to have troopers doing the job which will be made by machines. All the more so, as they are equipped with guns and little of bombs, bazookas and other highly destructive weapons. Little air support. But, apart from the weak love stories which slow down the narrative, it is recommended for the fight scenes. 7/10
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L'armata Brancaleone (1966) one of the classic italian comedies. What left me perplexed is Volont?'s performance: never saw him acting so bad, like he's miscast or didn't care to play the part. 7/10
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Brancaleone alle Crociate (1970) Non as good as the original, but still worth checking. Here you have Sandrelli for Spaak: nothing lost, obviously. 6-7/10
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Heat (1995) Too long, it gets boring and boring as it proceeds. Had it been cut an hour it could have earned a 7-8/10. As it is it's 6-7/10. Pacino is often at his hammiest worst, while De Niro delivers probably his tamest performance in an action movie: no grimaces, no noddings, no shouts.
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Cabin in the Sky (1943) Good comedy, though only the finale in the night club featuring Ellington and other great numbers is over the top. The Armstrong number was incredibly cut and only the audio has survived. 7-8/10
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Especially in the first part, where is more of a superhero thriller than a superhero special effects. The action scenes are really something, especially the car chase and there are no love or techno-sociological fillers. In the second part the CGE's take the upper hand but still they are interesting. 7-8/10
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Bix (1991) This could have been a great jazz movie but, for unfathomable reasons, they made a mess with the chronology and the episodes of Beiderbecke's life are thrown away casually and you can't make head or tails of the evolution of the character unless you are an expert of the great jazzman's life. A pity because the reconstructions of the musical scenes are visually and musically top notch, though the actor playing Bix looks not like the original. 6-7/10
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Cinderfella (1960) Another lame effort by Tashlin-Lewis. The only clips worth watching are those with the Basie Orchestra playing and Lewis doing doing his clowneries. Even the dinner scene, which might have provided good chances for gags, is resolved uninventedly, apart from the basic idea. This looks rather as a general rehearsal for Nutty Professor . 5/10
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Kelly's Heroes (1970) Hadn't seen it before, except for the finale. It's good, no doubt. A mixture of genres well-acted except for Sutherland: his voice and delivery are intolerable. The Schifrin main theme sounds like it was made for another movie set in the 70's, but I absolve him because of the homage to Morricone. 7/10
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Kelly's Heroes (1970) Hadn't seen it before, except for the finale. It's good, no doubt. A mixture of genres well-acted except for Sutherland: his voice and delivery are intolerable. The Schifrin main theme sounds like it was made for another movie set in the 70's, but I absolve him because of the homage to Morricone. 7/10
IMO Sutherland is good
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Kelly's Heroes (1970) Hadn't seen it before, except for the finale. It's good, no doubt. A mixture of genres well-acted except for Sutherland: his voice and delivery are intolerable. The Schifrin main theme sounds like it was made for another movie set in the 70's, but I absolve him because of the homage to Morricone. 7/10
Before its release, I saw a clip of the three facing the tank on the Mike Douglas talk show, and GBU music was used pre-production for that ("The Trio").
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Daredevil (2003) I quote from a IMDB review: Daredevil is the movie that Burton's 1989 Batman should have been. I know Special Effects have moved on since then, but Daredevil has the pacing, storytelling, character development, direction and overall style that Batman lacked. Exactly what I was thinking watching it. Of course, the movie is far from perfect. but it has a cutting edge other Marvel and DC superheroes lack (see the Subway scene). And maybe that's why it wasn't a hit like other movies of the genre. 7/10
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Daredevil (2003) I quote from a IMDB review: Daredevil is the movie that Burton's 1989 Batman should have been. I know Special Effects have moved on since then, but Daredevil has the pacing, storytelling, character development, direction and overall style that Batman lacked. Exactly what I was thinking watching it. Of course, the movie is far from perfect. but it has a cutting edge other Marvel and DC superheroes lack (see the Subway scene). And maybe that's why it wasn't a hit like other movies of the genre. 7/10
There are two versions of the film, including the following (per Wikipedia):
Director's cut
A director's cut of the film was announced for a spring 2004 DVD release. This version contained new additions like previously unseen footage and a removed subplot, and was to be a bit darker with an R rating. The film, released in 2.35:1 widescreen format, was released with DTS and Dolby Digital sound. The new version of the film has newly recorded commentary to accompany it, featuring Mark Steven Johnson and Avi Arad. A "Making of Director's Cut" featurette also accompanied the film. The release date of the DVD was later pushed back to November 30, 2004.[79][80] On September 30, 2008, the director's cut was released on Blu-ray.[81] The DVD release of the director's cut removed the bonus material included on the theatrical cut's DVD release, but that content was restored for the Blu-ray release (although the Blu-ray release only contains the director's cut).
One of the biggest changes to the film was the addition of a subplot involving a drug addict played by Coolio. This subplot is missing from the theatrical version of the film, but is present in the novelization by Greg Cox, published in 2003.[82]
Executive producer Kevin Feige commented on this version of the film, believing "the people who had other opinions [of Daredevil] will be won over by this new version."[79] Reviewer Danny Graydon of Empire called it a "considerable improvement on the original version," notably preferring the more violent undertones, a lesser focus on the romance, and the equal focus of Daredevil and his lawyer alias Matt Murdock and the subplot involving Coolio. Some critics continued to feel Affleck was unsuitable as Daredevil and that Duncan portrayed the Kingpin in an over-the-top manner.[83] IGN's Jeff Otto and Andy Patrizio deemed this version an improvement over the original: They felt this version was more loyal to the Frank Miller feel of the Daredevil world, with more focus on themes such as Murdock's struggle with his Catholic upbringing. On the whole they felt the film would be far more pleasing to fans, and overall better than the theatrical release.[84] Comic-book enthusiasts have gauged the director's cut as one of the better recuts of a superhero film.[85][86]
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Man, is that awful 2003 Daredevil movie really being critically re-evaluated? I guess I can give it a little credit by saying that it's an actual movie compared to the violently anti-creative MCU stuff of the last decade.
And according to Titoli's scores, Daredevil (2003) is better than Heat, which might be the single greatest movie of the last 30 years.
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And according to Titoli's scores, Daredevil (2003) is better than Heat, which might be the single greatest movie of the last 30 years.
I explained the why and wherefore: Heat, with an hour cut, would have earned more than Daredevil. It's just too long. About being the best movie of the last 30 years, I don't want to even start discussing.
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The Last Samurai (2003) It lasts too long. Actually you watch the first battle and the last one and the rest is just a rehashing of A Man Called Horse or whatever came after of the westerner beating the Indians (here Japs) at their own game. Here the premise is even more complicated as the values the westerners adopt are the wrong ones, as history would prove. Or at least, not completely right. But the fact remains that 2 hours of this are boring as hell, Cruise can't act (no news there) and there's nothing you haven't seen before. 4/10
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Hulk (2003) Thought I had watched it, but it was probably the one with Norton I had seen. It seems people criticized it as being dull, boring. It certainly is, as any superhero movie lasting more than 2 hours. They have to fatten it up with dialogues, personal story, background etc.:i.e. all that is not CGE: which is the main reason people watch this crap. So you have to wait 40' before you can see the transformation. Two of the fights ()the one with the dogs and the one with Nolte) are practically invisible as they are covered by darkness. Still the fight against the tanks is good, that alone earns it a 6/10.
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The Sea Wolf (1941) I bought the book in the 80's and still haven't read it. But now I probably will, at least to understand what the drama in the movie is about, as I haven't understood the Robinson's character motivations. That is to say I haven't understood the movie. Which is anyway a good adventure movie, all shot in studio with models and back projections, visually effective. Sure, apart from the Robinson's character there are other things that just don't rhyme: so Garfield and others prefer to abandon the ship in the middle of the ocean to try their fortune in a boat. And inexplicably Robinson knew about their plain but how he did is left to imagination. 7/10
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The Avengers (2012) This one gets 7-8/10 because it is all-action, little dialogue, little psychology, all CGE.
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Taken 2 (2012) I was sure I had rated this on the board, but anyway, since I gave 9/1o to n. 1, I give 8/10 to0 this one, only because I'm partial to Paris compared to Istanbul (where, admittedly, I've never been). All action, except for the introductory first 20 minutes. And it is about 90', as it ought to be.
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Taken 3 (2014) This really sucks, not a single element of originality, the plot can be seen through after 15 minutes, only stunt never seen before (at least by me) is the crashing car against the plane's wheels: that alone earns it, maybe, a 5/10 instead of a full 4/10.
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Se7en (1995) Without the Paltrow-Freeman (whose only reason to exist is to give more drama to the finale) and the one between Spacey and Pitt dialogues I could have given it a 9/10. So it's 8/10.
