1967 Page Added

Movie-Viewing Experiences  12/2/18 - 27/2/18    

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

MY MAN GODFREY (1936)

A+   MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Gregory La Cava
CAST: William Powell; Carole Lombard; Gail Patrick; Alice Brady; Eugene Pallette; Mischa Auer
> my favourite screwball comedy, my favourite Great Depression movie and my favourite film of the Thirties; this is a once-a-year viewing joy, usually reached for when I'm on an "Up" and want to extend the feeling a bit longer; still a topical film (homelessness and the practical morality needed to help vanquish it), this has many ongoing pleasures: Alice's stunning comic turn (a 1930's highlight) + William's stellar display of his class act mixed with his flair for physical comedy + Carole as the most extreme airhead of her tragically short career + Mischa as a nitpicking gorilla; best sad scene: "and so...goodbye..." and the drape flutters...sigh
Award-Worthy Performances
William Powell; Carole Lombard; Alice Brady; Eugene Pallette



LADY BIRD (2017)

A-   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Greta Gerwig
CAST: Saoirse Ronan; Laurie Metcalf; Tracy Letts; Lucas Hedges; Beanie Feldstein
> a sweetheart of a coming-of-age movie which, while not quite hitting the highmarks of Juno or The Perks of Being a Wallflower, remains wholly endearing; Saoirse is (yet again) wonderful as the teenage misfit (a deliberate misfit...the clash of wanting to belong and wanting to rebel is the essence of adolescence... remember?); her long suffering mother (the pain comes from not being able to admit that she doesn't want her daughter to grow up and no longer need parenting) is played equally beautifully by Laurie; kind-in-spirit side stories (a young boy's reluctant sexuality + Depression is everywhere, in everyone) add to the people pleasure
Award-Worthy Performances
Saoirse Ronan; Laurie Metcalf



CHARLIE'S COUNTRY (2013)

A-   FIRST VIEWING
d: Rolf de Heer
CAST: David Gulpilil; Luke Ford; Peter Djigirr
> an Indigenous Australian story that encompasses humour, tragedy and hope; David is an old-before-his-time Aborigine living far away from his long-lamented Mother Country...he tries to exist without hassle, but is increasingly frustrated by the impositions placed upon him by modern white culture; the film is split into 5 sections: living in a town & taking handouts + living in the bush & nearly dying + living in a city and sliding into the alcohol abyss + living in jail & becoming a zombie + returning to town & accepting a future of compromise; just as It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas staple, this film should be broadcast every Australia Day
Award-Worthy Performance
David Gulpilil



BLACK PANTHER (2018)

B+   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Ryan Coogler
CAST: Chadwick Boseman; Michael B. Jordan; Lupita Nyong'o; Letitia Wright; Danai Gurira
> yet another step towards the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War topper, this film's greatest asset is its difference...it has a grander feel than the others... inter-continental + global politics + royalty; while the urban action scenes are been-there/done-that (a car chase?...c'mon fellas...and while you're at it, step back a bit and hold the camera still!!), the final battle on African soil is very Hollywood: The VistaVision Years and quite spectacular (love the rhinos!); an exceptionally well-cast and well-acted movie, with a special nod to Michael as Killmonger... very clever to make him an angry young man from the mean streets of Oakland USA (birthplace of the Black Panther Party); the hi-tech city/nation of Wakanda is a designer's marvel and the upgrade of the Panther suit is action-effective without being a CGI overkill



EL DORADO (1967)

B   SECOND VIEWING
d: Howard Hawks
CAST: John Wayne; Robert Mitchum; James Caan; Arthur Hunnicutt; Charlene Holt
> it's impossible not to state the obvious: this is an undisguised remake of Director Howard's own 1959 Rio Bravo...and it's just not as good...but it's close enough; some scenes are taken holus-bolus from the original and while they still work, it all seems a little like lazy wellspringing; John Wayne remains John Wayne, Robert = Dean Martin, James = Ricky Nelson (and is the only improvement), Arthur = Walter Brennan, Charlene = Angie Dickinson; a couple of differences add a little spice but I could do without the let's-make-the-drunk-throw-his-guts-up played for comic relief; I miss the Dean & Ricky duet (one of the few musical highlights in any Western) and there's nothing here like the original's TNT-tossing climax, but it remains a mildly enjoyable entertainment...but click on Rio Bravo if you've got the choice 



