Movie-Viewing Experiences 7/1/18 - 16/1/18
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
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000)
A SECOND VIEWING
d: Kenneth Lonergan
CAST: Laura Linney; Mark Ruffalo; Matthew Broderick; Rory Culkin
> a superior drama about family, the ties that bind and, no matter how much you try to help, some people just cannot heal; as kids, a sister & brother lose their parents in a car crash...only the sister grows up and moves on with her life...the younger brother only grows up physically; the acting partnership between Laura & Mark is sublime: they look nothing alike, but there is the same blood running through their veins; the film is paced slowly, with little touches of humour and understatement to draw us in; Director Kenneth has only made three feature films in sixteen years...the other two are also superb...more Ken, more
Award-Worthy Performances
Laura Linney & Mark Ruffalo
BRONCO BILLY (1980)
A- FIRST VIEWING
d: Clint Eastwood
CAST: Clint Eastwood; Sondra Locke; Scatman Crothers; Bill McKinney
> now here's something you don't see every day: a Clint Eastwood screwball comedy...and it's actually good (gasp); mixing in elements from It Happened One Night (!), this kicks off with a hick-sy travelling Wild West show (trick riding & sharpshooting under canvas) which crosses paths with a soon-to-be-rich heiress...all the obligatory convoluted / coincidental plotting & gradual character reveals & I-hate-you-but-I-really-love-you carry-on occur, with true love doing the right thing; while the film is a little flabby (it could lose 20 minutes) and a couple of story threads flap about without being tied down, the thing I appreciate is that it's a genuinely warming comedy without even a drop of cynicism (even all the kid stuff is sweet rather than corny); guns & the American Way still rule of course, but hey, it's a Clint movie
TWO SECONDS (1932)
A- MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Mervyn LeRoy
CAST: Edward G. Robinson; Vivienne Osborne; Preston Foster; J. Carrol Naish; Guy Kibbee
> a Warner Bros downfall-of-a-good-man movie which is lifted by a wow Eddie G performance (which some critics have labelled exaggerated & hammy but I prefer unrestrained and large); a riveter with romantic dreams of self-improvement meets a gold digging hussey...it all slides downhill from there right into the electric chair (the 2 seconds are the time it takes to die once the switch is thrown); unusual borderline comedic touches at times mixed in with a tragic what-a-poor-sap story; love the time capsule stuff: bakelight radio + Dime-a-Dance joints + chubby floozies + roving bookies + teapot gin; just sit back and watch Eddie G do his stuff...great fun
Award-Worthy Performance
Edward G. Robinson
DARKEST HOUR (2017)
B+ FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Joe Wright
CAST: Gary Oldman; Kristin Scott-Thomas; Lily James; Ben Mendelsohn
> I am a WWII History (European Theatre) buff of sorts, so this subject matter was going to instantly pique my interest; it focuses on the period between Winston Churchill taking power and his "Fight them on the beaches" speech to parliament; while the makeup achievement is impressive, I couldn't really see either Gary or Winnie...a new terrific character has been created, one who is obviously superhuman (alcohol + tobacco + depression + fatty food + stress + age), supremely eloquent and able to readjust his political persona when needed; clever cinematography effects add visual impact and the story is appropriately stirring
Award-Worthy Performances
Gary Oldman; Ben Mendelsohn
THE POST (2017)
B+ FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Steven Spielberg
CAST: Meryl Streep; Tom Hanks; Ben Odenkirk; Bruce Greenwood: Tracy Letts
> pretty much a prequel to 1976's All the President's Men...but just not as gripping; while the film is about the do-we / don't-we publishing of the explosive Pentagon Papers by the Washington Post in 1971, it is not really a political thriller, but is more a political lesson: interesting, informative & a little bit rote; the side-content held more curiosity value though: the feminism issues of the age & the influence of what we Aussies call "looking after your mates"... can journalists be close friends with politicians and still tell the public the truth?; Meryl is note-perfect as the owner of the Wash Post and Tom delivers a Jason Robards quality performance as Ben Bradlee...but neither pack an especial wallop; impossible to view this and not think about the World According to Trump and fake news / alternative facts
