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THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
d: John Frankenheimer
CAST: Frank Sinatra; Laurence Harvey; Angela Lansbury; Janet Leigh
> I remember that golden moment when I first saw this movie - as mind-searing as my first listen to Blonde on Blonde; so rich, with so many different aspects all competing with each other for attention: impressively-clever Cold War spy saga / funny-as-a-fit characters and scenes / bloody scary corrupt political machinations / the most surreal dialogue used as pick-up lines / karate used for the first time in a film fight / a good performance from Laurence & a stunning one from Angela / incest & tomato sauce & brainwashing & solitaire; certainly the best film to come out of the Sixties and one of the greatest films ever made
Award-Worthy Performance
Angela Lansbury
MOON (2009)
d: Duncan Jones
CAST: Sam Rockwell; Kevin Spacey
> an exceptional debut film for director Duncan; such a clever premise: sometime in the near future, the Moon is being used to create and supply the Earth's energy needs...the whole lunar enterprise is manned by a single engineer and a HAL-like computer; it doesn't take long for the set-up to turn strange then sinister - even way up there, multi-corporations are vile bastards; the film's limited budget is nowhere in sight - it looks great; beautifully filmed with a crisp 2001: a Space Odyssey feel; Sam is pretty much the entire show and he is terrific as an ordinary guy in a very extraordinary situation
Award-Worthy Performance
Sam Rockwell
EYE IN THE SKY (2015)
d: Gavin Hood
CAST: Helen Mirren; Alan Rickman; Aaron Paul; Jeremy Northam
> real scary stuff; details how drone strikes in hostile territory work, and how the chain of command doesn't; no characterisation as such - these are decent, ordinary people attempting to carry out the most inhumane of duties and eventually make the most impossible of decisions; the tension takes hold of you within the first fifteen minutes then never lets go; a couple of cliches: the Brits dither while the Yanks are gung ho (except, of course, for the poor young soldiers who actually have to push the button); shows how politics & the military are an oil 'n' water mix; should be made compulsory viewing for all new recruits
SHADOWLANDS (1993)
d: Richard Attenborough
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Debra Winger; Edward Hardwicke; Joseph Mazzello
> a totally charming film about an unlikely subject, told very gently; writer of Narnia books (CS Lewis) befriends / is befriended by an American writer and her son, persuading the stuffy scholar to become a participant in Life rather than just a member of the audience; slow pace, weighted by an at-times cloying soundtrack, is initially offputting, but the power of Anthony bolsters the experience, and his English gentleman persona plays well against the brash Yank Debra; so comforting to be placed in the company of good people who are neither tedious nor shallow; be steeled though: it transforms into an almighty weepie
Award-Worthy Performance
Anthony Hopkins
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936)
d: W.S. Van Dyke
CAST: William Powell; Myrna Loy; James Stewart; Jessie Ralph
> second in the groundbreaking "Thin Man" film series; murders + gags + detective stuff + excessive drinking + funny little dog; love how Great Aunt Katherine calls Nick Charles "Nickel-Arse"; the jokes are pretty good and the murder-mystery isn't trivialised because of them; Jimmy Stewart in a what-will-soon-be out of character role is fun to see in a supporting performance; in many aspects, this template is still in use today on TV crime shows; the era setting with the jazziest jazz and the swingingest nightclubs and parties is neat; while this lacks the novelty of the first movie, I think it is still the best in the series
Award-Worthy Performances
William Powell & Myrna Loy
SUNSHINE CLEANING (2008)
d: Christine Jeffs
CAST: Amy Adams; Emily Blunt; Alan Arkin
> an offbeat comedy-drama about a pair of struggling-with-Life sisters who start up a bio-hazard (read: crime scene) cleaning business; as they deal with the physical aftermath of suicides and assaults and lonely deaths, they deal with their own personal issues; yeah, I know...sounds pretty grim, but it is compassionately told, shows virtually zero blood 'n' guts, and seems to be occupied by unlikely but still real people; add an eccentric Dad, an eccentric little boy, and a sad family secret, and you've got a story you'll enjoy being involved with for 90 minutes
Award-Worthy Performances
Amy Adams & Emily Blunt
THE DARK MIRROR (1946)
d: Robert Siodmak
CAST: Olivia de Havilland; Lew Ayres; Thomas Mitchell
