LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL (1994)
d: Luc Besson
CAST: Jean Reno; Natalie Portman; Gary Oldman; Danny Aiello
> in-some-ways naive hitman takes in a violently-orphaned little girl and becomes her mentor / hero / er, crush; Natalie is stunning as the 12 year old adult and Jean impresses as the childlike assassin; Gary's cartoon psycho seems to be channeling 1947 Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death; I really struggle with the ethics of all this (the kid swears, smokes, practises how to kill; wants physical love) but it is leavened by the artificial / fantasy touches (constant emotional music & European feel & comedic implants); it's not entirely of this world just like Leone & Tarantino movies; check out the super-rare Burning Spear LP!
Award-Worthy Performances
Jean Reno; Natalie Portman; Gary Oldman
SHOOTING DOGS aka BEYOND THE GATES (2005)
d: Michael Caton-Jones
CAST: John Hurt; Hugh Dancy; Clare-Hope Ashitey
> powerful film of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, focussing on a small Catholic school which was used as a refuge and protected (for a time) by the U.N.; John is the school's veteran priest and Hugh is the young English teacher trying to do their humane best in an impossible and insane situation; gradual build up of war as it unfolds (distant gunfire & ominous broadcasts) leading to the inevitable horrors (you are spared nothing) while the European peacekeepers just watch it happen; no grabs for sentiment & no plot cliches; only criticism is the offering of Christianity as a comfort which comes across as ludicrous in these extreme circumstances (but that may just be my prejudice showing); hideous & confronting
THE HIT (1984)
d: Stephen Frears
CAST: John Hurt; Terence Stamp; Tim Roth; Laura del Sol; Bill Hunter; Fernando Rey
> curious little movie about a pair of hitmen who are hired to bring a Pommy grass back from Spain for execution; starts off very serious but gradually reveals a bone-dry humour; much philosophical waxing-on about the concept of death and what is life etc by target Terence; strong performances all round with Tim really shining as the young halfwit thug who is in it for the money and the glory but changes his mind; a clever variation on a road movie, the film takes its time in the telling but is never boring; nice to see Aussie Bill in a rare international role; refreshingly different
Award-Worthy Performance
Tim Roth
TITANIC (1953)
d: Jean Negulesco
CAST: Clifton Webb; Barbara Stanwyck; Robert Wagner; Thelma Ritter; Richard Basehart
> far, far prefer this to James Cameron's Titanic (this one is one-tenth the length for a start); still a lot of soap swirling about in the water just like Cameron's, but none of the interminable "Perils of Pauline" stunts which blighted (and made silly) his 1997 bloated masterwork; however, the best Titanic film remains the 1958 British A Night to Remember (no soap opera; slight documentary feel); all the classic Titanic trademarks are here (coward in a lifeboat dressed as a woman; the band playing on; class prejudice etc) and the sinking is impressive; Clif & Barb do a good job with annoying roles and Thelma is reasonably restrained; could've done without the alcoholic priest, but overall it is an affecting entertainment
THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (1964)
d: John Huston
CAST: Richard Burton; Ava Gardner; Deborah Kerr; Sue Lyon; Grayson Hall
> I've picked up more humour in this than I did originally; Richard as the unstable priest / tour guide is actually quite brilliant in what is a difficult role, and what I once thought was ham now seems more like Albert Finney in Under the Volcano; Ava is the stand-out (always was) in her best-ever performance; the last 20 minutes should've been hacked back with a pair of shears, and as soon as the tour-group leaves the hotel, the sexual tension (which was what held the interest) is gone; unusually compassionate for a Tennessee Williams play
Award-Worthy Performances
Richard Burton; Ava Gardner
THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE (1960)
d: Ken Hughes
CAST: Peter Finch; Yvonne Mitchell; James Mason; Nigel Patrick; John Fraser; Lionel Jeffries
> Peter does a good job as the wit-on-a-stick Oscar (preferable to both the Robert Morley & Stephen Fry versions...to me, even though I have absolutely no idea what Oscar Wilde was really like, Peter comes across as a real artistic person rather than a flamboyant caricature); geez, the Marquess of Queensberry was an angry arsehole...and, as played here by Lionel, he was also a supreme overactor; beautiful colour production; the sad fate and career ruination of Oscar is touchingly portrayed here, as is the overlooked heartache of his wife; just wish it had a bit more of a documentary feel to it, rather than a one-sided melodrama