PHANTOM THREAD (2017)

B   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Paul Thomas Anderson
CAST: Daniel Day-Lewis; Vicky Krieps; Lesley Manville
> initially a Jane Eyre-ish romance which evolves into a genteel but icky S&M relationship, this film captivates but doesn't entirely convince; Daniel is a renowned 1950's London fashion designer who is brilliant at his craft but is a fastidious soul...he lives with (and is protected by) his well-ironed sister and runs through a bevy of female muses, none of which stay around long because their ways start to annoy him (he has his routines, you see)...but along comes Vicky and she is quite a match for the pair of siblings; main flaw is Vicky's abrupt shift to the Dark Side: it just doesn't ring true; this isn't a troubled love story...it's a domination contest
Award-Worthy Performances
Daniel Day-Lewis & Vicky Krieps & Lesley Manville



IT ALL CAME TRUE (1940)

B   FIRST VIEWING
d: Lewis Seiler
CAST: Ann Sheridan; Humphrey Bogart; Jeffrey Lynn; Una O'Connor; ZaSu Pitts; Jessie Busley
> strange little movie which is a musical / gangster / romance / comedy hybrid that just shouldn't work (and it doesn't really) but is still surprisingly enjoyable; Bogie is a killer who hides out in a boarding house run by two dear old mothers... plus Ann is a singer, Jeff is a songwriter, the boarders are eccentrics and they all agree to turn the large house into a nightclub(!); while most of the songs are fairly anonymous (exception: "Flat Foot Floogie With a Floy Floy"...aha), the cast is strong (usual special nod to Una), the comedic turns are actually funny and you get to see Bogie pre-empt his Casablanca sacrifice-love-for-a-noble-cause finale; just don't be picky
Award-Worthy Performance
Una O'Connor



WINCHESTER (2018)

B   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: The Spierig Brothers
CAST: Helen Mirren; Jason Clarke; Sarah Snook; Finn Scicluna-O'Prey
> this horror film has received quite a number of negative reviews...while it is no masterpiece, it has merit and maybe some social depth; its greatest strength is the intriguing kickoff: the Winchester family (owners of the famous Winchester Rifle Company) is cursed by the spirits of those who have been killed by their company's guns; I love the thinly veiled attack on the American pro-gun lobby (as of this writing, the Florida school shooting is only 10 days old) and you just know that someone is going to borrow this film's premise for a Horror High School version; while the film is classily made, it suffers by not being much more than a haunted house movie delivering jolts via jump scares; while the kid could have been creeped up more, Sarah is wonderful (again)...she's got to be next in line to the Cate / Nicole throne, surely



HEIST (2001)

B-   FIRST VIEWING
d: David Mamet
CAST: Gene Hackman; Delroy Lindo; Danny DeVito; Sam Rockwell; Rebecca Pidgeon; Ricky Jay
> I am usually reluctant to get wrapped up in the thrill of a caper movie unless it has something special going for it, like humour (The Lavender Hill Mob), spectacle (The Italian Job), absolute class (Heat) or ironic comeuppance (The Killing)... my reluctance comes from not wanting to cheer on violent criminals; Heist has none of these redeeming qualities, so relies on the cast (which is fine but not much else), the suspense inherent in the takedown itself (which is okay, if a little brief) and the doubledoublecross / trick ending (which is suitably complex, but quite far-fetched); the dialogue goes for that clipped thiefspeak which is cool I guess, but only occasionally comes across as real conversation; Rebecca overdoes the tough moll routine and Danny is nobody's idea of a mob boss, surely; it gets the job done (The Anderson Tapes)



ALMOST ANGELS (1962)

C   SECOND VIEWING
d: Steve Previn
CAST: Vincent Winter; Sean Scully; Peter Weck
> a Vienna Boys Choir story by Disney, so it's pre-suspicions (although a hideous villain still lurks about: Puberty); I remember watching this on Sunday night Disneyland...even when I was 9 years old, I knew that these boys were not real...they were clean with combed hair and had probably never been in a piss-up-the-wall contest; usual movie kids stuff: the little rascals get up to pillow fighting & sneaky plans which exasperate the plastic adults but it all works out with blinding smiles all round; this is a musical with far too much music and not enough plot, and while the two lead boys are adequate, they are nowhere near scampish enough; it's all too Bavarian oompah-ish to suit me, but the singing sure is pretty...in fact, it makes a compelling case for an expansion of Andre Rieu's secret Eunuch Program



