IT'S A GIFT (1934)
d: Norman Z. McLeod
CAST: W.C. Fields; Baby LeRoy; other people
> about five years ago, I bought a boxed set of W.C. features after I wet myself watching three of his shorts: The Golf Specialist, The Dentist and The Fatal Glass of Beer; I am convinced that IaG is the best of his movies, but it still doesn't match the hilarity of those three; best bit is in the grocery shop when the blind man walks in; the use of a baby as Fields' nemesis is a hoot; classic example of a talented comic (distinctive appearance; physical comedy; perfect timing with lines) creating such a striking persona that all the other actors are virtually characterless in comparison; still not as funny as Groucho though
Award-Worthy Performance
W.C. Fields
CHARLEY VARRICK (1973)
d: Don Siegel
CAST: Walter Matthau; Joe Don Baker; John Vernon
> slowburn heist-and-payback action flick; just cannot accept Walter as a violent bankrobber (I always had problems with him in any dramatic role) although the wizened & wise old realist fits him perfectly; the two (fleeting) sex scenes are incongruous and belong in another movie; always good to see Sheree North; interesting to note that the reason why the guys on the run were tracked down was because of simple mistakes Charley made (flashing wads of cash around in front of shady characters you've never met before?), so he's hardly a criminal mastermind; climax with the old plane is impressive mainly because it is something different; efficient and effective direction by Don as usual
MATEWAN (1987)
d: John Sayles
CAST: Chris Cooper; James Earl Jones; Mary McDonnell; David Strathairn; Will Oldham
> straightforward telling of the 1920 Battle of Matewan (coal miners strike / anti-unionism / exploitation of the workers by management / massacre because everyone has a gun etc); acting excellence all round with Chris Cooper the standout (in his debut); the build-up towards the inevitable bloody confrontation is effective if a little languid at times; the company men are the usual nasty pricks, so therefore are just paper cutouts rather than fully-fleshed characters; cinematography by Haskell Wexler evokes the period beautifully; watch it and contemplate how anyone could be right-wing in their politics
Award-Worthy Performance
Chris Cooper
DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)
d: Quentin Tarantino
CAST: Jamie Foxx; Christoph Waltz; Leonardo DiCaprio; Samuel L. Jackson
> classy tribute to B-Grade schlock movies (in this case, Spaghetti Westerns); lashings of blood (even for QT, it seems to be excessive); casting surprises (Don Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Franco Nero); hilarious dialogue (the raiders arguing about their headbags is a friggin' hoot!); quirky music choices (Jim Croce??); long, tense set-pieces that you just know are going to climax in bloodshed (but in this case, the scenes just aren't as riveting as previous classics); the bastards are slaughtered by the downtrodden. It's a Quentin film.
Award-Worthy Performances
Jamie Foxx & Christoph Waltz; Samuel L. Jackson
DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937)
d: Robert Florey
CAST: Anna May Wong; Charles Bickford; Philip Ahn; Anthony Quinn; J. Carroll Naish
> jawdropping opening scene (brutal & shocking in its offhandedness); startling feature: Chinese entrepreneur has a black bodyguard who chases thugs off with a cutthroat razor; Anna looks stunning but teaming her up with Philip gives the film two very subdued, passive leads rather than the usual, more aggressive double-act; B-Grade production values enhance the gritty atmosphere and Robert's direction makes the most of the to-be-expected financial impositions; genuinely thrilling and engrossing story which moves along at a gasping pace; a unique-for-the-times look at the evils of people-smuggling
A HATFUL OF RAIN (1957)
d: Fred Zinnemann
CAST: Don Murray; Eva Marie Saint; Anthony Franciosa; Lloyd Nolan
> wannabe hard-hitting drug-addiction film; Eva & Lloyd are terrific (and a twitchy, jazzy William Hickey is memorable in the background...OMG...he really was young once), but Don & Anthony aren't up to it - they give it their best shot, but I just don't find them convincing in the two pivotal roles; as is usual with these things, the withdrawal scenes are when the film kicks in emotionally; Fred manages to open-up the film and camouflage its stage-origins fairly well; better than Trainspotting but not as good as Bigger Than Life
Award-Worthy Performances
Eva Marie Saint; Lloyd Nolan
THE COMEDY MAN (1964)
d: Alvin Rakoff
CAST: Kenneth More; Billie Whitelaw; Edmund Purdom; Cecil Parker; Dennis Price
