Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Topsy-Turvy 1999 ****



It was really just pure chance that brought this movie to the front of my DVD rental service, especially when I am going to see 'The Mikado' in a couple of months time and had no idea beforehand of the storyline. This is a delightful little film about the making, production and rehearsals that went into Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece. Jim Broadbent is excellent and actually Timothy Spall is very dry and sarcastic with a touch of campness that really goes with his character. We hear many of the popular songs, see all the gorgeous costumes, and enjoy all the humour that goes along with the play in what was probably a very painstaking process (director Mike Leigh spent hundreds of hours on research trying to find exact replicas of clothes, decor, make-up, places etc and it really paid off). It's lovely to be able to watch it this way. Lovely night in.

Varsity Blues - 1999 **



Another stupid 'American Jock' type movie where the whole film and it seems the whole world revolves around football and nothing else, oh, except talking about football. I'm not actually sure why I forced myself to see it all the way through, as it barely went anywhere, but it was probably because I wanted to see whether the off-screen tension between James van der Beek and Paul Walker was evident on screen. Considering they only had about 2 minutes together on the whole film, it wasn't. Waste of time.

(HORROR) The Woman - 2011 ***



This was a really horrible movie. A man captures a feral-like woman in the woods and ties her up in his basement despite her obvious anger and distress. She can barely communicate with anyone which makes it a lot more hard to watch. He's a completely disgusting character, sexually abusive, intimidating, arrogant, violent to his family who all seem to have retreated into a shell-like existence. All except his son, who is developing the same traits as his father, and loving every minute of it. The woman is abused, mentally, physically and sexually by the father, and treated as a laughing stock and sex object by the men. The wife of the man is cowardly, whimpish, and doesn't flinch when he punches her about and pushes her around. The only one that seems to really relate to the feral woman is the young daughter, who when the time comes, is ready to dish out some of her own punishment. I guess this movie's title is ambiguous, because 'The Woman' could actually be any of the female characters. It's got a strong feminist vibe in my opinion with some gore and nausea thown in which is probably actually quite a good idea for a horror film, if the characters were anything other than thoroughly dislikeable.

(HORROR) Dream House - 2011 ***1/2



At first this seemed like it was going to be a bad version of the Japanese original that I had wanted to watch. But when my best friend came over for film day recently he brought this with him and said we should give it a try. So we did. And although it started off exactly the way I had imagined it would I was actually amazed at how complicated the story became. Not to say that I understood it properly but I think he did, and appreciated all the little nuances that I completely missed. It's one to watch if you enjoy movies that go backwards and forwards in time showing you past and present events very quickly (that was what confused me) but not one to see if you just want straightforward dumbed down horror. You really have to think about this film. Daniel Craig was actually better than I had expected (he always seems to act in the same deadpan way) and Rachel Weisz was powerful as his wife. The couple move with their two daughters to what they think is a lovely house in a lovely neighbourhood, but in reality it has many ghastly secrets that no one will share with them, especially when they want to know if anything happened in the house...

The Ladies Man - 1961 *** 1/2



Is it very disturbing to have a bit of a thing for Jerry Lewis? He's funny here, not nearly as funny as in 'The Nutty Professor', but he still brings the laughs in. He takes a job in a ladies only hotel as a general odd job man after his girlfriend leaves him for someone else and finds himself right in the centre of all feminine talk and thought which suits him fine as he has no interest in women anymore except as guests. Lewis is completely over the top as usual, but there is a laugh out loud scene involving him and George Raft where they ballroom dance together after Lewis assures Raft that he couldn't possibly be Raft because he can't flick his coin in the same way as he did in 'Scarface'.

Up in the Air - 2009 ***



This is a bit of a strange film, and not a typical George Clooney vehicle. Clooney plays a man whose life revolves around flying to different locations and firing members of staff for companies. He lives out of a suitcase, has no proper home and loves spending time in the luxurious hotels that he ends up in. However his boss one day decides (with the help of a new colleague) to scrap the idea of his staff firing in person and sets up an online way of doing so (a bit like Skye). Clooney is dismayed, especially as he feels that he cannot make a proper connection with his clients if he doesn't see them face to face. Also because he has just started seeing a woman he met on one of his last journeys.

