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General: [Sticky] What's the last movie you've seen?
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Hereafter - 53/100 - eh, the movie fails on so many levels - as drama, as Clint's movie, as a film about people seeking answers about afterlife. The ending is lovely looking but it's big "so what", the stories don't mix with each other very well. There are some touching moments, incredible tsunami sequence in the beginning, but overall as much as actors did they best (although Matt Damon is a miscst here). the movie is rather pointless and definetly too long. I wish Eastwood focused more on the doctor who talks to french reporter and on Bryce Dallas Howard's character.
Tron: Legacy - 93/00 - Good God, I can't believe I paid money to see crappy "Avatar" in the theatres but not this. What a great movie - so beautiful and entertaining - usually when there is a chase near the end of the movie like this I'm bored but here I actually cared for characters, fantastic score by Daft Punk, incredible cast - especially wonderful Michael Sheen and Olivia Wide - I hope she will be big star one day and that this film will get sequels! The visual effects are just wonderful and I envy everyone who saw it in 3d.Oh and the ending - so beautiful!
Perfect Blue - 86/100 - I don't like anime, but I had to see this film as it was obvious inspiration for "Black Swan". The movie has a lot in common - so much in fact, that I think possible remake of Perfect Blue would be pointless. The ending is a little weak, but for the most of the time the movie shows very interesting story, with great visual tricks and music. -
"The Death Kiss" (Edwin L. Marin, USA 1932) SPOILERS
As they are filming the closing scene of the movie called "The Death Kiss", the main actor, Myles Brent, is killed. Immediatly there are lot of suspects because Brent was married to or played around with most of the women around the movie. An ancient mistress ou a jalous husband could be the murderer. Marcia Lane, the leading role of the movie and ex-wife of Brent is quickly suspected and is arrested for the killing but her secret lover a studio screenplay writer, starts to investigate in order to prove her innocence. A very interessant B movie with Bela Lugosi who, for one time, is not the guilty one (even if the story makes us think he is). END OF SPOILERS The screenplay is very inventive with lot of twists and turns, a good suspense. This is the first movie of Marin who will remain a good artisan of Hollywood with some nice movies especialy westerns like "Abilene town" or fantasy movies like "invisible agent". Here the directing is sometimes inventive like the shot through the spotlight or the final poursuit in the studio only lighted with flashlights… The actors are numerous B stars like Lugosi of course, David Manners ("The Mummy", "The Black Cat" (Ulmer's one), "Dracula"…) the beautifull Adrienne Ames and many others. A good small B… 7/10
"Giulio Cesare, il conquistatore delle Gallie" (aka Caesar the Conqueror) (Tanio Boccia, Italy 1962).
Or the good Caesar against the evil Vercingetorix !! The war of the Gaules wieved from Italy… Interresting for french public !! . Indeed a Cheap Peplum with many Bis actors like Cameron Mitchell (as Julius Caesar) who will play in many Bis movie likethe well known "L’Isola di uomini pesce" , Rik Battaglia as Vergintetorix who will play in many european westerns an Bis movies… Or the beautifull belgian actress Dominique Wilms you can watch in movies like "La môme vert de gris" or "la rivière des trois jonques". The screenplay is simple and follow the main events of great History. The filming is not very original and the battle scenes quite poor… A small Peplum for fans only 6/10. -
"Les inconnus dans la maison" (Strangers in the House) (Henri Decoin, France 1942).
A great but very controversial movie directing under the german occupation of France with a great performance by the great french actor Raimu. SPOILERS Here he plays an old attorney, Hector Loursat, who’s is an alcoholic since his wife is gon 20 years ago. He lives alone in a big house with his daughter Nicole (Juliette Faber). One night he finds the body of a man in the attic, dead. He don’t know even who he is and even that he was there… Soon he realize that his daughter is going out with other young boys who are small offenders … Soon Emile the boyfirend of Nicole is suspected… Loursat decide to be the defence attorney of Emile… He will prove that he’s innocent. END OF SPOILERS. The screenplay is the adaptation of a book of George Simenon. A the first level the movie can be seen like a denunciation of a certain french middle class that stiffle the youth and that is responsible of the juvenile delinquency of thier children… Thoses views are very up to date with the views of Vichy’s government at this time. On the other way the movie is obviously anti-semitic, because as in Simenon’s book, the culprit is clearly shown as a jew, the only one of the story (the oly one without a family, the stranger). So in those times it is not thinkable it’s only due to chance… So even if it remains a great movie with a great screenplay (the solution of the mystery is very full of twists and turns, very inventive) even if the actor performance of Raimu is wonderfull we must never forget what the movie want to tell us through itself… here it’s very important to place the film in it’s historical context to understand it fully. The movie was banned in France after WWII. A good one by the way (but always keep your mind awake and ask yourself "what does he want to say to me?"!!). 8,5/10.
"La rose écorchée" (The Blood Rose) (Claude Mulot, France 1970).
One of the first Horror &Sex movie in France by a king of french porno in the 70’s and the 80’s (with som cult titles like : "La grande baise", "le sexe qui parle", or "jouir !"). The plot is directly inspired (and Mulot claimed that) from the cult classic of fantastic french cinema "les yeux sans visage" of George Franju (1960) and perhaps more obviously of Jesus Franco’s "Gritos en la Noche" (The awfull Dr Orloff) (1962) or perhaps Urueta’s "El espejo de la bruja" (The Witsch's Mirror) (1962). The film is obviously more erotic than Franju’s one as Franco’s movie but with poetry and gothic style like Franju’s and Urueta ones. The filming is nice and there are some good camera moves and lightnings. The whole is very macabre and dark a sort of mix of the "bodysnatcher", "Pygmalion"… The actors are well known for some of them like Howard Vernon (who’ll be the star of many Bis movies), The well known french actress Annie Duperey (very beautfull here…) and Philippe Lemaire who started his carreer in many euro Bis movies before going to TV… And some surprises like the presence, of Elizabeth Tessier the famous french Astrologer who was actress (hot !!) in many Bis movies when she was young… Indeed this movie is worth of being discovered even if it’s reference are clear it’ snot only a parody or a copy of the originals it has is own integrity. 7,5/10. -
Hable con Ella. Don't know what to think of it yet.
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"The petrified forest" (Archie Mayo, USA 1936) The movie that makes Bogey a star... One of his best role dixit Louise Brooks in her memoirs... SPOILERS Gabby (Bete Davis) lives and works at her dad's small diner out in the arizonas's desert. She's reading poetry (François Villon's poems) and is painting the desert, she also wants to leave the place and go to France to join her mother. Along comes Alan (Leslie Howard who wanted Bogart to play with him), a broke writer with no more will to live, who is traveling to see the pacific coast. Meanwhile, Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) a very dangerous and desperate killer and his gang is heading comes and dicide to wait in the diner to wait for his girl... END OF SPOILERS. A great movie, the script is the adaptation of the eponymous play of Robert Sherwood and is writen by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves, and indeed the dialogs are very good. It's certainly the best movie of Mayo a good artisan of Hollywood. A very interessant movie with many themes (the will to die, the art, a satire of the couple, courage and cowardice...) The directing is very good and the adaptation of the play which is mainly behing closed doors but really dynamic, the editing and the dialogs help. Great acting... A must to see 9/10.
