the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

[arsaib4]

Ruth Chatterton plays a corporate boss who is able to command pretty much anything she wants, and as we see she isn't used to not getting what she wants. Her philosophy is to treat men the way they treat women (at least at the time).

Ahhh... the good 'ol days. ;)

[wpqx]

Who'll Stop the Rain (1978) - Karel Reisz

Well I thought I was getting a Vietnam movie, and instead I got a disintesting story of a stubborn ex-marine trying to get rid of some heroin. That's the bare bones plot synopsis. The film itself is not that good and suffers from what I believe to be weak characters. Nick Nolte is the one actor in the film that does any acting, and he makes an impression, but the rest of the cast is easily forgettable and fails to make any sort of mark.

[arsaib4]

For a Summer Season which contained films from the likes of Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), Ridley Scott (Kingdom of Heaven) and Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds), it would’ve been hard to imagine that a film that would display a few flickers of skill and intelligence would belong to Michael Bay (the key word being "flickers" because ultimately anything and everything gets buried underneath the rubble), but that was just the case. The Island, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, a pair of actors who aren’t known for their box-office clout, starts off intriguingly enough. Set in a post-apocalyptic near future, most of the film’s surprisingly leisurely-paced first-half unfolds at a self-contained facility whose identically dressed residents consider themselves survivors, and from time-to-time, one is sent to supposedly the only uncontaminated place left on Earth: "The Island." But Lincoln Six-Echo’s (McGregor) curious nature impels him to question his existence and that of his surroundings. And when his virginal object of affection, Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson), is selected as the next candidate, it prompts him take a bold step. Something that also enables Bay to expertly start blowing up downtown L.A., but not before he gets to support our President’s stance on stem-cell research (in a typical doltish manner, of course), and shamelessly, yet skillfully ape from the likes of Kubrick and Scott (ahhh… the good ol’ days). The lead actors have nothing much to do. Only Steve Buscemi, who plays that one guy who knows everything, seems to be enjoying his big payday. It’s too bad that Bay ultimately decides to back-peddle from all the exquisitely shot mayhem, taking the film where it started, but quite possibly he simply ran out of ammo. The Island is too long and too loud, but it's conscious of itself, and for a summer flick, that’s a good thing.

Grade: C+
_________________________

*THE ISLAND was released in July. It will be available on DVD on Dec 13th.

[wpqx]

In Her Shoes (2005) - Curtis Hanson

Well I've always been a Shirley Maclaine fan, so that was enough to get me to this film. I'm a little amazed that the last four movies I've seen have all been playing at regular mainstream theaters. This film has a tendency to want to get too happy and Hollywood, but it restrains itself slightly, key being slightly. There are good moments, and I found the acting good all around, even Cameron Diaz who is usually completely forgettable does a good job here. I must say Curtis Hanson has earned his reputation as being one of the best actor directors. The man gets great work out of whoever is in his cast no matter how bad of an actor they may be.

Needless to say the film really picks up when Maclaine comes in the picture. Obviously it is the big turning point that sets the story in motion, but she gives the film a new life, and brings about a whole different world. Can't tell if Miami is just that sunnier, or if there was an intentional contrast between Philadelphia and Miami. That said, the scenes back in Philly with Toni Collette eventually got sunnier and brighter to coincide with her emerging happiness. The basic message of the film is that these sisters need each other, but they needed the time apart to get their lives in order. There is also a little case of everyone helping everyone, and of course no one really minds a little attack on the wicked stepmother.

The film did get a little Jewish when Simon showed up, which is to say normal for Hollywood, but the Jewish themed humor was used only once to make a comment about joining "Jews for Jesus". Simon is neither charismatic, or in my opinion a really good catch. He's demanding, he orders for everyone, and he can be a little wimpy. Yet at the same time he seems exactly what is needed, flaws and all.

I enjoyed the film, but I can't see it as a best of the year. Of the three films I got to see theatrically this week, this seems the weakest.

Grade B

[arsaib4]

What were the other 2 films you saw this week besides this and A History of Violence? In Her Shoes had a screening at Toronto but I knew that it was getting a wide-release relatively soon so I passed. It has garnered some good reviews.