NED KELLY (2003)

D   FIRST VIEWING
d: Gregor Jordan
CAST: Heath Ledger; Orlando Bloom; Naomi Watts; Joel Edgerton; Geoffrey Rush
> unlike many Australians, I am not proud of Ned Kelly...he was game, sure, but he was also a cop killer (Ben Hall is more worthy of idolatry)...hey, I'm not a fan of Chopper Read either; this is better than the ridiculous 1970 version with Mick Jagger, but not up to the 17 minute fragment of 1906's The Story of the Kelly Gang; Heath is fine as Ned (his voiceover is particularly effective) but no one among the supporting cast makes an impression; the story jumps too quickly into the Bullied-By-the-Coppers years of the Kelly clan, so the characters stay as they started; the soundtrack is orchestral white noise with only the occasional breather of silence; the iconic helmet-headed shootout is a fictitious fizzer (a monkey & a lion? are you mad??); less reverence and more guts'n'grit is needed to tell this story properly



WATERHOLE #3 (1967)

E   FIRST AND LAST VIEWING
d: Blake Edwards
CAST: James Coburn; Carroll O'Connor; Claude Akins; James Whitmore; Timothy Carey
> starts off as an amiable enough comedy-Western; James is a Looking-After-#1 gambler who lucks upon a treasure map...various varmints want the gold it leads to and go in pursuit; Roger Miller sings/yodels/scats a story-ballad, never bloody shutting up...and then this happens... 
MAJOR BLIGHT ALERT: there is a rape scene early on played for laughs...even worse, the assault "awakens the woman" in the victim and she "pines for her man" BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: her father actually responds to this by saying "there's worse things, girl. Hell, if I wasn't your Pa..." AND THEN an Army captain chips in with "which man among us wouldn't do the same thing if the opportunity was to arise"...after all that muck, the film is poisoned; docked three notches for being disgusting and unforgivable




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1945 Page Added

Movie-Viewing Experiences  29/1/18 - 11/2/18     

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

SAY ANYTHING (1989)

A-   MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Cameron Crowe
CAST: John Cusack; Ione Skye; John Mahoney; Lili Taylor; Joan Cusack
> utterly charming and sweet young love movie with a surprisingly toughish core; the final year of High School is over and at-a-bit-of-a-loss nice guy John C gets up the nerve to ask out brainy-with-a-big-future nice girl Ione...romance blossoms; sure, it's really just another boy meets girl / boy loses girl / boy gets girl story, but John C is every truehearted girl's idea of the perfect First Love and the gravel road that true love travels on is one you've never been down before (John M is a great dad but he has some secrets); what I love (that word again) most about this movie is that everyone is decent without being sappy; PS RIP John Mahoney and thanks
Award-Worthy Performance
John Cusack



OLD JOY (2006)

B+   FIRST VIEWING
d: Kelly Reichardt
CAST: Daniel London; Will Oldham
> I love a road trip, stooging through little communities and pulling over whenever there is something glorious in view...the Victorian High Country or the Border Ranges are rejuvenating favourites; rather than telling a story, this film makes you a passenger on such a trip, taken by two mates-when-they-were-in-their-20's but now...Daniel is the married / soon to be a Dad grown-up while Will is the eternal responsibility-avoidance dropout; they drive up into the mountains to a hot springs hut, drink beer, smoke dope and ramble on, both aware that something is ending; the camera lingers over townscapes and greenery and it's all lovely & gentle...but, I admit it...I wanted something more to happen...to the point that I anticipated an abrupt dark twist: an assault or suicide maybe...but no (and rightly so)

BUT THEN...

