Movie-Viewing Experiences 23/8/17 - 5/9/17
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 & Repugnant: The Void
WIND RIVER (2017)
A- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Taylor Sheridan
CAST: Jeremy Renner; Elizabeth Olsen; Graham Greene; Gil Birmingham
> starts as a Wallander style murder-mystery, but seems to lose interest in that...becomes a straightforward manhunt instead, but this isn't detrimental to the story...the focus is on character...people who make mistakes, try to survive the consequences, but are still able to display small kindnesses; while Jeremy as the determined & highly-skilled US Fish & Wildlife agent and Elizabeth as the equally-determined but still-learning FBI agent are mighty fine in their roles, the main part is played by the brutal landscape...the snowy mountains of Wyoming, filmed spectacularly; what raises the quality is the avoidance of some cliches: there is no sexual tension between lead male & female + a woman takes charge & no one cares + private lives are kept as backstories; if you can cope with the abundant mumbling, you'll get involved
AMERICAN MADE (2017)
A- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Doug Liman
CAST: Tom Cruise; Sarah Wright; Domhnall Gleeson
> oh, that's right...Tom Cruise can act; apparently a true story about a guy who starts off as a commercial pilot and, out of a mixture of boredom & greed, becomes a Cuban cigar smuggler, an aerial spy-photographer for the CIA, a cocaine smuggler, a gun smuggler for the CIA, a money-launderer, a people smuggler for the CIA, a cocaine smuggler (again), an informant for the DEA and a dead man; this all ties in with Pablo Escobar, communists in Central America, Nancy Reagan telling America to just say no and the Iran-Contra Affair starring Ollie North...phew!; similar to Scorcese's Goodfellas in structure, message and feel and nearly as good; Director Doug has hit on an effective balance between information and entertainment: it's an educational rush
SPOTSWOOD aka THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT (1992)
A- SECOND VIEWING
d: Mark Joffe
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Ben Mendelsohn; Alwyn Kurts; Toni Collette; Russell Crowe
> I've undoubtedly overrated this one-puff-and-it'll-blow-away Ealing-style comedy, but there is something supremely likeable about it; this tells the story of a 1966 family shoe-making business in Melbourne which is under the financial-viability eye of multi-corporate-lackey Anthony...mass sackings and brutally-objective restructuring are likely; full of nice normal (therefore peculiar) people who just happen to enjoy slotcar racing and gossip, Anthony gets to know them and questions the ethics of his job; mix in some first romance and an endearing central performance by our bloke Ben and you have one of those rare things: an Aussie comedy which works
Award-Worthy Performance
Ben Mendelsohn
THE CHASE (1946)
B+ FIRST VIEWING
d: Arthur Ripley
CAST: Robert Cummings; Michele Morgan; Steve Cochran; Peter Lorre
> unusual film noir which has divided critics...some say it's a gem & some say it's a dud...and I'm sitting on the fence; split into thirds, I can really only go into the first section without committing an injustice: Robert (as bland as ever) is a WWII veteran who is down on his luck...he is hired as a chauffeur by a gangster and promptly falls for his boss's woman...and that's where things get really interesting; unexpected (and clever) twist midway changes everything and the big climax is also quite a shock...but while all this is refreshing in a noir, I'm not entirely sure if it truly works or is just a hokey novelty; Steve is impressive as a vicious creep (see him give the female manicurist one helluva backhander in the first 5 minutes!) and Peter does his patented somnambulist-sidekick routine; intriguing but needs another viewing
THE LOST CITY OF Z (2016)
B- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: James Gray
CAST: Charlie Hunnam; Robert Pattinson; Sienna Miller; Tom Holland; Angus Macfadyen
