Movie-Viewing Experiences 15/2/17 - 1/3/17
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
THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940)
d: Raoul Walsh
CAST: George Raft; Ann Sheridan; Ida Lupino; Humphrey Bogart; Alan Hale; Roscoe Karns
> gotta be the best example of a golden-age Warner Bros movie: a bromance right up front (George & Humphrey make a terrific couple) & macho-action mixing in with woman-romance & tragedy mixing in with light comedy & an underlying social message ("...it's gettin' so an honest guy can't make a buck...") & told at breakneck speed & a smattering of great character faces and vocals; Ida gives one of the most hysterical (and unintentionally amusing) performances in 40's films but this is balanced out by an intentionally amusing tough-n-tender dame performance by Ann; all about truckies trying to keep ahead of creditors and chiselers and it's an absolute entertainment from beginning to end...how'd they do that?
BRIGHTON ROCK (1947)
d: John Boulting
CAST: Richard Attenborough; Hermione Baddeley; Carol Marsh; William Hartnell
> took me a fair while to track down a copy of this, but it was worth the wait; this UK Kiss of Death / Little Caesar style gangster flick succeeds in being far more than merely brutal and graphic; there's real tension as a young thug (17!) tries to establish his gang (made up of crims twice & thrice his age) as a force to be reckoned with in the seaside resort of Brighton; Richard is marvellous as the babyfaced creep and his sense of self-preservation knows no bounds...his killings all mix business with pleasure; the copy I watched had the original dark ending and it is a chilling coda to one of the best crime films to ever come out of Britain
Award-Worthy Performance
Richard Attenborough
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (2007)
d: Craig Gillespie
CAST: Ryan Gosling; Emily Mortimer; Paul Schneider; Patricia Clarkson; Kelli Garner
> first time I saw this was 10 years ago when it first came out...I must have had IBS or something...this movie is far far better than I first thought; a pathologically-shy guy buys himself a "love-doll" as a substitute for a human relationship; somehow manages to be sad & funny, pathetic & sweet without even a hint of sleaze / pervert humour; ends up saying more about mental illness & loneliness & affection-deprivation than any film (or other work of art) in recent memory; just love how his family and the townsfolk rally around the man in his time of need...very It's a Wonderful Life; a future Movie Jukebox inductee
Award-Worthy Performance
Ryan Gosling
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974)
d: Terence Fisher
CAST: Peter Cushing; Shane Briant; Madeline Smith; David Prowse; John Stratton
> one of the tailenders of the Hammer Horror series, the last in their Frankenstein series and the final film directed by Terence Fisher; I've always found the Hammer Horror stuff more unsettling & tragic than scary and this is no exception; nice twisty touches of humour (Dr Frankenstein has kidneys for breakfast!) and the setting of the Victorian-era madhouse adds an extra shiver or two; some rather graphic scenes (the opening up of a head to get to the soon-to-be transplanted brain) add the obligatory 1970's gore; the monster looks like a cross between a neckless yeti and a franciscan monk but is serviceable; as usual, the story dawdles a bit in the telling but has more emotional substance than your standard horror offering
THE OPTIMISTS OF NINE ELMS aka THE OPTIMISTS (1973)
d: Anthony Simmons
CAST: Peter Sellers; Donna Mullane; John Chaffey; David Daker; Marjorie Yates
> a self-consciously sentimental little movie about an old Music Hall performer, his cute dog and two working class kids...yeah, it's one of those...but it improves as it goes along; you just know from the outset that either the old guy or the dog is gonna die; set in the far-less picturesque Battersea area of London where everybody (especially family) treats each other shabbily; Peter is the reason why the movie works...his incessant rambling is a mix of song lyrics, joke one-liners and old-man sayings; the kids are refreshingly schmaltz-free and while there is a pall of sadness over all the characters, the film title is not cynical
Award-Worthy Performance
Peter Sellers
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1960)
d: Michael Curtiz
CAST: Eddie Hodges; Archie Moore; Tony Randall; Neville Brand; Andy Devine; Mickey Shaughnessy; Buster Keaton; Finlay Currie; John Carradine; Sterling Holloway
> my love of rafts began with this film...made three...all sank; a regularly-watched Channel 7 movie on wet Saturdays back when I was 10; my sentimental fave of all the Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn movies, this is too Disneyesque to satisfy my adult taste...it cries out for a bit of true grit (at least the kid smokes a pipe I guess); Eddie is okay as Huck but he looks like he was pressganged from the Mickey Mouse Club; biggest asset is the marvellous supporting cast straight out of Character Actor Heaven; episodic lightweight fun for old-fashioned kids
Award-Worthy Performance