Some of it is funny, and Clooney is mildy amusing, but he will never be Cary Grant.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

(HORROR) The Oblong Box - 1969 ***



Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Yey!

A good film, very cheesy and with lots of orange paint used for blood. Based on Poe's book of the same name, the story is of an aristocrat who keeps his disfigured brother locked up in the attic. But this doesn't stop him from escaping every now and again and causing chaos in the nearby town. It's not really scary in the slightest, but I love 60s attempts at horror so always worth a look, especially with the two main actors!

Monday, January 23, 2012

(HORROR) The Betrayed - 2008 *** 1/2



I was gripped by this movie. What an interesting premise. A woman awakens in a room with no idea how she got there, and is confronted by a masked man who claims that he knows her husband very well and that he has stolen millions of pounds from their organisation. If she doesn't get into the account and get the money back, her son will be killed. She has no idea whether the man is genuine or not.

The whole film is a complete head trip. It's completely terrifying to watch and extremely tense. The actress playing the woman is superb.

The last part of the movie is also knuckle-biting.

(HORROR) The Final - 2010- ****



I was actually very impressed with this movie, and I generally don't find much in the 'After Dark Horrorfest' movies to be impressed about.

This is a great film for anyone who has ever been bullied or treated unfairly by someone in their school days. There are a group of outcasts who just do not fit in, and despite their constant appeals to the popular kids to acccept them, these hopes fall on deaf ears. It is only then that they decide to inflict a terrible payback.

Excellent stuff, certain scenes have been 'borrowed' from other horror movies (the needle scene in 'Audition' is one...) but all in all I liked it, and could relate completely to the outcasts (being one myself at school which made my life hell). Good acting, solid storyline.

Avanti - 1972 *** 1/2



This was a gentle movie with some lovely music. You wouldn't know it was Billy Wilder but watching Jack Lemmon is enough for anyone.

Lemmon plays Wendell, a businessman who goes to Italy to collect the body of his father who died there whilst on holiday. Along the way he meets Pamela, and soon finds out that she is also there to collect a body, that of her mother, whom Wendell's father was having a 10 year affair! Wendell is initially gobsmacked and disgusted with the idea that his father would do something so immoral, whilst Pamela thinks it's awfully romantic, and the pair start to bond very slowly.

Along the way there is drunkeness, murder, blackmail and an assortment of dodgy characters who spent lots of time in Wendell and Pamela's respecting rooms, moving furniture about, and all the other things that people find funny in a film, made even more hilarious by Wendell and Pamela's impending relationship which is interrupted more times than is actually possible. This is not a screwball comedy, i.e. not manic and fast talk (could be why the films is over 2 hours) but instead it's slow-paced and enjoyable with just enough humour for you to raise a smile (or guffaw if Lemmon is in the scene) but not too much that you would be on the floor in stitches. Am so glad I've seen it! And I love Jack Lemmon!

Hereafter - 2010 **



A Clint Eastwood film, so it must be brilliant. Nope. It's only directed by him, and it seems he doesn't shine as much in the directorial world as he does in the acting one.

A big fat mess of a movie, 'Hereafter' tries to cram complicated story after complicated story into the same place, mixing them up and jiggling them about, until you haven't got a clue what is going on. I'm not a huge fan of Matt Damon but even I was surprised that he appeared in a film like this. It's not even a mega religious movie, it doesn't give that much of a punch to the extent where people will be quarrelling over the religious factors after it's ended. It's just a pretty dire attempt at trying to look artistic by the director ('shame on you Clint!) and it fails miserably, with unfinished endings and totally uninventive characters.

(HORROR) The Rite - 2011 **




The two best things about 'The Rite' are Anthony Hopkins and the beautiful backdrop of Rome. Other than that this was a predictable, pretentious movie with the sort of storyline that has been done to death.

