CJ7 (2008) 5/10 A Stephen Chow spoof of ET. Better than his other films (or at least the ones that I saw).
Jernanger [Shooting the Sun] (2009) 5/10 A grumpy 60-year-old sailor and a restless young man are about to sail north to visit the old man's love of his life. Alas, this Norwegian film is rather indecisive and its poor script and editing means that things never gain much momentum.
Laura (1944) 6/10 I'm not sure what it is that makes this film noir sort of work, because it's one enormous mess of totally implausible elements. Roger Ebert was so right when he wrote: 'Considering this Waldo-Shelby-Laura love triangle, it occurs to me that the only way to make it psychologically sound would be to change Laura into a boy.'
Cirkus Columbia (2010) 6/10 In 2001, I hated the stupid humour of Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land and then skipped his next two films. Cirkus Columbia, about developing ethnic tensions on the eve of the Yugoslav War in 1991, is certainly better, but the characters remain sketchy and the events that should feel dramatic feel like soap series situations instead.
Vegas (2009) 7/10 Three Norwegian teenagers end up in a young people's refuge and try to get their lives back on track again. Realistic and unsentimental social drama.
Madeinusa (2006) 7/10 It's somewhere between cultural anthropology and a thriller, this film about a 14-year-old girl in a rather horrendous community of inbred Indians in a remote mountain village in Peru. It's Easter, and according to local belief sin does not exist in the three day period between crucifixion and resurrection, so it's a good opportunity to get seriously drunk, steal from your neighbours and ritually rape your daughters. It's all shown in a rather compelling and poetic way.
The Hunter (2010) 7/10 A quite nice, calm, almost silent, suspenseful political drama about an Iranian man who loses his wife and child in a crossfire between police and 'insurgents', and then seeks revenge. This leads to a memorable chase scene in a foggy and rainy forest outside Tehran.
Mal día para pescar [Bad Day to Go Fishing] (2009) 8/10 A former wrestling champion and his manager travel through Uruguay and earn some money by staging fights. One day the staging goes wrong and they are faced with a real fight. It's a beautifully shot drama with a touch of absurdism and some great characters.
Whisky (2004) 8/10 Minimalist arthouse cinema at its best, in which the depressive characters and the slow pace are countered by understated humour, fine acting and a clever script. Set in a Uruguay in which everything is half-broken, a 60-year-old morose owner of a small sock factory asks his equally lonely assistant to pretend to be his wife during the visit of his more successful brother.
Tatt av kvinnen [Gone with the Woman] (2007) 9/10 I'm sure plenty of people will not be thrilled by this Norwegian movie and find it all too artificial, but I just love the humour of it. Trond Fausa Aurvaag (The Bothersome Man) is an indecisive loner whose life is suddenly taken over by a young woman who decides she is his girlfriend. Beautifully filmed and with a superior irony in every scene and dialogue. Based on the debut novel by Erlend Loe.
My local cinema is doing a retrospective of screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s. Of course I'm trying to see as many of them as I can.
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, USA 1934) A classic I wanted to watch for a long time. A young heiress is running away from her father and is helped by a journalist who wants to sell the story. Since it is a screwball comedy the two characters go to a lot of fighting before getting together in the happy end. Incredibly funny and witty comedy. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are just perfect in their roles. I'm glad I finally watched it. 9/10
Bachelor Mother (Garson Kanin, USA 1939) A girl who just lost her job is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of foundling. Her ex-employer feels responsible, gives her the old job back and finally falls in love with the false mother and the baby. Thank's to David Niven and Ginger Rogers this comedy has some very funny scenes.The story is not very believable but who cares about this in a screwball comedy? 7/10
Blonde Crazy (Roy Del Ruth, USA 1931) An early screwball comedy about a con man and his charming accomplice. The movie is at the edge of being a crime movie, too, so James Cagney is a very good cast. However, all in all the script was very disappointing and the movie too flat. 5/10
Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, USA 1932) Another con movie about a gentleman thief and his pickpocket girlfriend. They try to con a beautiful and rich perfume company owner. What can I say, Lubitsch at it's best. Very funny movie and some ingenious ideas to not showing things and leaving them to the viewer's imagination. If you watch this movie, you realize why Billy Wilder had a sign at the wall of his office saying "How would Lubitsch have done it?". 9/10
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Alfred Hitchcock, USA 1941) David and Ann are a couple fighting very hard in their marriage. When they learn that their marriage was not valid everything starts to fall apart. Due to a misunderstanding they get into another fight and split up for good. David tries to gain Ann back but the story has to take some very unusual turns to finally get to the happy end. A very unusual Hitchcock movie and the only screwball comedy he directed. It's not screwball comedy at it's best and it's not Hitchcock at it's best, but it's still a (recognizable) Hitchcock and Carole Lombard and Richard Montgomery have some hilarious scenes. Definitely worth a watch. 7/10
Holiday (George Cukor, USA 1938) A young man falls in love with a girl from a very rich family. After quite some trouble and several clashes of the classes he realizes that's the sister he is after. An absolutely charming comedy with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the leading roles with some great physical humor by those two. Even if the movie is not quite as good as Bringing Up Baby or The Philadelphia Story it's still a delight to watch. 8/10
My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, USA 1936) In the depths of the Depression a rich party girl meets Godfrey, a homeless and jobless person, at a dump and hires him as her butler. When she falls in love with him and he resists her she gets hysterical (which the rest of the family already seems to be). An incredible funny movie and a great satire on the class differences during the Great Depression. William Powell is just brilliant in this role. Those who may know and love him from the Thin Man movies should definitely check it out. And all other, too. 9/10
@fungus Nice program ideed... makes me want to watch My Man Godfrey once more... so funny. Yes M. & Mrs Smith is not the best Hitchcock for sure but even a bad Hitch is better than many others ;) I also liked It Happened One Night and Trouble in Paradise... I did'nt watched the otrhers...
"They Drive by Night" (Raoul Walsh, USA 1940) Joe and Paul Fabrini (George Raft & Humfrey Bogart) are truck drivers... times are difficult, the work is missing and the job dangerous... They have an accident, thier truck is destroyed and Paul lost one arm in the accident. Joe dicides to work for a friend... but but wife of his boos (Ida Lupino excellent) is in love with him, and is ready to do everything for him even to kill. Nice movie, very interresting subject and good acting and directing 8/10
"The True Story of Jesse James" (Nicholas Ray, USA 1957) Remake of the famous movie of 1939, this one is part of those mutilated movies. The producers made it comletly different as what Ray did on the first editing. Very interressant western made like a film-noir with a complex flashback contruction (the producers made it a bit ridiculous by adding nice colour clouds and ridiculous music on fading). By the way even if mutilated the movie is very good and full of poetry and sadness. A good western indeed 8,5/10
And back to the B vault...