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"Broken Lullaby" (Aka "The Man I killed" reissue tittle of the re-edited version cause of no success!!) (Ernst Lubitsch, USA 1932). A very very moving drama without any lack of taste. A very delicate subject very finely treated (as usual with Lubitsch). SPOILERS One year after the end of WWI, in Paris many celebrations of the victory... One man is still haunted by the eyes of the man he killed in the tranchées... He can't find peace in the house of god, then the only way is to go to Germany and find the parents of the soldier and ask for pity and mercy... forgiveness if possible... Germany, the parents are living in the past, and can't forget thier dead son, the fiancée lives now with them... The french soldier comes but at the last moment he can't make his confession he just says that he was a friend of thier son (who lived two years in France before the war). The parents find in the french soldier the son they have lost and begins to live again, the fiancée finds the lover she misses... But the soldier's soul must find peace and forgiveness... END OF SPOILER. A wonderfull and moving drama wich had no success at the time sandwiched between to great comedies of Lubitsch. And poeple didn't understood why the master of comedy did this drama. Indeed the movie is just great always on the tightrope with a delicate subject even in 1932... Directing and Acting are great but it's not a surprise. A must to see 10/10.
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"True Grit" (Ethan &Joel Coen, USA 2010). A remake of the eponymous movie of Henry Hathaway (1969) with John Wayne in one of his last role (he got an oscar for this one). SPOILERS A young girl (Hailee Steinfeld) wants to take revange of her father's death and hieres an old alcoolical marshall (Jeff bridges) and a rigid texas ranger (Matt Damon). END OF SPOILER. The story is thin and simple (the initiatory journey of a young girl who discover the reality and crudity of life, and also that all have a price and must been paid, nothing new under the sun but in the western it's not really a problem). But the dialogs are often delectable and sometimes very funny, by the way the film is sometime too speaky. It's a shame because the action scenes are also well made and deserved to be more numerous. The realisation is OK even if the movie takes his time to begin relly, the first part is a bit too long I think. Some sequences are very good like the last run in the night, many action sequnces... the last sequence was not very goo and not necessary in my opinion. There are many small reference to numerous westerns and that's funny. The photogaphy is very nice and the on location filming is huge and the landscapes and colors very nice. The actors are good especialy Hailee Steinfeld (surprisingly she's absent of the top of the bill, even if she has already the main role... some "relationship" problems I suppose...). Jeff Bridges good perhaps a bit too much camp sometimes. Matt Damon while reserve (perhaps a bit too much) with many good suporting roles with "faces"... By the way it's not the best Cohen for sure but remains entertaining even if with few pretentions. 7,5/10.
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"Valkoinen peura" (The White Reindeer) (Erik Blomberg, Finland 1952). The adaptation of a finnish legend taking place in the Lapland. SPOILER Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen excellent) is a pretty young girl but also a witch but she doesn't know it. She marries Aslak (Kalervo Nissilä) a young reindeers's breeder. Aslak is often far away leaving Pirita alone, boring. One day she goes to a sorcerer who tell her she must sacrify to the stone god the first living being she will meet and then no Reindeer's hunter will resit to her charms... The sacrifices the young whit Reindeer Aslak offered her. Then every night she transforms in a beautifull white Reindeer attract all the hunters and kill them in a vampiric embrace END OF SPOILER. Wonderfull fantasy tale with a simple story (as all legends) but a great direction, the pictures are wonderfull, the filming in the beautifull landscapes of lapland is just huge and the b&w photography marvelous. The acting is good too. An eternal story. Must be discovered... 9/10
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"Perseo l'invincibile" (Alberto de Martino, Italy, Spain 1963). Yes the movie is a bit camp and cheap, but I find the Imdb's note too severe (as very often with peplums). SPOILER The city of Argos is coverned by the evil Acrisio and his son Galenore (he killed the husband of the queen Danae he keeps prisonner in her palace. Near by is the peacefull town of Cyripos with the king and his daughter the nice Andromeda. She has a friend the cute Perseo a tought blond, gentle and muscular guy. Perseo don't know it but he's Danae's son who escape miraculously to death when Acrisio took Argos. But Cyripos is in great difficulties because Argos don't let the city trade with others or only with prohibiting taxes... The acces to the sea is defended by two ugly monsters a big dinosaur in the swamp and the Gorgon (a strange one who looks like a tree with a diabolic Eye who turns poeple in stone!!). But Acrisio is ready to let the city trade if his son marries the beautifull Andromeda... The later is not enjoyed and decide to organise a tournament : the winner will marry her Perseo is her champion, he wins... Galenore is furious the war begins... Perseo will lead the city to victory, and kill both monsters. END OF SPOILER. Cheaply made, with low means the movie is regardless entertaining. Directing is not very original, the monsters are a bit cheap but could have been much more worse. Richard Harrison as Perseo is pretty and convincing, he will become a Peplum star after leaving US where he played without success in some movies (a small role in the excellent "Kronos" for example) Arturo Dominici (Acrisio) is a regular from Italian Bis cinema ("Danza Macabre", "La maschera del demonio""Caltiki - il mostro immortale" "Le Fatiche di Ercole"...) and Anna Ranalli a former miss italy is very cute but had a very brief carrier in Bis cinema mainly in low budget peplums. So if you like peplum I think you will enjoy this small Bis, otherwise... 6,5/10
N.B. the plot on Imdb is wrong, Perseo don't fight the stones warriors of Medusa, he delevers them from the malediction and leads them to the victory against Acrisio's army. -
Ibara no O [King of Thorn] (2009) 2/10
Total bullshit fantasy science fiction horror animation about cryopreservation going wrong (or whatever) in an attempt to escape a mortal virus. Nice visuals cannot save the nonsense.
Waking Life (2001) 2/10
Basically, this Richard Linklater rotoscope movie is a collection of philosophical lectures by people, often academics, explaining the main character how they try to make sense of the world. But instead of making sure these messages come across well, the voices are combined with animated images that are interesting and beautiful, but above all distracting. The film is ambitious and different - although one could also say it's a parody of a General Studies program - but it didn't work for me. My advice would be: first read the screenplay and then watch the movie without paying much attention to the words.
Salt (2010) 3/10
Lots of running, fighting, shooting, chasing, killing presidents, starting nuclear wars, preventing nuclear wars, getting captured and escaping again. Total crap.
Tron Legacy (2010) 3/10
The key to the success of a science fiction film often lies in its capacity to suspend disbelief. This one couldn't; not for a moment. All I see is actors in funny suits in fake surroundings uttering nonsensical phrases while looking as if something very serious is going on.