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Col cuore in gola (1968) This is good if you're longing for a headache: split screen, super-fast editing and nonsense dialogues. Based (loosely) on a novel I've read not so many years ago and which has little to do on what you see on the screen, the plot is as predictable as can be, if you care to follow it. I didn't. Boring and nonsensical, stay away from it as leper. 4/10
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Spider-Man (2002) I save the first scenes when Parker discovers his powers and the fight with the Goblin in the daylight. Jameson's comedic potential is given short shrift and the other action scenes are not worth remembering: especially the wrestling scene it was worth more invention: too short and too banal. Of course, the scenes with Parker and the girl are too many and too boring. And I missed the Ray Ellis theme from the '60's TV series. 4-5/10
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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) This is set in WWII and so it is a bit different from the rest of superheroes diet. The CGE are consequentially less obtrusive but that that is an advantage is debatable. 6/10
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Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) This episode af All in the Family is much better than the last one I had reviewed here and can't find with the search function. Still is too long and I cannot follow the dialogues as I can't remember what all of the characters and gizmos are about. But the canyon chase is good so it earns a 6/10
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Any Given Sunday (1999) I remembered only the inches speech of this one. Can't see I was wrong. I saw North Dallas Forty two-three times in the 80's and I remember it as much better than this one. The Stone's flick is as usual too melodramatic in depicting the characters who end up inevitably looking phony. The editing, visual and audio, is as often with Stone, remarkable. 6/10
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The Equalizer (2014) Apparentlty this was the first one of the "come back and kill 'em all" sub-genre and Washington is surely a good option compared to the other lead characters that came afyer. The problem I have with this one is, first of all, the villain: a kind of poor man's Eddie Constantine who really isn't not even remotely scaring. And then there's too much space given to the secondary, good characters friends of the hero (but I liked how the recovery of the ring is treated synecdochically). So cuts, as usual, would have been in order. 7-8/10
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The Equalizer 2 (2018) Better than the first, less melodrama (still too much, for my taste) and a very good final confrontation in a evacuated storm threatened town. 8/10
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) This is good more as a documentary of what a life in a british naval ship in the era of napoleonic wars was than from a dramatic pov: there is little in that regard. The battles, especially the first ones, are well made but the last one is hard to follow. The suicide with the cannonball is ludicrous. 7/10
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Spider-Man 2(2004) This is valued more than 1 and 3 at IMDB. But for the wrong reasons. It's not the CGE which make the difference but the pace and the characters, who act in a logical way, at least as much it is allowed in this genre of movies. Especially the realtionship between Parker and the girl evolves in a natural way. And the fact that the hero reveals his identity to her makes this acceptable. There are strange quotations from other movies (notably the B.J. Thomas hit) and Jameson is very funny. 7/10
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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) Better than the first one (not a great feat) is a good action film which has got little to do with the original. I don-t know why they did cast Downey as S.H., the major flaw of the series. But here everything else works, even the score (the banjo theme made me think of the Cheyenne-s one) so, if you-re not expecting a S.H. movie, is good. 7/10 .
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Transformers (2007) By the trailer hadn-t realized it was kiddie stuff. The main problem is that they wee uncertain whether to make a comedic movie or a dramatic one, so for at least the first hour you don-t know what to make of it. The final battle doesn-t make you realize most of the time which are the good robots and the bad ones, or at least I couldn-t. So I can-t but give it a 5/10
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Luci del variet? (1950) Lattuada said he directed the whole movie, but you can tell how much there is of Fellini (who wrote the story) without pain. The parts involving the show business are the best ones, though not on a level of what Fellini will achieve with an episode of Roma. The relationship between Peppino and Del Poggio (how pretty!) is not very original and the great De Filippo shows what the giant he was only in his very last dialogue on the train. 7/10
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Lo sceicco bianco (1952) I liked it better than 40 years ago. Actually I wonder if this is the real first commedia all-italiana and not I soliti ignoyi. And this from a story by Antonioni! 7/10
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Transformers (2007) By the trailer hadn-t realized it was kiddie stuff. The main problem is that they wee uncertain whether to make a comedic movie or a dramatic one, so for at least the first hour you don-t know what to make of it. The final battle doesn-t make you realize most of the time which are the good robots and the bad ones, or at least I couldn-t. So I can-t but give it a 5/10
I forgot to add there-s a very good joke told by a pc expert who steals top secret material:"If FBI catches me I am going to jail for life".
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Munich (2005) I remembered only the explosion in the Paris appartment. And the scenes supposedly shot in Rome look like they were shot somewhere else (the plates of the cars were not those in use over here at the time or any other time). There are two good scenes: Bana crying on the phone and the killing of the murderess. But the alternate editing of Bana f... his wife with the massacre at the airport accompanied by the usual dirge made me almost puke. Still it is a good thriller, with 007 and 2 of his archvillain foes. 7/10
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My Fair Lady (1964) A slew of good songs but not as good as those of Mary Poppins. Some dialogues are just too long. 7/10
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Blood Work (2002) Apparently this Eastwood thriller was never mentioned here. A pity because, though it is thrashed (or about) at IMDB I think is one of his best ones. Based on a Michael Connolly novel, it doesn't waste time in subplots or the girl or the kid (though they're both here: but the love scene is dealt with in a couple of minutes). Sure, the premise is that Eastwood never realizes how the killer may follow him so easily, but apart from that it is all detection and action. 7-8/10
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Ludwig (1973) Visconti's biopic is one of the few works of his I can put up with, though I still think it's too long in the restored version. It is something I could rewatch 40 years from now, like I did for this second time. 7-8/10
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Justice League (2017) Follow-up to the above, is entertaining with good visual and enough change of sets to make it not boring. It clocks at 120' and that helps. 7/10
I re-watched it and I lower the rating to 6-7/10 as the final battle is not very much inventive like the first one and Steppenwolf is not as a terrible opponent as he is in the first part.
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Vita da cani (1950) Another movie on the variet? world and another marred by the melodrama of the little credible private vicissitudes of the female performers. But at least the main three are real beauties: Lollobrigida, Lees and Scala (best italian all-around showgirl ever). 7/10
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Pinocchio (1940) I saw it at 5, 6 can't remember, and can't say whether I liked it or not. Now, I bought some Disney dvd's mainly to listen to the songs and I must say that those included here are all worth listening to (of course, I'm talking about the ones not very super-popular like When You Wish Upon a Star or Give a Little Whistle). I don't know where this version ranks among those made out of the novel, the best being almost surely the mini-series made by Comencini in 1972. But is good for the cricket and the music. So it's 8/10.
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Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) A kinda of Star Wars 1976 remake, with no pseudo filosophical bs and romantic asides, while concentrating on action from start to finish. Which means 7/10. A pity that the actors are quite anonymous and the only character with a personality (I mean: action movie personality) is the raccoon.
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Captain America: Civil War (2016) This one has got an original plot premise, showing how disasters created by the urban fights engaged by the superheroes cannot come clean but cause inevitably deaths among civilians. As usual, most of the dialogue is disposable as is some of the non-action scenes which, though, are good or even very good. So it's 7-8/10.
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The Cotton Club (1984) I saw it when released and then on tv. Now, undubbed with the dvd, I liked it more. The Dutch Schultz story-line is passable, but I could have done without the love story between Hines and McKee, an excuse to underline the race unfairness of the time. That slows down the pace so it's 7-8/10, mostly for the musical numbers. P.S. I couldn't spot Woody Strode.
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Halloween(2018) Honest sequel which just doesn't compare with the original because the formula doesn't work anymore, I guess. They didn't make a great effort to find something original, they even resurrected the staple figure of the deranged doctor who sympathizes with the monster. But it's well directed and I like JLC anyway, though the long hair to make her look the granny she plays doesn't rhyme with her face (in facts she's short-haired in the interviews in the dvd). 7/10
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Alice in Wonderland (20109 Thought it was AIW. It isn't. A horror movie for children, rather. But did they like it? No idea. 4/10
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The Gay Divorcee (1934) Not among the best Astaire-Rogers. 2 good songs (Night and Day and Needle) but the Oscar went to The Continental. This last mega production never ends and one can but appreciate it when the couple dance to it in the last couple of minutes. The comedic trio do their routine but I don't find them as funny as in other flicks of the couple. I presume that Pan's absence made itself felt. 6-7/10
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Spider-Man 3 (2007) For a good 2/3 this is the best of the trilogy: great action scenes (the crane one is one of the best ever in any superheroes flicks) and good humor in those about the personal vicissitudes of Parker. Unfortunately the end is marred, as usual, by too much sentimentality so it's 7-8/10.
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The Incredible Hulk (2008) I confirm the impression I had when I first saw it, it is one of the best superhero movies: much action, 3 GOOD actors and little room for stupid dialogues and romancing. The face of Hulk though, it doesn't look natural, they should have worked on it more. 8/10
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Iron Man (2008) The only superhero movie I saw in a theatre and one of the best thanks mainly to the actors. I could have done without the weapons sermons but they are kept within reasonable limits. 8/10
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X-Men (2000) Surely one of the best superheroes trilogy thanks also to the variety of characters. McKellen is great and the plot is always on the move. 8/10
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X2 (2003) As above.
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Top Hat (1035) nth viewing but first time not dubbed. I'd give it 10/10 were it not for the last number. The Piccolino is so insipid and stupid that almost mars the impression of the preceding, memorable numbers. And unfortunately even here, as in other similar numbers in Astaire-Rogers flicks, the mass choreography cannot rescue it: Busby Berkeley unfortunately couldn't be hired at RKO. 9/10
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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) I'd given it a 8/10 were it not for the usual night fight where you (or at least I) can't tell what is happening. The scene of the Washington Monument is impressive and I liked the new actor who really look the 15 year old Parker. Also, the interracial theme and quips give life to the story.
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Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) Namely in Venice, Prague, Berlin and London. The Prague episode is the lamest: probably because is set at night and there's too much talking. The one in Venice is impressive and would have earned without the former one, an 8/10. (But was whoever picked up Caterina Valente's Bongo cha cha cha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f5DxCIcVYI) that the lyrics are about Brazil and not about Italy? Or did he count on people hearing the title as "Gon-do-la" instead of "Bongo-la"?
