Movie-Viewing Experiences 2/3/17 - 20/3/17
A+ = Adored Masterwork A = Excellent A- = Very Good B+ = Good B = Nice Try B- = Tolerable
C = Seriously Flawed D = Pretty Awful E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void F = Vile & Offensive: The Void
LOGAN (2017)
d: James Mangold
CAST: Hugh Jackman; Patrick Stewart; Dafne Keen; Stephen Merchant; Richard E. Grant
> instantly sits alongside The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2 as one of the greatest of all superhero films...far superior to any of the previous Wolverine / X-Men movies (including X2); I am a fan of the original Stan & Jack X-Men and Mark Millar's Old Man Logan graphic novel...but this movie has little to do with either; wholly original, creatively staged, perfect use of camera during fight scenes (aka not shaky), primally-emotional in parts, beautifully acted by Hugh & Patrick and ultra ultra violent (you have been warned); final scene is a fanboy's heartbreak-image; DC...pay attention...this is how you do dark
Award-Worthy Performances
Hugh Jackman; Patrick Stewart; Dafne Keen
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER (1962)
d: Tony Richardson
CAST: Tom Courtenay; Michael Redgrave; Avis Bunnage; James Bolam
> another one of those British bleak "kitchen-sinkers" which were so beloved by the Arty counterculture, but not a drag at all... mainly due to Tom's career-making performance as a teenage petty crim who footraces for the prestige of his juvenile prison; his prior life is told through the usual series of flashbacks featuring an unsurprising assortment of influences (ghastly mother & angry father & girlfriend of simple needs); the only emotional uplift is delivered through the lad's refusal to completely knuckle under, but you do leave with a feeling that this guy is going to make something positive of himself...very John Lennon
Award-Worthy Performance
Tom Courtenay
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)
d: Vincente Minnelli
CAST: Judy Garland; Margaret O'Brien; Mary Astor; Tom Drake; Leon Ames; Harry Davenport
> anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows that I am not an admirer of sticky schmaltz & people-suddenly-bursting-into-song musicals...but this schmaltzy musical has undeniable charm (in an Andy Hardy / Pollyanna kinda way); the film contains three pop classics (hear 'em once...you know 'em forever) and the performances of these are the highlights; Judy looks gorgeous and she is in fine fine voice; little Margaret is a cutesy-pie without being unbearable; the couple of draggy spots (romance pap & kiddie antics) are easily forgiven; a slice of faux-innocent Americana that only the saddest of cynics could ridicule
Award-Worthy Performances
Judy Garland; Margaret O'Brien
MUD (2012)
d: Jeff Nichols
CAST: Matthew McConaughey; Tye Sheridan; Reese Witherspoon; Sam Shepard
> absorbing film about two 14 year old boys who discover a stranger on a river island who needs their help; story gradually opens up and encompasses dark secrets, the trials of growing up, honesty & morality and the meaning of love...but miraculously never becomes preachy or sappy about it; nice shots along the Mississippi and you get a real feel for river life; the climactic big shootout which you just know is gonna happen is too much and breaks out in the wrong location; strong portrayals of the title character and the lead kid; sneaks up...cleverly maintains tension right throughout without being too overtly manipulative
Award-Worthy Performances
Matthew McConaughey; Tye Sheridan
BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY (1973)
d: John Hancock
CAST: Michael Moriarty; Robert De Niro; Vincent Gardenia
> this one caught me by surprise...often cited as the best baseball film ever made, I was logically expecting a film about baseball...but while it is set in the world of baseball, it is actually about, what we Aussies call, Mateship; I am not a team sports fan (apart from wine-tasting) but, once I got used to the film's initially-offputting oblique humour and rat-a-tat baseball vernacular, its emotionality took hold; Robert is dying from Hodgkins while his teammate and best friend Michael helps him through his last season; nothing cornball...just a moving story about one of Life's shitful unfairnesses
Award-Worthy Performance
Michael Moriarty
LITTLE FISH (2005)
d: Rowan Woods
CAST: Cate Blanchett; Hugo Weaving; Sam Neill; Noni Hazlehurst; Martin Henderson
> a prime example of showcase acting lifting up an otherwise real downer of a story...yep, you guessed it, it's a "slice of life" film, about an ex-druggie who fights desperately against sliding back into addiction & crime, despite friends and family seemingly pushing her into it; Cate is the young Sydneysider trying to better herself and Hugo is her ex-stepfather who was once a football star but is now on the downward drug spiral...both actors seemed to have been scooped up off the streets and just told to be, so real are their performances; still, it is yet another "junkie hell" film, therefore depressing, frustrating and predictably doomed
Award-Worthy Performances