Les femmes de l'ombre (2008) 5/10
Disappointing World War II movie about French women recruited by the British army on a mission in occupied France, on the eve of the landing in Normandy. It's all cliché and has many both predictable and improbable twists.
Georgica (1998) 5/10
Estonian movie, set in the Soviet period. An old man is a bombing ground keeper (whatever that exactly is) on a deserted island that is used for target practicing by the Soviet air force. A young boy who turned mute after a traumatic experience is sent here to recover. (Don't ask why.) As the old man is a former missionary who has spent time in Africa, this provides opportunities for all kinds of religious symbolism that in the end seem to heal the kid. There are some promising aspects to the film, but in the end it's all way too obscure.
Seksmisja [Sex Mission] (1984) 6/10
Unpretentious silly Polish science fiction comedy. Not that bad, actually. Might be of interest for the lovers of B movies.
Zebraman 2 (2010) 6/10
I liked the first Zebraman film because of its combination of absurdity and simplicity. Here, it's all a bit overdone, I think: a somewhat messy story, too many characters, too many fights and effects.
Dlug [The Debt] (1999) 6/10
Polish thriller about two young and inexperienced businessmen being blackmailed. Not bad. The ending is a bit disappointing because it is hasty and unmotivated.
De fem benspænd [The Five Obstructions] (2003) 8/10
Documentary by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth, in which the former requests the latter to re-make his 1967 12-minute film Det perfekte menneske [The Perfect Human] in five different ways, following specific sets of rules. A very enjoyable and intelligent game between two film makers.
Possession (1981) 8/10
Hysterical acting and hysterical cinematography, but it fits the film well. Exciting, unsettling, grotesque and sometimes (I presume intentionally) hilarious (like the subway tunnel scene, or the 'octopus' scene). Yet I think there's too much unresolved symbolism in the film, which leaves the viewer with too many options for interpretations. Also, dialogues are often a bit theatrical, as if the film is based on a play, and the streets are often conveniently deserted, adding to the theatrical atmosphere. Nevertheless powerful and unforgettable. -
"Dick Tracy" (William Berke, USA 1945). SPOILER Here, Tracy faces a mad killer, Splitface, who kill persons who doesn't seem to be connected... After a serie of murders he will discover that they belonged all to a jury... then the culprit is identified but he kidnap Tess (Anne Jeffreys) Dick's girlfriend... END OF SPOILER. Dick Tracy, the detective created in 1931 in the colmumns of the Chicago Tribune by Chester Gould became rapidly very famous because it was very real, with lot of violence and because of Tracy's methods (very modern) and also because the separation between good and evil is clear, the bad guys are really bad and the gentle ones very gentle. After the radio the cinema the first movie was made in 1937 by Alan James and Ray Taylor, Ralph Byrd played the detective. In this one it's Morgan Conway who's said to have inspire Beatty for his 1990 movie. The directing of Berke is very near to the comics and very entertaining. A very good B full of nostalgia for a forgotten cinema... 8/10
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"Intermezzo: A Love Story" (Gregory Ratoff, USA 1939) A bitter-sweet love story between a violnist and a pianist. SPOILER Holger Brandt (Leslie Howard) is a worldwide famous violonist. After a long tour of concert around the world he come back home in Vienna. Here, he meets the piano teacher of his little girl Anne-Marie, the beautifull Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman). They fall in love. Holger abandomned his family and goes for a world tour of concert with Anita at the piano they have an eenormous succes... Then they take hollydays ont eh french Riviera. He will realise he misses his family and come back. END OF SPOILER. A classical love story. The directing is not very original and Ratoff will remain an unknown director. By the way the film is worth of watching especialy for the acting performance of the couple Howard/Bergman and olso because it was the first american movie of Ingrid Bergman and she's already wonderfull... to discover 7/10.
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"El hombre y el monstruo" (The man and the monster) (Rafael Baledón, Mexico 1960) Another lost gem of mexican horror cinema, produced by the great actor/producer Abel Salazar. SPOILER A pianist Samuel Magno sell his soul to the devil to become the greatest pianist of the world... he does but every night, when he plays a particular piece he becomes a werewolf and have to kill... but the rest of the tim he don't remember what he's doing... Only his mother knows and can controle him a bit. Samuel has a young girl as a student, Laura. he wants to make her the best pianist of the world to redeem oneself to the murder of Alejandra her secret love who was the best pianist of the world and he killed by jalousy... Then Ricardo Souto a concert manager comes to organize the concert of Laura... END OF SPOILER. The movie mixes many themes and reference, the myth of Faust, the werewolf, the hands of Orlac, jekyll & Hyde, with succes ! A great movie directed by Baledón a famous director (see for example the wonderfull La maldición de la Llorona). The atmosphere is purely gothic with this typical touch of exotism (the asciendas, the desert..) As usual the lightning and the photography of Raul Martinez Solarez is simply huge. Some sequences are very good with nice composition... A very good B movie. 8/10.
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"Sinbad of the Seven Seas" (Enzo G. Castellari, Italy USA 1989)
Incredible adventures of Simbad and his friends... SPOILER Sinbad and his shipmates are sailing back to Bassorah with prince Ali who has to marry with pretty princess Alina. But the evil vizir Jaffar who is also a sorcerer scatters the four gems that provise peace and prosperity to the city... Sinbad and his freinds will help the prince to recover the stone fighting an ugly stone monster, the queen of the amazons, the dead knights and ugly gelly cannibal monster... and then Jaffar back to Bassorah... END OF SPOILER Well, yes it's a Cannon production and then you don't have to expect a lot... and yes it's cheap the screanply is thin but that's here not important, but the narration by a mother who tell the story to his little daughter is useless and boring. The dialog are so ridiculous they become huge. The photography is not bad and some good sequences and some compositions are pretty. The acting... well Lou ferigno is Lou Ferigno... a bad actor,his facial expressions are always hilarious. The others are quite ridiculous John Steiner as Jaffar completly hysterical Teagan Clive's role is useless and her character appears and disappears mysteriously... Alessandra Martines as Alita is well... nicel. The music is simply awfull. So a very cheap movie very entertaining... for Z fans. 4,5/10. (for Z fans 10/10) -
"Yukinojô henge" '(An Actor's Revenge) (Kon Ichikawa, Japan 1963). Wondefull tale of revenge of a transvestite actor of a kabuki troupe agains the three men who push his parents to suicide. Wonderfull movie in all points. Wonderfull screenplay and directing. It's made like a theatre play (the setings, the acting) and at the same time it's made like a film noir (the story, the lightning, some squences), the jazz music completly out of time and subject reinforce this impression ou duality. The colors and the lighting are simply huge. Kazuo Hasegawa who plys the main role and the role of a thieve is simply incredible. A pure piece of art, just watch it. 10/10.