[arsaib4]

Hollywood’s decision to make Canada the home of its numerous productions for monetary causes seems fathomable, but apparently the sort of effect that has had on Canadian film board’s own trajectory doesn’t. As Toronto-based critic Liam Lacey recently reported, TeleFilm Canada has now decided to channel its support towards more "commercially viable" projects, and has more or less delivered an ultimatum to the likes of David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan and others to get in line with their new policies or lose funding. (No, it’s not a coincidence that Cronenberg chose to sign on with an American company for A History of Violence (2005), while Egoyan’s decidedly more marketable Where the Truth Lies (2005) is a Canada/U.K. co-production.) Unfortunately, Canadian bureaus want to compete with our films by making films that look like ours, something that has met with disbelief within the film community. A key member of which is Don McKellar, a multi-faceted prodigy who’s been a part of many key projects in recent years. His debut feature as a filmmaker came with Last Night (1998), a brilliantly staged apocalyptic drama I remember much more vividly than War of the Worlds (2005), which I watched just a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, McKellar’s second film, Childstar, comparably seems to be a more commercially calculated effort, and it suffers for being so even though the reasons for that are quite obvious.

McKellar, also an accomplished actor, plays Rick who, quite ironically perhaps, is a struggling filmmaker working part-time as a limo driver. He comes across an arrogant and obnoxious American "childstar" named Taylor Brandon Burns (Mark Rendall), who’s come with his mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Toronto to shoot his latest vehicle. Rick gets involved with Taylor through the mother who herself is a bit lost, yet fails to admit it. McKellar’s initial set-up seems to be a Hollywood satire, but the film is too tame to be taken seriously, and at times it even falls into its own traps. Seeking freedom, Taylor eventually runs off with an aspiring actress/model who also happens to be a hooker (with a heart of gold, of course), and Rick’s job becomes to find the kid which makes him realize the true nature of the people that surround Taylor. Overall, the film is briskly-paced and handsomely-shot, but it doesn’t have an original point-of-view to offer, and perhaps it isn’t much better than these sorts of films that play on kiddie channels. McKellar does provide a bit of dry humor through his performance; although, he would’ve been better off basing the film on Jason Leigh’s character, which was ripe enough to be explored. Childstar has its moments, but they’re too few and far between for it to be considered a success.


Grade: C

[wpqx]

Serenity was the other film I saw in theaters.

On video I just watched The Sand Pebbles (1966). This finally gets me settled on the Oscar nominees from 1966. The next several films I watch will probably all be Oscar related. This film is an out of touch and out of date exotic epic that was already obsolete by 1966. The presence of Steve McQueen makes it worthwhile, but the film is generally just droning. Robert Wise handled the direction about as well as you might expect, which is to say a seemless invisible style. There's nothing I can get out of this film, and like all too many of the films in this category, worth only watching for Oscar-related research.

[wpqx]

A Woman's Face (1938) - Gustav Molander

Early Ingrid Bergman. This film like so many others was given a Hollywood treatment by George Cukor with Joan Crawford. As for the original, Bergman plays a disfigured villian who finds her "true self" once her face is fixed by a wonderfully generous doctor who she intended to rob. Somewhat hokey, but for whatever reason this may cross your plate.

Grade C

[arsaib4]

Jean-Luc Godard's For Ever Mozart (1996)

Wang Xiaoshuai's Shanghai Dreams (TIFF)

[wpqx]

Quo Vadis (1951) - Mervyn LeRoy

Wow talk about a waste of three hours. Here's an overblown, boring, pointless epic featuring tons of mediocre performances and bad messages. Ustinov is irritating and over the top as Nero, Robert Taylor never could act, and even Deborah Kerr can't save this one. Instead it's three hours of "look how dumb the Romans were killing Christians". Jesus I can't believe this shit used to pass for entertainment. Someone should have fed MGM to the lions for making this nonsense. Again this received a boatload of Oscar nominations, as pieces of crap like this often do, thankfully it was denied any major awards. The story has been remade countless times, and I'm yet to see a version that does anything for me. They need to leave Rome alone.

