Movie-Viewing Experiences 19/12/17 - 6/1/18
A+ = Adored Masterwork A = Excellent A- = Very Good B+ = Good B = Nice Try B- = Tolerable
C = Significantly Flawed D = Pretty Bad E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void F = Vile & Repugnant: The Void
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017)
A FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Martin McDonagh
CAST: Frances McDormand; Sam Rockwell; Woody Harrelson; Peter Dinklage; John Hawkes
> it is instantly obvious that this is one of the great movies of 2017 (if you can handle nonstop naughty words...okay Nanna?); small town Mom wants the hideous rape/murder of her daughter solved, so takes extreme measures to razz the local police into action; the success of this film is based on its merging of tragedy with aggressive humour: cry when you don't expect to & laugh when you think you probably shouldn't; the brazen gall and rockhard determination of this woman is uncomfortably admirable...she is a cinematic character for the ages; In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and now this?...wow, what a run
Award-Worthy Performances
Frances McDormand; Sam Rockwell
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017)
A- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Luca Guadagnino
CAST: Timothee Chalamet; Armie Hammer; Michael Stuhlbarg
> nice to finally see a sexual relationship film between males which isn't hysterical/guilty/tragic; set in 1980's Italy, the story focuses on art & beauty & desire & ache, complete with Grecian statues and the sunny, lazy Lombardian countryside...an American graduate moves in with a professor and his family for six weeks and an attraction develops between the 20+ graduate and the professor's 17 year old son; the romance is of the coming-of-age type but remains sweet and sleazeless; the final father & son talk is an instant cinema classic (and should be printed off and framed); go see the movie just to find out how much of an adult you truly are
Award-Worthy Performance
Timothee Chalamet
A DISPATCH FROM REUTER'S (1940)
A- FIRST VIEWING
d: William Dieterle
CAST: Edward G. Robinson; Edna Best; Eddie Albert; Albert Bassermann; Nigel Bruce
> interesting old-fashioned Warners biopic which greatly benefits from not starring Paul Muni; from pigeon post to telegraphy to tidal mail to extra-extra-read-all-about-it, this film tells the story of Paul Julius Reuter and his development of breaking-news journalism via his self-titled agency; as a history buff, I found some scenes quite fascinating (particularly the pioneering days of war reporting and the early attempts to exploit stock market updates) and, while I am sure that accuracy was only semi-important to the filmmakers, I have no objection to their #1 concern being a well-told story, which this is; topnotch supporting cast (esp. Albert B, who is in fine twinkling pixie mode) complements yet another strong Eddie G performance
PS...giggles for Aussies...the Pommies keep mispronouncing the guy's name as "Rooter"
DANTE'S PEAK (1997)
B+ MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Roger Donaldson
CAST: Pierce Brosnan; Linda Hamilton; Jamie Renee Smith; Jeremy Foley
> this is a Disaster Film folks, like a Western is a Western, so some attributes are a given for the genre...first third is character & premise establishment + the star of the show is the catastrophe, so the actors are all in pawnish support + the ignorant and the baddies are punished by Fate + there is a big climax battling the insurmountable; what this one has that many others don't is a pair of experienced-in-action leads (James Bond + Sarah Connor), a lack of an all-star cast (so we don't get distracted by trying to guess who dies and how) and once the disaster hits, absolutely no breathers: it just relentlessly cooks; yes, yes, there are cute kids & a family dog named Bowser & a foxy ol' grandma, some of the dialogue is rubbish, and the near-death scenes push the boundaries of plausibility, but so what? Shut up and pass the popcorn.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017)
B FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Sean Baker
CAST: Brooklyn Prince; Bria Vinaite; Willem Dafoe; Valeria Cotto