"Jigsaw" (Fletcher Markle, USA 1949) An interessant B film-noir about an attorney Howard Malloy (Franchot Tone) who discover a group of fascists (the crusaders) which murder people... He soon discover that high society people are involved... they try to corrupt him even by using a nice singer to discredit him... Nice filming and good screenplay in a in-between mode after the anti-nazi movies and before cold-war ones... interrsting 7,5/10
"The Moonstone" (Reginald Barker, USA 1934) Ultra-poor B movie about a young archeologist (David Manners) who comes back from india with a big jewel the moonstone... he arrive in his family's manor with his indian servant Yandoo (John Davidson as usual). The moonstone is stolen at night, an inspector's comming to find the solution... Very cheap Monogram B, for fans only 5,5/10
"The Shadow Strikes" (Lynn Shores, USA 1937) Another ultra-poor B by Colony Pictures/Grand National. Very cheap use of the famous pulp hero, very popular in the 30's and 40's. Here the shadow takes the place of an attorney when a man is killed just before the signature of his new wil... Very cheap. 5/10
"The Mask of Fu Manchu" (Charles Brabin and Charles Vidor, USA 1932) The Mad Doctor Fu Manchu wants to find first the sword and mask of Genghis Khan to rule the world but some archeologist find the treasure before him... Nice movie well directed and acted (Karloff is awsome as mad Fu Manchu and Myrna Loy is beautifull) even if the plot is obviously racist and the ending a bit cheap... The whole is well done. 7/10
"Doctor X" (Michael Curtiz, USA 1932) Curtiz directed some nice Bs (see the escellent "The Kenell Murder Case" for example). This one involve a famous surgeon (Lionel Atwill) who must find a murderer in it's school before police do. But who's the murderer in this collection of mad scientists ?? Nice story and one of the first technicolor horror movie ever made... Very creepy especialy at the ending... 7,5/10
"The return of Doctor X" (Vincent Sherman, USA 1939) Th sequel is not a tru one. Her the mad doctor Clegg find a way to bring people back from the dead, but need to have fresh blood. To help in his research he brings back to life the Doctor X (Humfrey Borgart in his most weird role), who was condamn to death for murder. But now Xavier continues to kill and the doctor Clegg can't do anything... A young doctor and his friend a journalist want ot explain this strange murders... Interresting especialy for the casting Bogart in his most strange composition and the beautifull and too rare Lya Lys... 7/10
Finished Uni for Christmas so i've been working my way through the piles of DVDs i've not watched. Looking at some of the other posts, I don't think my tastes are as highbrow as some but I like to think I have a pretty wide and electic taste. Over the last few days I have watched-
The Dilemma (Ron Howard, USA 2011) Decent enough comedy, if tonally a little messy. Some of the sub-plots go nowhere. 5/10
Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, USA 2004) Very effective and emotional depiction of the genocide in Rwanda. Don Cheadle is fantastic. 9/10
The Book of Eli (The Hughes Brothers, USA 2010) Visually splendid, Denzel Washington kicks ass, Gary Oldman chews up the scenery. Good fun. 7/10
Solomon Kane (Michael J Bassett, USA 2009) Some good action but nothing spectacular. 5/10
Star Trek (JJ Abrams, USA 2009) Abrams successfully reboots the series and, essentially, makes it cool again. 9/10
Death to Smoochy (Danny DeVito, USA 2002) Deliciously acidic satire, criminally underseen. 9/10
The Spy Next Door (Brian Levant, USA 2010) What can i say? I'm a sucker for films where action men have to look after children. For devout Jackie Chan fans only. 6/10
London Boulevard (Wiliam Monaghan, USA 2010) Good cast, good writer, but this film was just BLAH. Does nothing new or groundbreaking. Barely passed the time. 4/10
Inception (Christopher Nolan, USA 2010) What more can be said? Incredible, ambitious, intelligent. Things too often missing from blockbusters. 9/10
Insomnia (Christopher Nolan, USA 2002) Before Nolan did batman and Inception, he directed Insomnia. Typically aesthetically pleasing and twisty-turny, with a effectively creepy performance from Robin Williams. 8/10
Coffin Rock (Rupert Glasson, AUS 2009) Australian thriller that starts slow, but builds up a palpable atmosphere of unease before its explosive conclusion. 7/10
Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder, USA 1963) I love Jack Lemmon and I love Shirley Mcclaine, and this has both, ergo I love this! Really fun comedy. 9/10
The Fortune Cookie (Billy Wilder, USA 1966) Wilder, Lemmon, Matthau. Enough said. 9/10
Once upon a time in China (Hark Tsui, HK 1991) Little boring in parts, but for any fans of Jet Li this is a must see. 7/10
Hjem til jul [Home for Christmas] (2010) 6/10 Mosaic film about a number of inhabitants of a Norwegian village on Christmas eve. Director Bent Hamer has made some nice absurdist movies (Kitchen Stories, O’Horten), but this one is slightly disappointing. It doesn't entirely succeed in avoiding sentimentality and the different story lines remain too much separated.
Red Cliff I (2008) & Red Cliff II (2009) 6/10 Red Cliff tells the story of the eponymous Han Empire battle that took place in the third century. From the first minute of the film it's clear who the bad guys are. And it's clear that the good guys, despite being outnumbered, will win the battle. Basically it's a 5-hours-long illustration from a history book that is very enjoyable for its truly stunning production design, but doesn't have any depth or suspense. It follows all the rules of the Hollywood epic drama format (well, sex is actually replaced by tea ceremony) - brought to China by director John Woo - and combines this with the silly gymnastics that is mistaken for martial arts. There must be at least ten scenes in which one of the individual heroic generals is unleashed to take on some dozens of enemy soldiers on his own, stabbing or beheading each of them one after the other, while performing complicated body movements. Did no-one think this might be somewhat redundant?
Life In a Day (2011) 7/10 A sympathetic experiment that's enjoyable to watch, which says something about the editing skills involved, turning 4500 hours of YouTube stuff into a 95-minutes documentary. The best part, I would say, are some of the individual clips, that show interesting, moving or simply beautiful scenes. On the whole, it gets a certain 'we-are-the-world' atmosphere, a forced harmony, a bit too simplistic and optimistic.
Love (2011) 7/10 It's 2039 and an astronaut is in orbit in the International Space Station ISS, when he loses connection with earth. Apparently humankind has wiped itself out. The astronaut is trapped in space. It's a beautiful psychological and mystical film, often reminiscent of Kubrick's 2001. Director William Eubank shot most of the film in a self made space station on his parents' driveway, but in the last part of the movie the low budget, alas, leads to some unconvincing production design and location choices. To me, the last quarter of the film was irritatingly puzzling, but I'm sure that for those who find sense in it, Love is nothing short of a masterpiece. (The title is of course much too general to be any good.)
"The Spiral Staircase" (Robert Siodmak, USA 1946) Not the better Siodmak at all but very interresting whodunit. The movie is especially interesting for the photography of Nicholas Musuraca which is absolutly awsome. The screenplay is quite simple, the directing less interresting than in movies as Criss Cross or the killers. The acting of George Brent is as usual boring... But remains a classic 8/10
"The bad and the Beautiful" (Vicente Minelli, USA 1952) We proposed this Wonderful movie at our cineclub... Excellent screenplay, good directing, good acting of Kirk Douglas (95 last week !!) Lana Turner and Gloria Grahame... But everybody knows it. Fascinating 10/10
Now, the movies that nobody's have watched
First the six episodes of the famous Universal serie staring Lon Chaney Jr "The Inner Sanctum" This series is made of six feature movies all stared by Lon, who shows here that he can be a good actor indeed. (he suffered all his ife of this lack of recognition). All the movies are mystery thriller, with few budget but very often with interresting story and screenplay.
I already wrote about "Calling Dr. Death" some day ago the others are
"Weird Woman" (Reginald Le Borgg, USA 1944) An ethnologist Norman Reed (Lon Chaney) Mary a native girl, Paula (Anne Gwynne), from an exotic island where the religion is voodoo... He discover that she's still practicing his religion, she says it's to protect him... he makes her stop and then everything goes wrong in his life... Not bad 6,5/10
"The Frozen Ghost" (Harold Young, USA 1945) A mentalist is sure he killed someone only with his eyes during a show... Despite the police conlusions are accident, he retires and go to the wax-museum of a friend of his. Her he finds a strange puppet maker Rudi (Martin Kosleck) with a strange past... Soon other people are dying strangely... 6,5/10
"Dead Man's Eyes" (Reginald Le Borg, USA 1944) In this episode Lon Chaney is a painter who by accident burns his eyes and becomes blind... But there is a chance for him to recover the light if some eyes are transplanted... His protector promise him to give him his eyes after his death (hei's very old and don't think to live a long time). But just some days after he's foun dead... Of course everybody think Chaneykilled him... 6,5/10
"Strange Confession" (John Hoffman, USA 1945) This episode is the one which looks the most like film noir especialy because it consists in an huge flashback. Here a desperate man comes one night to an attorney. He's a famous chimist with the head of his boss in a bag... He murders him... He then tell all the story... this one is very interresting, perhaps the best one of the serie with "Calling Dr. Death". 7,5/10
"Pillow of Death" (Wallace Fox, USA 1945) Last episode of th serie this one involve an attorney (Lon Chaney) who's in love with his secretary and who find his wife dead on arrival... of course he's the perfect suspect... Furthermore a mentalist calls Chaney's wife spirit who of course claims that he's guilty... but obviously he's a quack... then pople who seems to have something to tell are dying mysteriously, suffocated... 6,5/10
"Witchfinder General" (Michael Reeves, UK 1968) Last movie of this died too soon director, it deals with the (true) story of a mad Witchfinder and his associate who tortured and burned witches only for money... Vincent Price is wonderfull in this role of pure offensive bastard. Interresting movie with some nice filming. 7,5/10
"She" (Lansing C. Holden, Irving Pichel, USA 1935) Produced by Merian C. Cooper, this fantastic adventure movie is largely inspired by the myth of Atlantis. Here two scientists (Randolf Scot and Nigel Bruce) and a girl (Helen Mack) are looking for a mysterious element which make a flame that give you eternal youth... Their research push them to the arctic where they discover an undeground kingdom where, SHE reigns... They are caught but SHE (Helen Gahagan, mysterious) thinks she recognize in Scott the man she loves 400 years ago an who left her for another girl... Very entertaining movie, incredibly huge settings and special effects !! 8,5/10
"The Glass Cage" (aka the "Glass Tomb" US) (Montgomery Tully, UK 1955) This small noir (and the next movie too) are poorly known Hammer movies. They were made before the copany becomes famous with the horror movies (1957). Indeed they were made for the US (that's why they have all two titlles). The Lippert productions a US B company rent the Hammer studio and technicians to make some B film noir with some US actors... In this one a circus manager in involved in blackmail and murders... The killer, blackmailed by a girl, kills her but has to eliminates the people who have seen him... 6,5/10
"Five Days" (aka "Paid to Kill" US) (Montgomery Tully, UK 1954) In this small B noir of the Hammer, a business man is ruined. Desperate he decides to pay a killer to shoot him down in order his wife get the insurance... The killer must do it during the five coming days... but on the third his affairs go miraculosely better but he can't contact the killer anymore.... and he escapes death twice... Furthermore his wife seems to have some projects for him too. Even if low budget a frightening story very entertaining... 7,5/10
Eastern Promises - another Cronenberg's masterpiece. Excellent movie, you are completely drawn into its story and the twist in the end made it even better, 9/10.
