Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[noodles_leone]

It?s more about excusable or not excusable flaws.

?I?m trying weird stuff all over the place in order to achieve greatness and some of it doesn?t work? = a flaw I can accept
?I?m adding full up scenes to steal some of your brain time and also why not try to get women to watch this show? = a flaw I can understand but not forgive

[dave jenkins]

La denonciation (1962) - 7/10. A film producer (Maurice Ronet) is witness to a murder. Rather than collaborate with the police, however, he investigates on his own in an attempt to expiate a failure from his past. Film noir a la le nouvelle vague, if you will. Written and directed by Jacques Doniol-Valcroze.

L'odore della notte (1998) - 7/10. A cop (Valerio Mastandrea) turns to crime because it pays better and it's more fun. Once he builds his crew it turns into a kind of Italian Goodfellas, without the killings, but with plenty of ultraviolence. Visually the film is a failure--every scene is photographed with the same ridiculous lighting. Somebody called Little Tony does a cameo.

[dave jenkins]

Time Table (1956) - 6/10. Good premise squandered. Great to see Mark Stevens as a bad guy, but the reveal comes too soon, and the running gun battle at the end is ridiculous. Also, too much dumpy wife, not enough Felicia Farr.

[dave jenkins]

KL's French Noir Collection in da house!

Le Rouge est Mis (1957) - 6/10. Gabin and Ventura, together again . . . . and as gangsters! This gets a bit cartoony at times, and Gabin's escape from the police station is beyond silly. Annie Girardot is introduced as the world's greatest ball breaker, and then she's just ignored. And what's with the scene with the cyclists?

Le Dos au Mur/ Back to the Wall (1958) - 10/10. Edouard Molinaro's first feature . . . and it's perfection. The opening sequence, the process of disposing of a corpse, is done without music, and it is riveting. The lighting, camera movements, editing, creepy voice-over, etc. create a sense of fatalism unequalled in all of cinema. And Jeanne Moreau was never lovelier. Adapted from a book by Frederic Dard.

Un Temoin dans la Ville (1959) - 7/10. Edouard Molinaro's second (maybe third) feature . . . and it's got problems. It has a great opening, though, with one murder quickly followed by another (I just realized this time that the murdered wife in played by Francoise Brion). But after that, with the introduction of the taxi driver and his girlfriend, things start to go wrong. The really big mistake, though, is, after giving so much time to his development, throwing the driver away, and having Lino Ventura face the music on his own. The two should have gone down together (or something). The ending is too much like the ending of Gas-Oil.

All three look great in this new BD set, which includes trailers of the first two, but for some reason, not the third. The trailer for Le Dos au Mur is well worth having, as it includes material not in the film, including a shot of Molinaro filming one of the scenes. Other French noir trailers are also included. All this for less than 40 bucks--blu-ray deal of the year.

[dave jenkins]

Ascenseur pour l'echafaud (1958) - 4/10. Completely idiotic. The Miles Davis score is very nice, though, but one can get that separately on CD.

[dave jenkins]

I Love Trouble (1948) - 7/10. Here's a great formula for a movie: take a successful property (in this case Farewell, My Lovely/ Murder, My Sweet), extract its salient plot elements, toss them up in the air and, when they land, stitch them back together into a coherent story. Then add some sub-Chandler dialog and cast well. Voila! Entertainment for the masses. Franchot Tone would never be anyone's first choice as an imitation Marlowe, but he'll do, especially when playing scenes with Janet Blair, Janis Carter, and the rest of the studio's female talent.

[dave jenkins]

The Fire Within (1963) - 8/10. Maurice Ronet, after detoxing for 4 months, tries taking Paris straight. He doesn't make it:  "I'm killing myself because you didn't love me, because I didn't love you. Because our ties were loose, I'm killing myself to tighten them. I leave you with an indelible stain." Great shots of a Paris that no longer exists, and views of female talent to help Maurice with his long goodbye: Lena Skerla, Alexandra Stewart, Jeanne Moreau, et. al. Wonderful b&w photography. Hey, whadya know, a Louis Malle film that doesn't suck!