Cate Blanchett; Hugo Weaving
ALONE IN BERLIN (2016)
d: Vincent Perez
CAST: Brendan Gleeson; Emma Thompson; Daniel Bruhl
> I watched this movie when I was halfway through Germany 1945: From War to Peace, written by historian Richard Bessel (a good layman's book BTW...easy to read and fascinating) so I was already intrigued by the subject matter; a true story about small acts of courage and defiance, the film tells how a middle-aged German couple, after the war-death of their only son, write cards denouncing Hitler and leave them on doorsteps all over Berlin; very slow in the telling, so when the inevitable bursts of violence occur they throw your head back a bit; both Brendan and Emma perform well if a little too one-note (very restrained & buttoned-up, which is, let's face it, a little dull); highlights the truth that not all ordinary Germans were Nazi bastards (which is what Bessel's 2009 book does too)
THE SHOPWORN ANGEL (1938)
d: H.C. Potter
CAST: Margaret Sullavan; James Stewart; Walter Pidgeon; Hattie McDaniels
> pretty corny & stupid pro-self-sacrifice-to-feed-the-WWI-effort story; Jimmy is a country bumpkin soldier who falls in love with falling in love...the object of his infatuation is Margaret, an it's-all-about-me playgirl-stage-singer...she does the sweet guy a favour (in case he gets shot over there) and flirts with and marries him...and discovers that she really does have a soft centre after all (told you it was stupid); lifted up by an apparently "how-did-she-do-that" heartfelt performance from Margaret (along with Jean Arthur and Barbara Stanwyck, my fave golden era actress) to the waist-height of tolerable twaddle
Award-Worthy Performance
Margaret Sullavan
JASPER JONES (2017)
d: Rachel Perkins
CAST: Levi Miller; Toni Collette; Aaron L. McGrath; Angourie Rice; Hugo Weaving
> the obvious touchstone for this movie is To Kill a Mockingbird (childhood + racism + secrets + murder + innocence lost)...both great stories...but only the 1962 classic is a great film; while the middle section is well-constructed and quite effective, the beginning and end of Jasper Jones are decidedly iffy: Beginning = jumps just too damned quickly into the shock-image and focal-tragedy, way before any characterisation has been established & Ending = too tidy, too lightweight and just unsatisfying; Hugo gives a masterclass in impact-acting and Toni creates sympathy where none is due, but young Levi only looks the part (I found him to be eye-wideningly & mouth-gapingly unconvincing); read the novel instead
LADY IN CEMENT (1968)
d: George Douglas
CAST: Frank Sinatra; Raquel Welch; Dan Blocker; Richard Conte; Lainie Kazan
> run-of-the-mill groovy Sixties private eye murder/comedy with Frankie doing his patented cool Rat Pack routine; sequel to earlier Tony Rome movie; usual features: blonde jokes & gay jokes & cross-dressing jokes & fat jokes & corpse jokes & a car chase & hipster lingo & wisecracks...endless wisecracks & lotsa guns & a surprise-but-not-particularly-interesting ending; incessant pop-jazzy soundtrack plays even when the killings and beatings take place(!); Dan is amusing as big tough guy...very similar to Moose character in Farewell My Lovely; not much more you can really say about this mediocre nothing...apart from its most striking image being the one the movie is named after; there wasn't a third in the series
SUEZ (1938)
d: Allan Dwan
CAST: Tyrone Power; Loretta Young; Annabella; Joseph Schildkraut; Leon Ames
> supposedly about the construction of the Suez Canal but is actually about bullshit; not for anyone who cares about history, the ethics of imperialism or Middle Eastern politics; not much acting going on by any of the cast (Tyrone and Loretta were never much more than pretty, even at the best of times); film mixes romance, betrayal and big-picture politics in with man's noble attempt to conquer nature; as usual with these kinda things, the hero has to jump through many hoops of self-sacrifice, disappointment and personal tragedy before finally achieving his goal...in this case, the digging of a very large ditch; film's single redeeming feature is the epic sandstorm which unfortunately only occurs at the very end
FELICIA'S JOURNEY (1999)
d: Atom Egoyan
CAST: Bob Hoskins; Elaine Cassidy
> universally hailed as a psychological thriller of award-winning merit, on second viewing I found it lacking...peculiar and unpleasant don't equate to significant artistic depth; while it is about escaping the emotional brutality of one's upbringing (a great theme), nothing shown adequately explains Bob-the-serial-killer's motives for betraying the trust of vulnerable girls then doing them in...so therefore the guy is just a ghastly nutter who you feel absolutely no Norman-Bates pity for; Bob plays the murderer as if he is constrained by a tight-fit suit and his intended victim (Elaine) is no more animated than he is (when the only memorable character is a Jehovah's Witness, you know something has gone awry); the soundtrack is spotted with oddball music which is more annoying than unnerving; a thriller with no thrills
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