Grade D

[hengcs]

Forgive me, just too lazy to cut and paste everything ...
so here are the links instead ...
;)


From Europe

(1) One Day in Europe (2005) (Germany/Spain)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=198.topic

(2) Aftermath (Lad de små børn) (2004) (Denmark)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=195.topic

(3) From Zero To Ten (Da Zero A Dieci) (2002) (Italy)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=196.topic


From Asia

(4) Everlasting Regret (Chang Hen Ge) (2005) (China/HK)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=183.topic

(5) Shen Hua (The Myth) (2005) (Hong Kong)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=155.topic

(6) Wait 'Til You're Older (Tong Meng Qi Yuan) (2005) (Hong Kong)
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilm...icID=190.topic

[arsaib4]

It looks like you're attending yet another film festival. ;)

[wpqx]

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Well between this, Saw, and Ladder 49 my options weren't very good. Hoping for some cheap laughs I opted for dodgeball. The result was a film that was just bad. Most half assed comedies can at least keep you laughing even if the humor is low brow. Dodgeball on the other hand delivers nothing more than a few light chuckles. The "I'm in every movie" Ben Stiller is his usual self in this movie, which is to say irritating and pointless. His character is the same one he's played in countless films, and I can't laugh too hard at him shoving a piece of pizza down his pants.

Vince Vaughn plays the "hero" of the story and his group of dodgballers is full of losers that don't exactly exist in any format. I did get a small kick out of seeing Wash from Serenity in here, but even his character was just an irritating pirate, so another point lost. The film was overly simple and extremly predictable, so much so that even the unpredictable moments were predictable. I know I'm sounding scathing, but I can't think of much to salvage this film.

Grade D

[wpqx]

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

Again with the Oscar nominees. This one was slightly better than the last few, for one simple reason, length. This picture shouldn't have been epic, and it wasn't. The story is unrealistic as one might expect from Hollywood. Convincing us that the Rome of 1954 is luxurious and romantic rather than a decaying hell hole. There are bound to be good match ups and this one pairs everyone off without much of a hitch, but one would expect there'd be a little conflict of interest. Generally the film has likable moments, what garnered an Oscar nomination when the Rear Window, A Star is Born, Salt of the Earth, and others were snubbed boggles my mind.

Grade C

[trevor826]

Wong gok hak yau (2004 - Hong Kong) One Night in Mongkok

Directed by Tung-Shing Yee

Starring Daniel Wu, Alex Fong, Kar Lok Chin, Cecilia Cheung

The second of six films in the Tartan Asia extreme tour and a damn sight better than the first, R-Point - 2004 .

A turf war between two gangs of youths leads to the death of one of them and escalates into a feud between two of Hong Kong’s biggest gangs. The police seem unable to clarify the truth and identify those involved but get information that a hit man has been hired to take out one of the bosses. Their job is to catch the assassin before he reaches his target and avoid an all out gang war

Sounds like any one of the dime a dozen Hong Kong action flicks, the sort that make you wonder why anyone would visit never mind live in Hong Kong and indeed that’s the impression it gives for the first ten minutes or so. It has all the usual ingredients including the tart with a heart (Cecilia Cheung) but somewhere along the line things change. As with "Infernal Affairs", this raises itself above the quagmire and produces a film with a bit of depth and conscience.

In the average flick of this type life is cheap, the deaths mount up till in the end you think they’re going for the world record, guns are seen everywhere and nobody seems to bat an eyelid even when they start going off. The bad guys and often the police don’t appear to care who gets caught in the crossfire as long as they get their man and more often than not, the police are just as, if not more thuggish and bullying than the bad guys.

In this film, people see someone with a gun and they panic, scream, run or fall to the ground, especially when the gun is fired. Life, even the lowest is respected by most and the police in particular have a conscience and try to capture the bad guys rather than putting bullets through their heads. Small changes, but ones that make big differences to the overall tone of the film.

There is a strange religious mix, the events take place just before Christmas and it’s quite funny when the hit man (who is also on a mission to find out what’s happened to his sister) asks Dan Dan (the tart with a heart) why everyone is dressed up and she says something like “ I don’t know, think it’s the birthday of that Jesus guy.”

I went to see it expecting the worst and have to admit I was impressed with it, the one problem I did have was with Cecilia Cheung’s character, she didn’t quite gel in her role as a working girl and (this maybe down to the subtitling) she had a horrible habit of saying “my dear” at the end of almost every sentence (a little too Nancy - the original "Tart with a heart" from Charles Dickens Oliver Twist!)

The camerawork was good, the acting overall very credible and the plotline although hardly original was above average for its genre, above all the films got soul.

Recommended, above average crime drama and one I'd probably buy on dvd.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 15