LimeGreenLegend 4,250 Posted August 11 Author Share Posted August 11 (edited) What I Watched This Week #136 (August 5-11) Big Hero 6 dir. Chris Williams, Don Hall/2014/1h42m Teen genius Hiro (Ryan Potter) is helped through his grief over the death of his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) by a healthcare robot that Tadashi was working on before he died, Baymax (Scott Adsit). A giant marshmallow whose only goal is to help Hiro, who he sees as his patient, they must also save San Fransokyo (a family friendly Blade Runner style mix of San Francisco and Tokyo) from a mysterious threat. While the plot is predictable – the reveal of the villain's identity coming as no surprise whatsoever – the screenplay is funny and well paced with a lot of laughs and some nicely handled moments on the theme of loss. The real star however is Baymax who is just a sweet and loveable character and at times feels like something out of a silent comedy in the way he moves. The animation in this film is also excellent, with Disney really stepping up their game from film to film and coming a long way from the offensively ugly Chicken Little. I also really like the general design of the film, with the city really nailing that cyberpunk blend of East and West all drenched in neon. 8/10 Our Hospitality dir. Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone/1923/1h13m This silent comedy is inspired by the real feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families in the mid 19th century. It stars “the great stone face” Buster Keaton as William McKay, raised by an aunt in New York he has recently inherited his father's ranch after his death. Ignorant of the generations long feud between his family and the Canfields he moves in and is instantly drawn into the fight, but maybe a romance between himself and Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge) can bring the two clans together. Much more deliberately paced than other comedies of the time, Keaton takes his time to establish the setting and the tone with some excellent costuming and set design. There are gags but they are underplayed, almost ignored. These jokes escalate over the course of the film until there is a prolonged chase scene involving a train and a river. Keaton is a wonderful performer with seemingly no regard for his personal safety considering some of the stunts he pulls off. I have to say that I am more of a fan of Chaplin who I just find funnier, and this isn't the best work of Keaton's that I've seen (that would be Sherlock, Jr.) but this is still a very well made film with a lot of laughs. 7.5/10 Sonatine dir. Takeshi Kitano/1993/1h34m Takeshi Kitano – of Takeshi's Castle fame! - directs and stars as Murakawa, an enforcer for the yakuza who is over the gangster life and wants to retire. He's sent to Okinawa for one last job mediating a feud between two small gangs, but after an ambush he and his boys spend most of their time chilling at the beach. While this is a brutally violent crime film, what really surprised me is how funny this is, the dark humour showing how the violence doesn't affect Murakawa anymore. This is also shown in some stylised shootouts, particularly one in a bar where two groups of people just stand still and shoot at each other, expressionless as if they're all bored by what's happening. The comedic scenes at the seaside go someway to humanising these characters but the film never tries to excuse their actions or romanticise them. In a way it's almost sad watching them play around knowing that they'll all probably end up dead. Indeed, most of their games have a violent undercurrent to them, even while they're having fun their lives still revolve around violence and destruction. Kitano is a great lead with a formidable presence and his direction is full of stylish flourishes and a moody atmosphere that always has an underlying threat to it. 8.5/10 The Piano dir. Jane Campion/1993/1h57m Holly Hunter stars as Ada McGrath, a mute Scottish woman who has been sold into marriage in New Zealand to landowner Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill), moving there with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her prized possession, her piano. While there she forms a relationship, tense at first, with wild Irishman George Baines (Harvey Keitel) who spends his time with the local Maori population, offering her the excitement of the unknown. This is a beautifully shot film where the wild landscapes reflect the inner turmoil of the main character who can never speak her feelings. Hunter is extraordinary in this role, subtle changes in expression speaking a thousand words and her relationship with Baines evolving through her body language towards him. Keitel is also great, his gruff man-of-the-woods having a real depth to him, his relationship with Ada being complicated and not just a love at first sight situation. Neill is also sympathetic in a role that could have easily been just an abusive husband. Here, you can understand his actions up to a point, and that point is a shocking third act development that had my jaw on the floor. Add on top of all of that a sweeping score that elevates the emotions of the film and you have something very special. My only negative is Anna Paquin's awful Scottish accent. Her performance is great – she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at only 11! - but that accent, my god. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Cast a Dark Shadow dir. Lewis Gilbert/1955/1h23m When the ruthless Edward “Teddy” Bear (Dirk Bogarde) doesn't immediately inherit a fortune after murdering his elderly wife he sets his sights on another welathy old widow, Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood), but she proves to be more than his match. This is a real moody British noir in the same vein as It Always Rains on Sunday with some real crisp black and white photography that brings out the dark side of Bogarde's character. Bear is a real slimy, smarmy psychopath who'll do anything and manipulate anyone to get what he wants and Bogarde revels in the role. Lockwood also nails her role as the brassy working class woman who doesn't take any nonsense, the polar opposite of Bear's unfortunate previous wife. The plot takes its time to set up character, but it really ramps up in the second half where it seems like Bear is going mad, haunted by the presence of his late wife and the chair he killed her in and the introduction of another character, Charlotte Young (Kay Walsh). 8/10 The Secret of Kells dir. Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey/2009/1h19m The debut feature length film from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, The Secret of Kells tells the story of young Brendan (Evan McGuire) who lives in an abbey in the care of his uncle, Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson). To save his home from the invading Vikings he must help master illuminator – the person who illustrates those intricately beautiful manuscripts – Brother Aiden (Mick Lally) finish the legendary Book of Iona. To do this he must venture into the forbidden forest where he encounters the forest spirit Aisling (Christen Mooney). What immediately stands out about this film is the unique style that is based on medieval illustrations. Watching this is like seeing something like the Bayeux Tapestry come to life. There's also a very satisfying geometry to the animation with it being based around layers of circles and squares. The period accurate (I think) score adds to the atmosphere of medieval folklore. I like the characters, and the performances are good across the board, but I feel like the ending is really rushed especially the last ten minutes which wraps a lot of things up way too quickly. That said this is still a charming film that is worth watching for the animation alone. 7.5/10 Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F dir. Mark Molloy/2024/1h58m Thirty years after the last entry, Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back in Beverly Hills, this time helping his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige), a lawyer defending a man accused of killing an undercover cop. As always, Foley uncovers a deeper conspiracy and must save the day with the help of Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) who is now a private investigator and a returning John Ashton as Chief Taggert. New on the block is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Detective Abbott, a former flame of Jane's. While this is very much nostalgia bait, it doesn't just re-tread old jokes and scenes from the previous films all of the time. Murphy is better here than he was in Part III and he seems genuinely excited to be playing this role again. In a way this feels quite old school in that it's just a straight up Part IV rather than a post-modern reboot full of self-knowing meta commentary and fourth-wall breaking jokes. It's a basic Beverly Hills Cop sequel and that's comforting. There is some depth added to the Foley character through his daughter but it doesn't fundamentally change who he is so it's a whole much of nothingness. Not as good as the original but I honestly think it's better than the other two. 6.5/10 Edited August 11 by LimeGreenLegend 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 (edited) King Lear (1983) dir Michael Elliot not a trailer, there isn't one I can find, so this is just one of the better scenes A made for TV adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy about a fictitious ancient King of Britain. It's hard to review this fairly as a film, since that is not what it was made as. It was a play, performed in a studio similar to how it would have been on a stage in a theatre, but filmed for TV. So the sets are all quite basic by film standards and there are no outside scenes. The picture and sound quality is very poor at times, but I don't think that is the fault of the original production, just it being old and not very well preserved. The acting though is great. Laurence Olivier is in the title role and, of course, is is his usual brilliant self. The rest of cast is full of big names from British TV and film, but particularly worth noting are John Hurt as The Fool, Dianna Rigg (my wife's second cousin!) as one of Lear's daughters and Robert Lindsay and David Threlfall as the feuding sons of the Duke of Gloucester. I did however find the plot difficult to follow. I have seen this before, in a theatre and another TV film version, and did not find those hard to follow, but do not remember the full story. So I am not sure what was done differently here. I suspect this version had very little cut from the original play and there was just too much going on. The basic story is one of betrayal. The elderly king has 3 daughters and no sons. According to the rules of the day, when he dies his kingdom will be split between his daughter's husbands, rather than going to a single heir, as would be the case if he had sons. He is getting too old to rule and worries he is going mad. He decides to divide up his lands now, handing over most of his power to his sons-in-law, then staying on as a figure head King for his remaining days. Unfortunately in his confusion he banishes his would-be loyal youngest daughter and the two eldest just want their full share now and not to have their father hanging around, so they turn against him. A sub plot concerns a vaguely similar situation with the Duke of Gloucester and his sons. I got a bit lost with how exactly the two plot lines converged and how the story ended up at it's precise tragic conclusion. Needless to say, this being a Shakespearian tragedy, a lot of the characters don't make it to the end. 6 / 10 Edited August 18 by djw180 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimeGreenLegend 4,250 Posted August 20 Author Share Posted August 20 What I Watched This Week #137 (August 12-18) Dracula dir. Terence Fisher/1958/1h22m Christopher Lee plays Dracula for the first time in this Hammer horror classic. Taking liberties with Bram Stoker's original story, this still hits all of the major beats though it all does feel a bit rushed at times, but that does give it a great forward momentum. Starring opposite Lee as vampire hunter Van Helsing is Peter Cushing, the two having fantastic chemistry together due to their real life friendship. This film has a nice and moody Victorian gothic aesthetic that really emphasises the threatening sexuality and animalistic sensuality that Lee brings to the role. The direction is a bit pedestrian but the lush Technicolor photography really makes the bright red blood really stand out. Aside from Lee and Cushing, Michael Gough – Alfred from the Burton/Schumacher Batman films – makes a decent appearance as the brother of Dracula's object of obsession, but the rest of the cast don't really leave an impression. A little too stuffy at points, and we really don't get to see enough of Dracula, this is still worth watching, especially for horror fans. 7/10 Godzilla Raids Again dir. Motoyoshi Oda/1955/1h22m This first sequel in the long running monster movie franchise sees a new Godzilla - “I guess there's another one” - heading toward Osaka to wreak destruction. But this time it has to fight another giant pre-historic creature, the turtle-like Anguirus. This feels like it was rushed out and really lacks the sense of dread and horror that the original had. The city-destroying battles, while fun, also feel small and inconsequential. This is down to the fact that we don't see the after effects like in the first film, smoking wreckage, people tending to the wounded, crying children. None of the performances stand out except for Minoru Chiaki as Kobayashi, one of the scout pilots who first see Godzilla. He's larger than life and brings some levity to the film. Takashi Shimura returns from the first film as Professor Yamane, but his role is reduced to one scene where he basically shows that film to a group of people as they try to work out how to destroy it. This does have a pretty epic ending that had me forgiving some of its negatives and I still think this is an entertaining watch. 