> a story of a feral child and her car-crash of a mother, living in a near-Florida-Disneyland slum-ish motel; as a 40 year veteran of primary-kid teaching, I have seen far more than my fair share of nice kids being screwed up by their worse-choice-after-bad-choice parents, so I squirmed through this, sliding from one lot of anger to another; it's obvious why Willem is finally getting some Oscar buzz for his performance in this...he plays a decent, slightly heroic guy who is good to the kids...hardly multi-faceted, but warm; the kid actors are all good (read: come across as real) and the shit Mom is young, dependent upon handouts & scams and abusive to opposition... she loves her daughter, but so what when she can't safely care for her; depressing & frustrating, the film is very good of its type (Mike Leigh style kitchen-sinker), but it's not my type
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (2017)
B- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Ridley Scott
CAST: Michelle Williams; Christopher Plummer; Mark Wahlberg; Charlie Plummer
> I remember the John Paul Getty III kidnapping case...the news here in Australia was strangely aloof about it all (privileged teenager gets held for ransom + oil tycoon is reluctant to cough up the $17 mill for his grandson's return), as if it was some High Society game...but that all changed when the kid's ear turned up in the mail; this film is really two stories: #1 the kidnapping & #2 the obscenely rich old man and his pathological obsession with moneygrubbing... bizarrely, only #2 fascinated me...the ordeals the kid goes through somehow came across as only marginally interesting, primarily because I never felt attached to him
Award-Worthy Performance
Christopher Plummer
SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (1970)
B FIRST VIEWING
d: Gordon Hessler
CAST: Vincent Price; Christopher Lee; Alfred Marks; Anthony Newlands; Michael Gothard
> quite peculiar horror/police/conspiracy/thriller movie which is fragmented into three seemingly disparate parts: #1 patient in hospital is having bits of himself amputated one-at-a-time #2 sex killer is on the loose in groovy London and he appears to have vampiric tendencies #3 an unnamed totalitarian government (very KGBish) is being manipulated from within by a man with the ability to paralyse and kill by a single shoulder pinch (no, he is not a Vulcan); these three storylines cut back and forth to each other, gradually hinting at a possible connection...this in itself creates a fascinated interest: what the hell is going on?; unfortunately, the final join of the dots is not terribly satisfying and more than a little dumb, so you feel vaguely cheated, even though the journey has been a weird pleasure; it nearly works
DOWNSIZING (2017)
B- FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Alexander Payne
CAST: Matt Damon; Christoph Waltz; Hong Chau; Kristen Wiig
> a commendable misfire; upon a guarantee of a better life, everyman Matt agrees to shrink himself down to 5 inches and become a member of the Small community...but things don't go to plan; while the premise is clever, there is far too much stuffed into the message-mix (impending ecological disaster + science as saviour + synthetic gated communities + hippie cults + economic inequality + habitual consumerism + slum-housing based on race + materialism vs altruism as the Meaning of Life), which dulls the impact (and lessens the entertainment); still, all these are discussion-worthy topics and most scenes thankfully nudge more than shove, so you never entirely feel preached at; there's only really one Ant-Man style "little" joke here, and zero The Incredible Shrinking Man suspense, so the tone throughout is anaesthetisingly mild
THE SHINING HOUR (1938)
C FIRST VIEWING
d: Frank Borzage
CAST: Joan Crawford; Margaret Sullavan; Robert Young; Melvyn Douglas; Fay Bainter
> glossy 'n' vapid soapie which the outbreak of WWII helped to make extinct... at least we now know what war is good for; NY nightclub dancer marries into rich Wisconsin farming family and ends up wrecking everyone by being so damned irresistible; people turn awfully noble and self-sacrificing all over the place, suffering the pangs and torments of Love's trevails, all whilst being very well-dressed and waited on by black maids and poor labourers; the only reason to see this drivel is Margaret, who somehow makes a dish of her role and shows up everybody around her (and who ever told Joan that she could dance?); the ending is studio-interference lunacy
Award-Worthy Performance
Margaret Sullavan
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997)
C SECOND VIEWING
d: Woody Allen
CAST: Woody Allen; Kirstie Alley; Richard Benjamin; Billy Crystal; Judy Davis; Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Tobey Maguire; Elisabeth Shue; Demi Moore; Stanley Tucci; Amy Irving; Robin Williams