Award-Worthy Performance
Peter Finch
HOUDINI (1953)
d: George Marshall
CAST: Tony Curtis; Janet Leigh
> another one of those movies which only I seem to be a fan of (it's tough being the only person who is right); yes, I admit that if you want an accurate bio of Harry Houdini, there's no point watching this (read the wonderful 2006 biography The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush & Larry Sloman instead) but this is just pleasurable entertainment; film has a number of scenes which have stuck in my memory for over 40 years (straightjacket escape & barefooted jailbreak & trapped under the ice & an axe smashing into glass); shame about all the spiritual-afterlife obsession which drags on a bit; Tony & Janet are possibly the most physically gorgeous couple ever to appear on film and they have an obvious joint-charisma
MOTHER (1996)
d: Albert Brooks
CAST: Albert Brooks; Debbie Reynolds; Rob Morrow
> it took me a while to get used to the near-flatline rhythm of this film...everything seems sorta comatose-lite (dialogue & acting & intention); Woody Allen without the jokes; grown man with relationship issues moves back in with his mother to find out where it all went wrong; Debbie is a dish as Mum and even before she mentions it, you just know that she's still having regular sex; so grateful Debbie's role wasn't a grating Jewish-Mother caricature; Albert plays Albert which is okay but being himself never really resulted in a memorable movie character; overall, the question "so?" is on the tip of my tongue
Award-Worthy Performance
Debbie Reynolds
RESISTANCE (2011)
d: Amit Gupta
CAST: Andrea Riseborough; Tom Wlaschiha; Michael Sheen
> slow and somber "What If" story (as in "What if D-Day was unsuccessful and the Nazis had invaded Britain?"); war-weary band of German soldiers move into tiny Welsh farming community and bunker down for the winter, discovering that all the menfolk have already cleared off; a sort-of combination of 1970's The Last Valley and 1942's Went the Day Well (both ultra-unlikely faves of mine); there are no contrasting moods in the whole piece, so it remains one-note and consequently tedious, despite good acting and intention; while I always appreciate a "War is Bad" message, I need it to be delivered engrossingly or at least with more punch than this
CANDY (2006)
d: Neil Armfield
CAST: Heath Ledger; Abbie Cornish; Geoffrey Rush; Noni Hazlehurst; Tony Martin
> a junkie love story; you get the whole harrowing journey: poverty, crime, prostitution, pregnancy, withdrawal, miscarriage, insanity, death; I had a mate once who became a lowlife druggie - he borrowed and sold my $3000 vocals amp & speakers without even pausing - then asked me for some money six months later; Heath & Abbie are pretty good looking heroin addicts, even when they are at their most scummy; admirable acting by both and I especially like the fact that at no point did I feel pity for either of them (only her parents); "Beautiful Loser" stories tend to shit me and this is no exception; even Heath's one long-overdue act of decency / strength at the end didn't endear him to me
I CONFESS (1953)
d: Alfred Hitchcock
CAST: Montgomery Clift; Anne Baxter; Karl Malden; Brian Aherne
> a Hitchcock flop...which means that by the standards of other filmmakers, this would be considered okay; more a The Bold and The Beautiful soap opera than a suspense-piece; Hitch is let down by the acting of the three leads, which is merely pedestrian; Anne looks pretty but she spouts some absolute twaddlish dialogue; worst culprit is Dimitri Tiomkin, whose sledgehammer soundtrack kills any attempt at subtlety; not a drop of humour to be found anywhere, which is unusual for a Hitchcock film; the flashback sequence is bloody dreadful; the villain is suitably ghastly and his eventual comeuppance is appropriately satisfying
LIFE DURING WARTIME (2009)
d: Todd Solondz
CAST: Shirley Henderson; Alison Janney; Ciaran Hinds; Ally Sheedy; Charlotte Rampling
> close to being dreadful; multi-storyline set-up with interconnected characters; usual Todd Solondz topics: pedophilia & sexual perversion & suicide & child dealing with adult subjects & drugs & emotional hauntings & forgiveness no matter what; this time though, there isn't a drop of humour anywhere to dilute the tasteless and contentious stuff; dialogue is awkward and unnatural; acting is merely perfunctory except for Ciaran (the scene where this ex-con pedophile confronts his teenage son is actually quite powerful and easily the highlight of the movie); kind critics call it uncompromising; I call it dreary and unpleasant
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