A WALK WITH LOVE AND DEATH (1969)
B+ FIRST VIEWING
d: John Huston
CAST: Anjelica Huston; Assaf Dayan; Anthony Higgins; John Huston
> strange to think that this romantic drama set during the Hundred Years War was released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch and Midnight Cowboy; a teenage couple in love (aristocratic lass + Parisian student) try to escape the evils of war by fleeing through the French countryside to the sea; dialogue and music (lutes + recorders) frame the film as an olde folktale; Anjelica, in her film debut, is pale 'n' pretty and gives the medieval phrasings a good going over while Israeli actor Assaf manages to prevent his airy wanderer from drifting into hippiedom; while I can't watch films like this without thinking of Monty Python & the Holy Grail, there are no unintentional titters here; smartest decision was to keep it small-scale, avoiding the bombast of an "Epic"; recommended to the half-dozen fans of 1971's The Last Valley
COLD SOULS (2009)
B FIRST VIEWING
d: Sophie Barthes
CAST: Paul Giamatti; Dina Korzun; David Strathairn; Emily Watson
> clever & creative but not as emotionally affecting as it could have been; Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, an actor going through a performance dry spell...he decides his problem is an overloaded soul, so he gets it clinically removed and stored, thus enabling him to play a character without getting in his own way...but, there are unexpected consequences; the fundamental flaw in the film is that it never completely decides exactly what it believes "The Soul" to be, sometimes muddling it with memory, wishes and fears...are we born with it (therefore inherited/innate) or does it evolve accidentally (therefore determined by Fate/Luck) or designed with purpose (therefore manmade/tailored); but just the fact that the film leads you to toss these questions around makes a viewing worthwhile
BREATHE (2017)
B FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Andy Serkis
CAST: Andrew Garfield; Claire Foy; Tom Hollander; Hugh Bonneville
> tearjerker about a good guy who is felled by polio...he wants to die but his wife says no...so, together, they give him something to live for; true story is well-structured, shot in some lovely countryside (supposedly England, Africa and Spain), and can't help but be "life-affirming" (why do I always slightly shudder when I hear that phrase?); the real hero of the story is the wife and the champions are the family friends who rally around and remain very stiff-upper-lip & jolly; the only (deliberately) jarring scene is in the 1970's German hospital where other polio victims are packed & stacked, a collection of faces sticking out of iron lungs; Andrew does well as a talking head, but his required lack of animation hands the impact-honours onto Claire...you can feel her love for the man; a nice story, but there's nothing revelatory about it
SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)
B SECOND VIEWING
d: Bryan Singer
CAST: Brandon Routh; Kate Bosworth; Kevin Spacey; James Marsden; Sam Huntington
> this is the Superman III that we should have had in 1983 rather than the blah one that we actually got...but this doesn't star Christopher, Margot and Gene and their replacements are acceptable but not equal (only Sam as Jimmy Olsen seems to be up to the mark), so there is something lacking; 23 years of technology have improved the SFX and the glossiness of it all, and the storyline is interesting (if too focussed on the Supes / Lois romance) but enough with Lex Luthor already...surely Brainiac or Bizarro would have been smarter choices, if only for the sake of freshness; the best Superman remains the graphic novels (Earth One + American Alien + Birthright + For All Seasons + Red Son + Peace on Earth + Secret Origin + Last Son of Krypton + All Star Superman + Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow)...okay?