OLD JOY (2006)

A-   SECOND VIEWING (TWO DAYS LATER)
d: Kelly Reichardt
CAST: Daniel London; Will Oldham
> this film haunted me like very few have to the point where I had to watch it again pretty much straightaway; the question that kept itself front & centre was "Is it just me, or did the filmmaker deliberately setup & insert those three sinister scenes?"...one involves a blurted-out admission, one involves a massage and one is at the end; I expected #1 to turn into a physical assault + I expected #2 to become a sexual assault + #3 was surely going to climax with the suicide of the loser; all unintended, so therefore my own problem?...upon second viewing, after looking at how the scenes were cut and framed, I just don't think so...the threat of violence is definitely present, and adds menace and depth to an otherwise emotionally-pastoral vignette; can anybody else see it or do I need to go back onto my medication?



SWEET COUNTRY (2017)

A-   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Warren Thornton
CAST: Hamilton Morris; Bryan Brown; Sam Neill; Thomas M. Wright; Gibson John
> referred to as an Australian Western, I'd prefer the label Outbacker; set in post-WWI, a blackfella kills a whitefella and is hunted by the local police and brought to trial, but not to justice; rich characterisation (woven into the parts and fleshed out by the actors) mixes in with the stunning-but-brutal landscape cinematography; two criticisms: was "fuck" really used as frequently as that back then (I thought the great Aussie adjective was "bloody") and the use of flash-forwards means that all hope is lost, along with suspense; the outdoor trial is one of the great sequences in Australian film, and the boy will stay with you after the end-credits
Award-Worthy Performance
Hamilton Morris



I, TONYA (2017)

A-   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Craig Gillespie
CAST: Margot Robbie; Sebastian Stan; Allison Janney; Paul Walter Hauser
> a fascinating story about horrible people, their horror emerging from the usual two sources: violence and stupidity; promoted as a comedy, I couldn't detect that many laughs in it (okay...a couple of chuckles come from the sheer audacity of the characters), mainly due to the awfulness of the domestic assaults: Mom vs Daughter + Husband vs Wife + Wife vs Husband...curiously, the only character brave enough to pick on Mom is the bird; the skating scenes are excitingly staged and the mockumentary structure is the ideal way to tell the true tale in all its believe-it-or-not detail; stick around for the credits to see the real Jeff, LaVona and Shawn...OMG 
Award-Worthy Performances
Margot Robbie; Allison Janney



THE DISH (2000)

B+   SECOND VIEWING
d: Rob Sitch
CAST: Sam Neill; Kevin Harrington; Tom Long; Patrick Warburton; Rob Billing
> one of my fully entrenched childhood memories is watching the Moon Landing live on TV... Mum kept me home from school and did the ironing behind me while I sat and stared at the fuzzy images; this Aussie film is a light comedy about the radio telescope in Parkes (one of my fave regional towns to wander around...and nextdoor to Forbes, equally nifty) and the part it played in the Apollo 11 broadcast; historical accuracy is secondary to telling a good story (which is always okay by me) and while there are Spielbergian touches (string-led orchestra designed to uplift + nostalgic bookends) which annoy me, the character interaction is based on the Know-It-All Americans vs the She'll-Be-Right-Mate Aussies...which is always fun if you're dinky-di; the backyard cricket pitch painted inside the radar dish sums up the film's joys



ANASTASIA (1956)

B   MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Anatole Litvak
CAST: Ingrid Bergman; Yul Brynner; Helen Hayes; Akim Tamiroff; Martita Hunt
> I have an unlikely affection for this film, despite its significant flaws: Ingrid's performance is overdone and overrated (I thought the same of her madwoman role in Gaslight) + Helen is too mannered + some of the dialogue is too pointedly lush and ornate + the ending is anti-climactic; however, I have always been fascinated by the Romanov saga and the possible survival of Anastasia is one of history's great "what-ifs"; I am convinced that this is Yul's best performance (although it is still fairly limited...it's no fluke that Yul made a good robot in Westworld) and Martita plays a great blousy dingbat; the colour is appropriately rich and there seems to be a constant waft of romantic music lifting the narrative deadspots; I hate the term "guilty pleasure"...I'd prefer to call this a "private joy"...like Roderick Falconer



THE OPPOSITE OF SEX (1998)