Hopkins stars as a powerful exorcist who guides a young seminary student through an exorcism course in Rome after the boy confesses to losing his faith (what a surprise). Both of them get more than they bargained for (no surprises there then!).

Hopkins is a superb actor but he really shouldn't have been in a film like this. He shouldn't be entering the world of rubbish American horror, but instead should stick to his charming English films that are so popular.

One last thing I will say however is that this is actually based on true events, as opposed to the fictional ones that you see on most horror posters now. Hopkins' character was real, and the story is pretty close as well (if you can believe everything that Wikipedia says). At least they didn't lie on that.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

(HORROR) Scream 4 - 2011 ****



I'm not sure if I should be shot for saying this or not, but I really enjoyed this latest offering from the Scream people. It genuinely scared me to pieces, and I was absolutely terrified to go up to bed afterwards. I also had a nasty dream that night about it as well which proves how much it effected me. These films aren't meant to be intellectual or full of hidden meanings, they are simply an excuse to freak yourself off with the lights off on a dark night.

The acting was great (slightly overdone in some areas but who cares?!) and it was weird watching Courtney and David Arquette acting together despite their divorce!

The beginning of the film was my favourite, and very unexpected, and although the rest of the movie was predictable it was still great fun to watch. I recommend it.

(HORROR) Tetsuo: The Iron Man - 1989 1/2



The people who rated this movie as anything other than hideous must be from another planet. A hideously poor escuse of a movie from the Tartan Asian Gang. Centring around a metal fetishist who enjoys sticking bits of metal inside his various body parts, the film follows the man with a jerky camera as he runs around and makes funny noises whilst inserting more metal in more places. It's like an acid trip nightmare. Something you might dream about if you were in the middle of a serious bout of flu. Sort of delusional horror. Horrible. Something I never want to see again.

(HORROR) The Ward - 2010 ***


This to me didn't seem like a particularly John Carpenter-ish film. It was far too predictable for one thing, and Carpenter can usually construct a rather good storyline.
The premise is that a girl is taken to the psychiatric hospital after setting fire to a house and watching it burn to the ground. Here she meets an assortment of characters and tries to plot with them to escape whilst constantly maintaining her innocence. It's fairly nervy and jumpy and does deliver some scares but the ending is just so ridiculous it's like they ran out of ideas and just stuck the first idea on there that they could think of. It made no sense whatsover and din't explain anything. Heard plays well, but not well enough to cover up the fact that Carpenter could have done better.

Monday, January 16, 2012

The African Queen - 1951 **** 1/2



The idea of Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn sitting on a boat for the entire duration of the film didn't really appeal to me at first, despite the rave reviews it has had. But when I pressed 'stop' I had to sit back for a few minutes just to take everything in. And I can say this is one of the most powerful films I have watched in a long time.

Bogart plays Charlie Allnut who picks up Rose Sayer in Africa after her brother dies of fever after being beaten by German soldiers. They both set sail on Allnut's vessell 'The African Queen', each as different as they can be, with Hepburn hoping to convince Bogart to build a torpeado to sink the Queen Louisa (a German ship) and Bogart trying to get Hepburn to lighten up and stop being so prim and proper. Katherine Hepburn seems to play the character with a lot of her own personality embedded within, as Rose takes practically no notice of anything Charlie says despite the fact that he is an advanced sailor and she isn't, even to the stage where they both risk their life to navigate a particularly perilous part of the river.

I admire Hepburn greatly as an actress but sometimes don't like her non-stop bossy nature. Bogart was terrific on the other hand and really showed a compassionate and good-natured man, even though drink seemed to be his main priority. ( The idea that Bogart would only be around for a few more years after he made this film was a deeply sad thought when watching this ) It's a nice moral story with two great actors. What more could you ask for?