CATCH A FIRE (2006)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Phillip Noyce
CAST: Derek Luke; Tim Robbins; Bonnie Henna
> a true story about the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the 1980's that is not terribly engaging despite the best of filmmaking intentions; Derek is Patrick Chamusso, one of the real life heroes of the African National Congress (the man himself makes an appearance at the end, explaining his social philosophy) who is triggered into activism via an unjust arrest and subsequent assault & torture; while Derek is admirable in the key role, Tim as the bastard Afrikaner cop delivers yet another ineffective performance: he is all badness with no obvious power...he's more irritating than threatening; all the side characters are similarly thin and, despite some scenes brimming with terror, I was never entirely held; a political thriller which isn't actually thrilling; the best Apartheid film remains 1988's A World Apart
MY FRIEND FLICKA (1943)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Harold D. Schuster
CAST: Roddy McDowell; Preston Foster; Rita Johnson; James Bell; Jeff Corey
> I am not a horsey person...I rode one once...as soon as I put my bum in the saddle, the old grey mare let out a snort and farted...I instantly knew who was in charge; unless you are a horsey person, the only reason to see this old-fashioned kids film (y'know...a love story between boy & beast, full of nice people who are all soft and warm inside, and lots of fresh air and oatmeal) is Roddy, one of the most appealing child actors of the Golden Era; the jaunty orchestral soundtrack is too much but there is edible Technicolor to compensate; ignore the cardboard adults and focus on the kid...and wonder if children were ever really like this
Award-Worthy Performance
Roddy McDowell
THE HAWK IS DYING (2006)
D FIRST VIEWING
d: Julian Goldberg
CAST: Paul Giamatti; Michelle Williams; Michael Pitt; Rusty Schwimmer
> Art for Art's sake...a film which is stocked with peculiar characters who are more narrative constructs than people: Paul is a car upholsterer who is consumed by his obsession with Falconry + Michelle is a psychology student who is a drugged up / needy mess looking for Meaning + Michael is an autistic 20 year old who blows smoke rings and is fascinated by water + Rusty is the size of a fridge and reads pop junk mags instead of participating in Life... none of the actors can make them flesh; only the red-tailed hawk is real, tethered & flapping, just trying to get away from these tedious weirdos; ugly sex & symbolic visions & grief as illness & good ol' Jesus are stirred into the gruel to add texture; watch 1969's Kes instead if you are a birdy person who would like to spend time with some unpleasant people
Got something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000)
d: Kenneth Lonergan
CAST: Laura Linney; Mark Ruffalo; Matthew Broderick; Rory Culkin
> a superior drama about family, the ties that bind and, no matter how much you try to help, some people just cannot heal; as kids, a sister & brother lose their parents in a car crash...only the sister grows up and moves on with her life...the younger brother only grows up physically; the acting partnership between Laura & Mark is sublime: they look nothing alike, but there is the same blood running through their veins; the film is paced slowly, with little touches of humour and understatement to draw us in; Director Kenneth has only made three feature films in sixteen years...the other two are also superb...more Ken, more
Award-Worthy Performances
Laura Linney & Mark Ruffalo
BRONCO BILLY (1980)
d: Clint Eastwood
CAST: Clint Eastwood; Sondra Locke; Scatman Crothers; Bill McKinney
> now here's something you don't see every day: a Clint Eastwood screwball comedy...and it's actually good (gasp); mixing in elements from It Happened One Night (!), this kicks off with a hick-sy travelling Wild West show (trick riding & sharpshooting under canvas) which crosses paths with a soon-to-be-rich heiress...all the obligatory convoluted / coincidental plotting & gradual character reveals & I-hate-you-but-I-really-love-you carry-on occur, with true love doing the right thing; while the film is a little flabby (it could lose 20 minutes) and a couple of story threads flap about without being tied down, the thing I appreciate is that it's a genuinely warming comedy without even a drop of cynicism (even all the kid stuff is sweet rather than corny); guns & the American Way still rule of course, but hey, it's a Clint movie