> crude-ish meaning-of-life comedy featuring Woody as a totally narcissistic, neurotic satyr, trying to screw his way to happiness and understanding; this version of Woody's usual persona is too extreme to be likeable or even recognisable, thus deflating a lot of the this-is-the-way-things-really-are humour; the herky-jerky editing (sometimes mid-sentence) is more annoying than effective (it serves no purpose) and the constant dropping of f&c-bombs tries to toughen up the delivery (I guess) but comes across as forced and awkward; the vast cast makes little impact (exception: Judy Davis); some jokes hit home but most are zingers which are closer to nasty than funny; a self-indulgent & self-justifying dud
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961)
D FIRST VIEWING
d: Irwin Allen
CAST: Walter Pidgeon; Robert Sterling; Joan Fontaine; Peter Lorre; Barbara Eden
> rather simpleminded sci-fi(ish) thriller about a big sub and the possible end of the world (caused by sudden global warming...take that, sceptics); I was never a fan of the TV series when I was a kid (I'm more an "on the beach" than "in the water" type), so this film was never going to be a surefire hit with me; the model & sets work is admirable for its time but still pretty hokey...even the obligatory giant squid is a dud; sad to see Peter Lorre reduced to such a nothing role; usual underwater-action tedium caused by everything moving slower and everybody dressing the same and being muted; Barb...would you really wear hi-heels and a tight dress as your uniform in a submarine, even as a bit-o'-fluff secretary?; how they managed to spin this soggy banality out into 110x60 minute episodes is totally beyond me; ping...ping...ping...
BEAU JAMES (1957)
E SECOND & FINAL VIEWING
d: Melville Shavelson
CAST: Bob Hope; Vera Miles; Paul Douglas; Darren McGavin; Alexis Smith
> the political history of New York presents one of the world's great clashes of accomplishment and corruption... it is a fascinating story stacked with complex, ruthless leaders... Jimmy Walker is supposed to be one of them, but according to this film, he was an all-singin' all-dancin' Mayor, heavy on the charm and light on the nous; Bob plays the guy as if he is desperately looking for Bing, so obviously uncomfortable in a "dramatic" role (everything is a wisecrack... infidelity, graft, drunkenness, suicide); we are predominantly fed the Mayor's quest for Love whilst criminal activity & snouts-in-the-trough waft around in the background; the dialogue brims with howlers which the entire cast is defeated by; the movie tops itself with a nauseating grab at nobility (gosh...he really wuz a great guy...mass applause); aka Walkergate: The Musical
Got something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
d: Martin McDonagh
CAST: Frances McDormand; Sam Rockwell; Woody Harrelson; Peter Dinklage; John Hawkes
> it is instantly obvious that this is one of the great movies of 2017 (if you can handle nonstop naughty words...okay Nanna?); small town Mom wants the hideous rape/murder of her daughter solved, so takes extreme measures to razz the local police into action; the success of this film is based on its merging of tragedy with aggressive humour: cry when you don't expect to & laugh when you think you probably shouldn't; the brazen gall and rockhard determination of this woman is uncomfortably admirable...she is a cinematic character for the ages; In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and now this?...wow, what a run
Award-Worthy Performances
Frances McDormand; Sam Rockwell
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017)
d: Luca Guadagnino
CAST: Timothee Chalamet; Armie Hammer; Michael Stuhlbarg
> nice to finally see a sexual relationship film between males which isn't hysterical/guilty/tragic; set in 1980's Italy, the story focuses on art & beauty & desire & ache, complete with Grecian statues and the sunny, lazy Lombardian countryside...an American graduate moves in with a professor and his family for six weeks and an attraction develops between the 20+ graduate and the professor's 17 year old son; the romance is of the coming-of-age type but remains sweet and sleazeless; the final father & son talk is an instant cinema classic (and should be printed off and framed); go see the movie just to find out how much of an adult you truly are
Award-Worthy Performance
Timothee Chalamet
A DISPATCH FROM REUTER'S (1940)
d: William Dieterle
CAST: Edward G. Robinson; Edna Best; Eddie Albert; Albert Bassermann; Nigel Bruce