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Highlander (1986) Better of what I thought, but it looks weird after years of CGE's. Here is more animation but some scenes ("playing chicken", for example) are effective. And though it is full of logical holes (f.e.:how do immortals like Connery get old? Why the russian doesn't cut Lambert's head on their first clash? ) it is tolerable for a single watch. And though Queen is not among my favourite groups, here their score works fine. 6-7/10
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Entrapment (1999) I had skipped until now this Connery and I was wrong because it is a nice thriller with at least a good scene (the escape from the building in Kuala Lumpur). The girl is much more tolerable of what I thought and Connery, old like he was (well, not much older than me), is still my favourite face on the screen. 7/10
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Avengers: Endgame (2019) I missed the previous episodes (how many they are) and the first hour of the movie does nothing to clarify things but it is just the usual blabbering. So you have two more hours for the action. Which is good, but what I don't like are the colours. Which is what I liked in the comic books when I read them: Those blue and reds were the bait and there was little left to characters and it was more the action. 7/10
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X-Men: First Class (2011) Essential viewing for the fans of the franchise but, of course, they had it complicated to give it depth. So the first part is the usual historical premise, followed by a useless middle with the usual
personal problems of the mutant underdog and at last the real thing with the final confronation goofily inserted in the russian-american Cuba crisis of 1962. Good the scene of the submarine taken out of the sea. 7/10
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The Specialist (1994) I had missed this one, can't say why. Probably because of the hype at the time about Stone. I was wrong, if that was the case: Stone is in fact one of the assets of the flick, showing lots of skin in a scene with Stallone with background music by John Barry which makes it tolerable. It starts very badly (the opening scene is cheap) but it gets better and better as Stallone starts bombing the murderers of Stone's parents. Yes, there are some inconsistencies like Stone having reached her thrities while the assassins (Roberts, especially) have not grown old a bit. Also, that Roberts does not try and easiiy succeed in discovering Stone's identity is not credible. But from the said moment the action becomes gripping and never let's go. I must admit I never appreciated Woods playing the villain ever since OUTIA: he just hasn't got the looks and he tries to make up for it by overacting. But still is 7-8/10
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X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) The problem with this one is, even more than the two final combat scenes, one between the two factions of mutants and the other with mutants vs. aliens, both shot in the dark, the fact that the aliens are terrible only in the short scenes when they deal with defenceless humans. So one doesn't know what kind of power they have that might be a threat to the mutants. 6/10
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Avengers: Infinity War (2018) I see that at IMDB they agree with me; it's better than Endgame and one of the best Marvel. The pace is fast, action scenes effective and dialogues, sentimental relationship and everything that slows down the story disposed of fast. 8/10
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Captain Marvel (2019) At IMDB some say that this starts slowly and then acquires momentum. For me is the other way round: as many other movie based on the hero who doesn't remember the past and what the plot is all about, this is interesting in the first part and loses speed in the second half. 6-7/10 because of Jackson as an early Fury.
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Thor: The Dark World (2013) This one has got the London fight which is good. I was about to give it a 7/10 but the unexpected finale raise it to 7-8/10.
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The Split (1968) Whoever made the casting should have won an Oscar: it was just incredible. The problem is with Jim Brown: he was not an actor and it shows, alas. And then, it's a B movie and it shows but it must be seen not only because it's a Parker movie but because of the 2-3 actors involved who will be Stars 3-4 years later. And then: Carroll is simply the '60's Lena Horneand Harris is playing against type. 6/10
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Thor: Ragnarok (2017) It is chromatically attractive but only the fight in the arena between Thor and Hulk is notable, the rest is the usual fare. 6/10
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Mary Poppins Returns (2018) I didn't expect much musically: the original had the best score for any Disney movie ever, in the same league as some of the best Broadway musicals: hard to get even near. Songs were just run-of-the-mill stuff, thank God in line with classic american song tradition instead of some rap or rock stuff: at least the fact that the movie is set in the 30's of last century provided a stop to that insult. But the unexpected minus came from casting: only 1 out of the 4 leads is right for the (little) part: the other three just shouldn't be there. Emily Mortimer looks pretty and I can imagine she's an adult Jane Banks. But the fella playing her brother, apart from not looking like an adult Michael Banks if you're familiar with the original, just doesn't look right for the part: lomg-haired and big mustached and too nervous acting: it just doen't rhyme with the character. So we come to the substitute for the Van Dyke part, here a street-lighter. In the movie we are told 2 or 3 times that he's "beautiful": uh? He's anonymous at best and thee is not a single element to make him remarkable. How he ended up in business is a mystery. And finally Mary. To play this character you must have a girl who looks pretty, with delicate, gentle features as she must look funny while playing an apparently strict nanny. Emily Blunt looks like a Swiss governess, she hasn't got a particularly pretty face, she's tall and strong looking like a British guard: so all the point of the character gets lost. So one should be left with the CGE. Nothing special there, too. Actually, when you compare the sequence of the music hall with the one of street picture in the original (both adopting the humans with drawn characters) you easily realize how much of inventiveness in the drawings of the characters was there. Meryl Streep (an actress I have always detested) has been assigned the weakest number and she does nothing to elevate it. Van Dyke and Lansbury inject a small touch of vitality in the scheme and the last number, the one with the balloons is visually superior to the Let's Fly a Kite in the original as it probably is the Street-Lighters choreography compared to the Step in Time one: but musically those numbers were of another class, of course. 6/10
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The Score (2001) I had seen it twice but this time in the original. One of the best thriller of the new millennium, though how the score is planned is hard to digest (how can the hitters be sure that security isn't gonna check at once if there's anything wrong in the basement as soon as the cameras show malfunctions?). And I always liked the finale. 7-8/10
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Conan the Barbarian (2011) I stepped into the dvd (both in 2d and 3d) and thought it was some kind of cheap production like those italian ridiculous sf flicks that came out after Star Wars. I was wrong: this has got good production values, though it has nothing on the stars side. But the villains (father and daughter) are good. The problem lies, predictably, with the lead: somebody to sub for Schwarzenegger hasn't come out yet. But still I think that somebody more muscularly exaggerated than the guy playing Conan might have been found. This guy is not even a good actor, so his casting is a mystery. Still I give this movie (lambasted at IMDB) a full 7/10. Had a credible lead been picked up I would have given it a 8/10: it is action packed from start to finish, the fight scenes themselves remind me of the 30's pulp more than the Milius movie did.
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Alien vs. Predator (2004) I thought I had reviewed it but apparently didn't. It is more based on effects than suspense and so after you know what is all about it becomes a bit boring. I remembered it as a better movie. 6/10
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Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007) Better than the first as it plays a bit more on suspense and less on fights. 6-7/10
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First Knight (1995) Not quite convincing rehash of the King Arthur-Lancelot-Guinevere story. I saw it because of Connery, of course. The action scenes have some novelty (the small crossbows, the gauntlet, the photographic effect of the night cavalry charge) but it is mostly centered on the sentimental side of the story. The Holdsmith's OST is annoying. 6/10
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Elektra (2005) This was quite interesting at the start, but in the end disappointing. The idea of a female professional killer was good, but the problem is that many facets of the story remain unexplained (why is the Hand looking for the teen? they want to kill her at the start but then they want to capture her. And what is Stamp's role? And I could go on and on). Not having read the comics these are bound to remain unexplained questions. 5/10
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Black Panther(2018) The only scene worth mentioning is the chase in South Korea. The rest sees little and not impressive action and too many dialogues. 5/10
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Ant-Man (2015) This is fun thanks to the changes of perspective due to the peculiarity of the hero. Once the action starts pace never abates. 8/10
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Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) I give it 7-8/10 because it takes more time to get going, although the car chase is a good contender for the best one in the Marvel canon.
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Aquaman (2018) This one is visually a feast, it has a good narrative pace and has got good fight scenes. I don't understand the criticisims at IMDB: what do people want from a superhero flick? Sure, the lead is not that impressive, but so are other ones at DC or Marvel. 7-8/10
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) I can't see the point of it. As with the CGI nowadays you can do everything, why a cartoon version? The movies with live actors are much more impressive. The whole design and visuals are far from originals. And it got an Oscar: why? Actually the story is too complicated and too long, boredom inevitable. The villains are nothing special, the main one being just ridiculous and elementary: I could have devised it in 5 seconds: big body and small head: such a creative effort! The best thing in the dvd is the short, WB-like short cartoon of Peter Porker. 5/10
Interesting though that in the interviews of the dubbers Nicholas Cage, giving voice to a derivative of the hard-boiled hero, names Raymond Chandler (obvious) and Paul Cain (not so).
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I can't see the point of it. As with the CGI nowadays you can do everything, why a cartoon version? The movies with live actors are much more impressive.
And live-action is much more expensive to make ! And amazing that the top tier actors can make so much money in a couple of days doing voice-overs.
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And live-action is much more expensive to make ! And amazing that the top tier actors can make so much money in a couple of days doing voice-overs.
Your two points somehow do not gel.
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Easter Parade (1948) Not among the best mgm Astaire. But he did worse. The only good song is Steppin' Out With My Baby butthe trick of Astaire dancing in slow motion with the other dancers dancing normally in the background is not enough to make the number memorable. They could have made a better use of Ann Miller, though Judy Garland is, for once, tolerable. 6-7/10
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Your two points somehow do not gel.
