Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[titoli]

I've heard mostly good things about that one. I'll keep an eye out.

I don't think you'd like it. More in the jenkins vein.

[Groggy]

The synopsis doesn't make it seem like an action-packed thrill ride.

[cigar joe]

I, the Jury (1953) Dir. by Harry Essex, very good adaptation of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer book. Biff Elliot and his bull in the china shop style grows on you as the film progresses. This film is also loaded with interesting character actors and features some great locations, it needs a better release 8/10

[titoli]

The synopsis doesn't make it seem like an action-packed thrill ride.

It isn't.

[Groggy]

Rasputin and the Empress - 2/10 - I watched this one on TCM purely of curiosity due to its being listed in Michael Sauter's Worst Movies of All Time book as one of eponymous films. It doesn't quite achieve that level of badness but it's still pretty awful. Aside from the dubious curiosity of seeing all three Barrymore siblings trying desperately to out-ham each other, there's really nothing at all to commend this film, a boring, badly-written, ridiculously-acted costume epic - one can't even praise the production values due to the ridiculous abundance of stock footage. The acting ranges from stiff to ridiculously over-the-top - through sheer manic scenery chewing, the fight between Lionel and John Barrymore is one of the campiest scenes in film history. Nicholas and Alexandra is no masterpiece but it's at least well-made and reasonably entertaining. Even the camp value here is restricted mostly to the one scene.

[Groggy]

It isn't.

That was a dig at Brother Jinkies.

[titoli]

Der Transport (1961) A wimpy and quiet-loving lieutenant must transport a bunch of convict soldiers to the front. Unexpectedly at the end he will side with them and lead them to surrender to the USA forces instead but...
This starts very slowly and doesn't get momentum until the very last 15 minutes, with a train-car chase which might make CJ happy. I think the story wasn't very well treated  by the screenplayers, who didn't manage to dramatize it enough in the first episodes. Still worth a watching.  6\10

[dave jenkins]

I, the Jury (1953) Dir. by Harry Essex, very good adaptation of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer book. Biff Elliot and his bull in the china shop style grows on you as the film progresses.

That's an apt description: bull in the china shop. A lot of people didn't like Biff Elliot's performance, including Mike Hammer's creator, but as you can see from this clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elttg9rMaqY&feature=player_embedded# , Elliot was essentially playing Spillane himself. And as Spillane also assayed the role at one point (in "The Girl Hunters"), that seems a valid approach. People make the mistake of assuming that Hammer is a "cool" character, like Marlowe or Spade, but I think it's better to see him as "hot" (i.e. barely keeping the lid on). On that, Elliot delivers.

[T.H.]

That's an apt description: bull in the china shop. A lot of people didn't like Biff Elliot's performance, including Mike Hammer's creator, but as you can see from this clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elttg9rMaqY&feature=player_embedded# , Elliot was essentially playing Spillane himself. And as Spillane also assayed the role at one point (in "The Girl Hunters"), that seems a valid approach. People make the mistake of assuming that Hammer is a "cool" character, like Marlowe or Spade, but I think it's better to see him as "hot" (i.e. barely keeping the lid on). On that, Elliot delivers.

How can I see this?

I can't DL anything at the moment, so is it streaming anywhere or anything?

[dave jenkins]

As far as I know, it's only available on DVD-r via gray market sources (e.g. www. rarephiled.com). That's where I got mine.

[titoli]

Nacht fiel über Gotenhafen (1959) Trivial melodrama is attached to the Titanic-like finale (of course, without latterday FX). Much  preaching, awful musical comment (but that could depend on the italian version). Still it seems to be much appreciated in Germany. 4\10.

[T.H.]

As far as I know, it's only available on DVD-r via gray market sources (e.g. www. rarephiled.com). That's where I got mine.

Thanks.

[Groggy]

The Young Victoria - 6/10 - If you like your lavish period costume dramas without a wit of originality, this Bud's for you. It's certainly a handsomely mounted film, as the saying goes, the cinematography, costumes and art direction impeccable (plus a nice score by Ilan Eshkeri), but as we know from many a past film only so much enjoyment can come from pretty pictures. The plot is basically a VERY watered-down version of Elizabeth, without the passion, bodice-ripping sex and gorey violence - not that those things are required to make a film interesting, but it has very little else storywise to commend it; even the scheming and backing-biting of the supporting cast seems pretty tame, and Victoria's dissolving of the Peel Government is the only event of import once Victoria ascends to the throne (okay, there's also an assassination attempt). The worst part is that the film's end comes very abruptly, with little or no accompanying drama or catharsis: it just ends. Still, the movie benefits very much from having Emily Blunt as Victoria, who proves that, besides being drop-dead gorgeous, she rates pretty well as an actress too. Rupert Friend has nice chemistry with Blunt and the supporting cast (Jim Broadbent, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong, Julian Glover) is good if unspectacular. Not a bad waste of time and not exactly boring, but pretty by-the-numbers.

[dave jenkins]

A Best-of-British weekend:

That Hamilton Woman (1941) 8/10. Kind of a Not-So-Brief-Encounter with costumes, and a terrific Battle of Trafalgar, using some very impressive miniatures, at the end. Lavish sets. Vivien Leigh and Larry Olivier together again for the first time.


Hobson's Choice (1954) 6/10. A bootmaker (John Mills) gets out from under the thumb of his ogreish employer (Charles Laughton) with the help of the employer's daughter (Brenda de Banzie) and sets up on his own. Great performances, great Salford accents, great photography . . . all to little avail. The stakes are too low, and the characters too conventional, to generate much interest. Occasionally amusing, though.

Charlie Bubbles (1967) 9/10. A successful writer (Albert Finney), secretary in tow (a young Liza Minelli), leaves London for the weekend and travels north to visit his son and his ex- (Billie Whitelaw). The only film Finney ever directed (not counting one made-for-TV movie), from a Sheilagh Delaney script. Not much of a plot, just a series on encounters that the film uses for snarky social commentary. The script plays fair, though--London's pretentions are exposed, but Manchester's provincialism receives its share of Delaney's acid. Finney, in passive-aggressive mode, has never been better. It's basically 85 minutes of people being cruel to each other, which I find oddly comforting.

[Groggy]

Hobson's Choice (1954) 6/10. A bootmaker (John Mills) gets out from under the thumb of his ogreish employer (Charles Laughton) with the help of the employer's daughter (Brenda de Banzie) and sets up on his own. Great performances, great Salford accents, great photography . . . all to little avail. The stakes are too low, and the characters too conventional, to generate much interest. Occasionally amusing, though.

That's roughly how I felt about it, except maybe the great performances part. Laughton somehow pulled off the act of simultaneously being hilarious and annoying, and the film really depends on him, so it adversely effects the movie. Plus I generally want to punch John Mills whenever he walks in front of a camera, especially in this movie with his repeated "By goom!" proclamations. And there wasn't enough going on story-wise to really hold my interest, the story uninteresting and the humor rather too broad for my tastes. (And I don't know about you but I found the score insufferable.) I loved the giant pink rat that visited Hobson when he was hung over though.

There was an odd scene of a temperance march playing Shall We Gather at the River though - it put me in mind of an entirely different film.