"Castle Keep" (Sydney Pollack, USA 1969) A very strange war movie (but it is not really one) telling the story of a group of soldiers during WWII in charge to keep a castle full of paintings, sculptures... The stranges relations between the major (Burt Lancaster) and the captain (Ptricj O'Neal) an art teacher with the count, owner of the castle and his niece/wife... Some very impressive sequences and a wierd talk for an unusual movie very interresting 8/10
"The Vikings" (Richard Fleischer, USA 1958) We proposed this true classic with Kirk Douglas at his best and Tony Curtis at our cineclub. It was much fun to watch it on wide screen... But everybody knows this movie 9/10
"Schatten - Eine nächtliche Halluzination" (Arthur Robison, Germany 1923) A classic of german expressionism which tell the story of a Shadow player who come at a party organized by the very jealous husband of a young woman. At the party all the suitors of his wife are present. But when the show begins reality and dreams begin to get confused... Excellent 9/10
"Macario" (Roberto Gavaldón, Mexico 1960) One of the masterpiece of mexican cinema. The story of a poor lumberjack who barely can feed his family. His dream is to eat a turkey alone... one day he decides to stopeating untill he realizes his dream. His wife steal a turkey and offer it to him. He goes in the wood to eat it all alone. He meets the Devil, God and refuse to share the turkey... But when he meets the Death he accepts... To reward him the Death gives him a bottle of water which can cure everything if Death is allright of course... Then Macario's life changes but soon he's acused of whitchcraft... A wonderfull fantasy film sometimes terrifying even if made without any special effect. A lesson nowadays... 10/10
"A Child is Waiting" (John Cassavetes, USA 1963) A shock. Excellent movie about the very difficult subject of mentally reterded children. The fight between a doctor (a fabulous Burt Lancaster) and a nurse (the fragile Judy Garland) about the case of a child Reuben... Even if Cassavetes denied this movie edited against his will by producer Stanley Kramer, and even if the making of the movie was very difficult (you can read on the subject the excellent book "Cassavetes on Cassavetes") the movie is still wonderfull and moving, dealing with lot of finesse a very hard story and avoinding all numerous clichés possible with this type of subject. Directing is very good and some visual finding very interesting. Acting is just great. A masterpiece, those kind of movies you never forget. 10/10
"Man in the Shadow" (Jack Arnold, USA 1957) A very good small movie about a honest sherrif (Jeff Chandler) who will face the boss of a big ranch (Orson Welles) accused to have ordered the murder of a mexican worker of his ranch because he was to friendly with his daughter (Colleen Miller). A classic story but which says clearly what is to say. Nice b&w scope and an impressive opening scene (Welles's touch ??) worth of watching. 8/10
"The Unearthly" (Boris Petroff, USA 1957) An ultra-poor B about a mad doctor (John Carradine of course) who studies glands and want to get immortality... But his experiment are not very successful and all what is create is monsters he keeps in his cellar. But he needs more and more guinea pigs (= patients)... A policeman infiltrate the doctor's hospital... Very poor B but enjoyable and one of the rare ocasion to watch the cult B star Allison Hayes !! the mythic 50 foot Woman !! 6,5/10 (for B fans 9/10)
"Les raisins de la Mort" (aka "The Grapes of Death") (Jean Rollin, France 1978) Well, as you can imagine no relation betwenn this movie and the famous Steinbeck's novel... nor with Ford's movie. In this one wine-growers use prohibited pesticides on grapes and then people who drink the wine become bloodthirsty zombies... yes man !! It's useless to tell you that it's awfully bad... Another great So Bad that it's Good. 3/10 (for Z fans 10/10 and more !!!)
"La Perla" (aka "The Pearl") (Emilio Fernández, Mexico 1947) Wonderfull adaptation of the famous Steinbeck's novel. Everybody knows the story ot the poor fisherman who finds the biggest and most perfect pearl ever and who thinks it will bring happyness and freedom to him and his family but who'll only get sadness and missfortune... A tru masterpiece of mexican cinema and cinema. The filming is huge and the influence of Eisenstein very present. A Masterpiece 10/10
"She Done Him Wrong" (Lowell Sherman, USA 1933) A small pre-code comedy sometimes very funny but very interresting first because of the meeting of two big stars Mae West and a young Cary Grant who seem to enjoy a lot here... What is also very interresting is the dialogs which are very crude (pre-code!!) and the ending absolutly immoral that will be impossible few years later... a movie to discover 8/10
"Mo" (aka "Boxer's Omen) (Chih-Hung Kue, Hong-Kong 1983) A totaly wierd Shaw Brothers production. Can't tell you what it is about but complety delirious, crazy... all what you want... As usual the filming is good, the colors wondeful the special effects kitsch and more... Just an advice : don't watch it just after eating... you'l be warned. 4/10 for Z fans 10/10 !!
"Midnight Manhunt" (William C. Thomas, USA 1945) Another ultra-poor B whodunit crime/comedy about the disappearance of a body in a wax museum. Everybody's looking for it : a couple of journalists and occasionaly lovers, the detective, the killer himself... A classic screenplay but sometimes funny... Interresting because this is one of the few movie where you can see Ann Savage the famous femme fatale of "Detour" !! 6/10
"Pardon Us" (James Parrott, USA 1931) A very funny adventure of Laurel & Hardy. This time they are put in jail after being involved in prohibition. They escape one time but caught back.... They have trouble with a leader of the prisonners when there's a riot in the cell block... Well known comedy.... funny 7,5/10
"East Side, West Side" (Mervyn LeRoy, USA 1949) A nice melodrama with a few crime movie which could have been better but the casting and acting are good : James Masson, Van Heflin, Ava Gardner, Cyd Charisse, Barbara Stanwyck, Beverly Michaels... Some nice moments but a bit too speeky. The end is very good and bitter... 7/10
"La Chienne" (Jean Renoir, France 1931) Second speaking movie of Renoir and first masterpiece. A dark tale of a man (Michel Simon) pushed to murder by a woman who'll continualy betrays him... a fatal spiral. The movie will be remake by Fritz Lang in 1945 ("The Scarlet Street") and by Duvivier with the sam Michel Simon ("Panique"). Great movie 9/10
"Eegah" (Arch Hall Sr, USA 1962) So... A pretty girl Roxy (Marilyn Manning) drives at night through the desert when she meets a prehistoric giant man Eegah (a very young Richard Kiel !!) She tells her story to her dad (Arch Hall Sr.) and to her boyfriend Tom (Arch Hall Jr.)... The father is kidnapped by Eegah then it's Roxy's turn.... Eegah wants to marry Roxy... Will Tom rescue them on time ?? One of the proud member of the IMDb's bottom 100, this movie is simply ridiculous and hilarious... a true So Bad that it's good... 2/10 for Z fans 10/10.
