Track the Films You Watch (2006) - Page 47

Haggai · 08-21-2006, 04:42 PM

Rocco and His Brothers (1960) 8/10
Visconti's operatic saga of a poor family that comes to Milan from the south follows the adventures and struggles of five brothers and their mother. Brilliant for most of the way through, although I thought it was dragged down a bit by the emotional pyrotechnics of the last 30 minutes. Standing out among the excellent cast is the stunning and brilliant Annie Girardot, as a woman of ill-repute who drives a wedge within the family, as well as Katina Paxinou as the indomitable mother.

The Tin Star (1957) 8/10
Anthony Perkins and Henry Fonda star in a straightforward mentor/protege western, directed by Anthony Mann. The teacher/pupil sequences, and the advice that Fonda's character keeps dispensing all throughout the movie, are almost Karate-Kid-like and certainly not very profound, but the actors keep it entertaining. The final showdown in the town square is terrific, as are a few of the other action scenes.

Weekend at the Waldorf (1945) 7/10
A lighter re-make of Grand Hotel, minus the overly portentous tone of the original. This one starts off better than it finishes, as the Ginger Rogers/Walter Pigeon story becomes pretty silly after an entertaining beginning, but the Van Johnson/Lana Turner subplot has an effectively sentimental touch all the way through. Entertaining enough overall, if you like the cast.

Niagara (1953) 7/10
This technicolor vehicle for Marilyn Monroe is at its best within the noirish subplot about her collaboration with a lover to knock off her husband, played by Joseph Cotten. Several really good thrills come out of that, particularly some business with a bell tower that plays like a forerunner to Vertigo. All the location stuff with the falls is beautiful as well. But the other subplot of an unsuspecting couple dragged into the crime story is very weak, in spite of Jean Peters' appealing presence. Everything in the entire last act is a step down from the resolution of the Monroe/Cotten subplot, which wraps up with more than 20 minutes left to go. Worth seeing for the falls, the effective thrills, and Marilyn's sex appeal, but it could have been a lot better without the distracting "other" couple.

Crack-Up (1946) 6/10
Pat O'Brien stars as a museum curator with a disturbing memory of having been in a train crash, which may or may not have happened. The plot, centered around a possible art forgery scheme, ends up being too confusing to work completely, as well as requiring too many talky sequences that don't hold much interest. But a few strong flourishes of paranoia keep it from being too much of a dud, particularly the scenes of O'Brien trying to remember (and then trying to re-trace) his experiences on the train.

Ted Lee · 08-21-2006, 08:10 PM

title: tsotsi
rating: b
comments: a pretty strong movie, with good atmosphere and acting (especially for such young actors). it was a bit heavy-handed, but i would definitely recommend it.

george kaplan · 08-21-2006, 09:40 PM

Onionhead

Andy Griffith follows up No Time For Sergeants by moving it to the Coast Guard, and while there's a smattering of the same type of comedy, most of the film takes on a soapy melodramatic tone, making it vastly inferior to the earlier film.

Michael Elliott · 08-21-2006, 11:55 PM

Quote:

How'd you manage to see Stranger on the Third Floor, Steve? Was it an import DVD? I'd like to see that one at some point too. Maybe TCM shows it every now and then.

I'm not Steve but I recorded it from TCM earlier this year.

08/20/06

Co**sucker Blues (1972)

Notorious documentary covering The Rolling Stones on their Exhile on Main St. tour. The Stones refused to let this thing get released so poor quality bootlegs is the only way to see it. I saw a really poor print several years ago and hated it but I gave the film a second viewing after a remastered version got out there. This version certainly looked great but the documentary remains an embarrassingly bad film. The notorious bits include Mick masturbating, Keith getting head from a groupie, Keith throwing a television out of a hotel window plus countless other scenes of heroin use and groupie banging. Thsoe things are certainly an eye opener considering who's doing it but outside that this film is downright dull and boring. The director gave everyone a camera to film with and for some damn reason not too much was filmed or at least put into the film. There's very little concert footage and another infamous story from the tour; Mick and Keith getting arrested before a show and not starting that show until after midnight aren't mentioned. Poor on pretty much all levels with the exception of seeing the "dirty" side of the music.