> this film seeks to tell us the real life story of English soldier/explorer Percy Fawcett in the wilds of Amazonia; I expected a British Empire Boys Own Adventure yarn, and this fits the bill for the first half anyway: gallantry & courage + a long struggle with many hardships + a minimum of swearing (unless "arse" counts) + nudity-lite (indigenous bum-cheeks but no bum-cracks)...then it changes in the second half to a story of one man's obsession...potentially more interesting but not as exciting, and a tale about an expedition into the unknown must be exciting or else it's just a long bloody walk; while the characters are competently played, I didn't end up caring about any of them...another flaw if they are supposedly risking their lives; oh well...nice scenery
CLOVERFIELD (2008)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Matt Reeves
CAST: Michael Stahl-David; T.J. Miller; Jessica Lucas; Odette Yustman
> while the obvious touchstone for this "found footage" feature is The Blair Witch Project, I kept thinking of Orson Welles's infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast...where similar inane normality is unexpectedly interrupted by a monster wrecking the place (and why is it always New York? West Wyalong is far more deserving of obliteration); group of 20-somethings try to stay alive whilst still filming on their handheld (I dunno...I reckon I'd have other priorities... especially after one of my friends exploded in front of me); our cameraman is a dickhead named Hud and he just never friggin' shuts up, becoming a major annoyance; OK Godzilla rejig but nothing that wasn't done better by Stan & Jack in their Fantastic Four run
COVER GIRL (1944)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Charles Vidor
CAST: Rita Hayworth; Gene Kelly; Phil Silvers; Eve Arden; Otto Kruger
> one of the most popular musicals during the war years, this was clearly a showcase for Rita & army barracks pinups; while Rita's allure has always eluded me (I'm more of a girl-next-door fella...and when she gets all dramatic, I wince on reflex), I acknowledge that her legs really do go all the way up to her hips; this features one peppy dance number (obviously choreographed by Gene) and a truly bonkers one (Rita waltzes down from cloudy Heaven on a zig-zag ramp) and, most injuriously, a total of zero memorable songs; Eve is at her dry-wisecracking best and Phil does the comic relief / best friend role and they save the movie...but just barely
Award-Worthy Performance
Eve Arden
HAVING WONDERFUL TIME (1938)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Alfred Santell
CAST: Ginger Rogers; Douglas Fairbanks Jr; Lucille Ball; Eve Arden; Red Skelton
> NY gal goes to a holiday camp in the Catskills and meets a fella; forgettable rom-com which is heavy on the rom and light on the com, made palatable by the skill of its two leading stars (Ginger was always good at this stuff and Douglas was under-utilized by Hollywood...he had a natural style that was very appealing); very not appealing is the debut appearance by Red Skelton, doing his physical comedy routine...such a goof and about as funny as shingles; Lucy & Eve add a bit of comic class to compensate; Historical Footnote: this was based on a play with Jewish characters but, by order of the studio, all Jewish-sounding surnames were changed... apparently, antisemitism was in vogue in the U.S. at the time and the studio bosses (many of whom were Jewish themselves) did it to protect the box-office receipts...for shame
THE GLASS MENAGERIE (1987)
C SECOND VIEWING
d: Paul Newman
CAST: Joanne Woodward; John Malkovich; Karen Allen; James Naughton
> another one of those filmed plays that never leaves the stage...therefore is not a movie...it's just a recording; Paul the Director never makes any attempt to inject vim and relies entirely on the skills of the actors...and, for once, Joanne and John are not up to scratch; being a Tennessee Williams play, we have the lead female role written as a bleating, afraid harpy who expects everybody to accommodate her...Joanne makes this a painful performance with no redeeming sympathy, while John struggles with a questionable speak-to-camera flowery emoter; Karen is relievedly very affecting as the defeated old-maid-to-be; film didn't pass the Sunday couch test
Award-Worthy Performance
Karen Allen
PRETTY BOY FLOYD (1960)
C FIRST VIEWING
d: Herbert J. Leder
CAST: John Ericson; Barry Newman; Joan Harvey; Peter Falk