Sahara - 1943 **** 1/2



I have a very wide love for black and white films, but I haven't quite come to terms with some of the 1940s war films of the time. I did however watch and enjoy 'Ice Cold in Alex' which I thought was one of the best movies I've ever seen. Here however we have a film where Humphrey Bogart, normally known for playing gangsters, lawyers and general killers, is stuck in the desert with his men after being separated from their unit. They are forced to make a detour of the desert to find water after the well they turn up at is dry. The story revolves around these men and their relationships while they try and come to terms with where they are and how they are supposed to survive. One of the last scenes is incredibly poignant with Bogart acting his socks off as usual. In fact most of the film shows Bogart's acting off to a pinacle of perfection. He really is superb.

Burlesque - 2010 ****



I must admit I put off watching this for quite a while because I thought it would be predictable and I didn't see the point seeing it if I was going to guess what was going to happen. And when I watched it a lot of it was predictable, but interestingly I didn't actually care. People have said that it is a complete rip-off of Coyote Ugly and I must say there are some very similar scenes in it, but I thought the level of music and vocals were much better here. Added to which the idea of a Burlesque Lounge is really exciting.

Aguilera does have a strong voice and there are some great songs here, but sometimes I get the feeling that she is just a little bit too up herself to be taken seriously. Cher was good as well as the matronly madam who keeps the girls in check. Aguilera is Ali, the girl from (you guessed it) a small town who goes to Hollywood to make it big and finds herself working as a waitress in the Burlesque Lounge. However she longs to get up on the stage and dazzle everyone with her voice, an idea which Cher originally dismisses, until she hears her sing...

What a surprise, I bet you all knew what was going to happen, but I still loved the feel of the film, sort of mixed with one of my favourite films 'Moulin Rouge.'

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Nutty Professor - 1963 ****



This is the first film I have seen with Jerry Lewis and it won't be my last. My colleague and I were having an intense conversation the other day about me getting Jerry Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis mixed up. I won't be doing that again. This film is about 10 times funnier than the newer Eddie Murphy offering.

Jerry Lewis is hilarious as the crazy, nerdy Professor who invents a potion to help him become more confident in his workplace, the trouble is, the result is a Jekyll and Hyde personality, where the confident side of him becomes obnoxious, slimy and arrogant (but rather attractive!).There are some very funny scenes, inculding one where he comes to class the morning after a night out as his alter ego with a stonking hangover and every single sound he hears is exaggerated

I have another of his films on my list to see (The Ladies Man) and I have added a load more of his films to my Tesco rental. Can't wait!

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Our Man in Havana - 1959 ***



With such a wonderful cast you would imagine that this would be a wonderful film. But it wasn't what I expected at all. I like Alec Guinness very much but felt there was something distinctly lacking in this film. I felt sort of the same way watching 'The Man in The White Suit.' Guinness plays the owner of a vacuum cleaner shop in Cuba who is roped into recruiting a network of spies by the British Secret Service. He doesn't have a clue what he is doing however which leads to some very interesting situations.

If you compare his acting range in this to him in 'The Ladykillers' you would be forgiven in thinking it was another actor.

Not as much as a masterpiece from the normally excellent Carol Reed as I had hoped.

(NOIR) Fallen Angel - 1945 ****



I think 'Laura' is the most flawless film noir ever, but 'Fallen Angel' isn't too far behind.

Dana Andrews always puts on a good show and the added support from the beautiful Linda Darnell and Alice Faye makes the film too good to miss. Andrews usually plays good, hero-like characters but here he breaks the mould and plays a dangerous man who begins an affair with June (Faye) with the sole intent of inveigling himself into her life, taking her money and marrying the local barmaid Stella (Darnell) whom he has become infatuated with. As in any film noir things don't go to plan and when Stella is mysteriously murdered Andrews becomes inbroiled in tracking down the culprit, whilst being under suspicion himself.

Otto Preminger is a superb director and I rate him very highly. I also think he is brilliant at picking the best actors in his films, and although there was supposedly some drama behind the scenes of the film (Faye's scenes were cut in favour of fleshing out Darnell's part instead) it doesn't stop the audience being presented with polished characters and an exciting plot.

A must-see.

