Movie Tab II

Licence to Kill (John Glen, 1989) -

On the whole, I think I've more or less outgrown James Bond films. There are only about three I honestly like anymore - and Licence to Kill is one of that illustrious trio. The Timothy Dalton films were rather underrated - they took a serious turn after the cartoonish antics of the Roger Moore films, and Licence to Kill accurately reflects one of the best moments when Bond turned even more serious. Here, Bond is out for revenge after his friend and occasional comrade-in-arms Felix Leiter is attacked by the drug lord he's been investigating, willing to risk it all for vengeance. Dalton makes for a great Bond, managing the right blend of easy charisma and stony professionalism that the role requires. He is helped by an ample supporting cast, with the star pick being Robert Davi as Sanchez, the film's cool, almost likeable villain. Of course, it doesn't skimp on any of the usual Bond tricks - Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto make for one of the best pairs of Bond girls ever, the climatic tanker chase is the sort of high-octane extravaganza Bond films are known for and of course, cantankerous gadget master Q (the irreplacable Desmond Llewellyn). As I have said before, I'm more or less through with Bond, but Licence to Kill is a worthy exception.



To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin, 1985) -

Now this is my kind of film. A crime film rooted firmly in 1980s Los Angeles - a hot and grimy hellhole filled to the brim with either immorality or amorality, a place where the good are beaten into submission by the adversity of such a crime-ridden pit. William Petersen and Willem Dafoe are the two actors at the heart of a cat-and-mouse drama - Dafoe is an eccentric counterfeiting kingpin, while Petersen is the bloody-minded FBI agent hot on Dafoe's tail after the death of his partner. Their clashes with a variety of characters on every level and side of the law make for a compelling tale that's almost a tragedy of sorts, considering the effect that Petersen's character has on his straight-laced partner (John Pankow). A grubby yet excellent dive into the LA underworld.



Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977) - +

Okay, second time around I actually began to appreciate it a bit more and not mind various qualities I had previously considered flaws (while I had initially found it hard to sympathise with Roy Neary's obsession with the truth, given his personal circumstances I can now totally understand his decision to go after it). The funny thing is, one thing I liked about the film the first time was something I actually didn't like as much the second time around - the appearance of the aliens themselves seemed even more anticlimatic once I had learned to appreciate the rest of the film up to that point. I kept thinking of when I watched James Cameron's The Abyss not too long ago and the way that seeing the aliens in that (which obviously owe a debt to the aliens in Close Encounters) just floored me emotionally, yet seeing the aliens in Close Encounters didn't do as much for me. Strange.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Glad found someone else who rates Licence to Kill as one of the better ones To Live and Die in LA is one of those films i keep meaning to buy but always forget, now get bit more incentive to remember

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I went through some of my old store-bought VHS tapes. I pulled some which I thought might not be on DVD yet. The first two below are indeed unavailable on DVD, so the VHS run for about $25-40 each. The third one is on DVD, so you can snag the VHS for under a buck.

First Love (Joan Darling, 1977)



This remains a very honest, funny, and sexy movie. I remember when I watched it at the theatres over 30 years ago thinking that it was extremely frank in its depiction of sex, but that the couple involved actually seemed to love each other and were still able to talk while making passionate love. That seemed really unusual, especially for an American film. William Katt (Carrie, "The Last American Hero") stars as a college student who just about falls in love at first sight with Susan Dey ("The Partridge Family"), and she feels strongly for him too. Their problem is that she's been having an affair for years with an older married man (Robert Loggia). Before you get up in arms yelling --> "A-ha! Chick flick!", please be advised that this is one of those '70s "Chick Flicks" where there is an ample amount of comedy and the nudity probably does favor the male viewer with Susan Dey and Bevery D'Angelo both getting very naked. In fact, John Heard is also a strong supporting character as Katt's best friend who comes off as a sort of a bastard. The film's main flaw is that the third act is underdeveloped. If the last 20 minutes were as good as the rest, I'd give it .

The Big Fix (Jeremy Kagen, 1978)



I have to admit that any film with the word "Big" in the title which stars Richard Dreyfuss as an ex-radical from the '60s named Moses Wine trying to make his living as a private detective in 1970s Los Angeles is going to automatically get my attention. I'm happy to report that even if the mystery Moses becomes embroiled in is complex, it's also funny and suspenseful. It's mostly involving politics and other former radicals and how they may or may not be trying to influence an upcoming gubernatorial election. The supporting characters include Moses' ex-wife (Bonnie Bedelia), an ex-flame (Susan Anspach), a campaign manager (John Lithgow), a missing ex-super radical (F. Murray Abraham), Wine's kids whom he takes on stakeouts, and too many other characters to mention. For me, the simple highlights are Moses playing the game Clue to try to help him solve the case and his very real-sounding, yet humorous discussions with his kids. The L.A. locations are also used very deftly. You might not always understand what's going on while it's happening, but it eventually pays off in an unpretentiously low-key, but delightful mystery.

