Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Groggy]

Indochine - 6/10 - French plantation owner Catherine Deneuve falls for a Froggy sailor who then falls for her adoptive Vietnamese daughter. Shenanigans ensue. Handsomely shot, well-acted epic that gradually wears out its welcome.

[Groggy]

Night Passage - 8/10

[dave jenkins]

I Walk Alone (1948) 8/10. Noir gold: Lancaster, Douglas, Lizabeth Scott, Wendell Corey, Mike Mazurki. The dialogue might not seem like much on paper, but when delivered with enough attitude--as it is here--it really sings. The love story is cloying and stretches things out, but the dick-measuring scenes are frequent and first-rate. I can see why Scorsese included this in his documentary. And now Amazon Prime members can stream it for free: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GB25XU/ Yeah, baby!

[dave jenkins]

Free streaming of excellent print of Carol Reed's Outcast Of the Islands for Amazon Prime members:
http://www.amazon.com/Outcast-Of-The-Islands/dp/B00950XSP0/

[drinkanddestroy]

Texasville (1990) 5.5/10

A very disappointing sequel to the great The Last Picture Picture Show

[dave jenkins]

Burden of Life (1935) 7/10. Japanese domestic drama about marital problems and bratty kids. The usual thing, but nicely done, and short (67 minutes in fact). It's great to see the always impressive Tanaka Kinuyo, here so young and skinny that, were it not for her voice, I wouldn't have recognized her. Two more days of free streaming at Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/485307?playlist_id=1750&asset_scope=movies

[moviesceleton]

Saw fifteen movies last week, here's a short summary of the most interesting titles.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) - 9/10
Haven't read the book. Probably among the top 10 films concerning romantic relationships. The greatness of it lies in individual scenes - as a whole it's a bit too incoherent to earn full 10/10. Amazing cinematography by Sven Nykvist. I had the pleasure of witnessing it in 35mm.

Wadjda (2012) - 8/10
"A story set in Saudi Arabia and focused on the experiences of a young girl who challenges her country's traditions." A bit too much of a social problem film for my taste, but you gotta admire the execution. Is there anything more rewarding than rooting for the underdog? Good script, good actors.
 
3x3D (2013)
A 70 min 3D film consisting of three independent short films, directed by Peter Greenaway, Jean-Luc Godard and Edgar Pêra (who?).
- Greenaway's film is basically one (digitally) extended shot which floats through a castle turned museum for several rounds. Each round displays a different set of historical people and events tied to the castle. Stuffed with floating text graphics, superimposed 3D images and al sorts of fancy stuff. Visually the most interesting one of the three - perhaps also the most successful as a stand alone piece.   
- Godard continues on the road he paved with Histoire(s) du cinéma - and makes very little use of the 3D. His senility is starting to show (it's a fine line between poetry and mumbling but I think this time he crossed it by a mile) but there are still a couple of interesting bits. He updates his means of distorting the image as the representation technology is updated - so the old man is well aware of how DVD players malfunction, but that doesn't make the piece any less of a mess.
- Pêra's "CineSapiens" is the most articulate and topical of the bunch (that means: relatively). It's a kind of a reflection on different kind of audiences and people in general; how we view and contribute to cinema and life in general. Funniest of the bunch (what's funnier than people acting like apes and vice versa, right?).

The Right Stuff (1983) - 8/10
What could potentially be the most embarrassing masturbation on the uber-macho Air Force culture and American patriotism, turns out to be a genuinely involving portrait of eight men (make that with a capital M). I think this is what Tarantino calls a hang out movie. A bit too long at 193 min. The great production design by Geoffrey Kirkland and Caleb Deschanel's beautiful muted cinematography evoked authentic 60s feeling.

Hamsun (1996) - 9.5/10
One of the top 10 biographies ever filmed tells the story of Norway's most famous writer who sympathized Hitler but did not approve his anti-semitism nor was aware of the holocaust. But really at the heart of the film is the more-than-troubled marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hamsun - one that would make Bergman seem like a third rate amateur (and the simple beauty of the cinematography would make Nykvist envy). Max von Sydow's performance as the half-deaf, half- dead, half-senile yet sharp-as-a-razor Knut Hamsun is nothing short of a marvel.   

