Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

[titoli]

Natural Born Killers (1994) 4/10

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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.

[drinkanddestroy]

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

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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.

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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
 

[titoli]

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.

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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

[titoli]

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

[cigar joe]

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.

[titoli]

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