Third viewing (and it's actually 1964). Maybe this could go a "9." It does have one negative, a tendency in the narrator toward self-pity. The use of Satie on the soundtrack is effective--and still not a cliche in 1963 (the year of production). I think Malle as a director was largely a fraud; but this film does exist. The source novel, obviously, was a big help.

[drinkanddestroy]

Third viewing (and it's actually 1964). Maybe this could go a "9." It does have one negative, a tendency in the narrator toward self-pity. The use of Satie on the soundtrack is effective--and still not a cliche in 1963 (the year of production). I think Malle as a director was largely a fraud; but this film does exist. The source novel, obviously, was a big help.

Au Revoir Les Enfants is a terrific movie

[dave jenkins]

Au Revoir Les Enfants is a terrific movie

You are wrong.

[dave jenkins]

Play It as It Lays (1972) - Flawed, but an incredibly interesting European inspired New Hollywood flick detailing the mental breakdown of a B actress with an excellent performance from future Leone alum Tuesday Weld. It's very of its time with its New Wavey abrupt cut storytelling that frantically weaves in and out scenes - but this technique is mostly done pretty well and it lacks the hipster nihilism or hubris that usually turns me off from this type of movie. The style also fits the character. It could have been a masterpiece of sorts had it spent more time with Anthony Perkins' character and had the second half of the movie been better paced. At worst, it's a uniquely interesting movie that probably influenced Tarantino to some degree when writing 'Hollywood'. He may have said so himself if I remember correctly. B-

Hilarious parody of early 70s Hollywood, actually filmed in 1972, and not as a parody. It's hard to stop watching, probably because Ms. Weld is so watchable. Joel Schumacher gets a credit for the clothes. I would like to see it restored and in its correct AR. 10/10.

[noodles_leone]

Ema (Pablo Larrain, 2019) - 9/10
Absolutely terrific movie. Much better than Jackie and much much better than Spencer. Some of the best dialogues I?ve heard in years. The cinematography is gorgeous (although from time to time it looks a bit too much like a trendy music video). The city of Valparaiso, Chile is greatly integrated into the visuals.

En m?me temps (Gustave Kervern, Beno?t , 2022) - 4/10
They?re worst in years. They even got Jonathan Coen to act poorly in several scenes, which is basically impossible. It becomes better, and ever pretty good in its second part.

Incroyable mais vrai (Quentin Dupieux, 2022) - 7.5/10
His best in years. Possibly his best ever. As always, Dupieux has no idea how to end his movies. But for once this one is carefully crafted, carefully written and Alain Chabat is a perfect fit.

[stanton]

Ema (Pablo Larrain, 2019) - 9/10
Absolutely terrific movie. Much better than Jacky and much much better than Spencer. Some of the best dialogues I?ve heard in years. The cinematography is gorgeous (although from time to time it looks a bit too much like a trendy music video). The city of Valparaiso, Chile is greatly integrated into the visuals.

Yes, this is a very good one.
Much better than expected, before I missed every opportunity to watch a film by Larrain, now I will change that.

[noodles_leone]

(Ema is available on Arte right now but only maybe for a few days)

I have been sititng on a Santiago 73 DVD for 15 years, maybe now is the time to give it a shot. I've been hearing very good thing about his Neruda too.

[dave jenkins]

I have been sititng on a Santiago 73 DVD for 15 years, maybe now is the time to give it a shot. I've been hearing very good thing about his Neruda too.

Don't know about Santiago, but Neruda is shit. Of course, Ema is very, very good.

Objectif: 500 millions (1966) - 7/10. Bruno Cremer and Marisa Mell, together again for the first time. A caper film, but one that's a bit unusual. It contains a few surprises, particularly the cut at the end. Pierre Schoendoerffer directed.

[dave jenkins]

Une histoire simple (1978) - 7/10. Auuuggghhh, chick flick! It does afford, however, many opportunities to ogle Romy Schneider, as Claude Sautet no doubt intended. Claude Brasseur plays Romy's soon-to-be ex; Bruno Cremer plays her ex-ex.  Another great score comes courtesy of Philippe Sarde.