[dave jenkins]

- Greenaway's film is basically one (digitally) extended shot which floats through a castle turned museum for several rounds. Each round displays a different set of historical people and events tied to the castle.

Sounds an awful lot like Russian Ark, don't it?

[drinkanddestroy]

Above and Beyond (1952) 9/10

The story of Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the a-bomb on Hiroshima. Robert Taylor plays Tibbets, and Eleanor Parker plays his wife, who suffers from the separation and distance of her husband due to the time-consuming and secret nature of his mission.

Parker, who is TCM's Star of the Month, will turn 91 in a week 

[dave jenkins]

Stoker (2013) 3/10. Remember how in Psycho 2 Norman Bates came out of the nut-house all better? And then, when he went home, weird things started happening, and so the audience didn't know if Norman's rehabilitation was falling apart, or if there was something else going on? And how, eventually, it was revealed that there was another psycho acting out (Psycho 2--geddit?) And that finally, everything having been resolved with Psycho #2, Norman, through the process of the film, had been effectively re-set as Psycho #1? Hey, that's almost the exact plot of Stoker! [Oops, SPOILER!] The difference is that in Psycho 2 there was a lot of mystery about who the new murderer was, but here there is never any doubt about who is getting whacked by whom. The only mystery is how the two psychos are able to operate without much interference from the police or anyone else. The other difference between the films: Psycho 2 was cunningly laid and newly lit; Stoker is reheated embers.

[Atlas2112]

Frances Ha (2013): 7/10
Fun-Post-College-coming-of-age-shit-that-I-somehow-relate-to. Fuck me right? I liked it.

Before Midnight (2013) light 7/10
Went in mostly blind, haven't seen the other two movies but familiar enough with Richard Linklater to know what I'm in for (two hours of talking). Not going into specifics, but it reminds me of an acting class improv that's actually put together reasonably well. Fuck me, right? I liked it

Man of Steel (2013) 3/10
Shit. Kinda liked Van Alden's lady Henchman for unrelated reasons. Mostly shit

Fast 6 (2013) High 5.10
Stupid but what did I expect? Fun. The stupider it gets the better. Missed out on the last 15 minutes but I figure I can just watch the rest on youtube in a month. Kinda liked it

Fill the Void (2012) High 7/10
Jane Austen meets Hasidic Tel Aviv (it may be overstated, but it's true). Easily misinterpreted as anti-feminist, but open enough to call that into question. All that Jewy stuff is pretty interesting, kept me going. Admittedly, didn't see the first 10 minutes but it didn't seem to matter, got the jist. Really liked the ending. Fuck me, right? Pretty good.

Battle Royale (2000 I think) 7/10
Fun.

[noodles_leone]

Hey welcome back

[dave jenkins]

Fill the Void (2012) High 7/10
Jane Austen meets Hasidic Tel Aviv (it may be overstated, but it's true). Easily misinterpreted as anti-feminist, but open enough to call that into question. All that Jewy stuff is pretty interesting, kept me going. Admittedly, didn't see the first 10 minutes but it didn't seem to matter, got the jist. Really liked the ending. Fuck me, right? Pretty good.

Huh, I was just reading about this and it's playing nearby. I may have to check it out.

[cigar joe]

A Colt is My Passport (1967)  a good Japanese underworld film blending  gangster movies, spaghetti westerns, and neo noir. 7/10

[dave jenkins]

A Royal Scandal (1945) 9/10. Lubitsch by way of Preminger. A handsome Russian officer comes to the attention of Catherine the Great (Tallulah Bankhead)--much to the consternation of the young man's fiancée (Anne Baxter). The Empress's wily Chancellor (Charles Coburn), however, makes certain everything works out. I've never been such a big fan of Lubitsch, but here it all clicks. Ms. Bankhead was born to play the man-eating monarch, and deadpanning Coburn has the best lines of his career.  This is the very definition of droll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvbEb3hg1ws