Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Working my way through the 8-film box set Tavernier: The Essential Collection. First up:

Laissez-passer / Safe Conduct (2002) - 8/10. The stories of two very different men who, during the Occupation, worked in the French film industry. Visually the film is crap, but the true-life accounts of the characters are compelling. This would make a great double bill with The Last Metro.

[dave jenkins]

Memory (2022) - 4/10. Unmemorable.

[dave jenkins]

Tsuma wa kokuhaku suru / A Wife Confesses (1961) - 2/10. A great premise, and a great opening, squandered. A man dies in a mountain-climbing accident, and the two people with him at the time--the dead man's wife and a young man who might be her lover--are suspected of having plotted his murder. A trial and most of the film is dedicated to discovering the truth of the matter. But as revelations are made, the film just gets stupider and stupider. The final half-hour is excruciatingly awful. In his time, Masumura directed some great films--this isn't one of them.

[Cusser]

I just watched "A Bullet for the General" for the first time.  Yes, Volante was good, but I didn't think much of the film.

[dave jenkins]

The 3rd Voice (1960) - 4/10. A murder-and-impersonation plot with lots of telephone calls. Dull, dull, dull. Stars Edmond O'Brien, Julie London, and Laraine Day, none of whom doing their best work.

[dave jenkins]

Une Semaine de Vacances / A Week's Vacation (1980) - 8/10. In Lyon, a school teacher (Natalie Baye) gets fed up and takes a break to reflect on her job and her personal life. I enjoyed this a lot, mostly because the writing is good and the characters believable. Also the setting is pleasant (obviously Tavernier loves his native city). Forty years later, I imagine the place has changed a lot.

[Cusser]

The Bad Seed (2018); the most recent remake of the 1956 film.  Rate 5/10, Mrs. Cusser wanted to watch it because a sequel to it is being broadcast in May on Lifetime.

Rob Lowe directed and stars; guest appearance by Patty McCormack (Rhoda in the play and 1956 version).

[dave jenkins]

Paris When It Sizzles (1964) - 6/10. Hepburn and Holden, together again for the first time.  Two American screenwriters in Paris, a man and a woman, try to finish a script while falling in love. Scenes of our heroes writing are intercut with scenes from the imagined film, wherein the invented characters, also played by Audrey and Bill, take part in a heist while falling in love. Audrey and Bill are charming, in either plotline, and their combined star power is enough to make the weak story work. The original French film this one was inspired by is better.

La fete a Henriette (1952) - 7/10. The original French film that inspired the above. With Dany Robin, Michel Roux, Michel Auclair, and Hildegarde Neff. This contains one of the funniest moments in all of cinema, but then, Duvivier was a genius.

[stanton]

From now on I will everyone, who does not name the directors, report to the incredible Wladi for denazification ...

The unbelievable Wladi says these board members here are mostly already in his view hopeless cases.

[T.H.]

Caddyshack (Cocaine, 1980) - An even bigger mess than what I remembered, and there needed to be more Rodney and Chevy. A tough movie to rate since it's such a mess and doesn't really work as an actual movie, unlike Animal House. But it's also great in its own stupid way. Tanks fer nut-ten. B-


I tried watching Black River (1957), but was tired and couldn't get into it. It had some nice photography, but I'd rather watch an Ozu movie than someone doing Ozu.

[dave jenkins]

Un soir, un train (1968) - 3/10. How could you go wrong pairing Yves Montand with Anouk Aimee? Andre Delvaux found a way. He starts off well, doing a great imitation of Alain Resnais. But at the film's mid-point he jumps the tracks and heads into Rod Serling/ Ambrose Pierce territory. Who was asking for a retelling of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?"