> interesting old-fashioned Warners biopic which greatly benefits from not starring Paul Muni; from pigeon post to telegraphy to tidal mail to extra-extra-read-all-about-it, this film tells the story of Paul Julius Reuter and his development of breaking-news journalism via his self-titled agency; as a history buff, I found some scenes quite fascinating (particularly the pioneering days of war reporting and the early attempts to exploit stock market updates) and, while I am sure that accuracy was only semi-important to the filmmakers, I have no objection to their #1 concern being a well-told story, which this is; topnotch supporting cast (esp. Albert B, who is in fine twinkling pixie mode) complements yet another strong Eddie G performance
PS...giggles for Aussies...the Pommies keep mispronouncing the guy's name as "Rooter"
DANTE'S PEAK (1997)
d: Roger Donaldson
CAST: Pierce Brosnan; Linda Hamilton; Jamie Renee Smith; Jeremy Foley
> this is a Disaster Film folks, like a Western is a Western, so some attributes are a given for the genre...first third is character & premise establishment + the star of the show is the catastrophe, so the actors are all in pawnish support + the ignorant and the baddies are punished by Fate + there is a big climax battling the insurmountable; what this one has that many others don't is a pair of experienced-in-action leads (James Bond + Sarah Connor), a lack of an all-star cast (so we don't get distracted by trying to guess who dies and how) and once the disaster hits, absolutely no breathers: it just relentlessly cooks; yes, yes, there are cute kids & a family dog named Bowser & a foxy ol' grandma, some of the dialogue is rubbish, and the near-death scenes push the boundaries of plausibility, but so what? Shut up and pass the popcorn.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017)
d: Sean Baker
CAST: Brooklyn Prince; Bria Vinaite; Willem Dafoe; Valeria Cotto
> a story of a feral child and her car-crash of a mother, living in a near-Florida-Disneyland slum-ish motel; as a 40 year veteran of primary-kid teaching, I have seen far more than my fair share of nice kids being screwed up by their worse-choice-after-bad-choice parents, so I squirmed through this, sliding from one lot of anger to another; it's obvious why Willem is finally getting some Oscar buzz for his performance in this...he plays a decent, slightly heroic guy who is good to the kids...hardly multi-faceted, but warm; the kid actors are all good (read: come across as real) and the shit Mom is young, dependent upon handouts & scams and abusive to opposition... she loves her daughter, but so what when she can't safely care for her; depressing & frustrating, the film is very good of its type (Mike Leigh style kitchen-sinker), but it's not my type
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (2017)
d: Ridley Scott
CAST: Michelle Williams; Christopher Plummer; Mark Wahlberg; Charlie Plummer
> I remember the John Paul Getty III kidnapping case...the news here in Australia was strangely aloof about it all (privileged teenager gets held for ransom + oil tycoon is reluctant to cough up the $17 mill for his grandson's return), as if it was some High Society game...but that all changed when the kid's ear turned up in the mail; this film is really two stories: #1 the kidnapping & #2 the obscenely rich old man and his pathological obsession with moneygrubbing... bizarrely, only #2 fascinated me...the ordeals the kid goes through somehow came across as only marginally interesting, primarily because I never felt attached to him
Award-Worthy Performance
Christopher Plummer
SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (1970)
d: Gordon Hessler
CAST: Vincent Price; Christopher Lee; Alfred Marks; Anthony Newlands; Michael Gothard
> quite peculiar horror/police/conspiracy/thriller movie which is fragmented into three seemingly disparate parts: #1 patient in hospital is having bits of himself amputated one-at-a-time #2 sex killer is on the loose in groovy London and he appears to have vampiric tendencies #3 an unnamed totalitarian government (very KGBish) is being manipulated from within by a man with the ability to paralyse and kill by a single shoulder pinch (no, he is not a Vulcan); these three storylines cut back and forth to each other, gradually hinting at a possible connection...this in itself creates a fascinated interest: what the hell is going on?; unfortunately, the final join of the dots is not terribly satisfying and more than a little dumb, so you feel vaguely cheated, even though the journey has been a weird pleasure; it nearly works
DOWNSIZING (2017)
d: Alexander Payne
CAST: Matt Damon; Christoph Waltz; Hong Chau; Kristen Wiig