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"The Beast of the Hollow Mountain" (Edward Nassour & Ismael Rodríguez, USA Mexico 1956)
SPOILER A gringo cowboy Jimmy Ryan (Guy Madison) discover that his cattle strangly disappear approching the dangerous swamp near the hollow mountain. He thinks that it is Eduardo Rios the most powerfull farmer in the area who cause him problem. Indeed Rios makes all what ha can to make Jimmy go away and sell his ranch. One day in town Jimmy meets Sarita (Patricia Medina) the daughter of the mayor and fiancée to Rios and of course they fall in love. But one day Jimmy discover that his cattle isdevoured by a mighty T-Rex... END OF SPOILER. One of the rare movie which mixes western and fantasy (with Teenage Monster or the excellent serial The Phantom Empire) Here the story could be a classical story of rancheros who love the same woman but when the beast appears we completly change of universe... The directing is classical and the animation of the beast is convincing even if today it's of course a bit cheap. It was animated using two separate methods (Willis O'Brien should have done it but he didn't!!). 1°) A two foot-high armatured, rubber covered model was moved, exposing a frame at a time. 2°) the technic of "replacement animation", a technique involving several different models of beast or the humans made of plaster, each slightly different to represent a particular action. When filmed in sequence for a few frames per second, the illusion of movement is OK. An original cheap B movie for fans. 6,5/10. -
"Invisible Ghost" (Joseph H. Lewis, USA 1941)
A small B movies of a well known citizen Dr. Charles Kessler (Bela Lugosi) who become a killer at night. Kessler lost his wife in an accident while she was with her lover... But she's not dead, hidden by the gardener and his wife... But at night she comes under the windows of Kessler's room who becomes eache time hypnotized and commit murders... The lover of his daughter is covinced of the murder of the maid (who was in love with him before) and condmn to death and executed... his brother comes and want to discover the true murder... A very low budget B movie who is known especialy for the meeting of the great Joseph Lewis a master of film noir who directed two masterpieces : The Big Combo and Gun Crazy and Bela Lugosi. The script is not bad but the lack of means can't truly save this movie even if there are some good sequences and shots. A small B for fans... 6/10. -
"Spyashchaya krasavitsa" (aka The Sleeping Beauty) (Apollinari Dudko & Konstantin Sergeyev, USSR 1964)
How should danse be filmed. What a movie !! Wonderfull !! The Kirov's Ballet, the student of Leningrad's danse school, the music of Tchaikovsky... No words only music and dance (in the choregraphy of Marius Petipa) and what dance !! The kirov's dancers are simply wonderfull Aurore (Alla Sizova), the lilac fery (Irina Bazhenova) and the wicked fairy (Natalya Dudinskaya) are wonderfull. The settings are simply huge and the direction enhance the corpse and the choregraphy with magnificient colors. Great play on the lightings... Only 11 votes on WTM for this true masterpiece... incredible. If you really love dance and great music you must watch this... 9,5/10.
NB the movie is shorter than the true ballet -
@RDPL
Only 11 votes on IMDB? Seriously, how do you find (dvd's of) this kind of movies? -
It is in dvd... at least in France... you can find it just on Amazon (french site)... and now 12 votes !! (+mine) and you know in the FF I have one shot (in dvd too) with only 5 votes on Imdb including mine !! There are so many nice things to watch !! Oh I forgot my shot of the wonderfull "Supersonic Saucer" (only 7 votes including mine...) the movie that Spielberg plagiarized for ET...
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Underground (1995) 5/10
Well yes, Kusturica's film is made with panache and bursting energy. Yet I don't like it and that's why on previous attempts I never made it to the end. Yugoslavia is a catastrophe, its inhabitants are unsympathetic, treacherous, unhappy and violent, yet keep partying. Fair enough. But do we need so much overacting? And do we need 170 minutes of it?
Otac na sluzbenom putu [When Father Was Away on Business] (1985) 6/10
An earlier Emir Kusturica film. A family history against the background of political intrigue in post-WWII Yugoslavia, seen through the eyes of a young boy. Mainly remarkable for the grim atmosphere in a society in which free speech does not exist.
Odgrobadogroba [Gravehopping] (2005) 7/10
At first this looks like a slightly absurdist and humourous film about life in a sort of idyllic Slovenian village, centered around a main character who is a (not very talented) funeral speaker. But in the second half of the movie it turns out that violence lies just below the surface and our weird protagonist is arguably the least dysfunctional person around. I'm usually not too fond of East-European black comedies, but this one was a pleasant surprise.
12 (2007) 7/10
12 is a Russian remake of Twelve Angry Men, and yes, that's a bit weird. The 1957 classic has withstood time well and is still a pleasure to watch. One of its heroic features is that it's (almost) totally set in one room. That's something Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov didn't dare to do; he mixes the jury deliberations with flashbacks of the life of the accused. But Mikhalkov also transposed the story to present day Russia, and uses it as a vehicle to address racism and corruption. It's maybe a bit slick and melodramatic at times, but it does its job in an impressive and enjoyable way.
Püha Tõnu kiusamine [The Temptation of St. Tony] (2009) 8/10
Surrealist film by Estonian director Veiko Õunpuu shows a factory manager in midlife crisis, having just buried his father, going from one nightmarish situation to the other. The film's motto is taken from Dante's Divine Comedy and apparently we're witnessing the man's journey through hell. I suppose it's sort of a parable of the new capitalism in Eastern Europe. The cinematography, in arty black and white, is powerful. With touches of Bunuel, Dreyer, Fellini, Lynch, Hieronymus Bosch, Franz Kafka and others. -
"The Mystery of Mr. Wong" (William Nigh, USA 1939)
An investigation of the famous chinese detective Mr Wong (Boris Karloff). SPOILER a famous collector Brendan Edwards get in possession of a huge gem the "The Eye of the Daughter of the Moon". He recieve a letter who announce his own death. Indeed the same evening during a party as he's playing a small play with her wife nd his secretary (the lover of his wife) the later kill him... but the gun was charged with blank bullets... Many suspects are here, the chines maid, a russian singer, the lover of his wife, his wife... someone else ? Mr Wong who was in the party will find the culprit... END OF SPOILER. A small B very entertaining even if low budget, the screanplay is clever and full of suspence. Karloff is very good. This movie is interesting because it is an integral part of his time. Indeed asiatic detectives were very popular in the 30's for example with Mr Moto, played by Peter Lorre or Charlie Chan played by Warner Oland... Forgotten movie for a forgotten time... A good B 7/10 -
"Kyokatsu koso Waga Jinsei" (aka "Blackmail Is My Business") (Kinji Fukasaku, Japan 1968)
The doomed story of a group of young blackmailers face to a great political and financial scandal. The first famous movie of Kinji Fukasaku is interresting for many reasons. 1°) the script of Fujiwara is a mix of Film Noir and social criticism in a period of economic prosperity the heroes thrive on corruption, and the continuous flow of money, they exploite the vices and the cowardice of thier contemporaries. There is also lot of humour in this dark story. 2°) The Actors are very good playing thier role with lot of irony and eloquence. 3°) The directing is huge with extensive and original camera moves giving lot of vitality to the movie. Those movements alternate with fixed shots and voiceover. Some reoccuring flashbacks in b&w reinforce the film noir influence. So a very good movie to discover 8/10 -
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CommentAuthorLePaposaure
- CommentTimeMar 21st 2011 edited
From the last "Festival cinema asiatique de Tours", I picked 3 movies :
- Norvegian Wood (Anh Hung Tran - 2010) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270842/ : Beautiful picture, great actors, some sequences made me think about Won Kar-Wai and "In the mood for love", that's something !