> low low low budget independent flick about the life and death of one of the big-name Depression-era gangsters; film takes a didactic docu-drama approach (y'know...narrative voiceover by some guy who sounds authoritative cuts in and out of the story at crucial moments, telling us what we are seeing and how we should react...Dragnet has a lot to answer for); while the story moves along effectively and jumps back'n'forth between presenting Floyd as pitiable victim or vicious killer (although I could've done without the oh-brother Christ imagery at the end), the overriding weakness is the inconsistency of acting quality... inevitable in a cheapie I know, but some of the performances are quite painful to sit through (main culprits: the women); just goes to show how money can make a difference
THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)
C FIRST VIEWING
d: Piers Haggard
CAST: Patrick Wymark; Linda Hayden; Barry Andrews; Michele Dotrice
> described as an English Folk-Horror movie (like 1968's Witchfinder General and 1973's The Wicker Man), this cheapie tries to out-horror Hammer (as the over-emphatic title suggests) but largely fails; after the discovery of a bestial skull in a field, the children (most of whom look to be in their mid-20's) of a village start sprouting patches of scaly / bristly skin and become demonically possessed...kids...if it's not one thing, it's another...; while there are some decidedly creepy scenes, the narrative isn't as fluid as it should be, so the build-up judders a bit, dissipating any tension that may have been created; usual young naked women / weird sex / licking blood off knives / open-mouthed panting to show ecstasy; when you do finally get a look at the big fella, you'll realise that you've seen far scarier creatures on public transport
ELEPHANT WALK (1954)
D FIRST VIEWING
d: William Dieterle
CAST: Elizabeth Taylor; Peter Finch; Dana Andrews
> simply boring; Peter brings his new wife Liz to his tea plantation in Ceylon... the legacy of his dead father drapes over the place like a pall...Liz finds it's very much a macho world and she is the only woman...so who can she knit with?; to try and inject some oomph into this rather gutless story, we are handed sexual tension (hubbie likes to drink with the boys and Liz fancies Dana) & indoor bicycle-polo & a cholera outbreak & an elephant demolition squad (which comes far too late to make you even want to raise your head); 22 years old when this film was shot, Liz is more gorgeous than the tropical scenery which surrounds her; I kept waiting for the Henry Mancini tune to jazz things up but then realised that was in another, far better, jungle movie
Go something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
WIND RIVER (2017)
d: Taylor Sheridan
CAST: Jeremy Renner; Elizabeth Olsen; Graham Greene; Gil Birmingham
> starts as a Wallander style murder-mystery, but seems to lose interest in that...becomes a straightforward manhunt instead, but this isn't detrimental to the story...the focus is on character...people who make mistakes, try to survive the consequences, but are still able to display small kindnesses; while Jeremy as the determined & highly-skilled US Fish & Wildlife agent and Elizabeth as the equally-determined but still-learning FBI agent are mighty fine in their roles, the main part is played by the brutal landscape...the snowy mountains of Wyoming, filmed spectacularly; what raises the quality is the avoidance of some cliches: there is no sexual tension between lead male & female + a woman takes charge & no one cares + private lives are kept as backstories; if you can cope with the abundant mumbling, you'll get involved
AMERICAN MADE (2017)
d: Doug Liman
CAST: Tom Cruise; Sarah Wright; Domhnall Gleeson
> oh, that's right...Tom Cruise can act; apparently a true story about a guy who starts off as a commercial pilot and, out of a mixture of boredom & greed, becomes a Cuban cigar smuggler, an aerial spy-photographer for the CIA, a cocaine smuggler, a gun smuggler for the CIA, a money-launderer, a people smuggler for the CIA, a cocaine smuggler (again), an informant for the DEA and a dead man; this all ties in with Pablo Escobar, communists in Central America, Nancy Reagan telling America to just say no and the Iran-Contra Affair starring Ollie North...phew!; similar to Scorcese's Goodfellas in structure, message and feel and nearly as good; Director Doug has hit on an effective balance between information and entertainment: it's an educational rush
SPOTSWOOD aka THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT (1992)
d: Mark Joffe
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Ben Mendelsohn; Alwyn Kurts; Toni Collette; Russell Crowe
