Thursday 26 December 2019

2018 Page Added...That's It!! Every Year Has a Page!! Roll On 2020!!

Movie-Viewing Experiences  27/11/19 - 26/12/19    
A+ = Adored Masterwork   A = Excellent   A- = Very Good   B+ = Good   B = Nice Try   B- = Scrapes By 
C = Significantly Flawed   D = Pretty Bad   E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void   F = Absolutely Vile: The Void


DEATH AT A FUNERAL (2007)
A   SECOND VIEWING
d: Frank Oz
CAST: Matthew Macfadyen; Rupert Graves; Andy Nyman; Daisy Donovan; Peter Dinklage
> would have to be in the running as one of the most purely-funny comedies of the 21st Century...if you can handle black/dark/sick humour; a beloved father & husband dies, his funeral is held, family & friends turn up, one thing goes wrong which leads to another and another and another; a British comedy helmed by an American director, this works in all areas: script (brilliant) + casting (spot-on) + flow & timing (expert); my only qualm is the turn to serious sentimentality at the five-minutes-before-finish mark...needless and interrupts like a cut-in from another film entirely; still, the wet-myself laughter for the 85 minutes prior forgave this mistake
Award-Worthy Performance
The ensemble cast
PS Avoid the 2010 American remake like anthrax (the disease and the band)


AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)
A-   SECOND VIEWING
d: Anthony & Joe Russo
CAST: Robert Downey Jr; Chris Evans; Chris Hemsworth; Mark Ruffalo; Scarlett Johansson
> well, watched it again after 8 months of hypeless grace...yeah, it stands up; while I can't claim it to be flawless (Thor the Fat Drunk Buffoon still rankles me + a couple of the sentimental breaks from the action [Tony meets Dad & Thor meets Mum] are a little too squelchy), I also can't really see how it could have been made much better; the two heroic deaths genuinely hurt, the action scenes are inventive and don't rely on old tricks even when they revisit previous movies and the sentimental breaks which do work (Tony reunites with the kid + Clint reunites with his kids) jerk tears just gently enough; sure, this is going to be a big fat zero for anyone who isn't a fan and hasn't watched all the episodes, but the same goes for Harry PotterLord of the Rings and Star Wars...and I bet this movie is the best wind-it-all-up climax of the lot


PROOF (1991)
A-   FIRST VIEWING
d: Jocelyn Moorhouse
CAST: Hugo Weaving; Genevieve Picot; Russell Crowe; Heather Mitchell; Jeffrey Walker
> an Australian production that could have gone down the path of surreal artiness (a blind man takes photos and asks people to describe them to him) but develops into a relationship study instead (themes of trust, perception and dependence); Hugo is the sightless photographer (and gives the most believable portrayal of blindness in cinema), Russell is his just-an-ordinary-fella mate who describes what's been snapped, and Genevieve is the housekeeper / carer whose unfulfilled desire has made her vindictive and petty; what I particularly like about this curious movie is that it gets the life-mix of drama & comedy spot-on...peculiar but recognizably human
Award-Worthy Performance
Hugo Weaving & Genevieve Picot & Russell Crowe


OFFICIAL SECRETS (2019)
A-   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: Gavin Hood
CAST: Keira Knightley; Adam Bakri; Matt Smith; Matthew Goode; Ralph Fiennes 
> I was in Hobart on long-service leave 22nd March 2003 and gladly took part in my first protest march against the Iraq War...this film is a potent reminder of why so many of us marched all over the world: we were blatantly lied to by our leaders (Bush #2 + Blair should have been tried for war crimes...where were those WMD's fellas?); criticized for being a little draggy with no high points, this film kicked in for me after 15 minutes and kept me engrossed from that point on; Keira plays a government linguist/spy who receives an email proving that the USA is strong-arming smaller nations to legitimize the war-to-come...she leaks it...all hell breaks loose...she is nabbed and put on trial...true story; Personal Aside to Australian Right-Wingers: whistleblowers do a public service & press freedom is democracy...remember?


I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING (1987)
B+   FIRST VIEWING
d: Patricia Rozema
CAST: Sheila McCarthy; Paule Baillargeon; Ann-Marie MacDonald
> this is one of those decidedly little (impossible to use that word without sounding patronizing) indie films that kindle fondness and a need to defend it against those who "don't get it"; Sheila is a delightful oddball who knows she doesn't fit in but enjoys life anyway...she gets a job with an art curator and suddenly has a beloved mentor...but, like all idealizations, human foibles bring about cracking and facade-collapse; while this film tries to say something about Art & Love & Perception, it works as a story purely because of Sheila: she creates a quirky character without being too out-there weird...when she gets hurt by others, we're upset for someone we like
Award-Worthy Performance
Sheila McCarthy


THE BIG SHOT (1942)
B   FIRST VIEWING
d: Lewis Seiler
CAST: Humphrey Bogart; Irene Manning; Richard Travis; Stanley Ridges; Minor Watson
> Bogie was always a better bad guy when he had a conscience or when he was nuts...just straight-out evil was never a good fit; this Proud-To-Be-a-B movie sets him up as a Three Time Loser (one more crime and he's in the slammer for life) who wants to go legit but the Fates (and some real bastards) say no...but is he bitter...no use bellyachin'...gotta give the other poor sap a fair shake though...then die redeemed, of course; two full-throttle action scenes are the highlights: an armoured-truck heist which goes terribly wrong and a car-chase through snow & ice which goes terribly wrong; as to be expected, Bogie shines (he occasionally seems to be strolling through it, so complete was his mastery of such a role); what lets the film down (and keeps it as a B) is the anonymous supporting cast...not an interesting character among them