Tony Randall
THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936)
d: William K. Howard
CAST: Carole Lombard; Fred MacMurray; Alison Skipworth; William Frawley
> a peculiar little movie which seems to be suffering from an identity crisis; starts off as a fluffy rom-com...hints that it's going to be a confidence trickster farce...ends up becoming a murder-mystery with a trick denouement; all this takes place aboard an ocean liner (sorta used like the train in The Lady Vanishes); Carole does a terrific Greta Garbo send-up and Fred pre-empts his Double Indemnity turn (although he is expected to also be a concertina-playing band leader who sings...fast forward); good collection of classic character actors add spice; really lags a bit though and there isn't anywhere near enough humour which is actually funny
Award-Worthy Performance
Carole Lombard
SILENCE (2016)
d: Martin Scorcese
CAST: Andrew Garfield; Adam Driver; Shinya Tsukamoto; Issey Ogata; Liam Neeson
> I have a problem with religious suffering...to willingly endure torture and slaughter for a faith which you believe to be better than the other bloke's faith...I just don't get it; I also have problems with the convenience of absolution and the deification of objects; this movie is about all that (and the 17th Century persecution of Christians in Japan) and as such, I found it to be a little tedious (and very long)...without even a music soundtrack to soften the surroundings; some positives though (mainly in the craftsmanship): cinematography, editing and acting in a couple of the supporting roles; quite heavy-going but rewarding at times...sort of
Award-Worthy Performances
Issey Ogata; Shinya Tsukamoto
MR FORBUSH AND THE PENGUINS aka CRY OF THE PENGUINS (1971)
d: Arne Sucksdorff; Al Viola; Roy Boulting
CAST: John Hurt; Hayley Mills; Tony Britton; Dudley Sutton
> a rich and gifted biology student from swingin' London is wasting his life on booze 'n' birds (er, women)...until he is persuaded by a college professor to embark on a field trip to Antarctica to study penguins; things pick up as soon as the penguins arrive (the human stuff back in London is a bore); I never fully believe that John is in Antarctica (he seems under-dressed for a start) and the wildlife shots are awkwardly slipped in...still, the penguins are mighty birds and their travails and charisma rope you in; overall though, I suggest watching 1983's similarly-themed Never Cry Wolf instead...it's just more entertaining
PS go make a coffee during the attacks on the penguin chicks by bastard birds of prey
KANGAROO (1987)
d: Tim Burstall
CAST: Colin Friels; Judy Davis; John Walton; Hugh Keays-Byrne
> a little-known and little-seen film based on D.H. Lawrence's life in Australia (and his semi-autobiographical novel of the same name); set in post-WWI Sydney, it focusses on the social insecurity of the era, with the rise of the political extremes of Fascism and Communism...and the belief by idealists that a young country like Australia could set an example to the turbulent between-wars world; interesting (if you're an Aussie history buff like I am) but it is unfortunately not told in a particularly engaging way...quite dull in spots, in fact; Colin & Judy perform well together and the brightly-lit landscapes are always a plus, but ultimately the film is not much more than a BTW-footnote in a rather-dry textbook
THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE (1938)
d: Anatole Litvak
CAST: Edward G. Robinson; Claire Trevor; Humphrey Bogart; Donald Crisp; Allen Jenkins
> the pretty stupid premise - high society doctor becomes a jewel thief so he can study the physiological and psychological aberrations of career criminals - nearly sinks the whole movie; Edward G is required to remain subdued and monotonal throughout the movie...not a good fit for an actor who excels in vocal attack; Humphrey plays yet another bad guy who is waiting around for Sam Spade to rescue him; the story takes a turn for the chilling when the Doctor resorts to murder (nicely handled) but then fritters it away with a dumb is-he-sane-or-insane courtroom farce; Donald & Allen and other great Hollywood character actors are there but aren't really given much to do; quite a disappointment really
NICKELODEON (1976)
d: Peter Bogdanovich
CAST: Ryan O'Neal; Burt Reynolds; Brian Keith; Tatum O'Neal; Stella Stevens; John Ritter
> it's not that this is a bad movie (it's not interesting enough to be that notable), it's just that it's a total nothing...a zero charisma...it's a mole hill that was turned into a mole hill; I find it difficult to believe that a director as skilled and historically-knowledgeable as Peter and a cast as stellar as this one could produce such a 2-hour waste of time; supposedly about the pioneering one-&-two-reeler days, this comedy doesn't even try to be funny...it just lays there like an old dog that occasionally thinks about getting up to eat; two flickers of light: Brian's rapidfire stogie-chewing entrepreneur and the scene where Ryan's pants fall down during a fistfight; why can't movie-makers make good movies about movie-making?
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