> a commendable misfire; upon a guarantee of a better life, everyman Matt agrees to shrink himself down to 5 inches and become a member of the Small community...but things don't go to plan; while the premise is clever, there is far too much stuffed into the message-mix (impending ecological disaster + science as saviour + synthetic gated communities + hippie cults + economic inequality + habitual consumerism + slum-housing based on race + materialism vs altruism as the Meaning of Life), which dulls the impact (and lessens the entertainment); still, all these are discussion-worthy topics and most scenes thankfully nudge more than shove, so you never entirely feel preached at; there's only really one Ant-Man style "little" joke here, and zero The Incredible Shrinking Man suspense, so the tone throughout is anaesthetisingly mild
THE SHINING HOUR (1938)
d: Frank Borzage
CAST: Joan Crawford; Margaret Sullavan; Robert Young; Melvyn Douglas; Fay Bainter
> glossy 'n' vapid soapie which the outbreak of WWII helped to make extinct... at least we now know what war is good for; NY nightclub dancer marries into rich Wisconsin farming family and ends up wrecking everyone by being so damned irresistible; people turn awfully noble and self-sacrificing all over the place, suffering the pangs and torments of Love's trevails, all whilst being very well-dressed and waited on by black maids and poor labourers; the only reason to see this drivel is Margaret, who somehow makes a dish of her role and shows up everybody around her (and who ever told Joan that she could dance?); the ending is studio-interference lunacy
Award-Worthy Performance
Margaret Sullavan
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997)
d: Woody Allen
CAST: Woody Allen; Kirstie Alley; Richard Benjamin; Billy Crystal; Judy Davis; Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Tobey Maguire; Elisabeth Shue; Demi Moore; Stanley Tucci; Amy Irving; Robin Williams
> crude-ish meaning-of-life comedy featuring Woody as a totally narcissistic, neurotic satyr, trying to screw his way to happiness and understanding; this version of Woody's usual persona is too extreme to be likeable or even recognisable, thus deflating a lot of the this-is-the-way-things-really-are humour; the herky-jerky editing (sometimes mid-sentence) is more annoying than effective (it serves no purpose) and the constant dropping of f&c-bombs tries to toughen up the delivery (I guess) but comes across as forced and awkward; the vast cast makes little impact (exception: Judy Davis); some jokes hit home but most are zingers which are closer to nasty than funny; a self-indulgent & self-justifying dud
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961)
d: Irwin Allen
CAST: Walter Pidgeon; Robert Sterling; Joan Fontaine; Peter Lorre; Barbara Eden
> rather simpleminded sci-fi(ish) thriller about a big sub and the possible end of the world (caused by sudden global warming...take that, sceptics); I was never a fan of the TV series when I was a kid (I'm more an "on the beach" than "in the water" type), so this film was never going to be a surefire hit with me; the model & sets work is admirable for its time but still pretty hokey...even the obligatory giant squid is a dud; sad to see Peter Lorre reduced to such a nothing role; usual underwater-action tedium caused by everything moving slower and everybody dressing the same and being muted; Barb...would you really wear hi-heels and a tight dress as your uniform in a submarine, even as a bit-o'-fluff secretary?; how they managed to spin this soggy banality out into 110x60 minute episodes is totally beyond me; ping...ping...ping...
BEAU JAMES (1957)
d: Melville Shavelson
CAST: Bob Hope; Vera Miles; Paul Douglas; Darren McGavin; Alexis Smith
> the political history of New York presents one of the world's great clashes of accomplishment and corruption... it is a fascinating story stacked with complex, ruthless leaders... Jimmy Walker is supposed to be one of them, but according to this film, he was an all-singin' all-dancin' Mayor, heavy on the charm and light on the nous; Bob plays the guy as if he is desperately looking for Bing, so obviously uncomfortable in a "dramatic" role (everything is a wisecrack... infidelity, graft, drunkenness, suicide); we are predominantly fed the Mayor's quest for Love whilst criminal activity & snouts-in-the-trough waft around in the background; the dialogue brims with howlers which the entire cast is defeated by; the movie tops itself with a nauseating grab at nobility (gosh...he really wuz a great guy...mass applause); aka Walkergate: The Musical
Got something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