Even with "name" voice actors, the film still costs a ton less.
What amazes me is that producers feel "name" actors will boost attendance/sales, where I'm personally much more concerned with substance and style.
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Even with "name" voice actors, the film still costs a ton less.
What amazes me is that producers feel "name" actors will boost attendance/sales, where I'm personally much more concerned with substance and style.
But with superhero movies you don't have, as far as I can judge, name actors playing the leads. You just have some ex superstars in secondary roles.
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Spiderman 3 (2006) Only edge it has on the other two is that there's no n.4 in view. 5\10
Very interesting to see how your opinion changed over this film. I think it has gotten better with time
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Very interesting to see how your opinion changed over this film. I think it has gotten better with time
It's only that now I'm watching these movies on a 140" screen and an appropriate audio system. That makes a lot of difference for the CGI, which is the main reason to watch them.
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Funny Face (1957) Not bad, but Hepburn is not Astaire's ideal partner. And her solo number goes to prove it, though she trained like a dancer in her childhood. But the movie has a solid screenplay and a couple of good numbers (those featuring Kay Thompson and Astaire). 7/10
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The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) A kind of rehearsal for The Band Wagon. But apart from the "They Can't Take That Away From Me" number (which left me breathless), what really hit me was the impression that Rogers, at last, show for the first time how she's happy to dance with her partner. In the other movie she looked like she was the pro who has to do her job, but really would like to do another movie: at least that is my impression. But a number like the one who sees the two in scottish garb, which has got nothing memorable per se, it is vivified by the absolutely relaxed performance of her who is actually leading Astaire more of what he seems to be doing with her. That never happened before. 7-8/10.
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The Warriors (1979) A cute little walk through NYC at night. cigar ought to like it. The fight scenes and the chases are funny but can't dig the cult about this flick. 7/10
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Assassins (1995) Good Killer vs Bad Killer. It has got good scenes, even if Banderas plays the bad one as it is normal in the last 30 years in Hollywood: namely in the annoying spastic, psychopatic way so many of his colleagues have adopted, while Stallone plays his character cool and relaxed: which might make you think he's the better actor (and here he is). Undoubtedly he has learnt his trade in the last 30 years: no mean feat. 7/10
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Cobra (1986) I didn't remember a thing of this one and rightly so. The funny thing about it is Robinson playing the legalistic cop. Stallone, acting badly as in his all first efforts where he had to recire more than one line, play the over the top guy fighting a kind of MAGA cult, more credible now than then, though the plot is nothing original. Nielsen looks feminine here. 6/10
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The Longest Day (1962) I saw it in 1967 (or 1966?) and liked it. I got out of the cinema whistling that quite banal tune. I saw it again on tv (in the '80s) and didn't dislike it. Now, watching it with the original audio, what is left to like are a couple of sequences: the one with the para hanging from the church watching the battle and the one with Gert Fr?be seeing them coming. The pep talks are indigestible and the worst ones are delivered, of course, by Wayne (his summary of the war that far which marks his entrance made me want to stop the vision). Sean Connery has got surprisingly a bigger part than I remembered but his lines are terrible. What amazed me most is the fact that, in the end, the movie is less spectacular than it claims to be: I can't believe they still made use of back projections and shot open air scenes in a studio. Oh, and Eddie Albert redeems himself from the cowardly portrait delivered 6 years beforer. 6-7/10.
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Fantasia 2000 (1999) At Disney's must have been short of money that they had to recycle the MM episode from the other one. The quality is generally low, I save only two: the first one, the more abstract, renewing the technique based on the '20's cartoons of Viking Eggeling (but the use of the fifth of Beethoven makes little sense) and the only funny episode, the one featuring DD. 6/10
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Second Chorus (1940) Maybe this is the Swing era movie, as Artie Shaw plays such a relevant part both musically and plotwise. But not having seen other movies like this one (assuming they were made at all) this is enough to say that Astaire doesn't dance enough but his last number as an orchestra director is pretty good. What this movie is lacking is the comic relief both because the screenplay is weak in this regard but also because Meredith and Butterworth are not up to the task. 7/10
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Batman (1989) I remembered little of this: actually only Nicholson dancing in the museum to the awful Prince's tune. So I didn't remember Wayne going to bed with Basinger and let her know his identity. Nicholson plays a quite sadistic Joker and, though not perfect, for me is still the best at mixing the fun and the evil of the character. Keaton doesn't belong there: he's far from handsome (almost ugly, in my book) and hasn't got an imposing figure: how he landed the part is a mystery. Still the movie is the one nearer to the original conception of the comic book, with a noirish quality in the night city scenes. The special effects are almost non-existent and so the spectacular part ends up being devolved to the Nicholson's scenes. Which would have been good had they been balanced by more of Batman's. 7/10
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Now, one doesn't expect rationality in a fantasy-fantastic movie. Still it is a mystery how Wolverine is able to move at all with all that metal inside. Apart from that, the pace is adequate, the chase and the final duel-triello above Marvel average, so it's a solid 7/10.
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Batman Returns (1992) I hadn't realized (or didn't remember) that the previous one was by Tim Burton. Here you realize it instantly. And it goes on until the end: they even named Walken's character Max Schreck to underline the horror approach. The problem is that to keep it like this they had to make the Penguin a freak: which is not what the comic book's and Meredith's was: the original Penguin is elegant and funny: Burton's is neither. Poor De Vito acquiesced and so the movie, for Burton's fans, earns much more than fron Batman's fans. Pfeiffer has never troubled my sleep: give me Julie Newmar, please. About Keaton, I already said. 6-7/10
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Batman (1989)
Had a decent soundtrack/score, Danny Elfman.
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Batman Forever (1995) It is visually maybe better than the former two, Kilmer is tolerable in the part, Robin thanx to a better costume and looking the right age and not with the diminutive figure of the comic books and the tv Batman, is an acceptable support to the main character. Unfortunately you have Kidman, my un-favourite actress of all time after Crawford and Moreau; and Carey, with his usual unabating spastic acting, is annoying in the long run. Unfortunately Lee Jones tries to match him in that regard. 7/10
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Batman & Robin (1997) The first time I saw itI thought it was awful. And, plotwise, it still is. But the whole directed-produced Burton-Batman saga asks to be evaluated visually too and this last one, even more than the Kilmer, is an obvious harkback to the TV Batman, a feast of colours at every shot, this time with even more adequate special effects. What is not working is Thurman's character, absolutely ineffective and, to boot, with an aide (Bane) even more unimpressive. There should have been only Schwarzenegger and more of his one-liners: but, of course, at Hollywood you must satisfy the female audience. Another minus is Batgirl: you have Robin, why she too? A feast for the eye was Elle Macpherson: and in facts they gave her limited screentime, not to allow Thurman's and Silverstone's looks with hers. Clooney is acceptable but not memorable. 7/10
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Reservoir Dogs (1992) I was curious to watch this again after so many decades and un-dubbed but the rating is the same. 4-5/10
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Enemy at the Gates (2001) Sniper vs. sniper, all I remembered about it. The fight scenes are very good, the ones with the snipers too but, of course, the female audience must have the love entanglement, the love triangle and the happy end which slow down the pace so much. So it's 7/10
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Alien(1979) I saw it in the theatre and on tv, but in the 80's. So I remembered little of it, actually had forgotten that Holm was not human (great performance). The Giger sets are what makes the difference with all the movies of the series which came later. Also, the edited out scenes show how Scott understood that the less shown of the creature the more effective the tension. 8/10
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Aliens (1986) I had read somewhere this was better than the previous one. I don't think so. This is more action based, the other one thrived on suspense. Unfortunately the action is far from original, the characters are as trivial as can be plus the usual, bothersome child. And it is ridiculous how the futuristic technology is so behind the one of 30 years later. A funny book could be made about how the technology of most sf or fantasy movies of the '80's and 90's was so much behind the mark of the real one of 1 or two decades later. 6/10
I changed my mind a bit about it. The kid is not so obnoxious and the action suffers, yes, from the illogical premise (like in Starship Troopers) that humans, instead of robots, may be sent in the future to fight this kind of enemy. So yes, the characters are straight from the book (Hollywood's, I mean) and that means they may make you laugh with their expected behaviour and dialogue. But the plot moves fast and it never bores you. 7/10
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Midway (2019) The special effects are the main asset. The tactical development of the battle was hard for me to follow, I can't remember having the same problem in the 70's movie. The usual portray of WTF Yankees with their WTF dialogues. As said, the special effects work but, especially in the fight scenes before Midway, namely Pearl Harbor and Marshall Islands because then you know what is happening. 6/10
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Alien3(1992) The most remarkable thing about it is that Weaver looks vaguely femalish with a bald head. For the rest, the plot is ok but not memorable.6-7/10
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Alien: Resurrection (1997) You really don't need the sympathetic monster, do you? The finale of the previous one was definitive as can be, but greedy Hollywood had to scoop up what was left of the attraction for the franchise. Of course, they had to justify the scam with a "message"(the military creating monsters) and at least a good looking female (Ryder). 6/10
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The Sky's the Limit (1943) A B production for Astaire which survives only thanx to his musical numbers, as only to be expected. Ryan does nothing, Leslie is not memorable: but I can't give only 6/10 to a movie featuring the One for My Baby number, although in a quite debatable arrangement. 6-7/10
The italian dvd includes the two 1959 Evenings with F.A. The first one (which got 8 Emmys) undoubtedly belongs with the best Astaire ever did.