"Moontide" (Archie L. Mayo, USA 1942) Another very goo movie by Mayo who's a bit neglected by cinema historians. Perhaps did he make only the movies studio gave him but at least he did it well, and in this one very well. The movie deals with the story of Bobo (Jean Gabin in exile !!) a sailor who drinks too much... one morning he wake up on a Henry's barge a chinese fisherman and can't remember what happened last night... He learns also that a guy has been strangled and the murderer's still at large... The same day he rescues a young girl Anna (Ida Lupino beautiful and excellent as usual) from suicide... They fall in love. But Tiny (Thomas Mitchell) Bobo's friend and parasite is jealous and make Bobo believe he's the murderer... Very nic mix of romance and film noir and also with a kind look at the small people working on the waterfront. Nice filming and story that make you think to a film noir filmed by Borzage, (the barge replacing the appartment of "7th Heaven" for example) with lot of romantism... A true good surprise. 9/10
"Cape Fear" (J. Lee Thompson, USA 1962) A classic thriller. Creepy story and with many undercurrents, sometimes very clear and strong for that time. Mitchum excellent as this human beast... Very nice photgraphy too. The Remake with DeNiro is more explicative (as usual in today's cinema) and lose lot of it's strength and "sulfur" 9/10
"The Golden Blade" (Nathan Juran, USA 1953) Deliciousely kitsch movie in the Arabian Nights style. A brave guy (Rock Hudson) is searching to revenge the guys who killed his father... He come to Bagdad and find a magic golden blade... And he meets the daughter of the Calife without knowing it... But soon bad guys want to be calife at the place of the calife... colourful movie with lot of action, very cheap screenplay but funny and enjoyable Piper Laurie is cute... 7,5/10
"Beowulf" (Robert Zemeckis, USA 2007) A videogame for spoty teenagers, but as usual with videogames very quickly boring when you can't play... Luckily a good dose of six pack salacious humour is here to make you have a big laugh.... HAHA HA... Hu ! Somebody's just telling me it's not a videogame but a movie... Sorry. 2/10
"Innocence" (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2004) About 2 years ago I saw screenshot #32237 from this movie and I wanted to see it ever since. The story is a little weird, but the movie looks really beautiful. 8/10
Los ojos de Julia [Julia's Eyes] (2010) 3/10 A ridiculously improbable and pointless Spanish horror film. All the more irritating is that it's very well made: what a waste of talent on something that ultimately is nothing more than shallow entertainment that can be forgotten immediately after viewing.
De storm [The Storm] (2009) 4/10 One dimensional story about a stolen baby, against the historical backdrop of a flood that engulfed part of the Netherlands in 1953.
Susa (2010) 6/10 Social drama, set in a poor, run down and depressing Georgia, about a 12 year old boy delivering bottles of vodka for an illegal distillery. Life is miserable and will probably not get any better.
Gagma napiri [The Other Bank] (2009) 6/10 Road movie about a cross-eyed 12-year old boy traveling from Tbilisi to Abkhazia in an attempt to find his father, whom he did not see since he fled the region at the age of 4 with his mother, at the start of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in 1992. A mix of social drama, a touch of poetics and some suspense, but never really gripping.
Rare Exports (2010) 6/10 Finnish horror movie for kids. The 'real' Santa Claus is dug up from a mountain in the far north and turns out to be not so friendly. The build up of suspension in the first half of the story is better than the 'action' in the second half, but the good thing is that the tone of voice has the right balance; it is pleasantly subversive-ish and never gets childish.
Depuis qu'Otar est parti... (2003) 7/10 Illegal immigrant worker from Georgia is killed in an accident in France, but we see the story unfold from the perspective of his mother, sister and niece, back in Tbilisi. The latter two don't dare to tell the mother the bad news and things start to get increasingly complicated. The story is not terribly exciting, but the acting of the three women is very convincing and opens all kinds of insights into life in Georgia and the way the three generations approach life.
Boy A (2008) 7/10 Having murdered a girl as a kid, Eric is paroled at 24 after years in prison, receives a new identity and tries to rebuild a life. The film is interesting for its balanced view on things like good and evil and the possibility of change and forgiveness. It does have a few dramatic plot elements too many to really convince.
Mýrin (2006) 7/10 Fine Icelandic police thriller. Atmosphere, locations, acting and music are all pretty great, but the plot is somewhat messy. An unnecessary, shitty American remake called Jar City is scheduled for 2012.
“The Strange Door” (Joseph Pevney, USA 1951) Nice and frightening movie with two stars Charles Laughton as a mad sick count and his servant Boris Karloff. A dark story of vengeance with very nice filming. A good B horror movie. 8,5/10
“Heidi” (Allan Dwan, USA 1937) A very nice movie with the child-star Shirley Temple. Adaptation of the famous story of Johanna Spyri, the whole is very entertaining. Shirley Temple is good and cute as usual. Nice filming by Allan Dwan. 7,5/10
“Party Girl” (Nicholas Ray, USA 1958) Excellent movie telling the story of a famous lawyer (Robert Taylor) working for the Mafia. But one day he falls in love with a dancer (Cyd Charisse, beautiful) and she convices him to change his life… But his old Friends do not agree. Nice story, very nice filming, nice dance sequences… A must 8,5/10
“Derrière la façade” (Georges Lacombe, Yves Mirande, France 1939) Interesting movie about a murder committed in a lift. The landlady of a building has been murdered… Two policemen are investigating it’s then the occasion of a serie of small scenes when they visit all the inhabitants of the building also a parade of famous actors (Michel Simon, Erich vonStroheim, Jules Berry, Gaby Morlaix…) Also a picture of French society just before WWII). It reminds me Renoir’s “La règle du jeu” even if not reaching it’s level. Very nice movie to discover. 7,5/10
“The Locked Door” (George Fitzmaurice, USA 1929) Nice pre-code movie with the first great role for a 22 years old Barbara Stanwyck (her second movie indeed bu not credited on the first one). A young and naïve girl is nearly abused by a gigolo… Almost two years later she’s married and happy but discovers that the young sister of her husband is under influence of the same gigolo… Her husband suspects her to be in love with him, she decides to meet him again to force him to quit her husband’s sister… Then thing are going wrong… Very good early performance. Nice small pre-code movie 7,5/10
“Man in the Wilderness” (Richard Sarafian, USA 1969) I’ve re-watched this wonderful western (which is not really one indeed). Nice screenplay adapted from a true story. Huge directing, wonderful photography with impressive colors. Very good acting of Richard Harris and John Huston. Simply excellent 9/10
“Torch Singer” (Alexander Hall, George Somnes, USA 1933) Another lost pre-code movie telling the story of a poor girl Sally Trend (Claudette Colbert) who has an illegitimate child but can’t support her and abandons her. Years later she’s famous singer and by accident become a radio-star with a broadcast for children… She decides to try to fond back her child… Very nice story good directing and acting. 8/10
“The Purchase Price” (William A. Wellman, USA 1932) Another great movie by Wellman. The story of an independent party girl (once more Babara Stanwyck wonderful) who tries to escape from his lover a thief. She will take the place of a maid to join a farmer in a lost place and marry him… They will discover themselves and finlay fall in love despite many troubles. Very nice movie. 8/10
“The Cheat” (George Abbott, USA 1931) This pre-code movie is the remake of DeMille’s 1919 masterpiece. Story is the same put in present. Not so good as the original and a bit less subversive but worth of watching. 7/10
“Three on a Match” (Mervyn LeRoy, USA 1932) Very good movie about three girls who where friends at school and who meet back some years later… This meeting will change their destiny forever. Wonderfull story, excellent acting of the three girls (Joan Blondell, Bete Davis and Ann Dvorak) Very good directing of LeRoy a sort of tour de force to put so many things in only 63 minutes !!. Definitively a good one 9/10
“Female” (Michael Curtiz, USA 1933) The story of a business woman (Ruth Chatterton) who only live for work and uses men like Kleenex. But one day she decides to live free and go downtown. At a a fun house she meets a man who ressits her and the day after she realizes (and he too) ,that he’s the new engineer the recruited… She falls in love, but he doesn’t seem to agree… A bit disappointing Curtiz movie but worth of watching. 7/10
I, think that's all for 2011... a bit more than 500 movies this year... not bad ;) Hope the same for 2012 !!
Zombie ja Kummitusjuna [Zombie and the Ghost Train] (1991) 3/10 Finnish film about a bass player who drinks a lot. The casting is poor, the characters flat and the story never takes off.
Paranormal Activity (2007) 5/10 An effective little horror story, very much like The Blair Witch Project, entirely shot within the confines of a single house. Having said that, it does remain a silly horror film driven by inexplicable events.
Ensemble, c'est tout (2007) 6/10 Harmless French romantic comedy. Not bad, but not memorable in any way either.