- Muksin (Yasmin Ahmad - 2006) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0863091/ : Great movie, light, smart, plenty of happiness, every actor having fun playing their characters. Gives you energy for the rest of the week !
- Les Trois guerres de Madeleine Riffaud (Philippe Rostan - 2010) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1783329/ : fantastic documentary about an incredible woman, reporter in many war zones in the last 30s. Great destiny described by a sensational interview and rares archives. -
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@LePaposaure
Didn't know they made a movie version of "Norwegian Wood". I've once read the novel by Haruki Murakami and even though it wasn't among Murakamis best work it's still quite interesting. -
"Ulisse contro Ercole" (aka "Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules") (Mario Caiano, Italy, France 1962).
Another cheap Peplum of the 60's. If you're a fan of mythology don't try to find any real event here... SPOILER So, The Olymp: Poseidon is complaining Zeus that Ulysses hurted his son Polypheme (the cyclop) and he want him to pay. Zeus tells Hercules to bring back Ulysses to punish him. Hercules captures Ulysses but thier boat sink and they arrive on a mysterious island. They will have to fight a cruel bird poeople, some trogldytes and others stuff... Hercule will find his beloved Helen, and Ulysse back to Itaque. END OF SPOILER. This small movie is the occasion to see Georges Marchal (Ulysses) and Mike Lane (Hercules) together. Otherwise the script is very predictible, the trivias of the peplum are all here, muscles are shiny, heroes are courageous, girls are pretty with tiny, tiny dresses and lot of feathers (the queen of the bird-poeple is very cute!!) the bads are very bads and stupid, and so on... Without any pretentions but entertaining. For Bis movies fans only. 6,5/10 -
Secreto de sus ojos - 68/100 - good movie, good twist, but not enough back story given to the characters, especially the victim and her husband.
Pianiste - 77/100 - Fantastic performance by Isabelle Huppert, interesting story and very well written main character. But after so many great things I've heard about this movie I expected more.
Adjustement Bureau - 55/100 - good chemistry and performances by Emily Blunt and Matt Damon and interesting concept - the movie delivers as romance but fails miserably as science fiction due to plot holes and ridiculous ending.
The Fly - 78/100 - extraordinary make up work, great performance by Jeff Goldblum and unpredictable story. The only effect I didn't like was near the ending, but overall, whilst not as good as Alien and Carrie this is one of the most important horror movies.
1408 - 66/100 - I saw the director's cut with different ending which was quite chilling, the movie was suspensful and the concept was interesting and well executed, too bad some of the CGI was so awful it was distracting and John Cusack, while doing one of his best here, still remains one of those actors I just can't stand looking at.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking - 70/100 nice atmosphere, costume and execution and interesting mystery, good performances and a lot of Sherlock Holmes's catchphrases. It was nice to see Michael Fassbender and Rachel Hurd Wood delivering such good work here.
Dark Water (remake) - 49/100 beautiful cinematography and ending and good performance by Jennifer Connelly, but the film is not nearly as chilling as its original version. The mystery leaves a lot to be desired, there are no real scary moments, it's more like "Rosemary's Baby" without actual suspense and excitement than "The Ring".
Angel - 59/100 - gorgeous images and interesting work by Romola Garai, but the movie is quite messy and annoying. It's beautiful to look at, but something was missing. It reminded me of Marie Antoinette - spoiled main character, stunning surroundings and costume, but you wish the filmmaker showed you a little more in all this glamour and glitter. Especially the love story in the movie, while the beginning is beautifully shown thanks to strong chemistry between Garai and Fassbender later on is very underdeveloped and the movie should have focused more on that.
Limitless - 70/100 - great idea, nice work by Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish (though she is very underused) and Robert De Niro, but as the movie progresses it turns into cliche action thriller and the ending is incredibly lazy. But the visual side and the music are quite impressive.
Last Seduction - 69/100 - outstanding performance by Linda Florentino and the script full of exxciting twists and turns. Linda carries the movie and you can't take your eyes off her. Everybody else fade in comparision. The ending is fantastic and the movie has one of the best femme fatale figues I've seen.
Before Night Falls - 77/100 - Oscar-worthy performance by Bardem, interesting story, beautiful narration and amusing performance by Johnny Depp. Plus the film has very interesting cinematography and although it's quite long it didn't bore me at all. -
"Monkey on my Back" (Andre de Toth, USA 1957)
A great (and true) story of Barney Ross a WWII heroe and a great boxing champ who falls in the spiral of morphine addiction... Godd acting of Cameron Mitchell and great direction of de Toht, with an interresting touch of film noir. 7,5/10.
"Little Annie Rooney (William Beaudine, USA 1925).
Another great performance of Mary Pickford who plays Little Annie a 14 years old girls (as she was already 33!!) a tomboy indeed, who spends her time between her dad and brother (her mom is dead) and her gang of children who only think to fight against other gang... The movie begins like a comedy showing the life of the children and Annie in the poor district where she lives. But then her father is killed and her brother want to take revenge on the killer he thinks he knowns but it's a trap and he kills the wrong guy... and Little Annie will give her blood to the injured guy she secretly loves to save him in a memorable scene... A good silent movie moving and with social commitment too (for example if other gangs are "pure white" in the gang of Annie you can find blacks, chineses and her best friend in the movie is a jew) dispite of some clichés. 8/10
"Man Without a Star" (King Vidor, USA 1955)
A good western with Kirk Douglas as a cowboy who hates barwires but who will help some small breeders who want to protect thier land with barwires against a woman from the east with a very big property and lot of cattle and who want to use all the open range. This western is a sort of announcement of the 70's westerns the characteur of Douglas is a solitary man very similar to the one he will play later in the great David Miller's movie "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962) A man of the west lost in a new world but who will try till the end to remain the same, in vain. The thema of the end of the west is very pregnant here mor than much of the western of this period. Very ambiguous character who teach a young guy his way of living but who perhaps made him simply a killer. Interessant one 8/10.