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Chair de poule (1963) Good noir set in the south of France based on a James Hadley Chase's novel. Vaguely based on Cain's Postman it follows the genre's main rule that anything that can go wrong it does. But the twists of the plot sometime come unexpected so in the end it is entertaining. 7\10
I liked it a bit more 8-9/10
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I liked it a bit more
As usual. 8)
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The Last Stand (2013) I was uncertain whether to post this in the Western thread as it has many features of that genre. This one has got great, or at least original action scenes. Unfortunately characters (especially the "good" ones) are as hackneyed as can be while the villains are well played. I'm partial to Schwarzenegger so I like him anyway, in spite of not being much in line with the character. But is it possible that in Hollywood they can't find another actor playing the FBI agent apparently exclusive property of Forrest Whitaker? 6-7/10
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Non-Stop (2014) Neeson seem to be the one doing the best thrillers around and even this one is up to the mark. The restrained limits of the airplane grant little room for great action scenes even though the last one is very good. So it's 7/10.
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Red Dragon (2002) This has been criticized for being less lively than the earlier Michael Mann version and with Norton playing the lead you can but expect that. I don't remember the Mann movie (I'll try to watch it again today) but I give this one 8/10 because Fiennes and Watson (and of course Hopkins) are very good in two not easy to play subtly parts.
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Manhunter (1986) I can't see a single reason why this should be rated higher than the later version (more faithful to the novel, especially the finale). The actors are all undistinguished and the only thing notable is the use of rock music with the Dragon (specially In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida!). 6-7/10
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Conan the Barbarian (1982) This should have been 9/10 but it isn't. The cast is excellent (Conan was waiting for Schwarzenegger to be played) and the story is faithful to Howard's idea. The spanish landscapes and the sets are top notch: De Laurentiis didn't spare a dime. So what is wrong? Well, first of all a small scene: Conan whining with JEJ about him having killed his parents. That doesn't rhyme both with Conan and how the hero acts in popular culture: he doesn't reveal his revenge aim until before getting rid of the villain. Then, the orgy room scene. That reminded me more of some peplum b flick than an A production like this one. The sword fights are usually badly enacted (even in the last fight sequence in the Stonehenge-like set), you see the strikes are fake and the bladders have a habit of spurting a fraction of a second late. And the Commando (the movie) like mimetic paint? What has it got to do with Conan? The score, as usual, is praised at IMDB. I think it's as run-of-the-mill as can be, with even a Carmina Burana-like chorus during the orgy scene. De Laurentiis wanted Morricone, Milius picked up a friend. It would have been interesting to see how the Maestro would have invented a pre-history score.
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Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation(2015) Usual festival of over the top scenes with great special effects (see the pre-openng credits scene), which is why I watch this stuff (and forget it). 7-8/10
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Jaws (1975) I've re-read the novel after so many decades and so gave another watch at the movie. Which has got a tighter script than the novel (mainly avoiding the annoying filler of the sex story of Scheider's wife with Dreyfuss) and some thrilling moments more. Direction has been examined in depth since the movie was released and it is hard not to agree that it is remarkable. Still I put Duel over this one. Shaw gives a great performance but his fake accent is annoying. Scheider is excellent while Dreyfuss, I've never understood how he managed to be in movies. He acn playr sure,, but I can't escape from the conviction that he is the most dispensable actor around. 8-9/10
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The Errand Boy(1961) A series of sketches set in the Paramount studios; 2 or 3 are good, the only memorable one being: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4v8UdkTx30. 6/10
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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol(2011) The Moscow and Dubai episodes are very good, fast and spectacular. The last one in Mumbai, though, drags a bit, though the fight in the multi-floors garage is good. 7-8/10
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Face/Off (1997) I remembered this one as an action movie, which it is. But it is also a comedy as you watch the two leads (not my favorite actors) change acting style. The story is so ludicrous that one can but help laughing at it but the last part is effective action wise. 6-7/10
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Solomon Kane (2009) I read 2 or 3 stories of this character and they are all in the horror realm. The movie is more of an adventure story with supernatural elements. And the visual is not that of an horror movie. The plot is not particularly original but the final confrontation has got some touch of originality. I give it 6/10 because Purefoy is very good.
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X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) I was sure I had seen this one, but probably didn't. Notable for the last battle, but though it gives the final word on the saga, it is not on the level of the first 2. 6-7/10
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The Three Musketeers (2011) A rewriting of the story with the introduction of airships as the main weapon and action set. The duel on the roofs of Notre Dame is very good. Waltz plays a catatonic Richelieu (no surprise: all the characters played by this guy usually are such) and Corden is unfunny as usual. The rest of the cast is ok. To be noted that D'Artagnan goes into a fray with Rochefort because he won't present his excuses to his horse. 7/10
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The Three Musketeers (1993) Another rewriting of the plot, it is better of what I expected and gets 7/10
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) Action scenes and special effects are top notch, but with a 20-30 minutes cut would have been much better. Usual wonder at how Awkwafina got the part: she's miles away from being eye-candy. 7/10
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The Three Musketeers (2011)
The Three Musketeers (1993)
How about some original script ideas for films instead of remakes????
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How about some original script ideas for films instead of remakes????
But that's what I said. Both movies are not remakes, they are filled with new original ideas. If they are good ones is debatable, but they do not follow the literary source if only superficially.
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But that's what I said. Both movies are not remakes, they are filled with new original ideas. If they are good ones is debatable, but they do not follow the literary source if only superficially.
He's talking about entirely new stuff altogether.
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More "entirely new" than airships?
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More "entirely new" than airships?
No anything but The Three Musketeers or Batman or James Bond etc., etc. Completely new material.
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No anything but The Three Musketeers or Batman or James Bond etc., etc. Completely new material.
Like The Gay Musketeers? Or the Black Musketeers? Or LGBT Musketeers? WTF are you saying? Or do you mean this:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2733252/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ?
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Like The Gay Musketeers? Or the Black Musketeers? Or LGBT Musketeers? WTF are you saying? Or do you mean this:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2733252/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ?
Do you have a reading comprehension problem. He means we are tired of remakes, re imaginings, reboots, etc.
I've seen all the Musketeers I'll ever want to see.
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Do you have a reading comprehension problem. He means we are tired of remakes, re imaginings, reboots, etc.
I've seen all the Musketeers I'll ever want to see.
They are not so many, to start with, among big productions. And actually, those following the novel (among the one made after WWII) are just two: the Gene Kelly and the 2 parts Richard Lester made in the '70's (!). So I can't see the need for doing something different from the novel, though that's what the two movies I rated have made.
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King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) I can only say this is boring, slow-paced and with some interesting but not revolutionary special effects in the final duel. 5/10
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Kagemusha (1980) I didn't remember a thing of this one that I saw in a cinema at the time of release. And the rating is the same: 6/10. The only memorable scene is the attack in the night on the hill with the double protected by a human screen: you never know what is gonna happen (or what is happening). The rest are useless or bland dialogues and cuts would have been in order, although that wouldn't have created a masterpiece. The suicide tactics in the final battle were copied by American Indians 3 centuries later.
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Logan (2017) At IMDB it gets 4 star and I'd agree were it not for the mutant kids: one (the "mute" mutant) was enough. But it has a good suspense story (though I missed how Stewart survived his death in a previous episode) and good action scenes. 7-8/10
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Safe (2012)This precedes Parker and of course it is not as good, though the action scenes are very good. I think they should have given to the kid's gifts a part in helping Statham's fight vs. the villains. But is 7/10.