Le hérisson [The Hedgehog] (2009) 6/10 An 11-year old girl has decided to commit suicide when she turns 12. But first she has to finish recording her film that shows why life is absurd. This promising premise, however, is muddled by an unconvincing storyline about a (stiff acting) sophisticated new Japanese neighbour who for no good reason has an immediate crush on the grumpy middle aged and overweight janitor, who supposedly has something to hide, although that plot element never gets us anywhere either. Lack of elaboration is mistaken for subtlety in this film.
Terri (2011) 8/10 Sympathetic and gentle coming-of-age film about a 15-year old obese boy in a small American town. John Reilly is excellent as the slightly awkward school principal.
Respiro (2002) 8/10 Extremely vital and at times disturbing portrait of a family on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The wife of a fisherman and mother of three doesn't quite fit in and there is increasing pressure to send her to Milan for mental treatment. The cinematography is a symphony of sun, water, fish, rocks, dogs and Vespas.
Nuovomondo [Golden Door] (2006) 8/10 Beautiful Italian film about a Sicilian family's emigration to the USA. Set in the early 20th century, it's a historical film. But it's more than that: there are poetic scenes, elements of mystery and religious references that lift the film to another level. Funny to see that the end shot is sort of the inverse of the end shot in Emanuele Crialese's earlier film, Respiro. [see above]
Tyrannosaur (2011) 9/10 Paddy Considine's debut as a director has won award after award, and for good reasons. Tyrannosaur is a brilliant study of some (self-)destructive people in Leeds, and a love story of the most unlikely kind. Repulsion, sympathy, despair and hope are mixed to perfection.
"The Man Who Laughs" (Paul Leni, USA 1928) Wonderful adapatation of Victor Hugo's story, this silent masterpiece is very well directed (see the first 20 minutes for example). Conrad Veidt is terrifiying and moving. The actresses are beautifull too... Great one !! 9/10
"Ladrón de cadáveres" (aka "The Body Snatcher ") (Fernando Méndez, Mexico 1957) Excellent horror movie from mexican vault mixing all genres : Mad doctor who want to create a "superman" who steals bodys of wrestlers and creates a thing between vampire and werwolf !! Conmpletly wired screanplay nice filming. A movie to discover 7,5/10
"L'assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora" (aka "The Killer must Kill Again") (Luigi Cozzi, Italy/France 1975) Excellent and very pervert giallo the second movie of Cozzi and a classic of the genre. Very nice filming and huge use of the parallel editing. The acting of Antoine Saint-John as the mad killer is simply terrifying !! A too rare actor withe a face!! A nice movie 8/10
"Captain John Smith and Pocahontas" (Lew Landers, USA 1953) A small B movie in costumes... But honnest and entertaining. Landers is not a vry good director and most of the actors of the movie are now almost forgotten but it's short enough not to be boring, lot af action, a story not bad at all... for B fans 7/10
"The Wind" (Victor Sjöström, USA 1928) Certainly one of the masterpiece of silent era and a masterpiece of cinema for sure. With a simple story Sjöström built a piece of art, the fight between a fragile human being (wonderful Lilian Gish) and Nature... personified by the Wind, a white horse in the clouds... Just awsome !!! 10/10
"In a Lonely Place" (Nicholas Ray, USA 1950) Everyboy knows this classic, the story of a tortured and violent man wrongly accused of a murder... love suspitions, doubt... Excellent 9/10
"Gojira" (aka"Godzilla") (Ishirô Honda, Japan 1954) Watched the original uncut japanese version, not the trunkated 1956 one with raymond Burr. Of course the original is much much better and her the message is clearer, as Godzilla a metaphor to the bomb itself and not only a warning of missuse of nuclear energy... Great directing, great photgraphy and very nice special effects. Definitively the best. 8/10
At our cineclub last night "I mostri" (aka "Opiate '67" "15 from Rome") (Dino Risi, Italy, 1963) Excellent comedy made of 19 short stories all more crual than the others... Cupid, liar, coward... A typical italian comedy, a genre born just after neorealism mix between producers who wanted comedy to drain people to cinema and were fed-up with the sadness of neorealisme and directors, left-oriented, disapponted and who'll give a vitriolic vision of a society they didn't expect... Very good 8,5/10
Potiche (2010) 3/10 It's not by (re)uniting Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu that you automatically get a good film. On the contrary: Potiche is a useless and uninteresting stupid comedy with boring stereotypes for characters.
Hesher (2010) 4/10 Fake subversive movie, pretending to be cool and daring, but in fact following all the Hollywood rules and preaching a message of family values and affirming life. Admittedly, it was fun seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman the way they looked, but that's also where the fun ended.
La piel que habito [The Skin I Live In] (2011) 7/10 Beautifully filmed thriller about a mad surgeon. Some weaknesses as well: too bad Pedro Almodovar thought the script needed a far-fetched sub-plot about the brother of the surgeon. Wasn't one mad character enough? Or maybe it was to draw attention away from some other aspects of the film that are rather improbable?
Bal [Honey] (2010) 7/10 Concluding part of Semih Kaplanoğlu's trilogy about Yusuf Özbek shows the future Turkish poet as a shy six-year old boy, having trouble reading and speaking and losing his father. It's slow, almost silent, and very poetic. The film won the Golden Bear in Berlin, but for those who haven't seen the other parts of the trilogy, this episode must be somewhat puzzling.
Año bisiesto [Leap Year] (2010) 9/10 Mexican movie, entirely shot in a one bedroom apartment, about a lonely twenty-something girl, working as a freelance writer for a business magazine, constantly picking up one-night-stands and lying to her mother over the phone about her life. And the 29th of February is approaching, a date marked in red on her calendar. 'Pornography dressed up as art house', as I read somewhere, or a powerful study in urban solitude? I opt for the latter.
"Goto, l'ïle d'amour' (aka "Goto, Island of Love") (Walerian Borowczyk, France, 1969) A strange and weird tale about an isolated island run by a dictator (Pierre Brasseur) A man fall in love with the dictator's wife and will do everything to get her, even become himself the dctator... Very experimental and aeashetic movie with nice filming and photography. A strange object to discover 7,5/10
"Tiger Fangs" Sam Newfield, USA 1943) An ultrapoor B movie from the poorest of the poorest PRC... A complete weird exotic tales in India where the rubber plantations are under attack of tigers... A professional hunter Frank Buck (Frank Buck!!) is sent to eliminate tigers. He will discover that it is a nazi's conspiracy, the tigers are drugued by an evil doctor... For B fans only, but entertazining 6/10
"The invisible Killer" (Sam Newfield, USA 1939) Another ultra-poor B movie by PRC and Newfield. This one takes place in the gambling background... Some people die mysteriously without any killer !! In fact the inspector Brown (Roland Drew) and a pretty journalist Sue Walker (Grace Bradley) will discover that people are killed by gaz through the telephon... A pure low-budget movie for B fans 5/10
"Hannusen" (O.W. Fischer, Georg Marischka, West Germany, 1955) The story of a spiritualist Hanussen (O.W. Fischer) who became a star at the beginning of Hitler regime and who will help to escape the regime a young writer he'e in love with. He will be betray by his impressario (Kalus Kinski) Nice filming in the pure german style of this time. To discover 7/10
"Thirteen Women" (George Archainbaud, USA 1932) Nice movie in which a girl Ursula (Myrna Loy beautiful) will manipulate a spiritualist to push women to suicide, killing... to take revenge on them... Nice filming movie with nice actresses, almost an all women cast. 7,5/10
"Wakusei daisenso" (aka Battle in outer space 2") (Jun Fukuda, Japan 1977) A poor Toho production nice filming and special effets but soothing sreenplay and ridiculous acting. For fan of kitsch cinema only 4,5/10
"La vendetta di Ercole" (aka "Goliath and the Dragon") (Vittorio Cottafavi, France/Italy, 1960) Nice peplum with Mark Forrest s Hercule who will have lots to do after coming back from hell and finishing his 12 works... His ennemy the crual Eurito (Broderick Crawford) want to atttack Thebes... Hercules will have to fight gods and moster to defeat him... Not as bad as expected... (People are always too severe with peplum on IMDb). 6,5/10
"Laserblast" (Michael Rae, USA 1978) A glorious member of IMDb bottom 100 ! And a cult movie. Kinky aliens forgot a lasergun on earth. A young guy with lot of problems find it and now has limitless power to take revange... But the gun causes collateral damages.. he transforms in a green vampire... Aliens want to get the gun back 2/10 for Z fans 10/10 !!!