> aging, ne'er-do-well actor struggles between being an impoverished idealist and an affluent sell-out; party scene is similar to the one at the start of Tootsie, all actorly and vaguely desperate; support cast is excellent with Cecil as a (barely) walking cautionary-tale the stand-out; some of the serious scenes use the tired old offhanded witticisms approach to drama which comes across as phony and forced; sex is surprisingly (but authentically: casting couch and all that) way up front; would've worked better if it had been even grittier but it is still an interesting tour through the real world that the vast majority of actors live in
Award-Worthy Performances
Kenneth More; Cecil Parker
UNTIL THEY SAIL (1957)
d: Robert Wise
CAST: Jean Simmons; Joan Fontaine; Piper Laurie; Sandra Dee; Paul Newman
> WWII soap opera set in New Zealand which makes for a nice change; the Yanks invade Christchurch and corrupt the morals of the womenfolk with money and gall; the blatantly different acting styles of the four sisters clash with rather than compliment each other; curious to see Paul Newman in such a minor role; Jean & Paul are a stunning movie couple (in both beauty and talent) - shame they didn't do any other movies together; the plot tugs along its melodramatic way, never quite drifting into overt tearjerking and always managing to keep your attention; a movie to watch on a wet & lazy Sunday
Award-Worthy Performance
Jean Simmons
SUFFRAGETTE (2015)
d: Sarah Gavron
CAST: Carey Mulligan; Helena Bonham Carter; Brendan Gleeson; Meryl Streep
> Women's Suffrage is one of the great undertold stories from 20th Century history; this film does an effective and affecting job of telling the British version; Carey is excellent again and the lens clearly loves her; far too much handheld camera - whatever happened to the craft of cinematography?; a couple of blatantly melodramatic grabs for tears (the kid gets adopted out to strangers on his birthday??); some critics have complained that Carey's character is an artificial and rather convenient amalgam of real people and what they went through - big deal - that storytelling device is hardly something new
Award-Worthy Performance
Carey Mulligan
DAMES (1934)
d: Busby Berkeley
CAST: Dick Powell; Ruby Keeler; Joan Blondell; Guy Kibbee
> seems to take ages until the first of the geometric choreographies appear, but at least you get to spend that time waiting with terrific character actors such as Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts and Hugh Herbert; truly stunning musical numbers with to-be-expected symmetrical patterns and clever camerawork; compared to those set pieces, all of the dialogue and backstories are just filler; Eternal Movie Mystery: Ruby Keeler can't sing and has absolutely no physical grace whatsoever & Dick Powell is an anemic crooner with a blinding smile you wish needed dental work - so how the hell did they get to do so many of these 1930's dance-musicals??
Worst Movie-Viewing Experiences 18/12/15 - 1/1/16
THE LAST TYCOON (1976)
d: Elia Kazan
CAST: Robert De Niro; Robert Mitchum; Theresa Russell; Ingrid Boulting; Jack Nicholson; Jeanne Moreau; Tony Curtis; Donald Pleasence; Dana Andrews; Ray Milland
> Early Hollywood is a topic which has always fascinated me and this movie is yet another failed attempt to put it into a filmed story; usual F Scott Fitzgerald theme of a great man ruined by love; Ingrid Boulting as the typical FSF unattainable woman is godawful and the romance between De Niro and her is a flop, capsizing the whole movie in its wake; De Niro is unusually subdued in his performance and comes across as dull, showed up by the arrival of Jack who demonstrates how it is possible to underplay and still be interesting
Award-Worthy Performance
Theresa Russell
DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY (1934)
d: Mitchell Leisen
CAST: Fredric March; Evelyn Venable; Guy Standing; Henry Travers
> this is the sort of movie which film historians charitably describe as "dated" but what they really mean is "old crap"; Fredric is Death personified who for some inexplicable reason chooses to hang out with a group of truly ghastly, vapid people during his downtime (if there was ever any mob who deserved to be wiped out in one fell swoop...); must have been the inspiration for the brilliant Death skit in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life; you'd think that Death would be a more interesting guy, or at the very least, someone who would let his hair down a bit while vacationing; should be used as part of the anti-smoking / anti-obesity campaigns - who would want to spend Eternity with this bore before they absolutely had to?
Got something you want to tell me?
Go right ahead.