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X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) This is notable for the last fight and the Pentagon escape with great special effects, but for the rest there's too much talk, cuts would have been in order. 7/10
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Total Recall (1990) One of the best Schwarzenegger, thanx even to the Dick-s literary source. Though some of the sets look like what they are and Schwarzenegger is still working at his playing abilities it has a good pace and a good photography.7-8/10
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The 6th Day(2000) I cannot remember whether I had seen it. Maybe. Anyway is a good Schwarzenegger in the Dick mode. But, as usual, cuts would have proven beneficial. The Schwarzenegger father and husband is always unconvincing when there is not an ironic approach like in True Lies. And even the Duvall character is overblown. 6-7/10
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Daddy Long Legs (1955) More of a Leslie Caron movie, than Astaire's. Actually the only number worth remembering is the Slue Foot. Astaire sings Something's Gotta Give too slowly (compare with the Sinatra's rendition). The Caron numbers are not memorable (they even tried a kind of hommage to the Girl Hunt ballet of two years before with predictable results). Fred Clark, let alone Thelma Ritter, cannot fullfill the gaps of a weak story which allows little room for humour. 6/10
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The Da Vinci Code(2006) Both the novel and the movie are based on a sequence of thrilling scenes that never abates, though the dialogue between McKellen and Hanks to explain things to Tautou is quite goofy. 8/10
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Three Little Words (1950) One of the best Astaire, thanx to the Pan choreographies. I hadn't realized that those famous songs were by the same authors. Only problem is that there is not comic relief, as Skelton (not my favorite comedian) is not playing a comic role and the baseball scenes were better left out. Vera Ellen is a great partner and Arlene Dahl is eye candy. 7-8/10
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Follow the Fleet (1936) As to the score by Berlin it has one classic and two other good songs, the rest (especially the two songs given to Harriet Nelson) forgettable. The main problem lies with the secondary plot which, instead of comedians, is given to the romantic story between Scott and Nelson with predictably boring effects. Actually the comedic relief is assigned to Astaire and Rogers: not a great idea. So you must watch this exclusively for the dancing numbers which are a little short of brilliant, in spite of Pan's coreography, because the sets are not as garish as in other movies of the duo. 6-7/10
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The Leopard Man (1943) This is the one of the three Tourneur I hadn't seen before and it is excellent except for the finale, which is resolved too simplistically, without leaving anything to doubt. That's why Cat People is probably superior (though more than twenty years have passed since I saw it). Another masterful use of sound. Probably will be recycled as a noir. 8\10
Well, having read the novel I gave it another try and the movie is excellent in the parts (the three homicides. In the novel there are four) where it sticks closely to the source. The finale, although different, it sucks just like in the literary source, as I had written in 2011. Both novel and movie do not rank as noir in my book. But the rating is the same, the problem I have with the novel being that the descriptions of the murders, especially the one in the cemetery, are too bloated. 8\10
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Broadway Melody of 1940 Not as good as I expected. The story thatkeeps the musical numbers is even flimsier than usual and there is no comic relief. But it-s the musical numbers which are not up to the quality of the songs, especially two classics like I Concentrate on You and Begin the Beguine. The first one is simple boring the second it gets better when the arrangement veers toward the swing instead of the beguine in the first part. A pity because the movie had a great start with a good song (Please Don?t Monkey with Broadway)and a great dancing duo with Astaire and Murphy, a number up to the best filmed by Astaire. 7\10
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The Wolverine (2013) Logan makes Tokio. The funeral scene and the ensuing chase and fight on the bullet train are good but the rest, even the last fight, are no thriller. I give it a 6\10 only because it-s a Wolverine story.
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The Transporter ( 2002) This is good for the first part, until the attack on Statham's home. From then on it becomes a little dull as the kickboxing 1 against 20 repeat themselves and the McGuffin of the illegal migrants from Asia is not gripping. The sequence of the chase on the road infuse new breath and earns this one a 6-7\10.
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Transporter 2 ( 2005) Weaker than the former.. The son of Vittorio Gassman cannot make a credible villain as he is here a mediocre actor and his English is annoying to my ears, there is no suspense and the action scenes add little to what was seen in the first movie of the series. 5\10.
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Transporter 3 ( 2008 ) By far the best of the trilogy and one of the best action movies I reviewed, on a level with, say, Taken. I am uncertain about giving it more than 8\10, I should watch it again. Anyway it is one of those movies without pause, the girl does not slow down the pace and you do not know until well into the narration what it is all about.
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) One of the best Marvel, at least visually. The story is another variation on Forbidden Planet but with a big dose of humor thanx to the raccoon and the tree. 8\10
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A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) Block says in the extra of the dvd that Neeson is his ideal Scudder. Well, as to playing an ex-alcoholic I'd say he looks the part much more now (see how in a recent interview on the NI situation he mumbles his answers) than a decade ago. Anyway, the movie is very good until the finale which is a little patched up to the rest of the movie. But that is because the serial killer plot combines badly with the PI genre. 7/10
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Roberta (1935) The Astaire-Rogers numbers are all very good, but the movie drags with the love story Dunne-Scott and no comedy relief. Dunne sings well two classics but in operetta style, so this is a ffwd button movie.
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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Good, as usual, special effects, especially the fight IM vs Hulk. But 135' are just too many and the robot villain just doesn't make an interesting character. 6/10
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Enemy of the State (1998) The story is very unoriginal but the chase scenes of this thriller (with an homage to Coppola's Conversation via Hackman ) are very good. It could have been 8/10 with a not-so-stupid finale, so it's 7/10
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Fantomas (1964) I liked this trilogy of comedy-thrillers for the comic presence of De Funes and the good rhythm of the narration. Actually the action scenes involving the cars are first rate for the times. Good jazzy score and Demongeot is eye-candy. 7/10
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Fantomas se decha?ne (1965) I saw this at the cinema when I was kid and I remembered is as quite better than it actually is. Unfortunately it is too much centered on the farce instead of mixing comedy and thriller as in the first. Only funny moments are De Funes goofiness with the fake overcoat and the flipping eye-patch. Remarkable though is the original use of gadgets which were later copied by the 007 franchise: the shooting sigar (there a cigarette) in YOLT and the flying car in MWGG. Also the no-parachute jump from the airplane picked up in Moonraker. 5/10
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Fantomas contre Scotland Yard (1967) This one goes back to a better balance thriller-comedy but the comical side is bland. Still it good time-wastier with the fox-hunt scene with tricks idea picked up later in 007 A Vew to a Kill. 6/10
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Mission: Impossible. Fallout (2018) Overlong, as is usual nowadays. And "impossible" to follow the plot, unless you want to pay attention: which is not why you watch time-wasters like this. But the Paris scene and the choppers chase and the final fight make this one a must for the fans of the series and of action movies. 7/10
Rewatched it but on a bigger screen and I have to raise the rating to 8-9/10. The problem of the overlong it reduces itself once passed the introductory "impossible to follow" (at least for me) explanation about what the plot is gonna be about. But really, this is spectacular.
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RED (2010) The main fault lies in the doubt the film-makers nurtured about whether to keep the story on a serious level or allowing it to fall into comedy (or, worse, farce). Not that it was particularly original (old pros vs. new ones) but the cast and some of the scenes deserved more consistency. 6-7/10
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Conan the Destroyer (1984) Not much worse than the original. At IMDB the criticism is about the comedy in the plot. There wasn't much (actually (and effective) only the gag of drunk Schwarzenegger hitting Chamberlain) and it isn't true that some comic aspects are absent from the Howard's tales. So the problem is the special effects, notably the monster in the mirror hall. Sure, it looks ridiculous but the idea of the mirrors giving it strenght is good: I prefer a good idea poorly made than a bad idea well made. Actually the only mistake I found is the little screen time given to Sarah Douglas, a perfect incarnation of the evil Queen of Disney's Snow White: very attractive. 7/10
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K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) This is based on a true event and it could have been good at 80'. unfortunately they bloated it at almost 140' and so the temptation arises constantly to turn off. Ford playing the as...le commande is miscast as can be and Neeson, werll, I kept wondering whether in a submarine where available space is restricted a man of that size is allowed in. 5-6/10
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Out for Justice (1991) First Seagal miss after three hits. Reason is they tried to flesh out his character giving him more lines and a background instead of letting him simply fight the villain (a great Forsythe). The mafiosi are all Hollywood style: as credible as the sicilian accent Seagal tries to muster when talking with them. But a good scene: Seagal in the pool hall. 5-6/10
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The Mechanic (2011) Another Statham hit (yuk). Of course, he's no Bronson but this remake is all action packed, fast moving, no time left for superficial bogus character analysys: running lenght 82' (!). 8-9/10
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Meet the Spartans (2008) 2/10
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) As a kid I was waiting anxiously every Sunday at 10 pm to watch the show but I remember little of it, after almost 6 decades. Now, this movie is really an enigma: it is set in 1963, even before the series began and I suspect it bears little resemblance to the original concept. And the fact that it is set in Rome and its seacoast appendage works even more to keep the new viewers dumbfounded. In fact I read at IMDB that it bombed at the box office. But I can't say is deprived of merits, though probably they only are apparent to me: the colours, the clothes, the women make up? Probably. Surely I liked it more than the last Tarantino. 7/10, especially for the sequence of the truck while Peppino Gagliardi's song is playing on the radio.
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) As a kid I was waiting anxiously every Sunday at 10 pm to watch the show but I remember little of it, after almost 6 decades. Now, this movie is really an enigma: it is set in 1963, even before the series began and I suspect it bears little resemblance to the original concept. And the fact that it is set in Rome and its seacoast appendage works even more to keep the new viewers dumbfounded. In fact I read at IMDB that it bombed at the box office. But I can't say is deprived of merits, though probably they only are apparent to me: the colours, the clothes, the women make up? Probably. Surely I liked it more than the last Tarantino. 7/10, especially for the sequence of the truck while Peppino Gagliardi's song is playing on the radio.
Never seen it.
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Never seen it.
Few have.
