Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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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

[dave jenkins]

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

[dave jenkins]

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.