6.5/10 Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan dir. Chor Yuen/1972/1h27m Young Ainu (Lily Ho) is kidnapped by evil brothel madam Chun Yi (Betty Pei Ti) who not only takes her under her wing teaching her the ways of seduction and martial arts but also falls in love with her in this er*tic kung-fu revenge film. I knew I'd love this when, within the first five minutes, madam Chun takes care of a non-paying customer by stabbing him through the back of the skull with her bare fingers. This is the type of over the top, melodramatic film bordering on the edge of exploitation cinema with its spurting gouts of blood and dismembered limbs that Tarantino has been stealing from for years. Ho is a great lead, her anger simmering just under the surface as she takes delight in toying with her victims and the police chief (Elliot Ngok) who is investigating the murders of the rich and powerful clientele of the brothel. The star of the show however is Pei Ti who is the most delightfully wicked villain I've seen in a long time. She's like an evil queen from a Disney film, but definitely not family friendly. Top it all off with a jaw dropping climactic fight scene and you've got one hell of a fun film. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Faces Places dir. Agnes Varda, JR/2017/1h34m The penultimate film from the queen of French cinema, Agnes Varda, sees her embark on a road trip across her native land with photographer and mural artist JR as they visit small towns in their mobile photo lab, meeting people and taking their portraits, turning them into giant murals. I love her narrative films – Cleo from 5 to 7, Vagabond, Le Bonheur, etc – but there is a particular joy and playfulness in Varda's documentaries that is just delightful and life affirming in a way that you can't write. She just loves meeting people and is able to talk to anyone from any walk of life in an honest and open way that has no pretentions. She is genuinely interested in hearing stories and learning about, well, everything. What's also fun about this film is her playfully antagonistic relationship with JR who she constantly admonishes for never taking off his sunglasses. This culminates at the end of the film in a wonderful point of view shot where we see his face without them, but it's all blurry because Varda's eyesight is very bad at this late point in her life. We're seeing the beauty in the world that she can still see despite her worsening condition. That basically describes this entire film as Varda and JR make art out of building sites, deserted mining towns and rundown old farms. I wish I could see the world like she does, even if it is all blurry. 9/10 Shadows in Paradise dir. Aki Kaurismaki/1986/1h14m (no trailer so here's the opening scene) Garbage collector Nikander (Matti Pellonpaa) falls in love with supermarket cashier Ilona (Kati Outinen), who is soon fired and steals the store's cashbox in revenge. Out of loneliness and desperation the two form a relationship. This is an absurdist, deadpan comedy in the director's trademark style, which isn't for everyone. But the weird thing is, when watching his films, the more monotonous and cold the characters act the more heightened and impactful their emotions seem to be. The ending, where the two are driven to the port to leave and start a new life, is wordless and their faces show no expression or sign of emotion, but there is still an overwhelming feeling of freedom and hope. It really is a case of less is more. The two leads do a decent job and have a wonderfully awkward chemistry together, and there is fun support from Sakari Kuosmanen as Nikander's friend, who he meets in prison. I think that the themes of this film are explored better and more fully in other films of Kaurismaki's like Ariel, The Match Factory Girl and last year's Fallen Leaves, but this is still a great example of his work. 7.5/10 Zootopia dir. Byron Howard, Rich Moore/2016/1h49m After being initially assigned to traffic duty Officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), the first rabbit on Zootopia's police force, wants to prove herself so she sets out to solve a missing animals case, uncovering a deeper conspiracy that could lead all the way to city hall. Helping her out is scam artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). One of a small number of Disney films not based on an existing story, this is a fun riff on the police procedural with a child friendly message about stereotyping and racism. It does take a little time to get going, with a bit too much of a focus on Judy's backstory and family life before she heads off to Zootopia. It's all well done, but adds nothing to either the story or her character that couldn't be done in a shorter amount of time. Once she teams up with Nick it really gets going, and they meet a lot of fun characters along the way. The performances are all good, with support from Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons and Shakira, and the animation looks fantastic. The script has some solid laughs in it, and the mystery is pretty good if a little predictable, but maybe not for younger viewers. 8/10 Rewind & Play dir. Alain Gomis/2022/1h5m In 1969 legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk appeared on a French TV show, Jazz Portrait, while he was on tour. This documentary is made up of never before seen behind the scenes footage of the taping of that show. What emerges is a picture of disrespect, condescension and microaggressions that comes across as pretty racist without being overtly so. The film starts with footage of Monk with his wife Nellie as they travel around Paris showing him to be a softly spoken, shy man who is comfortable with his friends and family. This contrasts starkly with him in the studio, alone and sweating under the lights as the interviewer, Henri Renaud, makes him answer the same insipid questions over and over again, and even scrapping one question entirely when it doesn't make France look very good when he says he didn't get paid the same as other musicians on his first tour there. The only time he looks comfortable is when he's playing the piano and he is incredible. I'm not a huge jazz fan but this is the kind of jazz I can listen to. Even then he is shown disrespect as no one even listens to him, the film ends with Renaud being filmed pretending to listen to Monk play even though he has already left. What really makes this film incredible is the editing which makes it feel like a found footage horror film. 8.5/10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimeGreenLegend 4,250 Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 What I Watched This Week #138 (August 19-25) King Kong vs. Godzilla dir. Ishiro Honda, Thomas Montgomery/1962/1h37m The third film in both the Godzilla and King Kong franchises brings the two most legendary movie monsters together for a clash of epic proportions. Two versions of this film were released, the original which was made by the Japanese film studio Toho and then the