Track the Films You Watch (2008) (1 Viewer)

[PatW]

Sunshine (2007) :star: :star: :star: :star:

A very cerebral film that has more in common with The Fountain and 2001 then other "save the earth" films like Day After Tomorrow or Armageddon.

The sun is dying and the earth is as a result. A group of scientists are sent to detonate a bomb to right the ills of the sun. This takes place over 50 years in the future and this is the second group, the first having failed.

Parts of the plot seemed alittle silly, but the acting was superb and the special effects were excellent. Kudos goes to Cillian Murphy. With that wide-eyed look of his, he did look insane.
This was an entertaining movie but since I was tired and I probably didn't absorb very much, I'll have to watch it again.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Which is the aspect I agree with. I don't like what Woody Allen did but that's not going to stop me from enjoying his films. I'm certainly against what Polanski did but I can still watch his movies. Chaplin, Griffith, Garbo and various other of my favorites did "wrong" things but I'm not going to hold it against them when it comes to watching their movies. Heck, when I watched that Ford documentary the other night it kind of pissed me off that he (apparently) punched Henry Fonda, one of my favorites, but that's not going to stop me from finishing my Ford at Fox set.

I hope this doesn't cross the line of the rules here but for the most part I can't stand to see celebrities get involved with anything political. Perhaps it's just me but I don't care who they're sleeping with, if they are gay or straight or what they believe in politically. I just care about the product they're putting across and that's how I judge them in the end. We could sit here and name a thousand different actors/directors/singers or whoever that have done something "wrong" so I really don't look at it and instead just watch the movies and judge them.

I'm not overly familiar with the Kazan case but I am curious how it was looked at at the time it happened. I'm not sure if it's true but I've always heard ON THE WATERFRONT was his way of trying to show why he did what he did. I'm not sure if his case and Brando's case in the film should be looked at as the same but it feels as if the film is more powerful because the director wanted to get a point across.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

What did Allen 'do', exactly? At the time, was Soon Yi of legal age? If she was, and if she wasn't Allen's blood-related daughter, then as awkward as the situation was for all involved, technically there's nothing wrong about it. That's the way relationships go, sometimes.

 

[PatW]

La Jetee (1962) :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

A sci-fi short that tells its story through a collection of stills and voice-overs. Terry Gilliam apparently based his movie 12 Monkeys on this film.

This story takes place in Paris after WW3. People are living underground because the surface is uninhabitable. A volunteer agrees to an experiment involving time travel and he travels back and forth in time and meets the woman that has haunted his dreams.

This is a stunning piece of work. At 30 minutes it seems too short. I wanted more. The black and white photography is exquisite. This film will stay with me for a long time. I now have to go watch 12 Monkeys.

 

[PatW]

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) :star: :star: :star: 1/2

I watched this one several times as a kid and I loved ever crazy minute of it. Nowadays I just shake my head in disbelief, disbelief at myself for still loving it. I'm sure I'll get flak for this but I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. I would have liked to give it a higher rating but common sense prevailed.
So, plot, story, acting, special effects, directing, etc. - zero stars.
Comedy and enjoyment - 5 stars.
It get an extra point for the sheer nerve of Ed Wood.

 

[42nd Street Freak]

Nice summation of "Plan 9".



"The Bourne Ultimatum" - :star: :star: :star: :star: (out of 5)

A fine ending to a fine trilogy with some nice links to the other films, and a very clever 'what happened in-between the last two scenes of #2' idea for the main bulk of the narrative. Which means only the last 30 minutes is actually a sequel to #2.
Fine modern action/spy film-making where even the liberal whining was kept ultimately to a minimum despite the plot.

Get them all!



"Blade Runner" - Final Cut. :star: :star: :star: 1/2 (out of 5)

Due to the vast improvement in picture and the essential CGI repairs to two crucial scenes (the clever replacement of Joanna Cassidy's laughably bad stunt double and her comedy wig with the real actress's head, and the proper background for the dove flying off) this is indeed the best version of Scott's famous, infamous, sci-fi classic.