> I've undoubtedly overrated this one-puff-and-it'll-blow-away Ealing-style comedy, but there is something supremely likeable about it; this tells the story of a 1966 family shoe-making business in Melbourne which is under the financial-viability eye of multi-corporate-lackey Anthony...mass sackings and brutally-objective restructuring are likely; full of nice normal (therefore peculiar) people who just happen to enjoy slotcar racing and gossip, Anthony gets to know them and questions the ethics of his job; mix in some first romance and an endearing central performance by our bloke Ben and you have one of those rare things: an Aussie comedy which works
Award-Worthy Performance
Ben Mendelsohn
THE CHASE (1946)
d: Arthur Ripley
CAST: Robert Cummings; Michele Morgan; Steve Cochran; Peter Lorre
> unusual film noir which has divided critics...some say it's a gem & some say it's a dud...and I'm sitting on the fence; split into thirds, I can really only go into the first section without committing an injustice: Robert (as bland as ever) is a WWII veteran who is down on his luck...he is hired as a chauffeur by a gangster and promptly falls for his boss's woman...and that's where things get really interesting; unexpected (and clever) twist midway changes everything and the big climax is also quite a shock...but while all this is refreshing in a noir, I'm not entirely sure if it truly works or is just a hokey novelty; Steve is impressive as a vicious creep (see him give the female manicurist one helluva backhander in the first 5 minutes!) and Peter does his patented somnambulist-sidekick routine; intriguing but needs another viewing
THE LOST CITY OF Z (2016)
d: James Gray
CAST: Charlie Hunnam; Robert Pattinson; Sienna Miller; Tom Holland; Angus Macfadyen
> this film seeks to tell us the real life story of English soldier/explorer Percy Fawcett in the wilds of Amazonia; I expected a British Empire Boys Own Adventure yarn, and this fits the bill for the first half anyway: gallantry & courage + a long struggle with many hardships + a minimum of swearing (unless "arse" counts) + nudity-lite (indigenous bum-cheeks but no bum-cracks)...then it changes in the second half to a story of one man's obsession...potentially more interesting but not as exciting, and a tale about an expedition into the unknown must be exciting or else it's just a long bloody walk; while the characters are competently played, I didn't end up caring about any of them...another flaw if they are supposedly risking their lives; oh well...nice scenery
CLOVERFIELD (2008)
d: Matt Reeves
CAST: Michael Stahl-David; T.J. Miller; Jessica Lucas; Odette Yustman
> while the obvious touchstone for this "found footage" feature is The Blair Witch Project, I kept thinking of Orson Welles's infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast...where similar inane normality is unexpectedly interrupted by a monster wrecking the place (and why is it always New York? West Wyalong is far more deserving of obliteration); group of 20-somethings try to stay alive whilst still filming on their handheld (I dunno...I reckon I'd have other priorities... especially after one of my friends exploded in front of me); our cameraman is a dickhead named Hud and he just never friggin' shuts up, becoming a major annoyance; OK Godzilla rejig but nothing that wasn't done better by Stan & Jack in their Fantastic Four run
COVER GIRL (1944)
d: Charles Vidor
CAST: Rita Hayworth; Gene Kelly; Phil Silvers; Eve Arden; Otto Kruger
> one of the most popular musicals during the war years, this was clearly a showcase for Rita & army barracks pinups; while Rita's allure has always eluded me (I'm more of a girl-next-door fella...and when she gets all dramatic, I wince on reflex), I acknowledge that her legs really do go all the way up to her hips; this features one peppy dance number (obviously choreographed by Gene) and a truly bonkers one (Rita waltzes down from cloudy Heaven on a zig-zag ramp) and, most injuriously, a total of zero memorable songs; Eve is at her dry-wisecracking best and Phil does the comic relief / best friend role and they save the movie...but just barely
Award-Worthy Performance
Eve Arden
HAVING WONDERFUL TIME (1938)
d: Alfred Santell
CAST: Ginger Rogers; Douglas Fairbanks Jr; Lucille Ball; Eve Arden; Red Skelton