> fun little crime psycho-melodrama that director Robert was just so brilliant at in his 1940's run (the most underrated great director of that era); it's the old identical twin gimmick again - one is a killer while the other is a doormat; treats a brutal murder (a suitor is stabbed right through the heart!) fairly lightly which drops the grade for me a bit, but to have one sister trying to drive the other insane picks things up; Olivia is brilliant at this kind of role of course with the blokes in adequate support; soundtrack music by Dimitri Tiomkin clobbers you over the head in peak scenes; the tricky resolution is a bit over-talked and hokey but satisfying
Award-Worthy Performance
Olivia de Havilland
FREUD aka FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION (1962)
d: John Huston
CAST: Montgomery Clift; Susannah York; Eric Portman; Larry Parks
> I agree that this is a simplistic piece of psycho-history (The patient said "prostitute" when she meant "protestant"! Ta-da! Freudian Slip invented!), but it is still an intriguing look at a medical watershed moment; upfront about Freud's controversial theories about incestual desire and infantile sexuality; openness is pretty impressive for 1962; drama really isn't as mere-surface as it could've been - probably due to the backroom insistence of director John; performance of Monty as Sigmund is the film's Achilles Heel; his penultimate film role, it exposes the erosive toll his drink 'n' drugs lifestyle had taken, poor bastard; this story is more important than the title character though; underrated, but not by much
JIGSAW (1962)
d: Val Guest
CAST: Jack Warner; Ronald Lewis; John Le Mesurier; Ray Barrett
> an early UK police-procedural, a great-grandparent of British TV classics such as Inspector Morse and A Touch of Frost; Jack is the Detective Inspector in charge of the investigation into a body-in-a-trunk murder; frugal kitchen-sink production values only assist in establishing the tawdry atmosphere; pre-forensic science razzle-dazzle (the most cutting-edge technology used is the teletype!), so wits, doggedness and luck are used as substitutes; effective use of flashbacks as storytelling device, so we are given the evidence bit-by-bit, reeling us in; Jack Warner so perfect in these kind of backbone-of-Britain roles; engrossing if a little thin overall - dowdy just isn't terribly exciting
OSCAR AND LUCINDA (1997)
d: Gillian Armstrong
CAST: Ralph Fiennes; Cate Blanchett; Tom Wilkinson; Ciarin Hinds
> curious movie comes across as a mild-mannered version of Fitzcarraldo; Man of God meets Woman of Own Mind and both struggle with their addiction to gambling...as penance, a glass church is built and transported into the 19th Century wilds of New South Wales (!); gorgeous scenery initiates some striking imagery (the church drowning); while Ralph shines, Cate is mysteriously distant, which is unusual for her; similarly, the film never wholly involves us, as if it wants to be admired rather than embraced; romantic in all senses of the word
Award-Worthy Performance
Ralph Fiennes
Worst Movie-Viewing Experiences 27/3/16 - 5/4/16
TWO FOR THE SEESAW (1962)
d: Robert Wise
CAST: Robert Mitchum; Shirley MacLaine
> not much more than a filmed stage play (talk, talk, talk) but opened up a bit with some outdoor scenes and a few added bits of business (good Arty party); two opposites who come together to fight off loneliness in the big cold city...yeah, another one of those; Robert out of his element here (nothing physical for him to do apart from offscreen sex); Shirley is charming as the softhearted Noo Yawk gurl; their relationship goes through the usual stormy waters and the resolution is very predictable; in the end, you care about the woman but not about the couple, which is a handicap in a romance flick
Award-Worthy Performance
Shirley MacLaine
LUCY (2014)
d: Luc Besson
CAST: Scarlett Johansson; Morgan Freeman
> kinda entertaining, but for a film that turns on the "we only use 10% of our brain; so imagine if..." myth, it's pretty stupid; innocent woman is forced to be a drug mule with an experimental brain-expanding chemical sewn into her abdomen - the bag bursts and she becomes superhuman; film takes itself far too seriously at times and these scenes don't gel with the action / hyper-violent ones (which are too fast, too focused on gunfire and lack any kind of thrill); some ridiculous premises are thrown at us (e.g. Lucy shoots patient on operating table, forces the surgeon at gunpoint to take out the belly-bag, then just strolls out of the hospital); should've / could've been more fun, but it's just too silly
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