B   SECOND VIEWING
d: Don Roos
CAST: Christina Ricci; Martin Donovan; Lisa Kudrow; Ivan Sergei; Lyle Lovett
> a sex comedy that really is about sex (it is talked about flippantly and frequently); 16 year old Christina is some piece of work...as she sees it (and tells us via sprightly voiceover), she has been abused by all, so is justified in hurling the abuse back at anyone within range; the plot wanders along shaggy-dog style, bouncing from one unlikely incident to another, the comedy blipping up and down in response; none of the characters are particularly likeable but are made interesting by sheer performance impact...Christina is a force of ghastly teenage nature and Lisa is Phoebe Buffay armed with bitter wisecracks; the dramatic inserts are only partially successful
Award-Worthy Performance
Christina Ricci



A WALK IN THE SUN (1945)

B-   SECOND VIEWING
d: Lewis Milestone
CAST: Dana Andrews; Richard Conte; John Ireland; Lloyd Bridges; Norman Lloyd
> this has been called the best WWII film but for the life of me I cannot understand why; gritty & savage, sure...but isn't that pretty much all war movies?; while the climactic attack on the farmhouse is a superb sequence and as suspenseful as all get out, it doesn't make up for: leaden dialogue which sounds like it's being read + gospel-ish songs & brassy anthems which are stale garnishes + a poor Burgess Meredith narrative + the variable quality of the acting + the ceaseless chatter which is supposed to help us get to know and befriend the soldiers but makes them sound like a pack of banal gasbags; and why is there always one guy in a movie platoon who is a nutcase, one who is a bemused dreamer, one who is a cynical intellectual, two guys who are incessant jokers and someone who says "it's quiet...too quiet"?



NIGHT COURT (1932)

B-   FIRST VIEWING
d: W.S. Van Dyke
CAST: Walter Huston; Phillips Holmes; Anita Page; Lewis Stone; Mary Carlisle
> geez...some of these Pre-Code Hollywood movies really pushed the boundaries of 1930's taste...check this out: grafty judge sets up nice married woman on a prostitution charge, has her baby taken away, has her husband beaten to a pulp and corrupts the daughter of the man who is trying to have him thrown in jail; Walter plays the judge and creates one of the most repulsive villains in Golden Era moviedom, second only to Clark Gable's child-starving chauffeur in 1931's Night Nurse; Walter also shows up how wooden and laboured the other performances are, and is the only actor who is able to wrestle with the mouldy dialogue and abundant pathos and come out in one piece; the ending unfortunately slips back into humdrum morality by chickening out and not using perjury to dish out some audience-satisfying justice



ANIMAL FACTORY (2000)

C   FIRST VIEWING
d: Steve Buscemi
CAST: Willem Dafoe; Edward Furlong; Danny Trejo; Mickey Rourke; Seymour Cassel
> I visited an ex-student in jail once (poor kid...DUI with no licence...all of 19...rained with tears as soon as he saw me...I did the same); this film is about a 20 year old locked up with hardcases...and, inevitably, the threat of rape is everywhere; this is the source of the film's suspense and you just wait for the nice bad guy (Willem) to demand physical payment for taking the kid under his protective wing...but it never happens; in fact, while there are stabbings and slicings and even some shit-eating, the final act of the film goes for a happy ending, emptying out all of the carefully built-up tension; some characters even vanish, as if there was no reason for them to be there in the first place; attend a northern suburbs High School after funding cuts if you want to experience 5 years in institutional Hell



TEN WHO DARED (1960)

D   FIRST VIEWING
d: William Beaudine
CAST: John Beal; Brian Keith; James Drury; R.G. Armstrong; Ben Johnson; L.Q. Jones
> my favourite American History story is the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869...but you wouldn't have any inkling as to why that could be if all you had to go by was this dull telling; Question: how is it even possible to make a whitewater rafting trip boring?...Answer: keep the majority of the scenes on shore rather than in the water + make all of the characters as bland as possible (lightly spiced with the broadest of traits) + use back-projection & buckets of water, thereby keeping stunt costs to a minimum + Disney-up the story by packing a cute little dog and a guitar for campfire singalongs + add an ironic horoscope as a stand-in for Fate; I implore you: read the outstanding 2001 book Down the Great Unknown by Edward Dolnick (currently under $5 at Abebooks) for a stirring saga of how the Grand Canyon was conquered




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