"Black Angel" (Roy William Neill, USA 1946)
Another lost gem of Film Noir with a wonderfull Dan Duryea here as an alcoholical pianist and composer who willl kill her wife (who lives by commiting blackmail) but who can't remember it cause he was too drunk... But another victim of her wife finds the body, and commits lots of errors that lead him direct ot the death sentence. His wife is sure he's not guilty and meet Duryea, he wants to help her and they discover that the boss of a night club (Peter Lorre) could be guilty... Then things are going more complicated and not as they expected to. Great screanplay, great acting, the direction is regardless classical but effective. A good one 8/10
"I sette nani alla riscossa" (aka The Seven Dwarfs to the Rescue) (Paolo William Tamburella, Italy 1951)
The sequel of snow white is not as bad as it is mentionned on imdb (only 11 votes it's true). Snow White (beautifull Rossana Podestà) and her prince are living happy but one day the war is declared, the prince goes to war but is captured, Snow White dicides to join him but she is kinapped byt he black prince (Georges Marchal excellent) who want to seduce her. The seven dwarves will recue her. This sequel written and directed by Tamburella is interresting especially by the strong sexual allusions even if the movie is made for children (but is it ??). The good prince is a blondine, very gentle and childish and we can't imagine them having a sexual life, they are little children. On the contrary the black prince is clearly the symmbol of sexuality, the way he speack to Snow White is completly different, the means he uses are clearly those maturity. And snow White is very near to give up... The movie is very uneven, the scenes with snow white, the black prince are often well directed and very interressant, those with the dwarves are much less interresting and not very funny, exept the sequences when they are all kidapped by mermaids... and succumb to thier song... A strange lost movie to discover 7/10. -
Last Night in the cinematheque of Grenoble I watched a serie of nice movies of early cinema (cinematographe sensu Noël Burch) all renewed by French Cinemathèque, great geat job !!
"La vie et la passion de Jésus Christ" (aka The Life and Passion of Christ) (Georges Halot & Louis Lumière, France 1898-1899) The life and death of Jesus in 13 x 1 min. Interresting
"Néron essayant des poisons sur un esclave" (aka Neron trying some poison on a slave) (Georges Hatot, France 1896).
"Le retour d'Ulysse" (aka The Return of Ulysses) (André Calmettes & Charles Le Bargy, France 1909) Nice short wich shows Ulysses coming back to Itaque and killing the suitors. A fun fact is that it's told that Ulysses was away since 20 years and his son Telemaque is not more than 14 years old in the movie... strange no ;)
"L'enfant prodigue" (aka the prodigal son) (Georges Berr, France 1909) Very nice short all coloured picture by picture by hand.
"Vitellius" (Henri Pouctal, France 1910) the assassination of imperator Vitellius who only thinks to eat and drink... Note the funny acting of Polin, the famous french theatre actor.
"Cléopâtre" (aka Cleopatra) (Henri Andréani & Ferdinand Zecca, France 1910). An early adaption of the love of Cleopatra (Madeleine Roch) and Mark Antony. Very interresting especialy for outdoor location shots and the battles scenes that make the movie almost no more cinematograph but true cinema.
Of course all those little movies have less than 5 votes on imdb... ;) -
"All that heaven Allows" (Douglas Sirk, USA 1955)
Perhaps the "coldest" melodrama of Sirk and a strong social movie (both are linked). SPOILER a widow Cary (Jane Wyman wonderfull) with two children who live in New York fall in love with her gardener Ron (Rock Hudson) who is muche younger than her and they dicide to marry. All the community of the small village, her children are against thier project, she will leave him, but when her children dicides to leave her to and have thier own life she come back but Ron have a serious accident when she awake, she's here, for ever. END OF SPOILERS. The movie is a melodrama because it follows the evolution of the feelings of Cary, his happiness, distress, sorrows... But during all the movie the social commitments of Sirk are numerous, for example the fact that Ron is a fellow of Thoreau (the presence of "Walden" is for whom did not understood) against the pure materialism of the friends and children of Cary. The reject of Ron only for social reasons etc. The directing of Sirk is very good and the acting (even Rock Hudson) is very good. The photography of Russell Metty is wonderfull. The filming outor seems to have been done (the shadows seems to prove it) only at sunset (at least late in the afternoon) to make the coulours full of yellows, and red, contrasting with the uses of blue of the indoor filming. Thge final sequence with the deer at the window is simply one of the best of Sirk's movies... A masterpiece. 10/10
"The Slime People" (Robert Hutton, USA 1962)
Yeepee ! A great B for fans. SPOILER Cause of Nuclear experiment in the underground the Slime People is angry, thier underground worls has been disturbed and they come to earth in Los Angeles and kill everybody they meet. The town is quickly evacuated and a strane dome of unpenetrable for surrounds the town. The Slime People need the fog to refreshe the air and hide the sun otherwise they die. A small group of people have been forgotten... they will have to survive and find a way to breack this wall... END OF SPOILERS... Yes it' pure B, completly improbable screenplay, bad acting (Robert Hutton has the tittle role too) funny dialogs... But as usual even if cheaply made and budgetless it's always worth of watching and as deep as many big budget craps of today (and wich pretend to recognition, that's the limit!). 5/10 (for B or Z fans 8/10)
"Gojira tai Hedorâ" (aka Godzila vs Hedora) (Yoshimitsu Banno, Japan 1971)
Or "How Godzila meets the Hippies". SPOLERS Cause of the pollution generated by our consumer society an awfull monster arises from the sea, it first look like a tadpole them a reptile and then flies and finlay is a bipedic giand mould. But Godzilla and friends a young boy and her sister (a psychedelinc singer) will beat the monster. END OF SPOILER. The screanplay is of course cheap and the message clear even if at the end, the mosnter is killed (endless fights) it's clearly shown that pollution is always here and that the problem is not finished (this sort of ending is not common in such movies). The acting is cheap, the direction too especialy the editing which is very bad dispites ome very good shots and filming. Some sequences, some shots are impressive indeed. The whole is watchable by the way. A small Godzilla for japanese Sci-Fi fans only. 6/10 -
@RDPL55: I just recently discovered Douglas Sirk and I must say he's probably one of the most underrated directors. His movies should really be better known.
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A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Boring, cliche and non interesting... 5/10
The King of Kong
Funny 6.8/10
La vie moderne
not bad but I expected better. It is lacking a bit of a deeper thing and it sometimes slow and repetitive, we got the point after 15 minutes... 6.5/10
Kaboom
The real Gregg Araki is back!! I dont like when Gregg Araki makes serious films, in that sense I thought "Mysterious Skin" was his less good even if it got the most praise. I liked "Smiley Face", it was refreshing but too simple. I absolutely loved his first movies: "The Doom Generation", "Nowhere", "Totally F***ed Up". So silly and quirky but also so crazy and entertaining. With Kaboom, he is back with this anti teen genre he can so well master. To most it will be just a silly and amateurish film. To others, who know a little bit his past work, it is a little sexy jewel of second degree, like a parody of Donnie Darko, except here "Donnie" is bisexual, has 3somes and is tripping his head of. ^^ kaboom!!
8/10
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I saw Kaboom a few weeks ago and I really liked it too, but that was my first Araki's movie, I guess i gonna see some more from him :)
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Nowhere and The Doom Generation are his best after Kaboom imo :) not as visually intense though, he didn't have that much money back then ;)
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CommentAuthorPalahniuk007
- CommentTimeMar 31st 2011
Enough with Gregg Araki !