Western version (the one I watched), which re-dubbed the Japanese version, removed and edited some scenes and added some of their own. These additions are mostly made up of very boring news reports tracking the progress of the two monsters. I'm also not sure if this was supposed to be some sort of reboot because everyone acts like they're seeing these creatures for the first time despite the previous films having Kong running amok in New York and Godzilla smashing up Tokyo. As for the film itself it's an entertaining men-in-rubber-suits monster movie - although Kong looks awful – which is all set-up for the climactic showdown between the two beasts, and it really delivers on that front. When the fight opens up with Kong being flown in on balloons like the house from Up before being released over Mt. Fuji, which he then slides down on his *ss before dropkicking Godzilla in the face you know you're in for a good time, and it makes up for their earlier fight which ends pathetically quickly. Silly fun. 7/10 Cop Land dir. James Mangold/1997/1h44m Sylvester Stallone stars as Freddy Heflin, the pathetically useless sheriff of a small New Jersey town that seems to be exclusively populated by New York cops who may not be totally squeaky clean. When a conspiracy involving Lt. Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel) becomes too big to ignore Freddy steps up to prove he deserves his badge. This is a slick crime thriller in the same vein as Heat with influences from classic noir films, but here Mangold slowly transforms it into a western, the lone gunslinger protecting the town from bandits and bringing back justice, something he later did in the superhero genre with Logan. Stallone is great in the lead, his sad-sack loser sheriff feels like a Rocky Balboa who never became a champ and stayed a bum. His performance is even more impressive considering the stacked supporting cast around him. As well as Keitel you have Ray Liotta as a coked out undercover cop, Robert Patrick as Donlan's right hand man and Robert De Niro as the internal affairs agent investigating him. A great crime film that really maintains its sense of tension and paranoia right up to the final showdown. 8.5/10 Truly Miss Marple: The Curious Case of Margaret Rutherford dir. Rieke Brendel, Andrew Davies/2012/1h This made for TV documentary focuses on the life and career of one of the biggest personalities of the British stage and screen, Margaret Rutherford, with most of the attention on her most famous role, that of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, who she played in four excellent films in the early 60s. This is a totally bog standard documentary formally, made up of talking heads interviews and archive footage, and it feels really cheap with slap dash direction and some distractingly shaky handheld camerawork. Rutherford's private life seems quite interesting, with her getting married to her best friend rather than a lover, but nothing of substance is really said on the matter. The same goes for her bouts of depression that plagued her throughout her life, for which she was treated with electric shock therapy. She seems like a person who wanted her privacy but also had a gift for being the most entertaining, funny person in any room, a paradox that she never quite came to terms with. There's just a feeling of sadness that comes from this film, something that didn't end even when she was dead, as her housekeeper stole the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that she won for the film The VIPs in 1963 and sold it, with it still missing today. The only thing worth watching this for are the clips and interviews with Rutherford herself, but I think it would be a bigger tribute to this wonderful performer to just watch some of her films. I can recommend any of her Miss Marple films, Blithe Spirit or Passport to Pimlico. 4/10 The Mummy dir. Terence Fisher/1959/1h28m The winning Hammer films formula of director Terence Fisher and stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing team up once again for this tale of ancient Egyptian vengeance. When the tomb of Princess Ananka (Yvonne Furneaux) is desecrated by archaeologists including John Banning (Cushing) the mummy of high priest Kharis (Lee) comes to life to seek bloody revenge. Another lavish production with some great sets and costumes this doesn't quite match the gothic atmosphere of Dracula but still has a nice moody atmosphere of its own. Cushing is less of an action man than he was as Van Helsing but it is Lee who once again steals the show. He has no dialogue apart from one short flashback scene yet he is still able to convey so much through his piercing eyes. This is especially needed as his makeup, which still looks fantastic, keeps his face pretty much expressionless. His first appearance, where he slowly emerges from a dark and muddy swamp in the black of night is genuinely creepy. 7/10 Robot Dreams dir. Pablo Berger/2023/1h42m Robot Dreams is a dialogue free animated film about an anthropomorphic Dog living in 80s New York City. Tired of being alone he orders a Robot, with the two soon forming a close relationship. When Robot is inadvertently stranded on a beach Dog has to either try to save him or face a future without him. Keeping the simple illustrated style of the graphic novel it's based on – chunky black linework and blocks of bright colour – this is a gorgeous film with the backgrounds of the NYC streets packed full of charming detail. But the simple style doesn't mean this is a simple film. It really explores the themes of loneliness and the complexities of adult relationships in a deep way that most traditional dramas don't come close to matching. The lack of dialogue means that the film has to rely on visual storytelling and the character animation to convey meaning and emotion and it nails it. There's also a great use of music, especially the song September which becomes a recurring motif that culminates in a beautifully poignant ending. This is also a very funny film with some hilarious sight gags and slapstick that, again because of the lack of dialogue, hearkens back to the silent era. It's weird to say it but this silent cartoon about a Dog and a Robot falling in love is one of the most mature and true to life relationship dramas that I've ever seen. 10/10 Lime's Film of the Week! An Inspector Calls dir. Guy Hamilton/1954/1h20m (no trailer and the only clip I could find is of the ending so spoilers) The upper class Birling family are interrupted at dinner one evening by the unexpected arrival of Inspector Poole (Alastair Sim) who is there to question them about the recent suicide of a young working class woman, Eva Smith (Jane Wenham), in which they all seem to have played a part. Over the course of the night the façade of their seemingly happy lives is shattered as we are shown in flashback just what happened to her. A melodramatic mystery that really uses its limited location of the Birling home to ramp up the claustrophobia and paranoia as more and more secrets are revealed, this also does