> NY gal goes to a holiday camp in the Catskills and meets a fella; forgettable rom-com which is heavy on the rom and light on the com, made palatable by the skill of its two leading stars (Ginger was always good at this stuff and Douglas was under-utilized by Hollywood...he had a natural style that was very appealing); very not appealing is the debut appearance by Red Skelton, doing his physical comedy routine...such a goof and about as funny as shingles; Lucy & Eve add a bit of comic class to compensate; Historical Footnote: this was based on a play with Jewish characters but, by order of the studio, all Jewish-sounding surnames were changed... apparently, antisemitism was in vogue in the U.S. at the time and the studio bosses (many of whom were Jewish themselves) did it to protect the box-office receipts...for shame
THE GLASS MENAGERIE (1987)
d: Paul Newman
CAST: Joanne Woodward; John Malkovich; Karen Allen; James Naughton
> another one of those filmed plays that never leaves the stage...therefore is not a movie...it's just a recording; Paul the Director never makes any attempt to inject vim and relies entirely on the skills of the actors...and, for once, Joanne and John are not up to scratch; being a Tennessee Williams play, we have the lead female role written as a bleating, afraid harpy who expects everybody to accommodate her...Joanne makes this a painful performance with no redeeming sympathy, while John struggles with a questionable speak-to-camera flowery emoter; Karen is relievedly very affecting as the defeated old-maid-to-be; film didn't pass the Sunday couch test
Award-Worthy Performance
Karen Allen
PRETTY BOY FLOYD (1960)
d: Herbert J. Leder
CAST: John Ericson; Barry Newman; Joan Harvey; Peter Falk
> low low low budget independent flick about the life and death of one of the big-name Depression-era gangsters; film takes a didactic docu-drama approach (y'know...narrative voiceover by some guy who sounds authoritative cuts in and out of the story at crucial moments, telling us what we are seeing and how we should react...Dragnet has a lot to answer for); while the story moves along effectively and jumps back'n'forth between presenting Floyd as pitiable victim or vicious killer (although I could've done without the oh-brother Christ imagery at the end), the overriding weakness is the inconsistency of acting quality... inevitable in a cheapie I know, but some of the performances are quite painful to sit through (main culprits: the women); just goes to show how money can make a difference
THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971)
d: Piers Haggard
CAST: Patrick Wymark; Linda Hayden; Barry Andrews; Michele Dotrice
> described as an English Folk-Horror movie (like 1968's Witchfinder General and 1973's The Wicker Man), this cheapie tries to out-horror Hammer (as the over-emphatic title suggests) but largely fails; after the discovery of a bestial skull in a field, the children (most of whom look to be in their mid-20's) of a village start sprouting patches of scaly / bristly skin and become demonically possessed...kids...if it's not one thing, it's another...; while there are some decidedly creepy scenes, the narrative isn't as fluid as it should be, so the build-up judders a bit, dissipating any tension that may have been created; usual young naked women / weird sex / licking blood off knives / open-mouthed panting to show ecstasy; when you do finally get a look at the big fella, you'll realise that you've seen far scarier creatures on public transport
ELEPHANT WALK (1954)
d: William Dieterle
CAST: Elizabeth Taylor; Peter Finch; Dana Andrews
> simply boring; Peter brings his new wife Liz to his tea plantation in Ceylon... the legacy of his dead father drapes over the place like a pall...Liz finds it's very much a macho world and she is the only woman...so who can she knit with?; to try and inject some oomph into this rather gutless story, we are handed sexual tension (hubbie likes to drink with the boys and Liz fancies Dana) & indoor bicycle-polo & a cholera outbreak & an elephant demolition squad (which comes far too late to make you even want to raise your head); 22 years old when this film was shot, Liz is more gorgeous than the tropical scenery which surrounds her; I kept waiting for the Henry Mancini tune to jazz things up but then realised that was in another, far better, jungle movie
Go something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