He's gay for Christ Sake !!!!
I don't mind Gay Cinema (as long as we're surfing into Joel Schumacher's zone and we don't see anal penetration) but we need some heterosexual movie avant garde references around here.
Like : Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.
You see heavily made up blond girls in the trailer plus boobs in wide shots I reckon.
The good news : you'll be sure to collect points in FF in the next few months ! -
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The girls are pretty indeed, but the movie was messy :( But since it has Abbie Cornish in it, I liked it too:)
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Wow it looks great, another masterpiece for teens at the dawn of puberty ... touching...
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Nosso Lar (2010) 2/10
Apparently the most expensive film in Brazilian history and a box office hit, but it's the most disappointing film I've seen in a long time. It's based on a book by a spiritual medium (who according to Wikipedia wrote no less than 412 books, which for sure says something about the quality of any of them) that lectures us about life after death: people who have been complaining too much or whose behaviour has been marked by vanity and pride first end up in purgatory. When they beg for mercy they are granted access to a peaceful spiritual world. Here they need to grow spiritually, and after demonstrating enough love, forgiveness and faith, they earn the right to reincarnate. It all takes place in a silly 3D architecture model world (a sort of Brasília fitted out with sketchy Santiago Calatrava and Norman Foster buildings). The actors don't act, but serve as puppets delivering the spiritual message. The main actor seems to have been picked because he vaguely resembles David Niven (in A Matter of Life and Death).
Brownian Movement (2010) 4/10
Film by Dutch director Nanouk Leopold with endless close-ups of expressionless faces in which the viewer probably is supposed to read deep meanings. But it's not happening.
Gulliver's Travels (2010) 5/10
In this film, the satirical book is turned into something entirely harmless, childish and shallow. And, of course, it has got Jack Black, which is a guarantee for utter mindlessness. The best part are the visuals.
Kak ya provyol etim letom [How I Ended This Summer] (2010) 6/10
This should have been a great film, but it actually annoyed me a lot. Two men live and work at a Russian meteorological observation station in the Arctic, a fourty-something experienced tough guy and a twenty-something youngster. Then something happens and the story turns into a kind of thriller. The annoying bit is that the strange behaviour of the youngster is never explained. And a dose of empathy is not enough to do the job.
Whip It (2009) 6/10
Slightly better than the average American coming-of-age and/or sports film (here featuring Ellen Page as roller-derby skater, while her mother wants her to be in a beauty contest), but still loaded with clichés.
Waiting for Superman (2010) 6/10
Documentary about the deplorable state of public education in the USA, which is, according to director Davis Guggenheim, due to the power of the unions and the fact that it's virtually impossible to replace bad teachers.
The Damned United (2009) 7/10
Film about Brian Clough, who was assigned manager of British football club Leeds United in 1974 and was sacked after only 44 days. The big achievement of this film is that it's a movie that's avoiding all clichés of sports movies - or rather turns them on their head.
Biutiful (2010) 8/10
Maybe not the masterpiece I expected, but a good portrait of a shady middleman in the underworld of Barcelona, separated from a bipolar wife, raising two pre-teen kids on his own, and suffering from terminal cancer. It's his fate to be miserable, and director Iñárritu makes sure that's exactly what he is.
Trouble the Water (2008) 9/10
Documentary about hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, and the aftermath of the disaster, seen through the eyes (and camera) of a local resident - black, former drugs dealer, aspiring rap artist, mentioning the Lord in every second sentence. One could say she is the most powerful hurricane in the movie. A portrait, in other words, of an astonishing personality, but also of a totally mismanaged society. -
Rubber
Great but I did expect more from it. The metaphore with Hollywood is awesome, this film is a scream for non mainstream movies :) but it also lack a little more rythm, some stronger punch somehow. Great anyway!
7.6/10
Opera
Awesome as always with Argento and another great memory from my teanagerhood. Not his best though, the hard rock music is a bit anowing (I like it more with some electro) and the end could have been better
8/10 anyway :)
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Limitless - very entertaining movie. I had so much fun, it's interesting, funny and exciting and the idea is absolutely fantastic!!!Of course there have been some overblown situations, which happens very often in these kinds of films, but nevertheless a movie that will keep you interested until its last seconds. 8/10
Dark Half - I saw this one two weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised because I didn't expect much, seeing the rating on IMDB. The thing I didn't like very much was the ending, because I hoped for a different one, maybe not so science fiction like, but the whole theme was very interesting, which didn't surprise me, given it's a movie based on a S. King's novel. 7/10 -
The Way Back (2010) 6/10
Based on an allegedly true story, the film shows a small group of men escape from a labour camp in Siberia and start walking south. It's 1941. A couple of months later they arrive in India, having survived the Siberian winter, the Mongolian desert and the Himalaya. Director Peter Weir has made many outstanding movies, but this one is rather predictable and boring. We see people walking. And walking. And walking. And desperately fighting the harsh environments.
Kaboom (2010) 6/10
I didn't know what to expect, and it took me some time to realize that the entire film is decoration, an aesthetic experience. The story is nonsensical and unimportant, or rather a pretext for shooting beautiful images of human bodies in some sort of parodied filmic universe. Shallow, with style.
Haevnen [In a Better World] (2010) 7/10
Susanne Bier as director, a screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen, and a Danish top cast: that sounds like a project that couldn't go wrong. And indeed, it's an intense drama with real people, a real subject and no easy answers. At least, until halfway. Then the film derails, starts to simplify and moralize. -
- CommentAuthormarinaraujo
- CommentTimeApr 4th 2011 edited
C.R.A.Z.Y. - Beautiful and lovely at many points, also bitter and sarcastic in some others, this is an interesting portrait of a Canadian family in the 60's-80's and how they deal with subjects such as drugs, homosexuality and teenagerhood. Awesome soundtrack. :) Overall, an entretaining film but not that great 7.5/10 -
No strings attached, 67/100 - charming comedy with strong chemistry between Kutcher and Portman and many funny scenes
The Descent, 90/100 - creepy and disturbing horror movie, with great atmosphere and tention and strong performances. I saw most of the horrors made in recent years and this one scared me even more than [REC]
Spoorloos, 68/100 - very well constructed movie with amazing performances and interesting plot, but there was something missing and some of the characters' actions are very puzzling. the film has truly fantastic ending, but frankly I think the whole movie is very overrated.
Source Code - 85/100 - so far it's the best film of the year, from Duncan Jones, the director of "Moon". The movie is not as original as his directorial debut but I sympathized more with Gyllenhaal's character than I did with Rockwell's space man. The film also has Vera Farmiga, whom I absolutely adore and whilst the story is absolutely impossible and requires you to suspend your belief, if you do so you;ll watch a great film. I don't have high regard for "Inception" but I think even its fans may find "Source Code" to be superior to it in every way, apart from music.