a good job of showing us the decline of Eva in a way that makes us keep wondering how it can get worse, ending with a revelation that really threatens to split the family apart. It does seem a bit far fetched that every member of this family could inadvertently cross paths with Eva, but this film should be taken more as an allegory about the selfishness and ignorance of the ruling classes as a whole rather than this one individual family. Sim is a great lead, playing this role with more restraint than I've seen from him before, making Poole feel insidious as he plays each member of the family against the other. There's also a sinister sting at the end of the movie that leaves us with more questions. The script does feel a little stilted, and none of the other performances really stand out against the ever brilliant Sim, but this is still a tight little crime film. 7.5/10 Jour de Fête dir. Jacques Tati/1949/1h26m The first feature length film from Jacques Tati sees him starring as Francois, a bumbling and inept postman in a small French village where he is the butt of every joke. The main narrative thread of the film is about Francois seeing a film about the high speed American postal system and wanting to emulate it on his bicycle. But this doesn't start until about halfway through, the rest of the film being more of a slice of life comedy as we follow Francois throughout the day, interacting with the various colourful characters in the village and ending up in the bar most of the time – the scene of him trying to drunkenly ride his bike home being the funniest scene of the film. Tati is a hilarious physical comedian, using his lanky frame to great effect. Whenever he's on his bike he always seems on the verge of falling off, but he never does. This is a very gentle comedy with some charming, Chaplinesque physical gags and a final scene of Francois doing his “American style” delivery route that keeps escalating in the most wonderful way. It takes its time to get going but this is well worth the time. 8/10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Fair Play (2023) dir Chloe Domont Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehreneich) play Wall Street bankers. It was not a particularly enjoyable film, but just had enough to make me persevere. The main problem is all the characters were unlikeable and some truly horrible people. I've no idea if the world of investment banking is really like this, but I find it hard to believe anyone could a run a successful company the way the boss (Eddie Marsan) does with a management style that makes employees always on the lookout for a way to stab a colleague in the back in order that they get the next big promotion, and then sack those who have been promoted after a year or so if they don't live up to high expectations. Yet Emily and Luke seem perfectly happy with this sort of work culture. Maybe this is what it like in reality, I don't know? There was also too much technical jargon for me to understand what was happening sometimes. Anyway, the main plotline is Emily and Luke have been dating for a while and live together in what seemed to me a very average looking apartment for people who must be earning such a good wage. They have not told their colleagues because it would harm their career prospects if their bosses knew (another thing I found implausible because surely their employer knows their addresses?). Then Emily gets a promotion that Luke thought he had a chance of. She uses her position to try and get Luke promoted too, which he doesn't appreciate. All these things put pressure on their relationship which deteriorates drastically. But I just found most of the plot quite predictable and uninteresting. Because they were all so unlikeable, I had no empathy for Luke, nor for Emily when something awful and unexpected happens towards the end. However that scene did at least have some decent drama in it, unlike the rest of the film. There wasn't much chemistry between the two leads, who have both shown they are decent enough actors in other roles. I couldn't even say it was a good story about a woman struggling to make her way in very sexist, male-dominated world, because Emily was really just as bad as her senior colleagues, The only plus point is it did seem to be made in a way that deliberately left you unsure of some things that may or may not have happened, the suspicion of which contributed to the relationship break down. So it did leave you not knowing what really happened, just as the characters did not know. 3 / 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 Henry V (1944) dir Laurence Olivier Olivier's version of one of Shakespeare's most famous history plays, about the battle of Agincourt in 1415. It was made and released during the second world war as a morale booster and some of the cuts from the original seem to be with this in mind, removing scenes such as the attempted betrayal of Henry and the hanging of Bardolph who stole from a church. Olivier is of course in the title role. The films starts as if you are watching a performance of the play in early 1600s London, with the characters on a stage all wearing costumes from that era. It then switches to a set and costumes representing early 1400s when the story moves from England to France. It keeps the role of the Chorus (Leslie Banks) who's job was both to narrate between scenes and also encourage the audience to imagine the things they could not do on a stage, like ride horses and fight a massive battle, but those things are portrayed in the film. It's generally very good. The acting is great and as per usual Olivier is outstanding, but I do have some negative criticisms of the battle scenes, which given the point of both the film and the play is portray Henry's victory, are fairly important. As is the case for all adaptations of the story I have seen (this, Kenneth Brannagh's, a BBC TV version and Netflix's The King), they show a battle between mounted knights with the English making use of their longbow men as well. In reality the knights almost all fought on foot. They knew very well that on horse back an enemy archer did not need to shoot you, because if they shot your horse instead, a much bigger and less well armoured target, you would be out of battle. That would not be so bad, after all a battle between mounted knights is what Shakespeare's lines describe, but in this version there is too much of it. It seems to me to have been done to impress the cinema audience, for the spectacle of showing knights in brightly coloured costumes charging across the screen. But it makes the actual battle very confusing. All you see is repeated scenes of mounted knights charging one way, having a bit of a sword fight, then charging off in another direction. I don't think you can tell why it is that an outnumbered English army won this battle. However after the battle, it returns to the previous good form for the final scene of the victorious Henry negotiating his winnings. So overall good, but with one majorflawed scene. 