Saturday, January 07, 2012

I want to Live! - 1958 ****



A stunning performance from Susan Hayward as the convicted murderess Barbara Graham whose 1955 trial and eventual execution ruled the tabloids. I don't know much about Graham but Hayward's portrayal of her suggests a damaged and misunderstood woman who gets mistreated and abused by almost every man she comes into contact with to the extent that she is accused of a crime she did not commit.

In reality I suspect Graham was a hard and cold woman who enjoyed using people and relished the idea of being spoilt rotten by all her numbers of male admirers. She was certainly attractive, and easy, therefore many men wanted be by her side, but weren't interested when they found out that she had a child. In the film she is shown to be devoted to her son, but in real life she wasn't particularly keen on being a mother, and tended to disregard her son in favour of male attention.

Her execution is a very difficult scene to watch, as well as the scenes leading up to it, where she becomes resigned to her fate but at the same time has a slight glimmer of hope still inside. We will never know for sure whether Graham commited murder or not, but Hayward certainly does a good job of playing the innocent victim. A must see.

(NOIR) D.O.A. - 1950 ****

A very interesting and different film. The iconic first scene where Edmund O'Brien walks into the police station and tells them that he wants to report a murder, his own. We are then taken back to the beginning of the story to find out why exactly O'Brien believes he is going to die. It's a fascinating film, and completely original, I haven't yet seen a film noir with such originality. I do love films where the film goes backwards. O'Brien (who I have never heard of) does a great job of playing a condemned man. As the film is available in the public domain I recommend it to everyone.
PS I originally thought DOA stood for Dead or Alive, it's actually something completely different, and very fitting to the movie.

Back to School - 1986 *



A truly dire excuse for a movie. The main actor is really eerie as the father of a boy who doesn't want to go to college, but decides he will when his father agrees to enrol with him. His father ends up being the most popular and exciting student, throwing the most exciting parties etc but it doesn't help his son. Even Robert Downey Jnr couldn't save this.

Rodney Dangerfield is horrible, he looks like he's wearing a Halloween costume the whole year around.

(NOIR) He Walked By Night - 1948 ***



This was a surprisingly good movie. It's set out in a sort of semi-documentary way about a crook who murders a policeman and the subsequent chase between him and the police that leads them all to the underground. It has a hint of 'The Third Man' in it, and obviously the latter trumps this by 100%, but I was still fascinated by it and one particular scene where the killer sits in wait in his darkened room, his dog snarling at the window as the police close in on him. It's really thrilling.

A good film, exciting and gripping.

Friday, January 06, 2012

Poison Ivy - 1992 ***



Drew Barrymore comes from a long line of actors, most I admire more than her. She's not a bad actress and this is a decent thriller but I would never put her down as being especially talented.

She stars in this as a weird outsider named Ivy who befriends nerdy geek Sara Gibson. I can't remember what other film I've seen Gibson in but I'm sure she is the same sort of character in that as well.

The two girls have a strange slightly homo-erotic relationship going on, and before long Barrymore has weasled her way into Gibson's life and family, even going so far as seducing her father. She looks pretty young so I'm hoping she's not under the legal age because otherwise that's just disgusting.

I like these obsessive movies, it reminds me of 'The Crush' with Alicia Silverstone.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Champagne - 1928 ***



Ha! Don't you love these quirky little posters you get for really old movies?

'Champagne' was a good film, and although Hitchcock constantly said how much of a problem he had with comedies, he actually did this one really well.

Betty Balfour has one of the most expressive faces of the silent screen that I have seen, and I thought she did a very amusing job here as the daughter of a wealthy city tycoon who decides to squander much of his fortune on a cruise ship with her boyfriend, but her father isn't going to stand for that, believing that her boyfriend is only after the money...

Worth a watch, and fantastic in my opinion to see the typically 20s clothes on the 2 main stars (Betty Balfour makes a fantastic flapper!).

The Servant - 1963 ***



The first thing I noted about this film was how completely risque it was for a film of it's time. The second thing I thought of was that I couldn't for the life of me get to grips with what was going on. I sensed that because it was Harold Pinter related it would be a bit bizarre but still!