I never had a problem with the narration or the ending in the original version when I first saw it. But after watching this version the narration really becomes obtrusive now (and very badly read by a bored and annoyed Ford) and the 'happy' ending a mess.
I UTTERLY disagree that Deckard is a Replicant (he never was in the original novel or the original screenplay) and despite Ridley's pointless insistence that he is and the needless Unicorn Dream (the only negative point about the 'Final Version') I see no evidence, even in this version, that he is one. One daydream image aside there's nothing here.

Most people state the man fact against it is his very human strength and fatigue and this seems air-tight to me.
Even if (as some people say when clutching at straws to defend the 'Deckard is a Replicant' idea) they wanted to make him very human in his powers so as to keep him (like Rachel) in the dark about not being Human...why would anyone make such a Replicant into a damn 'Blade Runner'?!?
Rachel is just a P.A., who would have a human weakness afflicted Replicant as a hunter of super-strong, super-athletic, super-fast Replicants?
As it is Deckard nearly dies at least 3 times at their hands.

Anyway..this aside this is a superb looking version (the superlative model and matte FX still stands up today better then most modern CGI efforts), nicely fixed of a few of it's visual problems, and is really the only way to go.
The added violence (still missing from even the 'Director's Cut as they used the less violent American theatrical version) also makes certain scenes far more powerful and even today it's still (despite great work from all) Rutger Hauer's film. His final scene is an absolute classic.



"Dangerous Days" - Excellent feature length documentary on the making and history of "Blade Runner". Exhaustive and fascinating.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

Dave et al,

I decided not to watch the Final Cut of Blade Runner after watching the featurette and commentary that explain the differences. Since not much changed from the 1992 DC that I care about, I would probably give the Final Cut three stars as well.

I made the choice yesterday that I will not keep the briefcase set. The movie is just not entertaining enough for me to justify watching the extras, and I can live without seeing any version of the movie again.

 

[Mario Gauci]

01/05/08: ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (William Sterling, 1972) :star::star:

This is the fourth film version I’ve watched of Lewis Carroll’s classic – the 1903 Silent, the 1951 Walt Disney animated version, and the 1966 British TV adaptation; there are at least three more adaptations I’m interested in – Paramount’s 1933 all-star feature, the 1949 Franco-British version mixing live-action with puppet figures, and Jan Svankmajer’s 1988 film. This musicalized version was made in a time when setting literary classics (everything from Miguel Cervantes to George Bernard Shaw, Charles Dickens to James Hilton) to music was quite fashionable. Still, despite the engagement of a tremendous cast – Michael Jayston, Hywel Bennett, Michael Crawford, Ralph Richardson, Peter Bull, Roy Kinnear, Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Dennis Price, Flora Robson, Spike Milligan, Michael Hordern – they are mostly ineffective and even unrecognizable under all the heavy make-up! Alice herself – Fiona Fullerton – isn’t very sympathetic either.

The highlight is perhaps the tea party sequence with Helpmann (as The Mad Hatter), Sellers (as The March Hare) and Moore (as The Dormouse) – after which the slow-moving film starts slipping into boredom. The music by John Barry and lyrics by Don Black are decent at best, but distinctly unmemorable. Writer-director William Sterling’s adaptation – whose only film in that capacity this was – is disappointingly uninspired, then, turning Carroll’s surrealistic original into a dullish kiddie film! Apart from the opportunity of star-spotting, the film’s main virtues, therefore, are Geoffrey Unsworth’s cinematography and Anthony Mendelsohn’s colorful costume designs – qualities which were also recognized by the BAFTA. Admittedly, I rewatched this via a budget DVD release of a public domain, panned-and-scanned and extremely hazy print – which certainly didn’t aid my appreciation of it in any way!


01/05/08: THE BRONX EXECUTIONER (Vanio Amici and, uncredited, Romolo Guerrieri, 1989) BOMB

This is another film I happened upon at my local DVD rental outlet of which I had no prior knowledge; having watched a spate of belated Euro-Cult sci-fi outings over the last couple of years, I suspected I’d be in for a ‘so bad it’s good’ ride – but the end result, though certainly unintentionally hilarious, is a wretched piece of junk.