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Smiley's People (1982) This was the last Cornwall I read so I don't know what he came up with in the last novels. Here are the good ol' times when the Russians were still the enemy, somebody to fear and fight, unlike today when the son of a KGB official and Putin's crony is elevated to the House of Lords and can own a couple of newspapers; and the Foreign Minister, soon to be PM, can evade security and go to have a weekend party in the Umbria's castle of the above KGB official (oh, yes: "ex" KGB official. But, as Putin explained, there can be no "ex" KGB official). But the movie is as good as Tinker Tailor if not for the obvious absence of Ian Richardson. But Lonsdale's performance is top notch, as it is the one of all the rest. 9-10/10
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They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Amazing the work on old colorized footage making the images look like they have been shot today. Of course, though some of the footage was never seen before, it cannot cover the moments of battle themselves, so that Jackson had to recur to drawings and photographs. The narration is provided by the voices recorded presumably in the 50's by the soldiers themselves and it provides angles I had never guessed before. 8/10
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Hard to Kill (1990) Probably the best Seagal with the two Under Siege. The scene in the hospital is one of the best ever in action movies but even the other ones are good. 7-8/10
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Eraser (1996) Not the best Schwarzenegger action movie, but it has 2 scenes worth the price of admission: the one in the air and that in the NYC Zoo. 6-7/10
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Lock Up (1989) Not much originality in this one, it blends all the tropes of the jail movies with Stallone's inept acting and stilted dialogues. But somehow some of the actors (Sutherland, Landham and Cool Hand Lukish Amos) and the sets combine to produce a decent time-waster. 6-7/10
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Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Eastwood's Green Berets. I wonder what our friend thought when he saw Sgt. Hartmann a few months later and if he felt ashamed. I'd give it a 2/10 were it not that the Grenada scenes may have some interest for those like me who had no idea what that invasion was about.3/10
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Nighthawks (1981) In a sense this is the last of the '70's NYC cop movies, as it shows the dirty, gritty look of Gotham for the last time: from then on the photography will be more slick, the colors more defined, the cops themselves more "clean". Stallone looks like Pacino's Serpico and that is to advantage. A bit stupid the trick that solves the hostages rescue but the finale (the only thing I remembered of the movie together with the Jamie Gillis cameo) is memorable. 7-8/10
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@titoli - what is your sig pic?
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Matt Damon.
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The Musketeer (2001) Worst movie of the genre. The story is different from the original but it doesn't help at all. Only thing with originality is the fight scenes but the rest of the story is simply boring even thanx to the actors, unremarkable as can be (with the possible exception of Castaldi). Tim Roth sleepwalks as usual through his part trying to persuade you lthat no expression is better than wrong expression, especially if you can produce none of the last. Catherine Deneuve is her name, Suvari one of a million, the 3 musketeers irrelevant, Chambers just can't act. 3-4/10
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Matt Damon.
I know. And whom?
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I know. And whom?
Damon (and Casey Affleck) paid a visit to NYC A.S. Roma (my football team) club. The boy beside him is a supporter. Damon is wearing a club scarf.
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Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) Having missed the previous episode I didn't know anything about the franchise. All the better as in Marvel comics and movie the less you know the better, as you concentrate on the visuals. Here they are quite with a dark tinge, like in Daredevil, while the final fight in the church is nothing you haven't seen before. 7/10
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Waterloo (1970) Pauline Kael wrote that an audience, when Steiger makes his entry, started to laugh, as he was playing Steiger, not Napoleon. I have to admit that, at that moment, I thought he was going to shout at Oates to call the A/C repairman. This could be named War and Peace act II, as we have again Bondarchuck at the helm and the Russian Army providing the masses. I think that, as usual, it is extremely difficult to visualize the development of the battle in 40-50 minutes, not explaining what was the french strategy and the Wellington counter. And, even more important, the accidents, the misunderstandings, the ineptitudes, the wrong decisions. So you have isolated scenes, some remarkable as the Ney attack on the british quadrangles; and some one-liners (mostly by Wellington) and anectodes. But in the end, the best scene is the scottish ballet coreographed by Gino Landi. 7/10
Watchable on youtube.
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The Lego Batman Movie (2017) I don't know how to rate this one. It is mildly funny in parts, too long at 100', the colors are vivid but the images are too filled with details and one cannot absorb the content, and the dimensions of the charcter do not help a relaxed vision. I think that the old british sci-fi series Thunderbirds was better in this regard. I know I may not have been clear but I really don't know how to explain.
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Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) 5/10
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Man on Fire (2004) Melodrama plus action. Unfortunately you must wait 50' before action starts and even then the action is not like the newest wave of action movies (like DW Equalizer series) where there is no room for bogus depth of characters and no end dialogues. So this one, at 146', is simply boring in parts, though the action scenes are an anticipation of those to come in the future. 6/10
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Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) 5/10
As a teen, I watched the three Austin Powers movies probably 50 times ? mostly the second one, which is by far and away the best, and which, when I was about 17 years old, I could recite line by line. The third got ridiculous at times and is definitely not as good as #2, but 5/10 is way too low.
You know titoli, I used to think you were insane. But now I can see your nuts!
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But now I can see your nuts!
I very much doubt it.
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Raw Deal (1986) I was sure I had seen it, but if I did I couldn't remember a single thing. The story was by Vincenzoni and Donati(!!!) but there is little or no originality, not helped by the fact that the action scenes are, with a single exception (the excavation site) where the Stones Satisfaction finds a use as memorable as the one in Apocalypse Now, negligible. A pity because the actors performances are very good: Wanamaker, Davi, Shenar and Harrold who, I must say, is almost wasted in a film like this: brava. Schwarzenegger is good as usual, in spite of his accent. 6/10
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La Grande Bouffe (1973) I saw it in a cinema, with my mother (!). I can't remember having asked her what she thought of it, probably because I was afraid of her answer. O0 It is still a strange experience to re-watch a movie you have watched when you were not a kid anymore, though still a teenager (I'm not sure I watched this again on tv). Anyway if you don't know what the movie is about or don't even know who Ferreri was check him on IMDB. This was probably his last good movie (together with the following "western") after his great production of the '60's and 70's. 8/10
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Higher and Higher (1943) First movie of Sinatra as a star. In fact he was pushed into the story to exploit his recent step to stardom. And a couple of good renditions of his numbers are just the only reason to watch this lame comedy. 6/10
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Elvis (2022) I don't know what to say about it. probably is only for new generations of people who don't know a thing about the man, surely not for those who have read books about him and bought a dozen or more of his records and dvd's. There are impersonators much more looking like Elvis than the guy here, I liked Hanks though. But the much is left untold and many liberties about what it happened are taken. Bah.
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A Face in the Crowd (1957) Of course Schulberg couldn't imagine that 65 years later the mass would become a cult. And so whatever their idol would say about them wouldn't detract from their adoration. So the finale now looks completely a sham. Which is a pity because this is one of the best movies of the '50's, whose analysys of how the mass media work is still as spot on yesterday as it is today. The actors...well,l Neal in her comeback role is perfect, Oscar worthy performance. Griffith, on the other hand, is not always adequate, he exaggerates with those grimaces and open mouth laughing Yes, his character is a vulgar, ignorant fella. But is not an idiot. Matthau is as miscast as can be, those glasses do not belong to him. 8/10
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Pearl Harbor (2001) So one must skip the first 80' and stop watching after the attack has ended unless you care for schlock love story Hollywoodish style. And the attack is very good, it perfectly conveys the feeling of confusion, helplessness of those moments with no respite. In fact, I will watch the attack again. But the rest, let it rest.
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Get Carter (2000) Of course, not as good as the original but well-made, especially for the casting. Paradoxically, Stallone looks younger at the end without the kinda Van Dyke he sports in the movie, which reveals the lifting: why they didn't let him go un-bearded for the rest of the movie is a mystery. I did not get why Caine wants the dvd that gets him killed. Or if Rourke (an actor I detest but here delivers a great performance) is killed. 7-8/10. There must be a former mini-review of mine of both versions somewhere here.
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Crank (2006) Another Statham action trip, this time around L.A. Not as good as other ones I reviewed here but this is a kind of B movie which strives for original slants to the usual situations of the genre (see the finale...but then it seems that there's a hitch to that too, as there's a part 2 of this movie!). The plot is absurd, gross with many touches of comedy not always effective but I appreciated the effort. 6/10
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Lincoln (2012) I didn't know this was directed by Spielberg until I watched the final credits running. Maybe, had I known it when I bought the disk, I wouldn't have bothered. Anyway, to appreciate this movie one must have knowledge of all the games, pretty much dirty, that went on behind the scene preluding to the vote for the 13th amendment. if one feels it's worth the effort is welcome, otherwise he0ll watch the usual biopic exalting the blue, red and white power to coalesce the opposites (nowadays that doesn't seem to be the case). TLJ is very good, as usual, while DDL I suspect is the worst Lincoln of movie history. His voice has got non bass register (that confers the character authority)and he's screeching frequently. In the final speech he manages to make such awkward gestures with his arms that would arouse Liz Truss' envy. The only thing I save are the scenes shot in the Congress (though I always expected somebody to shout "Hang Mike Pence!") but of course it is better to read some book to know how the business went.
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Iron Man Three (2013) Very good in the first part, more of a thriller than superhero stuff. Then the special effects get the upper hand but still it is entertaining. 7-8/10
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Cabaret (1972) I decided to give it a second chance after having read Kael's enthusiastic review, but mostly because I wanted to hear again the songs. The musical numbers in the cabaret are still worth my time, though not all are of the same quality. They get a 8-9/10 even because of Grey (a Paolo Poli clone). Minnelli, like him, deserved her Oscar but I couldn't care less about the vicissitudes of her and York. So the movie is worth only for the music.
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Cabaret (1972) I decided to give it a second chance after having read Kael's enthusiastic review, but mostly because I wanted to hear again the songs. The musical numbers in the cabaret are still worth my time, though not all are of the same quality. They get a 8-9/10 even because of Grey (a Paolo Poli clone). Minnelli, like him, deserved her Oscar but I couldn't care less about the vicissitudes of her and York. So the movie is worth only for the music.
"Cabaret" was our final exam in film class in college. I hadn't seen it before, so I was taking notes in the dark (1974). i did get an "A" in the class; my brother was in the same class and got "B" and to this day he argues that he did better in that class than I (he's an attorney now).