I get that there were class divides, and obviously Dirk Bogarde initially plays the 'servant' to James Fox's 'master' but then it all got a bit confusing for me. What it seemed however was that there became a drastic shift in class, with Bogarde appearing to take over the more overpowering role, and James Fox cowering into the lower class one. There are also added complications when Bogarde brings his 'sister' to the house as a maidservant, and falls out almost immediately with Fox's fiancee.

However if you watch closely, it's clear that Bogarde effectively owns the scenes. He has a gentle way of manipulating both the owner and his partner without them really understanding what he is doing. That to me is rather terrifying. It's definitely a psychological thriller at the very least, and certain other subjects including homosexuality and incest are touched upon which had me amazed for a 1960s film. However obviously the 60s was full of free love and new and exciting things so I shouldn't really be surprised.

Bogarde is an amazing actor, I respect him a huge amount, but think that I would probably have to watch this again to really appreciate the nuances.

Maria Marten: Murder in the Red Barn - 1935 ***



Not a bad movie, but the quality was awful. I'm very interested in the real life case that this movie is based on, so had been looking forward to seeing it for a long time.

For those of you who don't know, Maria Marten is the town beauty in early 19th century Suffolk, and is chased by many men.

She begins a relationship with one man and soon discovers that he has a temper on him which may lead to her demise.

Tod Slaughter is great as usual, suitably cheesy but also very unhinged looking. For more information on the real case (obviously parts of it have been changed in the film) go to wikipedia.

Monday, January 02, 2012

(NOIR) Knock on any Door - 1949 ****




Nicholas Ray of 'Bigger than Life' fame directed this exciting courtroom drama starring Bogart at the height of his stardom.


Bogart's character acts as a charged up lawyer who takes the case of a disturbed man from the same slums as he, against the wishes of his colleagues. He feels empathy for the young man and also feels guilty for letting the man's father be wrongly put to his death after a botched criminal trial a year beforehand.


The whole film is basically Bogart talking, and Bogart acting his socks off. He's utterly faultless in this movie, and the passion he portrays as he holds the whole courtroom speechless is pretty amazing. There are also scenes interspersed with him talking that show us the story of the criminal's life and how things led up to him being on trial. The film has a tremendous climax and I think this is one hell of an underrated film, partly because I never hear anyone talking about it or mentioning it in lists about Bogart.


One thing I was really interested in was that the quote 'Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Good Looking Corpse' was first mentioned in this film, going on to become James Dean's iconic line, and I had always believed that Dean himself made up the phrase.


Sunday, January 01, 2012

Laughter in Paradise - 1951 ****




This is a completely underrated and utterly funny offering from Alastair Sim. He plays the cousin of a man who dies, leaving a will to his four closest family members. They are each told that they will be receiving £50,000 but only on completion of four tasks, some criminal, some embarassing, but all designed to show up the members of the family. Alastair Sim who has never committed a crime in his life is told that he must commit a crime within a week of the will being read out, and must go to jail for 28 days. His cousin who is a complete snob and has a servant whom she treats very badly is told that she must get a job as a domestic servant for a month and cannot be sacked or she will forfeit the money. The other 2 tasks are sort of in the same vein as this, and if any of the tasks are not completed the members of the family will not be able to receive the money.


I guessed what would happen in the end but it was still great fun to go along for the ride. Alastair Sim is always on top.


The Hangover 2 - 2011 **



The first Hangover film was ok. It was quite funny but nothing original. Maybe I've seen too many teen comedies, but there was barely no new material there at all.

It was obviously the wrong idea to watch the sequel, if I thought the first film was barely watchable this was even worse.

It's the same 3 men, this time stranded for some bizarre reason in Bangkok after having a drug induced session the night before. Throw in a monkey with a Rolling Stones tee shirt, a decapitated finger and some other stupid things, and you have pretty much the identical movie that happened before except this time with the added 'bonus' of the ghastly slum areas of the Bangkok underworld.

This film is completely overrated, and relies so heavily on various swear words that if you took them out you would only have about a quarter of the film.

Boring, unfunny, and dare I say it, completely 'American.'