To begin with the plot doesn’t make a lick of sense: little wonder, since it lifted a good deal of footage – including Woody Strode’s entire performance – from THE FINAL EXECUTIONER (1983), a film directed by Romolo Guerrieri (hence his unofficial credit above)! Anyway, here we get a rookie sheriff in a futuristic New York – replacing Strode (dubbed, what else, “The Black Man”) – who has to quell an ongoing conflict between a colony of androids and one comprised of renegade humanoids (the script even makes some dumb comparisons between the latter’s fate and that endured by Native Americans over the years!); incidentally, don’t ask me to explain the difference between each faction of robots, because I sure as hell couldn’t tell them apart!!

As is usual for this kind of film, we’re treated to a crappy electronic score and characters who could best be described as scum; ironically, the would-be hero doesn’t do much of anything throughout (even if he’s relentlessly undermined by martinet Strode during his period of training). As a matter of fact, the lead is actually...er…the leader of the humanoids – a short-tempered beefcake wearing a ridiculously undersized sleeveless shirt and who’s supposedly fallen in love with a human; when she’s raped and murdered by rival androids, he sets out to infiltrate the latter’s castle base (having by this time befriended the cop). Margie Newton (from Bruno Mattei’s equally lamentable HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD [1980]) is the bimbo leader of the villainous robots – who, amusingly, gets an itch for lovemaking just as the final onslaught is about to begin!

While there are some undeniable howlers throughout – particularly the humanoid leader’s dumb monologues – the film is simply too poorly handled (in all departments) to be easily enjoyed; in fact, even if less than 90 minutes in length, I found it virtually unbearable…


01/06/08:DIAL: HELP (Ruggero Deodato, 1988) :star:1/2

This is only the fourth effort I’ve watched from this director (whom I met and found quite genial at the 2004 Venice Film Festival Italian B-movie retrospective) and also, possibly, the worst. As was the case with THE BRONX EXECUTIONER (1989), which preceded it, this is a prime example from the tail end of the Euro-Cult era – prime because it shows the depths to which the previously invigorating style had fallen by this time!

Here, in fact, we get a plot revolving around – I’m not kidding, folks – a killer phone! Pretty but bland Charlotte Lewis – in her third film after PIRATES (1986) and THE GOLDEN CHILD (1986) – is a model who, apparently, has just ended an affair; she keeps expecting her architect lover to call her back but, every time the phone rings, all she gets is static accompanied by voices from the beyond (or some such crap). She befriends a new tenant at her apartment block who, conveniently, knows of an authority on paranormal activity (William Berger) – who, hilariously, explains that the negative energy which is unleashed, say, during family arguments can manifest itself via home appliances into a deadly force (I swear I ain’t making this up)!

Among the highlights…er…lowpoints of the film are: the grumpy bartender from whose dingy place the heroine calls a couple of times (it seems that the chain-of-events can only be broken by having Lewis go through her paces again, EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962)-style!), the sheer variety of preposterous-looking phones on display, the apparatus of the heroine’s photographer friend sneaking up on her before the kill, the sarcastic cop who greets Lewis on reporting the strange occurrences (“And what’s the toaster up to, I wonder?”), the would-be rapist killed by a barrage of coins shooting out from a telephone booth, and Berger’s own bloody demise (with the phone affecting the pacemaker he’s fitted with and causing the doctor’s heart to explode)!

The film’s climax is rather confusing and, apparently, finally sees all the ‘lost souls’ inhabiting a flock of doves and flying out the window of the ‘possessed’ office (a lonelyhearts service!). For what it’s worth, the score – by ex-Goblin Claudio Simonetti no less – is effective enough, despite the inclusion of dated heavy-metal numbers on the soundtrack.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Mario, I don't recall you discussing The Three Stooges before. Are they generally new to you? I thought PUNCH DRUNKS was one of their very best early shorts with Curly, and while I'm not much of a fan of MEN IN BLACK myself (a little too chaotic, even for them) I know this is generally a well-regarded one (it was their only Oscar nomination). Will you be giving your reviews on these?

 

[PatW]

I've been debating with myself whether to double dip on this title. For alot of people it's a no-brainer. I'm a big lover of Sci-fi but I've been extending myself on dvd purchases lately but I think I just might bite the bullet and go ahead and get it. It sounds vastly superior to what I have.