08/21/06

Come Together: A Night for John Lennon (2001)

Concert film/dedication to John Lennon, which took place shortly after 9/11. For the most part the only good thing about this are various audio clips of Lennon talking about various things. I thought most of the songs were pretty poor version especially "Imagine". The only songs that really worked were Dave Matthews "In My Life" and Stone Temple Pilots "Revolution".

Thi Them · 08-22-2006, 11:08 AM

Happy Birthday, SteveGon!

~T

Haggai · 08-22-2006, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

I'm not Steve but I recorded it from TCM earlier this year.

Thanks, Mike. I'll be sure to catch it next time they show it.

Ted Lee · 08-22-2006, 12:55 PM

title: 2001 a space odyssey
rating: a
comments: seen this many times. HAL is scarier then any axe-wielding psychopath could ever be. boy, am i a kubrick whore or what ....

Tarkin The Ewok · 08-22-2006, 09:46 PM

After listening to A Musical History of Disneyland on Saturday, I was in the mood for Disney movies.

8/20: The Haunted Mansion

/

This movie seems a little less fresh to me now than when it debuted in theaters, but I still love it. All of the references to the ride were great, and Emma and Ezra are fantastic supporting characters.

8/21: Mary Poppins

/

It drags slightly in the middle, but the movie is so good that it does not matter. The "Jolly Holiday" sequence is still one of the best comic/music segments in the movies.

8/21: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

/

Everything comes together here for a truly wonderful movie experience. The music, characters, animation, and story are all remarkable, and it brings out a nice mix of emotions in me.

george kaplan · 08-22-2006, 11:07 PM

The Lady Vanishes

The last great British Hitchcock. Seeing the Calidcott & Charters characters again, reminded me of how badly we need to get Night Train to Munich on dvd.

Mario Gauci · 08-23-2006, 10:41 AM

08/15/06: DJANGO, KILL! (IF YOU LIVE SHOOT!) (Giulio Questi, 1967) ***

This one certainly lives up to its reputation as the most peculiar Spaghetti Western there is, a quality which makes it unique but not exactly entertaining (the pace is slow and the film somewhat protracted, if never less than fascinating)!

It features an atypical performance from lead Tomas Milian: usually the brash man of action with a humorous streak, here he’s the cynical and mostly passive observer who even arrives late for the climax! Apart from the star, Marilu` Tolo and Ray Lovelock, the international cast – including several non-professionals – is unfamiliar but, as director Questi said in the exclusive Audio Commentary, their indelible faces were just what he needed for the film! By the way, in spite of the film’s English title, it’s not related to the 1966 DJANGO – and, in fact, Milian’s character remains unnamed throughout – that spawned innumerable variations but only one direct sequel (made more than 20 years after the original)!

Here, we also find several elements of gothic horror (Milian ‘rising’ from the dead, the ‘mad woman’ character borrowed from “Jane Eyre”, the weird prison torture scene involving vampire bats and iguanas, the fiery climax in which the villain’s face is covered with melted gold, etc.); besides, Tolo is made-up to look like Barbara Steele and the greedy townsfolk’s gory groping into the body of a dying bandit riddled with golden bullets curiously anticipates the zombie films of George Romero! Actually, the film’s graphic depiction of violence gave it a certain notoriety which further fueled its cult status; in fact, the bullet sequence and the scalping of an Indian were censored at the time but, curiously, got reinstated for the shortened 1975 re-issue under the name of ORO HONDO (which had been the film’s working title)! There’s even a scene in which a horse is saddled with a charge of dynamite and let loose among the villains (whereupon we see shots of its intestines and the body parts of the various victims strewn about!) – though, in all fairness, in A PROFESSIONAL GUN (1968) a man was also nonchalantly killed by a grenade in the mouth!!

Other unexpected elements in the film are its religious overtones (apart from Milian’s crucifixion, the Indians who help him are mystics while the villainous Hagerman also serves pretty much as a bible-thumping preacher to the community) and the presence of black-clad gay cowboys as prototype Fascists (thankfully, we’re spared their gang-rape of Lovelock – here in his film debut! – whose immediate reaction, naturally, is to shoot himself) led by a Spaniard (all dressed in white!) that goes by the name of Mr. Zorro(?!), and who shares a love-hate relationship throughout with a spirited parrot!!

The film also features a good score by Ivan Vandor and Techniscope photography by Franco Delli Colli (though the outdoor night scenes are way too dark!), and the locations – Questi was especially proud of his uncharacteristic white desert – are no