7 / 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 I have now finished my Laurence Olivier Shakespearian collection. My rating of these, best last is, As You Like It King Lear Richard III The Merchant of Venice Henry V Hamlet He was, without any shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest actors of all time, possibly the greatest. As a director he was not quite so good though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimeGreenLegend 4,250 Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 What I Watched This Week #139 (August 26-Sep 1) The Edge of the World dir. Michael Powell/1937/1h15m The Edge of the World is an early film from Michael Powell and the one that launched his career. It tells the story of a small farming community on an isolated island far off the Scottish coast, the aging population eventually having to evacuate to the mainland, leaving their way of life behind. This is based on the true story of St Kilda. It is told in flashback by one of the three young people on the island at the time it was evacuated, Andrew (Niall MacGinnis). He was best friends with Robbie Manson (Eric Berry) and in love with his sister Ruth Manson (Belle Chrystall), while their father Peter (John Laurie, instantly recognisable to fans of sitcom Dad's Army) was the community leader, desperate to hang on to the old way of life. Tragedy and hardship are a constant here, which the villagers face with stoic pride, with Laurie giving a particularly strong performance. Although the film focuses mainly on the younger characters, this is Peter's story and his grim determination to carry on despite the mounting odds against him is really touching, with the final scenes as he resigns himself to fate and the future hitting hard. This is complimented with some gorgeous photography of the wild landscapes and raging seas. Some of the supporting performances aren't in the same league as Laurie but that doesn't detract too much from this gripping story. 8.5/10 A History of Violence dir. David Cronenberg/2005/1h36m When small-town family man Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) kills a man in self defence as he tries to rob his diner he becomes a local celebrity and his past comes to say hello. What really struck me about this film is how generic it all feels and doesn't seem to fit in at all with Cronenberg's other work like Crash, The Fly, Videodrome or the recent Crimes of the Future. There's nothing particularly subversive here with the plot being very predictable and the characters one-dimensional. Mortensen is a solid lead, and Ed Harris is fun as a mob enforcer - and I can't forget William Hurt who turns up with five minutes to go and steals the whole film - but everyone else is pretty lacklustre, especially Ashton Holmes as Tom's whiny teenage son Jack. It's shot well and there are some scenes of pretty gruesome violence, but it lacks that creeping sense of dread and unease that usually permeates Cronenberg's films. This is still a good film, but in comparison to the director's other work it disappoints. 6/10 The Masque of the Red Death dir. Roger Corman/1964/1h30m This Edgar Allan Poe adaptation from the king of the b-movies Roger Corman stars Vincent Price as Prince Prospero, a sadistic ruler who delights in tormenting the peasants under his rule. When a plague known as the red death starts to sweep the land he locks himself in his castle with a bunch of his rich friends, throwing lavish parties that will end with a masquerade where they will summon Satan himself. Trapped with them is pretty villager Francesca (Jane Asher), who Prospero wants to use as his plaything. This is a lavish, vibrant, colourful production that gets the perfect mix of camp and creepy. I love that the longer we spend in the castle the more otherworldly the lighting and the camera angles become, culminating in a downright surreal ending. Price is captivating in the lead, the role seemingly made just for him. He can turn from playful to threatening in a second, his distinctive voice carrying just the right amount of menace. Just as good is Hazel Court as Prospero's wife Juliana, who is just as cruel and insane as he is. This is exactly the kind of classic horror that I love. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Moana dir. John Musker, Ron Clements/2016/1h47m In ancient Polynesia Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), the adventurous daughter of an island chief, must defy her father and head out on the ocean to make demi-god Maui (The Rock) return the treasure he stole a thousand years ago in order to end a curse that's threatening her island. It's obvious when you watch this just why they chose to tell a story that's set mostly at sea, it's because they have absolutely nailed water animation. The oceans in this film look better than real footage of oceans. There's a real weight and thickness to every drop of water that feels just right. The story is pretty standard Disney princess fare, with the headstrong princess setting out to find her own destiny much like The Little Mermaid (also directed by Musker and Clements), but Moana is a great character, with a strong performance by Cravalho really bringing her to life. The Rock is The Rock, and how much you like his character will depend on how much you like The Rock. The songs are all fine but none really stick in your head. The best one is Shiny, sung by a giant evil gold obsessed crab voiced by Flight of the Conchord's Jermaine Clement. A fun film even if the formula is a bit tired. 7.5/10 Golem dir. Piotr Szulkin/1979/1h33m This Polish sci-fi film inspired by the Jewish folk story stars Marek Walczewski as Pernat, a man being interrogated by the police for murder, but he has no memory of that, or anything else. The film is made up of a series of absurd, Kafkaesque encounters between himself and other people, mostly his neighbours in the apartment building where he thinks he lives. The whole film is bathed in a sickly green light that speaks of a dying, dystopic world that's a mix between the decay of Tarkovsky and the oppression of Orwell. The confined nature of the film, along with the nauseating lighting bought to mind Caro and Jeunet's Delicatessen. Walczewski is a passive lead, understandably so seeing as he has no idea what's going on, reminding me a lot of Anthony Perkins in Orson Welles's The Trial, which begins in much the same way as this film. This is a hard to parse film that I don't fully grasp beyond the big picture of identity and self-discovery and free will, but there is more, alluded to in enigmatic scenes where scientists are being interviewed about Pernat's progress in the outside world, a reject in their genetic experimentation that has taken on a life of its own. A fascinating film with incredible atmosphere. 