TWO SECONDS (1932)
d: Mervyn LeRoy
CAST: Edward G. Robinson; Vivienne Osborne; Preston Foster; J. Carrol Naish; Guy Kibbee
> a Warner Bros downfall-of-a-good-man movie which is lifted by a wow Eddie G performance (which some critics have labelled exaggerated & hammy but I prefer unrestrained and large); a riveter with romantic dreams of self-improvement meets a gold digging hussey...it all slides downhill from there right into the electric chair (the 2 seconds are the time it takes to die once the switch is thrown); unusual borderline comedic touches at times mixed in with a tragic what-a-poor-sap story; love the time capsule stuff: bakelight radio + Dime-a-Dance joints + chubby floozies + roving bookies + teapot gin; just sit back and watch Eddie G do his stuff...great fun
Award-Worthy Performance
Edward G. Robinson
DARKEST HOUR (2017)
d: Joe Wright
CAST: Gary Oldman; Kristin Scott-Thomas; Lily James; Ben Mendelsohn
> I am a WWII History (European Theatre) buff of sorts, so this subject matter was going to instantly pique my interest; it focuses on the period between Winston Churchill taking power and his "Fight them on the beaches" speech to parliament; while the makeup achievement is impressive, I couldn't really see either Gary or Winnie...a new terrific character has been created, one who is obviously superhuman (alcohol + tobacco + depression + fatty food + stress + age), supremely eloquent and able to readjust his political persona when needed; clever cinematography effects add visual impact and the story is appropriately stirring
Award-Worthy Performances
Gary Oldman; Ben Mendelsohn
THE POST (2017)
d: Steven Spielberg
CAST: Meryl Streep; Tom Hanks; Ben Odenkirk; Bruce Greenwood: Tracy Letts
> pretty much a prequel to 1976's All the President's Men...but just not as gripping; while the film is about the do-we / don't-we publishing of the explosive Pentagon Papers by the Washington Post in 1971, it is not really a political thriller, but is more a political lesson: interesting, informative & a little bit rote; the side-content held more curiosity value though: the feminism issues of the age & the influence of what we Aussies call "looking after your mates"... can journalists be close friends with politicians and still tell the public the truth?; Meryl is note-perfect as the owner of the Wash Post and Tom delivers a Jason Robards quality performance as Ben Bradlee...but neither pack an especial wallop; impossible to view this and not think about the World According to Trump and fake news / alternative facts
A WALK WITH LOVE AND DEATH (1969)
d: John Huston
CAST: Anjelica Huston; Assaf Dayan; Anthony Higgins; John Huston
> strange to think that this romantic drama set during the Hundred Years War was released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch and Midnight Cowboy; a teenage couple in love (aristocratic lass + Parisian student) try to escape the evils of war by fleeing through the French countryside to the sea; dialogue and music (lutes + recorders) frame the film as an olde folktale; Anjelica, in her film debut, is pale 'n' pretty and gives the medieval phrasings a good going over while Israeli actor Assaf manages to prevent his airy wanderer from drifting into hippiedom; while I can't watch films like this without thinking of Monty Python & the Holy Grail, there are no unintentional titters here; smartest decision was to keep it small-scale, avoiding the bombast of an "Epic"; recommended to the half-dozen fans of 1971's The Last Valley
COLD SOULS (2009)
d: Sophie Barthes
CAST: Paul Giamatti; Dina Korzun; David Strathairn; Emily Watson
> clever & creative but not as emotionally affecting as it could have been; Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, an actor going through a performance dry spell...he decides his problem is an overloaded soul, so he gets it clinically removed and stored, thus enabling him to play a character without getting in his own way...but, there are unexpected consequences; the fundamental flaw in the film is that it never completely decides exactly what it believes "The Soul" to be, sometimes muddling it with memory, wishes and fears...are we born with it (therefore inherited/innate) or does it evolve accidentally (therefore determined by Fate/Luck) or designed with purpose (therefore manmade/tailored); but just the fact that the film leads you to toss these questions around makes a viewing worthwhile
BREATHE (2017)
d: Andy Serkis
CAST: Andrew Garfield; Claire Foy; Tom Hollander; Hugh Bonneville