 

[Mario Gauci]

Hi Joe.

First of all, I meant to comment on your viewing of the Silent BEN-HUR which, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by since the rating was so high and the fact that your viewing of it virtually came out of nowhere. Your reasoning behind the rating was a little strange coming from you but it's fine by me! I agree with you that Charlton Heston makes a better Judah and that the sea battle/chariot race are the Silent's most remarkable sequences. I can't really say I prefer the Silent version to the William Wyler version but, at least, it's shorter and less reverent than the solemn remake - what with the nudity, the presence of a Pagan temptress (a character which is in Lew Wallace's novel but not the Charlton Heston film version) and a campy Messala!

With regards to The Three Stooges - yes, I decided to watch one short per day for that very reason but my reviews are still in point form. I have several others still in that state but I'll try to finish them all off during the weekend.

 

[42nd Street Freak]

"FLyboys" :star: :star: :star:

Shockingly ignored epic about a group of Americans who join a French/English fighter squadron during WW1.

Some truly stunning CGI means the best dogfights ever committed to the screen can take place in-between the cliche filled, melodrama on the ground. Scenes that still work well though, and show the growing comradeship between the flyers to great effect.

Amazingly there are basically no images anywhere that look like GI graphics, the only reason you know it's CGI is that it HAS to be CGI to be showing what they do. Exciting, massed dogfights are the order of the day as planes whizz past each other almost close enough to touch. Great stuff.

The score is rather cookie-cutter and overpowering but that really is the only negative thing to say here. It's a stunningly made exercise in simple heroics, bravery, fear, tragedy and honour that does nothing new, but does what it does very well.
Should have been massive.

 

[PatW]

Sunshine (2007) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Had my brother over and he wanted to watch this one. He felt it was hokier than hell and this from a guy who loves Armegeddon.

The Hidden Hand (1942) :star: :star: :star:

Odd little movie about an escaped mental patient who helps his sister bump off members of their family.

I can't say that I'm familiar with any of the actors/actresses in this movie though 1 or 2 of them look familiar. I can't say any of them are good actors at least in this movie but the movie is quite funny. I watched this alone and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes. A worthwhile watch.


3: 10 To Yuma (2007) :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

My brother chose this one to watch as well, but he sits there and nitpicks every single detail that it's not enjoyable to watch with him. I'll have to rewatch it but this is a very good movie.

A rancher played by Christian Bale is robbed at gunpoint of his horses by Ben Wade a notorious outlaw who just robbed a stagecoach with his gang. Russell Crowe is played by Ben Wade who is captured with plans to bring him to justice by putting him on the train to Yuma where he would be hung. One by one members of the posse are picked off either by hostile Indians or gang members until only one member is left standing to escort the prisoner to the train.


This is a well-done remake. The acting was top-notch especially from Crowe and Bale. I wanted to shake some sense into Bale's character for his stubborness and principles that seemed illogical as the movie progressed, but he played the character extremely well. Crowe was excellent as the outlaw who was a cold-blooded killer but perhaps had alittle decency left. The rancher's son played by Logan Lerman also gave a fantastic performance. The director is James Margold who did Walk the Line most recently. I think this is my favourite of his so far. The cinematography is also superb in this movie.

This is a very good Western, a genre I haven't watched alot of in the past but have been rectifying with some recent viewings. I haven't seen the original but I can't imagine it better than this. This is one movie I'm glad I added to my collection.

 

[PatW]

I've since read the review thread of 3:10 to Yuma. I'll have to take back my comment about the original not being as good as the remake until I've watched it myself. I guess alot of people do prefer the original.


Survivor (1999) :star: :star:

This made for tv sci-fi movie has elements of The Thing, Alien and the Alien being looked like the creature from Predator.

Apparently a billion or so years ago when the earth was mostly molten lava the alien crash landed on earth and became caught in a lava flow.
Oil drillers in the Arctic happen to uncover this creature while drilling for oil and well you can guess what happens.

Actually not too bad for a sci-fi tv movie though certainly not original and very predicable. The cast was okay and overall it was watchable if you had nothing else to do.