8/10 Sting dir. Kiah Roache-Turner/2024/1h32m Alyla Brown (who was excellent as the young Furiosa in the most recent Mad Max film) stars as moody 12 year old Charlotte, living with her mother, step-father and baby brother in a New York apartment building. When she finds a cool looking spider – which crash landed from outer space – she decides to keep it. Unfortunately it gets very big very fast and everyone in the building is at risk. This is a generic creature-feature that at times feels like a throwback to 50s giant insect films, but at times tries to reach for something more, and it doesn't always fail. I like the attempt at more character development here than you would usually get in films like this, with the relationship between Charlotte and her step-father Ethan (Ryan Corr) coming across as quite real and natural. Being an arachnophobe this film did creep me out at times, although the bigger and more alien the spider became the less scary it was. When it was still rather small and scurrying around in cupboards and suchlike it felt much more threatening. Not a bad film but I'll probably forget about it sooner rather than later. 5/10 Sunnyside dir. Charlie Chaplin/1919/33m This Chaplin short sees him as both a farmhand and a hotel bellboy who is in love with the local beauty played by his regular co-star Edna Purviance in what is a very typical film of his for this time. He's not really playing The tr*mp here, so he's a little less anarchic, though there are still plenty of pratfalls and slap-fights. What really impressed me here were some of the technical touches, especially the times he fades from one shot to the next with them matching perfectly, it's very well done for the time. This is the point in his career where it feels like he's being restrained by the limits of the shorter runtimes, with it being another couple of years before he releases his first true masterpiece The Kid. He's mastered the short comedy and needs a bigger challenge in his life. That's not to say he is slacking here as he is still performing at a higher level than anyone else at the time and this film is still full of plenty of laughs, but it's still a case of what next? 6/10 @djw180 time for the Kurosawa Shakespeare trilogy next? would love to hear your opinion on them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 (edited) Arrival (2016) dir Denis Villneuve 12 alien space ships simultaneously appear at different locations around the globe. Linguistics expert Louise (Amy Adams) is brought into the team trying to communicate with one that landed in Montana, lead by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) where she forms a strong working relationship with physicist Ian (Jeremy Renner). It's serious sci-fi rather an action film. It explores how we would communicate with a species that obviously not only does not speak our language, but does not even communicate in the same way we humans do. It also has sub plot concerning Louise and her daughter running through it that I can't say much more on without major spoilers, but this does add a lot ultimately. Another part of story is about how the 12 different countries the spaceships landed in work together, what they are willing to share with the others and what their governments decide needs to be kept secret. It's very well made and acted with some good music and the special effects are impressive. My one criticism is the plot is not well thought out in a couple of places. For example, early on when Col Weber asks Louise to translate a recording of the aliens speaking she shouldn't need to explain to him that he asking the impossible. How can she possibly instantly understand a language she not only does not speak but has never heard anything remotely similar to before? It's going to take time to understand the aliens. I don't think the audience needs to be told that. Another example is to do with the subplot I don't want to spoil. But I'll just say I think they missed an opportunity to bring in a little real physics to try and explain something the characters find inexplicable. Also if this ever did happen in reality then I don't think we would need to translate the alien language, because those way more advanced aliens, capable of interstellar travel and hiding their spaceships, would surely already have done similar to what Louise and her team do, to understand Earth languages before they arrive (by watching our TV!). But then this would be a rather short film, so I can let them off on this point. Overall very well worth watching if you like this sort of non-action sci-fi. 8 / 10 Edited September 8 by djw180 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimeGreenLegend 4,250 Posted Wednesday at 02:59 PM Author Share Posted Wednesday at 02:59 PM What I Watched This Week #140 (Sep 2-8) Song of the Sea dir. Tomm Moore/2014/1h33m The second feature from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon is based on the myth of the selkie, half-seal, half-humans who can transform from one to the other at will. After being sent to live with a relative in the city by their father Conor (Brendan Gleeson), ten year old Ben (David Rawle) must get his young sister Saoirse (Lucy O'Connell) home after discovering she is the last selkie and will die if she can't sing her song by the ocean by dawn. To make things worse they are being hunted by the owl queen Macha (Fionnula Flanagan) who turns people to stone by stealing their emotions. This is a beautifully animated film with a very distinctive style that uses flattened perspectives to brilliant use. It's different stylistically to their previous film, The Secret of Kells, which looks like a medieval manuscript, but you can tell it's from the same team as it has that same care and attention to the details in the backgrounds, and they are unafraid to get slightly expressionistic at times in order to heighten the emotions being felt by the characters. The films also both share a passion for Irish folklore and mythology and bring that to life in a really entertaining and engaging way, with the traditional score helping on that front. The performances are solid all round, with Gleeson bringing a lot of emotional heft to his role as a grieving husband and a father who just doesn't know what to do. Rawle has to carry a lot of the film, as Saoirse is mute for most of it, and he does a good job of playing the frustrated but still protective older brother. The emotional ending had me in tears, but it does end on a happy note. 8/10 Moor Mother: Jazz Codes dir. Cyrus Moussavi/2022/14m This short film is basically a promotional video for the 2022 album Jazz Codes by Moor Mother, the stage name of Camae Ayewa, who delivers spoken word beat-like poetry over a chaotic yet dreamy blend of jazz and trip hop, with visuals that depict scenes in the desert bathed in unnatural red and blue light as well as the band performing in a garage in LA. The result is hypnotic but feels like it's trying too hard to be enigmatic and I think I would have preferred if they picked either one of the acid soaked desert freak-out or the chill jam session and committed to it as I don't think they blend well or compliment each other much. I did really like the music, but if modern jazz isn't your thing I don't think this will do too much to change your mind. This is a real vibe but I think overall the visuals detract from the excellent music. 