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and to this day he argues... (he's an attorney now).
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Breakout (1975) This is one who gets better and better about at half-time. Before it was badly plotted, badly shot and even Duvall was playing badly. But then it really starts cooking, the action becomes what it was expected to be and there is even a very good epilogue with a special effect I hadn't seen before. Good time-waster. 7/10
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Sun Valley Serenade (1941) I bought it for Glenn Miller's numbers: In the Mood and Chattanooga Choo Choo are delivered in great versions. And that's about all. Payne is not a comedian but Henie was a surprise: very good comedienne, I thought she was there only for the sportsmanship but she's easily better than Berle.
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Menage all'italiana (1965) This lame would-be comedy about a compulsive polygamist is only notable for the presence of Anna Moffo and the debut on the screen of Tyrone Power's daughter (who will achieve great success worldwide in the '80's as part of a singing duo with her then husband). Here she was 13 years old and is very provocative (more than Sue Lyon, at least) though I think that she will be very pretty once she will reach her thirties. Actually, now that she's over 70, is still very attractive. The main musical theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nHadYd6wGA&list=PLDmdF1ma6cZrR2gtRydp0UTi0QxIy2drj&index=5 )shows the Maestro rehearsing for the one, much more famous, to be heard in Petri's Indagine. But the 3 songs heard here (one sung inevitably by Moffo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noW8Qt9kMO4&list=PLDmdF1ma6cZrR2gtRydp0UTi0QxIy2drj) are really awful. 5/10
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The Doors (1991) I saw it in a cinema, but can't remember with whom (I usually do O0). Anyway It is even better of what I remembered. A pity that special effects were not as advanced at the time, the drug inspired scenes would have obviously gained from them. Anyway, the portrait of Morrison (the movie is about him) comes up quite vivid: a talented guy who had the luck to join the right band (and vice versa) but who was reaching for the "unreachable star" (whatever it was for him) by drugs and alcohol. That's it. Maybe Stone should have insisted ore on the different approach the rest of the band had towards their profession, comparing it to Morrison's. Still I think the movie makes it clear that Morrison was more honest than the rest of his colleagues who proclaimed to hope to die before they get old (the only exception being Cobain). Kilmer is perfect (not as a singer, in spite of Morrison not being a good one: but just compare how he doesn't hit the high note in Break On Through). Meg Ryan is as miscast as can be. 8-9/10
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The Great Escape (1963) I saw it in the summer of 1966 (or !967?) and thought it was very good. Then again on tv in the 80's and didn't like it. Now I reevaluate it, a good suspense story. But I wonder whether the italian version was cut. Anyway 8/10
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The Jungle Book(1967) Two good songs (Bare Necessities - try the Armstrong's version though - and the Louis Prima's monkey number ) and a story that is without melodrama and childishness. A pity the elephant numbers are dull. 7/10
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Alice in Wonderland(1951) Unfortunately the italian dvd, though promising multilingual audio, had only the italian version. So I cannot judge the songs apart from the classic title one. Visually it is not as impressive as it should have been, especially in the last part. 5/10
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Jailhouse Rock (1957) Presley's best movie for most fans. Presley plays a no good lad, a bastard for once and sings three classics: JR, Treat Me Nice and my favorite (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care. Judy Tyler is pretty. The story is better of what I remembered, especially in depicting how the music industry was functioning at the time. 7-8/10
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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) Very good comedy with a very good Jayne Mansfield and a good Tony Randall. It is a satire on TV and publicity and it still works. I don't like the title, though. 7-8/10
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Designing Woman (1957) This Minnelli had completely passed me by, I didn't even know there was a movie around with that title. It's a good comedy which seems to own much to a previous Tracy-Hepburn movie. But I'm sure that Simon took the inspiration from this one for The Odd Couple: the poker scene must have been the click in Simon's mind. Peck is no comedian and Bacall has never troubled my sleep. A pity Charisse didn't make it as her supposed rival. But it's Mickey Shaughnessy who delivers a great performance as the punch-drunk fighter. 7/10
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Clear and Present Danger (1994) This was good until what the story was about is made clear: then it goes completely bonkers, with no spark of credibility. But there's a very good scene, the one of the ambush which is as good as any in Black Hawk Down. That makes me give it a 6-7/10
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Cobb (1994) I first knew about this character (not to be confused with the Ty Cobb former WH lawyer) reading a portrait which exposed all his warts like it is done in this movie. This biopic is worth watching even if one, like me, considers baseball the dullest game around, second maybe only to cricket. 8/10
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The Last Boy Scout (1991) This one starts and proceeds like a very good P.I. neo-noir effort, but halfway it turns into a buddy (willis' buddy being, you guessed it, black) and then you add the kid and it turns almost into a comedy. But it is a big ALMOST because the action never falters with chases and the finale in the stadium. A solid 8/10.
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Pygmalion (1938) The late forum contributor Groggy preferred this one to MFL. Wendy Hiller better than Hepburn? Sure, but that is a given. But Howard? I always detested this guy since they wanted me to believe that any woman would put him above Gable. Anyway, Harrison is more credible as is less hectic than him. And in MFL you have some good songs, some great scenes (the horse race) and great color. I give it 6/10
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Breakdown (1997) Action thriller in thje mould later taken by, well, Taken. No metropolis, this time, but the desert in Arizona. 10/10
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Charade (1963) This half comedy, half thriller must have been written in a couple of days. The plot hasn't got a spark of originality, while the comedy (the embarrassing banter scenes between the two leads) never manage to make you smile, let alone laugh. Grant plays under sedatives, Coburn delivers his worst performance ever, miscast as can be; Geotge Kennedy anticipating the black amputee of Live and Let Die; and Matthau, well, I can't help but laughing at him even if he plays a non comedic role: and the more he is serious the more ridiculous the effect. Of course, at the time, he wasn't perceived as a comedian and so i's not his fault: that's just the effect on me. But his last scene, in the theatre, is the only one worth saving of the movie. Strangely, I like the no more child-like Hepburn, in spite of the bland lines she must deliver to Grant. And the Paris of the time, with Les Halles and the hirondelles really looks like another planet: a planet where you could enter the American Embassy directly, even occupy an office temporarily vacated for lunch breack. 6/10
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U.S. Marshals (1998) I didn't know there was a sequel to The Fugitive, with Snipes being the one who runs. But the main figure is TLJ, who really dominates the movie which unfortunately is not even distantly comparable to the predecessor. The plot is not particularly original and the actors, apart from Jones, are really inadequate. Snipes is good only in the action scenes, particularly the chase which ends up with the jump on the train. Downing is really unnoticeable, still learning the trade. 7/10
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The Equalizer 3 (2023) What's this shit? 4/10
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Die Hard (1988) 8/10
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Die Hard (1988) 8/10
I must have watched the first three Die Hards a total of 50 or 100 times in my teens. (I watched the fourth one once, it was a piece of crap and never watched any subsequent ones.) The third was my favorite, I watched it more than other two combined, followed by the second then the first.
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Iron Man 2 (2010) The car race scene in Montecarlo and Rorke as the villain grant it a solid 7/10.
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The Aristocats (1970) A couple of good songs but nothing memorable. 7/10
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Should this make the neo-noir list? Only CJ knows. What is not working is the rabbit's voice: not very distinctive. The plot is what it is. So it's mildlly funny. 7/10
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Cobb (1994) I first knew about this character (not to be confused with the Ty Cobb former WH lawyer) reading a portrait which exposed all his warts like it is done in this movie. This biopic is worth watching even if one, like me, considers baseball the dullest game around, second maybe only to cricket. 8/10
It seems that the whole story was baloney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzbJn2UAoIs
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Gunn (1967) Unfortunately couldn't find subtitles so I lost about 50% of the dialogues and couldn't make out the why and wherefore of the schemer's plot. but I can tell that this is based on rehashing of old material: see the first episode of the Gunn series itself (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTMVMRJtF68), the Spillane's "Juno was a man" trick; even the final song is an unashamed steal from The Vogues Five O'Clock World. The problem with all these movies made in the mid- sixties is that they lack grittiness, they all look too slick, both as to locales and as to characters. And I include the Harpers, the Tony Romes and the rest. It will be Don Siegel who, gradually, will change the look of the detective stories starting from Madigan, through Coogan's Bluff and finally with Dirty Harry, the first of the new breed. Edwards tries to include some Bondism (the moronic kill with the spear gun), some nudity, some torture (the squash) but all subdued and unimpressive. Still the plot, as far as I could make out, was intriguing and the rhythm was good. Halfway between 6-7/10.
The copy I saw was the American cut.
I'm thinking they were probably re-using some of the old material because they were trying to jumpstart a Peter Gunn 2.0 TV series for the 1960s. I agree it's a 6-7/10. The International cut is supposed to have some more nudity than the US cut. (there are a few stills online of Sherry Jackson from the film with a tie in to a Playboy spread)
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Funny Girl (1968) This stops the clock at 148'. About 100' are useless. It has a decent start, nothing very memorable, but at least it gives what a musical is supposed to deliver. After Don't Rain on My Parade it's just melodrama, boring as hell. In a musical there should be a lot of supporting characters sprinkling humour to the main plot line: here threre's only Streisand and Sharif. The songs quality is not high and the arrangements do not help. Streisand delivers them in the usual Judy Garland-like style and they do not impress me. But she sure can act the little to act there is. 6/10