> tearjerker about a good guy who is felled by polio...he wants to die but his wife says no...so, together, they give him something to live for; true story is well-structured, shot in some lovely countryside (supposedly England, Africa and Spain), and can't help but be "life-affirming" (why do I always slightly shudder when I hear that phrase?); the real hero of the story is the wife and the champions are the family friends who rally around and remain very stiff-upper-lip & jolly; the only (deliberately) jarring scene is in the 1970's German hospital where other polio victims are packed & stacked, a collection of faces sticking out of iron lungs; Andrew does well as a talking head, but his required lack of animation hands the impact-honours onto Claire...you can feel her love for the man; a nice story, but there's nothing revelatory about it
SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)
d: Bryan Singer
CAST: Brandon Routh; Kate Bosworth; Kevin Spacey; James Marsden; Sam Huntington
> this is the Superman III that we should have had in 1983 rather than the blah one that we actually got...but this doesn't star Christopher, Margot and Gene and their replacements are acceptable but not equal (only Sam as Jimmy Olsen seems to be up to the mark), so there is something lacking; 23 years of technology have improved the SFX and the glossiness of it all, and the storyline is interesting (if too focussed on the Supes / Lois romance) but enough with Lex Luthor already...surely Brainiac or Bizarro would have been smarter choices, if only for the sake of freshness; the best Superman remains the graphic novels (Earth One + American Alien + Birthright + For All Seasons + Red Son + Peace on Earth + Secret Origin + Last Son of Krypton + All Star Superman + Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow)...okay?
CATCH A FIRE (2006)
d: Phillip Noyce
CAST: Derek Luke; Tim Robbins; Bonnie Henna
> a true story about the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the 1980's that is not terribly engaging despite the best of filmmaking intentions; Derek is Patrick Chamusso, one of the real life heroes of the African National Congress (the man himself makes an appearance at the end, explaining his social philosophy) who is triggered into activism via an unjust arrest and subsequent assault & torture; while Derek is admirable in the key role, Tim as the bastard Afrikaner cop delivers yet another ineffective performance: he is all badness with no obvious power...he's more irritating than threatening; all the side characters are similarly thin and, despite some scenes brimming with terror, I was never entirely held; a political thriller which isn't actually thrilling; the best Apartheid film remains 1988's A World Apart
MY FRIEND FLICKA (1943)
d: Harold D. Schuster
CAST: Roddy McDowell; Preston Foster; Rita Johnson; James Bell; Jeff Corey
> I am not a horsey person...I rode one once...as soon as I put my bum in the saddle, the old grey mare let out a snort and farted...I instantly knew who was in charge; unless you are a horsey person, the only reason to see this old-fashioned kids film (y'know...a love story between boy & beast, full of nice people who are all soft and warm inside, and lots of fresh air and oatmeal) is Roddy, one of the most appealing child actors of the Golden Era; the jaunty orchestral soundtrack is too much but there is edible Technicolor to compensate; ignore the cardboard adults and focus on the kid...and wonder if children were ever really like this
Award-Worthy Performance
Roddy McDowell
THE HAWK IS DYING (2006)
d: Julian Goldberg
CAST: Paul Giamatti; Michelle Williams; Michael Pitt; Rusty Schwimmer
> Art for Art's sake...a film which is stocked with peculiar characters who are more narrative constructs than people: Paul is a car upholsterer who is consumed by his obsession with Falconry + Michelle is a psychology student who is a drugged up / needy mess looking for Meaning + Michael is an autistic 20 year old who blows smoke rings and is fascinated by water + Rusty is the size of a fridge and reads pop junk mags instead of participating in Life... none of the actors can make them flesh; only the red-tailed hawk is real, tethered & flapping, just trying to get away from these tedious weirdos; ugly sex & symbolic visions & grief as illness & good ol' Jesus are stirred into the gruel to add texture; watch 1969's Kes instead if you are a birdy person who would like to spend time with some unpleasant people
Got something you want to tell me?
GO RIGHT AHEAD: masted59@gmail.com