 

[Michael Elliott]

01/08/08

I Want to Be a Pilot (2006) :star::star::star: Diego Quemada-Diez

A young African boy dealing with AIDS tells his hopes for the future in this award-winning short. The very look of the boy is enough to break your heart but his little song on the future is incredibly touching especially for someone his age. On a side point, I'm always curious about these documentaries that look at poor people like the kid here. At one point he says he hasn't eaten in four days and I'm always curious why the director or people behind the short, who obviously have money if they're making a film, don't actually feed him.

01/09/08

Curses (1925) :star::star::star: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

Unique short that spoofs the cliffhanger serials of the silent era. The villain (Al St. John) kidnaps a beauty and the hero must try to save her without getting killed himself. This is actually a very smart little film that does a great job at making fun of serials with everything from overdramatic endings to outrageous and impossible stunts. The comedy in the film really doesn't work but the brains in each scene makes this worth watching at least once. The "death by a sneeze" sequence is certainly the best.

My Stars (1926) :star::star:1/2 Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

A woman (Virginia Vance) is impressed by various silent movie stars that she pays very little attention to her own boyfriend (Johnny Arthur) so he decides to impersonate the actors to win her attention. Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd are both spoofed here and Arthur actually does a very good job at mocking them. There's not too much comedy here but the film moves by just fine and it's certainly amusing in its own way.

Fool's Luck (1926) :star::star:1/2 Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle

A spoiled man (Lupino Lane) gets kicked out of his fancy apartment after his uncle stops sending him money. This comes at a bad time because the girl of his dreams and her father are on their way there to have dinner. There are a few nice laughs and some great stunts here including one scene where they try to lower a piano out a ten-story window, which is clearly influenced by Harold Lloyd. There's also another very nice sequence where Lane is riding on top of a moving truck when the driver falls out.

White Heat (1949) :star::star::star::star: Raoul Walsh

Terrific film with James Cagney returning to the crime/gangster genre after ten years off. In the film Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, a psychopath gangster who has a thing for his old ma (Virginia Mayo). Today this film remains one of the greatest gangster pictures but it must have been even more fun for people back in 1949 when it was released due to the fact that Cagney hadn't played this type of role for so long. There are many flaws in this film but in the end it really plays out as a greatest hits package for its star. We see countless of the famous Cagney notes from the hot temper to the woman abuse to the violent gunplay. The opening robbery throws Cagney right back into the heat with some terrific action and rather cold blooding murders. I think Cagney was a tad bit too old for the part but he overcomes this with one of the greatest performances in his career. His breakdown in the prison cafeteria is brilliantly done as is his relationship with his mother. Mayo is just as great in her role but I've always felt Edmond O'Brien has been overlooked by fans and critics. I think the work between he and Cagney is just as strong as the relationship Cagney has with the mother. The ending is one of the greatest and most memorable in film history.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) :star::star::star::star: George A. Romero

The first of Romero's on going series has the dead returning to life looking for human flesh and find their victims in a small farm house. For my money this is the third greatest horror film ever made and I'd probably add that it's the greatest "B" movie ever made. I think the film is pretty damn near flawless and contains some of the greatest natural chills from any movie made. The soundtrack is great as is the sound effects but everything else is just as great. I think the cinematography really stands out and packs one hell of a punch by creating some wonderful claustrophobic scenes. The cinematography really narrows everything down and shows how small this farm house is and in my opinion it really puts you inside the house and you can feel yourself choking as their world gets smaller and smaller as the zombies get closer. The performances have taken a beating over the years but I think they're great as well. I think all the characters have a reason or purpose for the film and I think the actors really bring it out in them. Duane Jones really stands out as Ben as he brings a certain safe nature to the movie. When all hell starts to break loose and Ben first shows up on the scene, he does so in a way that you can feel protected. Judith O'Dea is also great at showing the paranoia of her character. I also think the film remains quite creepy even after all the viewings I've had throughout the years. When the zombies finally crash threw the door you can help but feel threatened by them. The screaming of Barbara, Ben trying to board the place back up and the frantic editing really packs a punch. I also think the little girl stabbing her mother is one of the most haunting shots in film history. The use of shadows and the way the scene is edited makes it unforgettable.