[dave jenkins]

On July 7, 2018, Dave Jenkins posted this about Cry of the City (1948):

I just re-watched this the other day and it impressed me quite a bit. One thing is the interesting location work: yeah, the kind of Manhattan street scenes you'd expect, but the sequence where Conte breaks out of the prison hospital uses a very nice combination of sets and unusual locations. But another strength of this film are the one-off characters who show up for a scene and are never heard from again: the dim turnkey at the aforementioned prison hospital, the receptionist at the crooked lawyer's office (introduced just long enough to take a bullet), Shelly Winters (playing--very briefly--an old girlfriend of Conte's), the unlicensed doctor with the sick wife, the drunk Ms. Winters meets in the bar, the final female horror that Conte has to deal with (the way she's introduced, btw, is one of the greatest examples of deep focus in all of motion picture history). All the actors, with a few quick lines, lend a remarkable vividness to each of the characters they portray. This is not your typical noir cheapie, this is an A picture through and through. There's a reason Scorsese singled it out in his Journey Through American Films documentary--it's a great film on every level (well, except for the music).

I can't remember this review, but watching the film yesterday, I had those exact same thoughts. Then I found the review. It was deja vu, all over again!

[dave jenkins]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) - 7/10. According to IMDb, this story has been made into films and TV dramas about 56 times (depending on how you count). This is the version with both Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner--and both in their prime. Naturally this one is mostly about sex (the fantasy sequence where the women are harnessed, pulling a coach, while being lashed by Spencer Tracy, must be seen to be believed). The production code does it again!

[dave jenkins]

La casa del angel / House of the Angel (1957) - 8/10. The first Leopoldo Torre Nilsson film I've seen. I look forward to watching many more.

[cigar joe]

V?ctimas del pecado aka Victims of Sin (1951) Classic "Golden Age" Mexican Noir



A Cabaretera - Zoot Suit Noir that manages a magical fusion of gritty big city Film Noir with Afro-Caribbean-Cuban-Mexican Musical and the Western.                                                            (Noirsville)

Directed masterfully by Emilio Fern?ndez.

Written by Emilio Fern?ndez and Mauricio Magdaleno and based on Magdaleno's story. The phenomenal Cinematography was by the great Gabriel Figueroa, and the Music was by Antonio D?az Conde.

Just based on the amazing visuals that continually top those in the preceding frames this film has shot into my personal 10/10 list of Black & White International Noir. And get this, I first watched a streaming un-subtitled version that was cropped from an Academy ratio to a 1.78:1 (16:9). Its a simple story and since I'm part Italian and have lots of Hispanic friends, between the similarities of the two languages and the very animated acting, it is pretty easy to figure out what is going on. That says a lot, and I have since purchased the current DVD available (it has English subs), but I'd easily re purchase it again if a Blu comes out. The film plays like a Noir Music Video and and you can even enjoy it that way. If you are a Noir Visual junkie once you see it it will be unforgettable.

Emilio "El Indio" Fern?ndez creates a masterpiece in re-visiting Cabaretera Noir. His first was Salon Mexico (1949) This film checks all the boxes of what a great Noir made around the early 1950's should contain.

Gabe Figueroa's cinematography is visually dark, graphic, and gritty. He is an equal to Alton, Guffey, Diskant, Ballard, and Musuraca.

The story hits on all cylinders, the music and dance routines are eye openly progressive compared to any films produced by Hollywood of the same vintage.

The Music is for the most part diegetic and is provided by the P?rez Prado Orchestra, Rita Montaner, Jimmy Monterrey's "bongocero" rumba band, a un-credited Jalisco mariachi group playing Santiago's leitmotif "el tren," and even the famous Mexican crooner Pedro Vargas gets to do a number as a celebrity guest in the Chang?o audience.

Visual highlights are the warren like back alleys, the neon lit clubs, the early morning railyard views from El puente de Nonoalco, the prostitute cribs. Acosta's Zoot Suit "jive" dance, all of Nin?n Sevilla's numbers, Rita Montaner singing "Ay, Jos?" wink wink, which never would have been permitted by the Legion of Decency or the Motion Picture Production Code here, the "**** riot," and a cool Western gunfight at the railyard.

All the performances are spot on, Sevilla, Junco, Acosta are excellent and especially of note is the acting by Ismael P?rez as Juanito with some very compelling sequences.  Mirada DVD 10/10.