6.5/10 The Polka King dir. Maya Forbes/2017/1h35m Based on a true story, Jack Black stars as Pennsylvania polka singer Jan Lewan who is beloved in his small community. Using that love and trust he is able to scam them out of millions of dollars, getting them to invest in his band and various other enterprises over the course of several years. He is exposed after bribing the judges at a Mrs. Pennsylvania beauty pageant to ensure that his wife Marla (Jenny Slate) wins. Once you get past Black's awful Polish accent you'll find a decent film about a man chasing the American dream at any cost. And it's not that Jan isn't hard working or sincere, he just wants more and he can't resist taking these old folk's money because they make it so easy for him. Not that that's any justification, but the film doesn't present him as some evil schemer, just somebody getting in way over their head. Black is good in the lead with the highlights obviously being the various polka songs he performs, but he can also handle himself in the more dramatic scenes, something which I think he should do more of. This reminded me a lot of Bernie, another true crime film starring Black, but that is a better overall film with a better performance from him. Not that this is bad, but I think it leans too much on the comedy at times. 7/10 Skate Story: Shortplay Depth I dir. Sam Eng/2024/9m I don't know why this was on Mubi as it's just a video showcasing the first level of a VR video game in which a skateboarder made of glass skates through an abstract hellish landscape before heading to the stars in order to eat the moon. It looks cool but why is it on a film streaming service? I'd rather play it. 5/10 A Snake of June dir. Shinya Tsukamoto/2002/1h17m A Snake of June is an er*tic thriller starring Asuka Kurosawa as Rinko, a young woman married to the older, cleaning obsessed Shigehiko (Yuji Kotari). She is being blackmailed by a stranger who has compromising photos of her and commands her to perform humiliating s*xual acts in public. This is a hard to read film full of symbolism that doesn't explain itself easily, repeated shots of a snail, a scene with a roomful of men wearing masks that restrict their vision being made to watch a couple have s*x are the two main ones that stick with me, but under all of that is a story of s*xual awakening disrupting a stale marriage, I think. This is surreal in an almost Lynchian way, and the whole thing is shot through a monochromatic blue filter with a constant downpour of unrelenting rain that makes everything feel unreal. 7/10 Prey dir. Dan Trachtenberg/2022/1h40m The latest film in the Predator series acts as a prequel, being set in early 18th century America. Amber Midthunder stars as Comanche tracker Naru who wants to prove herself as a hunter. She thinks she has found her chance when a new threat appears in the woods, but it turns out to be an alien looking for the most dangerous prey to hunt. I guess he wants to prove himself too. I love I when a long running franchise tries something different and it really pays off here because I thought this was excellent. There are nods to the original like the scenes set in the woods and someone saying “if it bleeds we can kill it” but it never feels like they're winking at the camera when they do it as if to say remember this? Midthunder is a captivating lead and I really like the way everything she needs to defeat the Predator is introduced naturally so it's believable when it happens, with her quickly realising, like Arnie in the first film, that you can't fight this thing, you have to out-think it. There are a few pacing issues early on but those disappear once the hunt begins, and none of the supporting cast really stand out, but this is still the best Predator film since the original. If you're watching this on Disney+ there's an option to watch a Comanche language version which I highly recommend. 8/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Man on Fire dir. Elie Chouraqui/1987/1h33m The original version of Man on Fire – remade in 2004 with Denzel Washington – stars Scott Glen as burnt out ex-CIA agent Creasy who is hired by a wealthy Italian family as a bodyguard for their young daughter Sam (Jade Malle). When she is kidnapped by the Mafia he sets out to rescue her and get revenge. This is a simple film that is heavy on moody atmosphere with Glenn pretty convincing as a man haunted by the things he saw in Vietnam. He and Malle are pretty sweet together, with him becoming like a father figure to her since her parents are absent most of the time. This makes his trail of bloody revenge more believable. He is helped on that path by his former partner David, played by Joe Pesci who in one scene plays an acoustic guitar and sings Johnny B. Goode. It's pretty f*cking awesome. Very by-the-numbers and predictable but it's still action packed and a fun watch. 7/10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,940 Posted Saturday at 11:45 AM Share Posted Saturday at 11:45 AM Watcher (2022) dir Chloe Okuno American Julia (Maika Monroe) moves to Bucharest with her Romanian-American husband for him to take up a promotion. She is only just starting to learn the language, has no job or friends of her own there at first, and her husband often has to work late, so she is quite lonely. She notices a figure in an apartment opposite theirs frequently watching her from behind a net curtain and a man, she assumes the same person, follows her to the cinema and shops. When she sees on the news there is a serial killer targeting young women on the loose with the latest victim nearby, she fears that is who is stalking her. It's a thriller that I guess you could just about class as horror and there are a couple of slightly gory scenes later on. But it's mainly about building up the tension, Julia hearing noises from a neighbours apartment, the police not taking her complaints of being stalked seriously, her being left on her own too often etc. Until almost the end you are left unsure if the man she thinks is stalking her is really doing so, if so is he also the killer, is it all just paranoia or perhaps even it is her stalking him? It's very good and well acted by the leads with Burn Gorman, who I am sure I have seen in another film or TV series, playing the “Watcher”. He does a very good job of portraying someone who comes across exactly as you would expect the stalker / killer to but also could just be an innocent social miss-fit easily mistaken for a criminal. It has some very nice cinematography, particularly some scenes on the underground trains at night. I also like the way that none of the Romanian dialogue has subtitles, so, unless you speak that language, you don't understand, just like Julia does not. There are some similarities to other films, I suspect intentional, an obvious one is Rear Window, but there's others too that I can't really say more on without spoilers. 8 / 10 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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