01/10/07

Mayor of Hell, The (1933) :star::star::star: Archie Mayo

James Cagney plays a crime boss who uses his power to get a "real" job working in a boys reformatory school. At first he doesn't take the job too serious but then he sees how the boys are mistreated so he takes over running the school and tries to turn it into something good. This film was remade twice in the next six years with Crime School and Hell's Kitchen and while both of those films were very entertaining there's no question this is the best of the three versions. One thing that helps is the fact that this one was made before the code came into play so it has a lot more of a raw feel to it whereas the remakes were toned down in content. Another added bonus is seeing Cagney who once again delivers a strong performance. He doesn't show up until the twenty-five minute mark and it speaks well of the young actors who hold the film up before the star gets on screen. The supporting players all do fine work with Madge Evans as the love interest, Allen Jenkins as Cagney's sidekick and Dudley Digges as the bad guy running the school. I think one fatal flaw is the ending and the aftermath. The ending turns into a Frankenstein type setting, which might have worked but the aftermath is so rushed and faked that it really ends the film on a sour note. Outside of that this is a pretty good drama with its heart in the right place and the toughness you'd expect from a Warner/Cagney film.

 

[george kaplan]

Things to Come

What's worse than bad silent acting? Bad silent acting in a talking picture with wooden dialogue. The film is interesting on many levels, but the overacting and .8-dimensional characters does it in.

Royal Wedding

The thing that delegates this to the second-tier of Astaire films is the music. A couple of great songs, with a bunch of mediocre ones. But the dancing, story, etc. are top-notch, so this is still well worthwhile, just not top tier.

Elevator to the Gallows

Rewatched Malle's best film. Even better the second time around.

 

[PatW]

G-Men (1935) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Entertaining gangster movie with James Cagney on the right side of the law this time.

Brick Davis (Cagney) has recently opened up a law practice which is unsuccessful. A college buddy of his, tries to recuit him for the FBI.
When his buddy is murdered by local gangster Danny Leggett, Davis decides to join the bureau. A this time there were alot of restrictions including not being able to carry firearms, but an increase in crime prompts the legislation to pass new laws that will make them better able to carry out their job of ridding the states of crime.

Well-done movie with an excellent performance from Cagney. Having never been exposed to much Cagney film material until recently, he is fast becoming one of my favourites. Granted I've seen very few movies so far of his, but I can say that I haven't seen a bad performance yet. Margaret Lindsay was also great as his boss's sister, Kay McCord. She did quite well with the small amount of screen time. The only thing I thought was tacky was the introduction at the beginning of the movie. It looked like they were showing this film to a class of FBI students. Pretty lame.
I enjoyed this movie a great deal.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Mike, I was going to write my own thoughts on The Mayor of Hell (only :star::star:1/2 from me) but I figured I'd just bounce it off your review here. I agree with you that Cagney is strong in the film, though for me the real standout was Dudley Digges as the very mean and despicable head of the reform school. I thought the movie was pretty good overall, but I had a problem with really caring all that much about most of the kids, particularly the young punk running the gang (played by Frankie Darro) who was a real wiseguy who actually deserved more than a good kick in the ass. So while old man Digges was properly hateful as the strict disciplinarian, I couldn't completely disagree with him wanting to straighten that urchin out. At the end of the film, in the "FRANKENSTEIN-like" climax you mention, that mob of murderous children didn't really gain my support all that much. They were still basically hateful killers themselves, and that's not exactly the way to go about righting those wrongs they were angry about. But I'd like to give the movie another viewing, as I think it could hit me better the next time. I'd also like to check out the later remakes.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Both of the remakes, CRIME SCHOOL with Bogart and HELL'S KITCHEN with Reagan, are worth watching and are pretty entertaining on their own level. I watched both last year and The Dead End Kids make for better victims but MAYOR does have Cagney and a raw, meaner edge to it. I watched the movie sometime around midnight and the next day noticed you had watched it and saw your rating. I thought you'd have problem with the children but I guess I was expecting it since they were the same way in the remakes. TCM show the remakes each year so you shouldn't have much trouble catching them.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Double.