"The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" (Charles Guggenheim, John Stix, USA 1959) Much under-rated B movie about the true story of a hold-up. The movie is very low budget but very interesting by it's atmosphere. You know from the beginning that the thieves will fail. You know they are losers, they are doomed from the beginning (it's the complete opposite to "Ocean Eleven" for example). The all atmosphere is sad, sordid, poor. We only have lonely people with twisted minds or ilusion in the best case. The only positive character, Ann (Molly McCarthy very moving) is a poor girl trapped and who will die... all is desperate in this movie, people are sick... It's also the ocasion to watch a young Steve McQueen. Other interessant thing is the treatment of homosexuality which is completly obvious here, which is quite strange for that ime. A movie to watch. The filming is almost documentary and fit well with the atmosphere. 8,5/10
At our cineclub this week was "Il sorpasso" (aka "The Easy Life) (Dino Risi Italy 1962) Great italian comedy. The meeting of an extrovert guy (Vitorio Gassman excellent) and an introverted student (Jean-Louis Trintignant). During a road movie through Rome and the area, their life will change forever... This fable is mainly a cynicistical vison of the changes of the society in Italy, the confrontation between the new superficial consumer society and the old traditional one... excellent movie 9,5/10
"The Beast with Five Fingers" (Robert Florey, USA 1946) Excelent small horror movie about a hand coming out from the grave to kill people... But is it really the case... Very good screenplay, nice performance of Peter Lorre as twisted mind, sick and hallucinate killer. A good one 8/10
"Valley of the Zombies" (Philip Ford, USA 1946) Directed by the nephew of John Ford this poor Republic B movie tales the story of a man left for dead and buried who comes back to life but must have blood tranfusion to survive... He wants to take revenge on the people who cure him in hospital and left him dead... A pure B interresting for the performance of Ian Keith excellent as the mad Zombie... 6/10
"The Curse of the Cat People" (Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise, USA (1944) This sequel of the wonderful "Cat People" is not a sequel. The title was here just to make people come and because some actors are the same (Simone Simon...). It's a wonderfull and very nice story of a nice and dreamy little girl who is alone, rejected by others, Amy (Ann Carter excellent) who get a magic ring which allows her to make wishes... She wishes a friend and a nice and beautiful woman appears It's the ghost of Irena the cursed girl of "Cat People" (Simone Simon) and former wife of her dad... Of course nobody believe her. At the same time she meets an old woman (who gave her the ring) and her strange daughter who live alone in a haunted house... Excellent movie where the little girl with discover the adult world but also in which adults lear to discover and accept children's one. SPOILER The ending is especialy good when you discover that the ghost may be true... SPOILER. Excellent screenplay, nice filming and acting, lot of poetry. Don't let you influence by the ridiculous title watch it !! Excellent 9/10
"The Last Performance" (Paul Féjos, USA 1927) A poorly known silent movie about a magician Erik the Great (Conrad Veidt), in love with his much younger assistant. But she's in love with another guy of the troup and a third guy, in love too, will betray her secret to Erik who will imagine an evil plan to eliminate both of the lovers... Nice movie. Unfortunatly the copy I've got is awfull and mutilated from almost 20 minutes... I'll try to watch it in a better way. 7,5/10
"Strip-Tease" (aka "Sweet Skin") (Jacques Poitrenaud, France 1963) Poorly know but excellent movie about the nght club and strip-tease clubs in the Paris of the 60's... A dancer Ariane (Nico !!! Beautiful) who starves decides to become a Striptease dancer. But she's shy but quickly became a star of the paris's Night... She meets a rich boy and they fall in love... But indeed she discovers that the true motive of the guy is to fight his own family... she leaves all that stuff and will go back to the hard way of dancing... Very nice movie mixing the atmospher of Paris's Nights, Jazz Clubs, shady Atmosphere with the lonelyness of Ariane's mind... Great b/w scope filming, Nice music of Serge Gainsbourg (who appears in the movie as a pianist) and a nice appearance of the jazz pianist Big Joe Turner as himself and who's Ariane best friend in the movie. A nice account to memory of a lost time. 8/10
"Le Jour se lève" (aka "Daybreak") (Marcel Carné, France 1939) French cinema at it's best. This collaboration between Carné and Prévert is one of the most beautifull. The doomed story of François (Jean Gabin) a simple guy who works in the factury and who fall in love with a nice girl who works by an horticulturist. But there is another man in her life, a strange pet trainer Valentin (Jules Berry) who also has an assistant Clara (Arletty). Then the things are going wrong and François Kills Valentin. Now, he's in his room and remember how all began... Simple story but a wonderfull direction, the construction with three flash-backs is very new for that time and wxill have great influence (Film Noir!!). The dialogs are huge. The settings impressive (all is made in artificial settings). A masterpiece 10/10
"The River's Edge" (Allan Dwan, USA 1957) Excellent B movie by a king of the genre. Violent, deadly and impressive love triangle. A girl Margaret (Debra Paget damn hot!!) has married a farmer Ben (Anthony Quinn not at his's best) because he paid to put her off jail after she was abandonned by her acomplice and lover Nardo (Ray Miland Excellent). But two years later Nardo comes back with 1 million dollars and want ot get her back... She realise she still loves him... But Nardo and her need Ben knoledge to cross the border to Mexico... A perilous trip begins... Excellent small B with lot of action and suspence... Nice filming. 7,5/10
"A Study in Terror" (James Hill, UK 1965) A confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and Jack The Ripper... Here the ripper is a young aristocrat who can't forgive his brother to have waste his life marrying a prostitute who drove him mad... Not bad in a Hammer way filming. 7/10
"Revenge of the Creature" (Jack Arnold, USA 1955) First sequel of "the strange creature of the black laogoon". In this one the creature is captured and brought back to an amusement park and also to be studied. He is of course attracted by a young PhD student Helen (Lori Nelson very pretty) in love with her teacher the Prof. Clete Ferguson (John Agar of course)... He will escape, kidnap the girl and hunted... Entertaining B without any surprise. 6,5/10
The Help (2011) 5/10 Dramatised moralist account of racial inequality in Mississippi in the early 1960s with a feel good ending. Harmless and predictable.
Himalayaeui sonyowa [Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells] (2008) 5/10 Minimalist arthouse film about a Korean businessman who takes the ashes of a Nepalese worker, killed in an accident in his brother's factory, back to his home town in the Himalayas. The landscape is majestic but harsh, the actors hardly say a word. And that's not enough to bring the thing to life.
Schastye moe [My Joy] (2010) 5/10 Director Sergei Loznitsa shows the Ukraine as a country inhabited by evil, corrupt, ugly, criminal and murderous people. It reminded me of Gruz 200, but without the ambiguity of that film, which makes it bleak, grim and rather unpleasant to watch.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) 6/10 British cold war espionage film that is wonderfully looking and manages perfectly to establish an atmosphere of mystery and mistrust. But the story is told in such a confusing way that in the end you don't give a damn about who exactly is the spy.
Nord [North] (2009) 6/10 (Off-) road movie featuring a depressed former ski athlete on a snowmobile in the very north of Norway. Nice scenery, some nice black comedy, but not a very exciting film.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) 6/10 Lynne Ramsay is finally back as a director after her wonderful Morvern Caller (2002), with a film about the mother of a boy who is responsible for a high school massacre in suburban New York. It's a great film in many ways, but what bothered me was that the evil son is so uncompromisingly evil and catastrophe is so inescapable, that the psychological drama really turns into a horror movie. And yes, that's a missed opportunity.
L'ultimo terrestre [The Last Man on Earth] (2011) 7/10 Aliens will soon arrive on earth, but Luca, a loser working as a waiter in a Bingo hall, isn't really concerned - maybe because he resembles an alien himself? Nicely made Italian tragicomedy, with beautiful sets and locations.
Armadillo (2010) 8/10 Documentary about a Danish platoon in Afghanistan. Although nothing really surprising happens, it's a an exciting film to watch, as the camera is a fly on the wall and the images often have cinematic quality. The feeling of uselessness of the entire enterprise is inescapable.
Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da [Once Upon a Time in Anatolia] (2011) 8/10 A 150 min introspective Turkish film about a group of men - policemen, a doctor, a prosecutor and two suspects - searching for the body of a murder victim in the Anatolian steppe. The elaboration of the main characters turns out to be more important than the development of the plot. All parties have complex positions; some tell lies to protect others, another struggles with a guilty conscience.