Midnight meat train - 65/100 - impressive gore, very good begining of the story, unconventional ending and fun performance from Vinnie Jones. It's sily but it's entertaining
Number 23 - 1/10 - absolute crap. -
So, many movies...
"The Magic Sword" (Bert I Gordon, USA 1962)
Deliciousely kisch movie by the king of the "genre" The son of a strange witch (an orphan indeed) have to save a princess kidnapped by an evil sorcerer (Basil Rathbone!!) before she's devoured by a dragon... Flashy colors, huge settings, cheap screenplay... funny 7/10
""Kingu Kongu tai Gojira" (aka King Kong vs Godzilla) (Ishiro Honda, USA-Japan, 1962) A perfect example of "so bad that it's good" A must to see for all B and Z fans... Incredible story, bad acting huge special effects... pathetic monsters... a masterpiece 3/10 for Z fans 10/10.
"La campana del infierno" (aka The Bell from Hell) (Claudio Guerín, Juan Antonio Bardem, France/Spain 1973) Another lost gem of eurotrash movies. A wierd tale of an young man who was put in an asylum by his aunt and her three daughters... he's free now, work for a while in a slaughterhouse and leaves when "he has nothing left to learn here"... Now he only want to take his revenge... but nothing will go as expected... twisted screenplay, nice filming with strange angles and shots, nice colors... A movie to discover... 7,5/10. -
"Daniel Boone" (David Howard, USA 1936)
The story of the famous Hero Daniel Boone (Edmund O'Brian) who helps settlers to found a small town in Kentucky despites Indians, and white renegade (John Carradine). The first adaptation of the life (imaginary most often) of Daniel Boone... Nice low budgel movie... 7/10.
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (Irvin Allen, USA 1961).
A strange sci-fi movie dealing with an atomic submarin who must save the world of a giant cataclysm. Directed by Allen the specialist of the genre (The Towering Inferno...). The movie is watchable but with an heavy 'cold war' philosophy if after this movie you still ignore that USA (and especialy his army) rules the world, you'll never... The directing is very common but it's fun to watch Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine and others in this strange movie. By the way the photography is often Huge 6,5/10. -
Some silent movies now...
"Beyond the Rocks" (Sam Wood, USA 1922).
A nice romance between Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson (the only movie they made together). The movie will make you travel around the world London, Paris, Africa, The Alps... to follow an impossible love between a young aristocrat (Valentino) and a married woman (against her will) (Gloria Swanson). This movie was considered as lost durinng 75 years and one copy was found in netherlands. Great acting, nice pictures even if the directing is not very original... the restoration is huge. 8/10.
"Delicious Little Devil" (Robert Z. Leonard, USA 1919)
The funny Adventures of a poor girl (Mae Murray, Leonard's wife) who steals the identity of a famous cabaret dancer (who had an adventure with a famous french Duke)... A young millionair (Rudolph Valentino) falls in love but the Duke comes back from France and want to meet his girl.... Funny. 7/10.
"The Unknown" (Tod Browning, USA 1927).
Perhaps the most strange role of Lon Chaney who plays a supposely armless knife thrower... But in fact he's a psychopath killer, with arms... He's in love with Nanon (Joan Crawford) an acrobat who don't want men to touch her... But malabar the "hercules" of the circus is in love too... Chaney will do the unthinkable to keep Manon his's... Exellent and totaly wierd movie... Great 9/10. -
A soviet cycle in cinematheque here... I watched or re-watched some great movies of the golden age of USSR cinema
"Alexandr Nevsky" (Sergei M. Eisenstei, USSR 1938) Everybody knows this masterpiece... 10/10 of course.
"Potomok Chingis-Khana" (aka storm over Asia) (Vsevolod Pudovkin, USSR 1928) An unknown masterpiece very impressive 9/10
"Arsenal" (Aleksandr Dovzhenko, USSR 1929) Excellent movie... 9/10
"Odinnadtsatyy" (aka the Eleventh Year) (Dziga Vertov, USSR 1928) A poorly known documentary of the Great Vertov 8,5/10. -
Also in cineal I watched :
re-watched "The woman in the Window" (Fritz Lang, USA 1944)
Excellent movie with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett. Great Screenplay, Great direction, great acting... But everybody knows this masterpiece 10/10.
"Sucker Punch" (Zack Snyder, USA 2011)
The crap of th month (the year??)... Simply pathetic. The mix of all teenage underculture (Steam Punk, Manga, Video games, martial arts) some pretty blondes with boobs and very short shorts... that' all. To watch only if you're a teen in puberty, or if you're machist, misogynist, militarist or video games geek... otherwise it's no use. Oh, and the movie is also dealing with madness and mental health and for sure Snyder is the new Mankiewicz but i'm certainly the only one who dont see it... It will make a bunch of shots for WTM... 1/10. -
"The Iron Mask" (Alan Dwan, USA 1929)
What should have been a masterpiece of silent era but made in 1929 it has been sonorised... and therfore loose a great part of it's strenght. Nevertheless this movie shows once more that Dwan (the man with 1000 movies) is one of the most under-rated director. This movie is full of life, action and inventivity dispite the lack of means... Fairbanks is wonderfull as usual (it's the only movie he dies at the end... like his carreer in silent era ??). The whole movie is very pleasnt to watch dispite the voice of the narrator... 8/10
"The Bat" (Wilbur Crane, USA 1959)
A nice thriller/horror movie of a faceless killer called the bat who kills his victim with a claw... He want to get a million $ hidden in an old castle. many people are suspected by the chief of police... and Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) a detective novelist... A good B movie with a good Vincent Price as a mad doctor who studies... bats !! Good screenplay and a small dose of humour as usual in those productions, but well placed here. A good B 7,5/10
"The Sealed Room" (George Ward Griffith, USA 1909)
A short movie adapted from the novel of Poe 'A Cask of Amontillado' The story of a count who seal his concubine and a ministrel who is her liver in a room and listen to thier agony... suprisingly wierd from Griffith... -
"Dick Tracy vs. Cueball" (Gordon Douglas, USA 1946)
A good adventure of Tracy with Cueball a mad thief who become a maniac killer to get back some pecious jewels... lot of action in the spirit of the 1937's serial... with Morgan Conway as Tracy... 7/10
"Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde" (Roy Ward Baker, UK 1971)
The title could let you think to a Z one... wrong !! A gret Hammer movie ! A very interessant adaptation of Stevenson with a Dr Jekyll who transforms in a bloody Sister Hyde... The script is clever and very creepy, mixing all London "myths" (Jack the Ripper, Burke & Hare, Jekyll/Hyde...) The direction of Baker is very good and deffinitively Baker is a good director (see for example the wonderfull "Quatermass and the Pit" one of the best Sci-Fi movie ever made). The acting is good especialy the duo Ralph Bates (Dr. Jekyll), Martine Beswick who makes a terrifying and fascinating sister Hyde... 8,5/10