FORD v FERRARI (2019)
B   FIRST VIEWING   IN-CINEMA
d: James Mangold
CAST: Matt Damon; Christian Bale; Jon Bernthal; Caitriona Balfe; Noah Jupe
> I am not a car person: if it goes vroom, it's a good one...if it doesn't go vroom, it's an expletive deleted; hence, this movie was never going to thrill me; telling the true story of two famous race car guys (Matt is the ex-driver now designer + Christian is the mechanic, driver and non-team-player...there's always one, isn't there?) who are hired by Ford to build a car that will beat hated rival Ferrari in the 1966 Le Mans; and of course there's obstacles, disappointments and slimy backstabbing things that guys in suits always do; overlong & humdrum in spots (the eternal film-problem with circuit races is, once the first lap is over, all the subsequent ones cover the same ground, and no amount of nifty editing, side-dramas and light humour can overcome it) but well-acted; my biggest gripe: the postscript is unnecessary and a little cruel


WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL (1971)
B-   FIRST VIEWING
d: Etienne Perier
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Robert Morley; Nathalie Delon; Jack Hawkins; Corin Redgrave
> Anthony Hopkins is nobody's idea of an action man (he's too twitchy for starters & more indrawn than outgoing) so this James Bond xerox never really had a chance; moving along at a rate of knots (it's a sea story, y'see), the plot involves a British secret agent investigating hijacked cargo ships in the Irish Sea...many guns, punch-ups and near-misses appear before the heroes win and the villains are all slaughtered (only the obligatory femme fatale is spared); the music is ripped straight off the Thunderbirds TV show, all brassy bombast making sure you know that this is serious; what gives the movie a lift is the wonderfully-amusing presence of Robert Morley & his chins (now there's a name for a band) and the striking coastal scenery...all caves, cliffs and castles; the plans to turn this into a franchise died with the baddies


ANNIE OAKLEY (1935)
B-   FIRST VIEWING
d: George Stevens
CAST: Barbara Stanwyck; Preston Foster; Melvyn Douglas; Moroni Olsen; Chief Thunderbird
> supposedly based on the life of real person Annie Oakley but I'm sure it's not; true-innocent, sharpshootin' gal joins Buffalo Bill's travelling sideshow, becomes a legend and falls in love, with seldom a discouraging word being heard; mundane Hollywood product with only one fresh-ish aspect to it: the man-most-likely-to-be-a-scumbag turns out to be a swell guy, and the man-most-likely-to-be-the-love-interest turns out to be a nothing; borderline offensive (even back in 1935, surely) is the use of the persona of Sitting Bull as comic relief...one can only imagine what the real man would have had going on in his head as he re-enacted white v indigenous massacres to cheering, all-white audiences; Barbara is, of course, quite good as Annie (which means that, by the great actress's own 1930's & 1940's standards, she's way below par)


THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE (1959)
C   FIRST VIEWING
d: Roy Del Ruth
CAST: Beverly Garland; Richard Crane; Frieda Inescort; George Macready; Lon Chaney Jr
> Worst Honeymoon Ever: newlyweds board a train, slurp down some champagne, make some lovey-dovey and read a few telegrams...hubbie gets off at the next station to make a phonecall and never comes back...wife tracks him down at the old family home on the bayou and uncovers a terrible secret...he has sensibly been receiving alligator hormones to repair a previous plane-crash injury...but I still love you darling; totally-bananas premise is expertly camouflaged into appearing to be a horror story by old hand Roy (who must have been embarrassed throughout) and Beverly, who manages to be quite effective in a screamy sorta way; there's some overripe acting going on by the rest of the cast though and the makeup artist was defeated by the budget and the demands made upon him; over with quickly and it has its moments (I counted 2)


NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT aka ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED (1967)
C   FIRST VIEWING
d: Terence Fisher
CAST: Patrick Allen; Christopher Lee; Jane Merrow; Peter Cushing; Sarah Lawson
> you get the Hammer Horror team (Fisher + Lee + Cushing) but you don't get the Hammer Horror class; one of the Scottish Orkneys(!) is the site for an alien invasion, and not just any old aliens either...bloody hot ones, raising the island temperature high enough to boil bottles of beer, but not enough to persuade men to remove their coats & ties...the only lines of defense are the owners & customers of the local pub...can they save Earth from becoming a spit-roast?; yeah, I know it sounds like a Goon Show episode, but it's done straight-faced and grim and still can't avoid coming across as ludicrous; particularly ridiculous is Jane's character, who moves from being a secretary to tart to prey to hysteric to moron to survivor to girlfriend; graded leniently because Christopher & Peter are as watchable as always, and I love the alternative title!
PS Hey, just thinking...maybe this movie is really a wise and prescient Global Warming allegory. Even if it's not, can't we interpret it as such from now on? Could be useful in the fight against top-level stupidity & self-destruction.


TWIN TOWN (1997)
D   FIRST VIEWING
d: Kevin Allen
CAST: Dougray Scott; Rhys Ifans; Llyr Ifans; William Thomas; Dorien Thomas
> relentlessly unpleasant; a Welsh parody (I guess) of The Godfather / The Sopranos, this dark crime "comedy" just has too many outright-ugly scenes in it to be entertaining (a corrupt cop beats up a child + two men urinate on a young woman + a loved family pet is beheaded + huffing sex between unattractive people + lots of glue-sniffing & coke-snorting & bong-sucking & magic-mushie-munching); basically an escalating-revenge plotline, this is full of feral morons and cretinous goons who use the word "fuck" like American gangster movies use bullets... constantly sprayed all over the place to the point of tedium; the film stomps on towards an ending which is no more than one lot of heinous villains besting the other lot; I have no idea if this is indicative of the Welsh sense of humour but if it is, I'm not sure it's able to be exported




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