Drive (2011) 9/10 Wonderful moody and stylish action film. Great sound as well. Especially the first half, in which Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan spend a lot of time smiling at each other, is impressive: tension builds and yet we feel the plot can still go in different directions. In the second half the choice is made: it becomes a neo film noir (and Mulligan is no longer the girl-next-door, but the femme fatale), which leads to some not entirely convincing sequences of events, too mechanically following the rules of the genre. Still a great pleasure to watch.
First on screen first I re-watched some B to Z movies...
"Deux vierges pour Satan" (aka "Curse of the Living Dead") (Jean Rollin, France 1974) A complete Z grade movie of the french master of the genre.... Story of a group of wreckers who one day rape two girls, survivors of a shipwreck... They both escape and reach a haunted castle inhabited by strange people... Those people allow them the power to take revenge on the wreckers... Awfully acted (it is sometime very funny indeed...) and poorly directed... A pure Z for fans only 4,5/10
"The Leopard Man" (Jacques Tourneur, USA 1943) A classic of the collaboration between Tourneur and Lewton, the tale of a mad killer who assists to the killing of a young girl by an escated leopard and who'll have a revelation of his sickness. Then he will kill women making people believe that the big cat is involved... Great atmosphere, very good directing. A classic. 8,5/10
"The Fly" (Kurt Neumann, USA 1958) The original is excellent, but everybody knows this true classic. 8,5/10
"The Invisible Ray" (Lambert Hillyer, USA 1936) A rare movie on screen. The story of a scientist (Boris Karloff) who goes to Africa to study a meteorite and gets contaminated and gets a deadly touch... He gets an antidote that must be daily injected but wich also brings him to madness. A nice classsic horror movie from the golden age of the 30's with the meeting of the two big stars Karloff & Lugosi... A nice one 7,5/10
Then other movies...
"Love'em and Leave'em" (Frank Tuttle, USA 1926) A nice comedy/drama about two sisters Mame (Evelyn Brent) and Janie (Louise Brooks always so beautiful) and theier lovers... Mame is the older one, she promises her dying mother to care on Janie who is at least forward... She only changes of lover every week or so... One day Mame fall in love with a nice guy at her work, at the same time Janie lose the money of the union she belongs on a stupid bet on the races, abused by a dad guy... At the same time she meets Meme boyfriend and of course he falls in love with her... Regardless, Mame faithful to her promess will do everything to help Janie. Nice comedy/drama, with very free speech about love relationships, in a pre-code way. Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks are excellent... 8/10
"The Invisible Man Returns" (Joe May, USA 1940) Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price) is wrongly accused of the murder of his brother. He's going to be hung. But his friend Dr. Griffin (frank Sutton) and his girlfreind Helen (Nan Grey) make him dring a potion that will make him invisible but alos wich risks to bring him mad... Then Geoffrey must hurry to escape police dragnet and find the real killer befor madness. Very entertaining, with lot of action. A pleasant B. 7/10.
"Four Sided Triangle" (Terence Fisher, UK 1953) A poorly known Fisher movie about the story of a love triangle between two men Bill and Robin and a woman Lena (Barbara Payton pretty) friends from thier childhood... They separate for studying... Some years later the two guys are famous scientists and associate in the creation of a machine that can duplicate things... They are now famous and Lean finaly chose Robin an marries him... Bill is deeply hurt... During thier honeymoon Bill allows the machine to duplicate people, to make clones... He convinces Lena to be cloned to let him marry the clone... But of course the clone, Helen, is so perfect that she also loves Robin... Then, this four sided love triangle is going to ruin. Better as it is usualy considered, the plot is very interresting and a Sci-Fi melodrama is not very common indeed. Worth of watching 7,5/10
"Cry of the Banshee" (Gordon Hessler, UK 1970) A poor horror movie of the 70's. The story of a severe judge Lord Edward Whitman (Vincent Price) and his family who are cursed. Whitman is seeing witches everywhere and tortures and burns lot of innocent people. He wants to eliminate the old religion and it's priestress Oona. Oona wants to take revenge for all the people Whitman killed and calls the deamons... They allow her to control Roderick who is indeed a Banshee an evil spirit with human appearance who can transform in a blood thirsty monster. The movie is a bit boring but the end is very surprising and good... 6/10
"Gog" (Herbert L. Strock, USA 1954) David Sheppard (Richard Egan) a security agent (who's also a scientist) investigates sabotage and awfull murders at a secret underground laboratory. All the scientists of a secret project are eliminated one by one. In the lab a big computer controls two powerfull robots Gog and Magog... Nice and poorly known B movie with nice settings and colors... to discover 7,5/10
"Les Bas-Fonds" (aka "The Lower Depths") (Jean Renoir, France 1936) Excellent adaptation of the play of Maxim Gorky with Jean Gabin as Wasska Pepel a burglar who introduces a ruined aristocrat (Louis Jouvet excellent) to the slums of the town and all the people who live there... They become friends... But Pepel wants to change of life and falls in love with Nastia (Jany Holt, fragile and beautiful). The presence of the newcomer will change a lot of things... Wonderful movie. 9/10
"Kind Hearts and Coronets" (Robert Hamer, UK 1949) re-watched this masterpiece of british comedy, the best movie of the mythic Ealing Studios. A tour de force of acting of Alec Guinness (8 roles in the movie !!) and of Dennis Price as Louis Mazzini the killer !! But every body knows it... 9,5/10
"X: The Unknown" (Leslie Norman, UK 1956) Another poorly known horror movie of the hammer with the story of soldiers who discover a strange source of radiation. Some of them are contaminated, thier flesh begins to melt... Some doctors and scientists investigate. They'll discover an awfull blob-like radioactive monster from inner earth that grows bigger and biger and which begins to melt more and more people... will they success in stopping it ?? Very good B movie, nice directing and photography... 8/10
"Night of Terror" (Benjamin Stoloff, USA 1933) A poor B whodunit from Comumbia but indeed very entertaining. Whodunits are often boring but this one is very inventive in the murders, the suspense... The acting is not as bad as usual and Lugosi as a strange indian servant is excellent... The ending and the discover of the killer are also interresting and surprising. A good small B... 7/10
@RDPL That was Alec Guniness and not David Niven in Kind Hearts and Coronets. Besides that one "The Invisible Ray" is the only one of the movies you mentioned that I've watched myself. I always like the pairing of Karloff and Lugosi.
+ Real Steel // 2011 (7.3/10 - 56,500 votes on IMDb)
Directed by Shawn Levy with Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly 1 Nomination to the Oscars
I am not sure the people who made this movie are "sports fan" and even less "boxing fans". It's basically "Rocky" but they left out the part where we care about Rocky because he's human, because he's a normal guy, because life threw sh*t at him but he knows how to take it and move on, and that's why he knows how to take punches in the ring. Here it's the same with the difference that you're suppose to root for... a robot who has good wires so he can take punches. This defeat the whole pupose of "Rocky" That's a shame because technically it's not bad, but making a good movie with such a weak premise seems too hard. I'm not even gonna mention the overuse of product placement, the movie probably made money before it was even out...
Let's say the first 45min are ok, I liked then. Then like in "Paranaormal Activity 2" the movie goes downhill. I don't know I guess I'm more scared about a faint noise, a moving door, a lamp that lights up itsel, a shadow moving... when a 10 year-old girl is being thrown halfway across a room thanks to an odd special effect : it makes me laugh ! Plus it's the third time now we are being shown exactly the same type of scene so it can't be as scary as the first.
+ Metropolis // 1927 (8.4/10 - 53,000 votes on IMDb) --> 90th greatest movie on IMDb.
Directed by Fritz Lang avec Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel et Gustav Fröhlich
The story of the movie itself is amazing. In 2008 they found in a museum in Buenos Aires, all the deleted scenes of the movie lost 81 years ago. Unfortunately the quality of the tapes were horrible and even with our great technology they couldn't do much. That makes the viewing kind of weird sometimes but sometimes during a scene you have cuts with an amazing quality (the bluray version is wonderful) and the next cut isawful, then great again, then awful.... The movie now lasts 2h30, some amazing scene have been found (Rotwang showing the statue of Hel...) I was lucky enough to see the Metropolis exhibit in the Cinematheque in Paris and it was really awesome (the robot was there!) and it was filled with pictures and stories. The movie cost 5 millon marks and earned 75,000 that's why the studio butchered it from an hour and destroyed the tapes. Fortunately a south-American guy bought the movie shortly after the premiere so he bought the full version, and after 81 years sleeping on a shell in Argentina : it's back !!
This movie is amazing from lots of different points : philosophically, politically, a glimpse of the future (the scene where all the skinny men, in uniform, heads down are thrown into a fire is scary when you think about what happened 15 years later...) and religiously (Babel Tower, the Babylon Who,re the 7 sins...) A true masterpiece, ahead of its time!
+ Forrest Gump // 1994 (8.7/10 - 438,000 votes on IMDb) --> 28th greatest movie on IMDb. --> 76th greatest movie on the AFI.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis withTom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise 13 Nominations to the Oscars // 6 Oscars
When I see the list of Oscar nominations for best picture in 1995 (Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption) it makes me realise 2012 is not a good year... Everything has been said about this movie. I still have an argue with myself to know if this is the best soundtrack ever. Forrest Gump has probably the best list of songs but some are heard only for a few seconds whereas in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino gives you time to really listen to the tunes. Tom Hanks is amazing (never go full retard !) the story is great, such a smart idea to have this character living through the 60s, 70s, 80s with the US story on the side. I would love to give this movie 5 stars but I think the last half an hour is a little below the rest of the movie (but I'm not crazy about Jenny's character so that explains why I would think that) Gary Sinise is absolutely perfect in this movie!
+ The Descendants // 2011 (7.8/10 - 20,000 votes on IMDb)
Directed by Alexander Payne avec George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller 5 Nominations to the Oscars
I gotta say I disagree a little with the first sentence of the movie that states that even though they live in Hawaii, their pains are as real as anybody. I understand the concept but when you see all the characters throughout the movie in shorts and flip-flops, living in huge mansions near a clear blue sea, you have to admit that it's probably better to live a tragedy in Hawaii than in Siberia... I liked this film because I found the characters to be really well written. Clooney plays well but if I'm perfectly honest I don't think it was Oscar-nomination worthy. Still it's a good movie, well written !
Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Låt den rätte komma in) with Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, John Hurt et Benedict Cumberbatch 3 Nominations to the Oscars
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons.
The story happens during the cold war, it is linked to the MI6 but it's definitely not a James Bond movie lol The movie's paced is slow but I think it helps creating a good atmosphere for such a story. You need to hang in there because the editing is a bit messy and as the first hour is really slow, you need to be focused and not let your mind slips away. Then when all the characters are presented, the story and suspense rise smartly. I'd say it's a pretty good cold war/spy movie thanks to an amazing cast.
+ Dream House // 2011 (5.7/10 with 9,500 votes on IMDb)
Directed by Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, Brothers) with Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts
What a waste lol ! As I was still amazed that such a great director made such a bad movie, I looked up online to find what happened. Apparently Sheridan lost control of the final cut to the studio who butchered the movie (even though I have a hard time imagining a "good version" of this movie) That explains why the actors didn't do the promo after the movie was out. This movie is a mistake, the story is stupid and the ending is one of the worst ever. The beginning wasn't that bad until a twist in the middle of the movie and then it's 45 minutes of awful movie. Plain awful.
Hehe. That one got me as well. Confused it with 'Dream Home' from director Ho-Cheung Pang. Fortunately, after the badness that is Dream House I got rewarded with the awesomeness that is Dream Home. :)
How do they dare to call that movie 'horror' anyways. It's rather a saltless mystery. Oh well, moving on.
Hello! Shu Xian Sheng [Mr Tree] (2011) 2/10 Chinese director Jie Han made a film about a village idiot who suffers from hallucinations. It's totally unclear where the story is heading to.
Los últimos cristeros [The Last Christeros] (2011) 3/10 Mexican film about Roman Catholic rebels fighting for religious freedom in the 1930s. Director Matías Meyer decided to show the fighters in between battles. The result is totally boring: endless shots of a few people with ponchos, sombreros and rifles walking in the mountains.
De jueves a domingo (2012) 5/10 Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor Castillo had an idea for her first feature film: why not make a road movie from the perspective of the kids in the back of the family car. Alas, she forgot to add a plot, so that now hardly any scene seems indispensable. The result is pretty boring.
Nana (2011) 5/10 Debut film by French director Valérie Massadian about a 4-year old girl who is abandoned by her single mother and spends a few days alone in her isolated home in the countryside. As it is hardly possible to direct children at this age, the director mainly simply observed what the little girl did. The result has a certain charm, but also some, well, lack of direction.
Die Räuberin [Rough] (2011) 6/10 Debut film by German director Markus Busch shows a 43-year old actress, moving to a village in northern Germany and starting a relationship with a 15-year old local boy. Psychological drama that lacks a convincing background story.
Totem (2011) 6/10 Debut film by German director Jessica Krummacher about a young housekeeper in a dysfunctional family in the Ruhr area: life sucks and people are ugly and mean.
Nick (2012) 7/10 Dutch film about an arrogant sous-chef thrown out of his restaurant, and leaving on a trip to Croatia to find truffles. Partly a character study, partly a road movie, it's quite an achievement to keep things interesting while the main character is so unsympathetic.
Jidan he shitou [Egg and Stone] (2012) 7/10 Autobiographical debut film by Chinese director Ji Huang about a 14-year old girl living in a remote village with her aunt and uncle, finding out she is pregnant (guess who the father is). The characters hardly say a word, but the tragic message about the position of women in present-day China is loud and clear.
La jubilada [The Retiree] (2012) 7/10 30-year old woman returns to her Chilean birthplace, a small town near the Argentinian border, after a career as a porn actress in Santiago. She's not exactly welcomed with open arms but does her best to merge in. Nicely shot, fine characters, slightly dull story.
L'envahisseur (2011) 7/10 Illegal African immigrant arrives in Europe with a lot of self-confidence, but finds out his is an alien in the society he has entered. When he meets a woman, his peculiar way of expressing his love is interpreted as stalking. Main character Isaka Sawadogo is quite irresistible and Brussels works great as movie location, but the plot is too much dominated by the somewhat childish coup de foudre.
Alpeis [Alps] (2011) 7/10 The new film by Greek director Giorgos 'Dogtooth' Lanthimos is an absurdist story of four weird characters who can be hired as stand-ins for the deceased. The idea is that this will ease the mourning process. More important, however, so it seems to me, is that it offers the lonely role-playing characters with surrogate families. The premise is fun, and it's delivered with an ironic matter-of-factness, but the idea stays a bit far-fetched.
Kiseki [I Wish] (2011) 7/10 Carefully crafted movie by Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda about two brothers trying to get their separated parents back together again. It's more commercial than his previous films, and a bit childish, but nevertheless enjoyable.
Now, Forager: A Film About Love & Fungi (2012) 7/10 A couple tries to make a living by picking wild mushrooms and selling them to New York restaurants. When she decides to take a cooking job for more stability, he is disappointed and their lives start to drift apart. The result is a nice food film that combines an honest interest in an ingredient (co-director, script writer and main actor Jason Cortlund is newsletter editor of the New York Mycological Society) with a subtly developing love story.
Lo-maen-seu Jo [Romance Joe] (2011) 8/10 Debut film by Korean director Kwang-kuk Lee about storytelling. A film maker has a writer's block but a prostitute tells him stories that inspire him to make the film that we're watching: a playful mosaic of intertwined stories.
Monsieur Lazhar (2011) 8/10 Nice little (Oscar-nominated) Canadian film about an Algerian immigrant replacing a teacher who committed suicide in an elementary school. Good casting and acting.
Les géants (2011) 8/10 Beautifully filmed and slightly absurdist movie by director Boulli Lanners about three boys (15, 15 and 13 years old) spending their summer in rural Belgium. Their parents are not around, they run out of money and start doing things boys this age do: behaving irresponsibly and getting into trouble. Fine plot and great acting.
L (2012) 9/10 Absurdist debut film by Greek director Babis Makridis is an allegorical existentialist story about a driver who lives in his car (his job consists of delivering honey to a narcoleptic man). When he loses his job, he gets rid of his car and joins a motorcycle gang. At the end of the film he moves on to boats (when sailing, make sure you wear boat shoes!). Filled with visual jokes and hilarious nonsensical dialogues, delivered by expressionless actors. Beware: many people disliked this film, so it's clearly not a crowd pleaser.
Oslo, 31. august (2011) 9/10 Second feature film by Norwegian director Joachim Trier (after the excellent Reprise, in 2006) is a gripping account of a drug addict, almost discharged from rehab, on his day off, when he is supposed to have a job interview. Like in the films of his compatriot Erik Poppe, Trier confronts us with real people with serious problems. It's exciting and humane, aesthetic and sad, and has terribly convincing acting and dialogues.