Man, Woman and Child (Dick Richards, 1983)



This film is based on an Erich Segal (Love Story) novel, and it begins enjoyably enough, centering on a happily-married college professor (Martin Sheen), his book editor wife (Blythe Danner) and their two pre-teen daughters. Then one day, the phone rings and Sheen learns that he's got a ten-year-old French son from his only affair, a two-day fling. The boy's mother has recently died and all Sheen can think about is his son. When the news comes out, and the boy comes to visit the family during the spring break, the family starts to splinter apart. The basic problem with the movie is that once the revelation occurs, the film goes on auto-pilot and turns seemingly-complex characters into one-note cyphers. The flashback to Sheen's affair with a beautiful doctor (Nathalie Nell) seems perfunctory, and supporting characters played by Craig T. Nelson and David Hemmings are wasted. It's not a bad flick, but it sure seems like it could have been either more interesting or more entertaining or both. Still, there are some beautiful people in some beautiful settings, so if that floats your boat...

Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz, 1935)



Errol Flynn's American starring-debut is jam-packed with action, adventure, romance, wit, and sophistication. Don't let the fact that this flick is almost 75 years old (!!) scare you away from a super entertainment. Not only does Flynn work with his most sympathetic director for the second of twelve (!) teamings, he also makes his first of nine appearances (!, sorry) with beautiful young Olivia de Havilland. It's a tale of good vs. evil, often set on the high seas. It's basically the origin of a film like Pirates of the Caribbean since Disney's park ride seems to be based upon this film. The cast is full of wonderful character actors, especially Basil Rathbone as the treacherous French pirate Levasseur and Lionel Atwill as de Havilland's evil uncle. Director Curtiz (Casablanca) uses a subtle but powerful visual motif throughout the film. Whenever there are any dialogue scenes on board ship, the camera moves ever so perceptibly forward and backward to simulate the gentle rocking of the ocean. It doesn't make you seasick at all; it impresses you with the skill and audacity which early filmmakers had to make their work just that little bit extra special. Captain Blood qualifies as extra special in multiple ways.

Innocents With Dirty Hands (Claude Chabrol, 1975) -



Continuing with my Chabrol festival, this one features the still-luscious Romy Schneider as the femme fatale in a French variation on The Postman Always Rings Twice. Schneider is married to rich, but dying Rod Steiger, so she hooks up with a hunk to murder her husband for his money and insurance. She also gets a rascally lawyer (Jean Rochefort) to plead her "case" to a judge (even though there is no "case"). Well, somebody apparently dies, but it's difficult to tell who, and then there are about 20 more plot twists before the ending which is another plot twist! Chabrol has always been a master of brooding atmosphere where the suggestion of violence and sex is often more frightening and intense than the acts themselves. This one has a pretty unique atmosphere for Chabrol, even if I do say so myself. The thing is that I had to watch this in both French and English. Both Schneider and Steiger do their own voices in English, while Rochefort and the hunk are dubbed, but Steiger is dubbed in the French version. Decisions, decisions. It's a solid whodunnit, but it's perhaps a bit overlong at two hours to maintain all the quiet stretches and multiple twists and turns.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Together (2000, Lukas Moodysson)

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Double feature the other night:

Freaks (Browning, 1932)

The Unholy Three (Browning, 1925)

Freaks is obviously the better of these two films, but the Unholy Three, which stars Browning-regular Lon Chaney Sr. and the lead midget actor from Freaks, Harry Earles, along with one other guy as a trio of circus-performers who take to an elaborate con-job, was decent. The titular three pose as a pet-store-owning family (daddy, grandma and cigar-smoking baby) who sell parrots to rich customers using Chaney's ventriloquism. When the customers get home to find their parrots giving them the silent-treatment, Grandma Chaney and the baby-faced Earles pay a house call to see what's the matter and case the joints for future burgling.

Chaney also has an eight-foot-tall killer chimpanzee that gets introduced in the macabre penultimate scene, and the court-room climax, in which Chaney uses his ventriloquism to indirectly reveal himself and his cohorts through a dummy witness, is just bizarre enough to get you to overlook the melodramatic cliches.

I didn't really notice it in the last silent Browning/Chaney film I saw -- The Unknown -- but Chaney is pretty fun to watch too.

Cuba: An African Odyssey (Jihan El Tahri 2007)


An informative interesting documentary about Cuba's involvement in Africa during the Cold War. We get to see a lot of footage and interviews with some key players ranging from Larry Devlin to Castro.

It runs 3 hours and 10 min. , but it doesn't feel it. It's broken up into two parts for those who don't want to sit through the whole thing at once. Part one is a whole lot of Che and Lumumba ending with the Guinea-Bissau revolution. Part two focuses more on the Angola revolution.

My criticism with part one would be that they devoted entirely too much time to Che and not enough to Amilcar Cabral, whom I would like to know more about. Part two was were it got really interesting as far as I am concerned. A-

Speaking of Africa ...



Blood Diamond

The third film in my history through film class did a good job of introducing me to the chaotic mess that is Africa and on the other hand is merely the default action formula in a new setting. DiCaprio was entertaining to watch in this one though , I'm not a fan of him either. The relationships between the characters are completely false , but the uncommon atmosphere in which the story unfolds and some nice camera work make this one a worthwhile watch for die hard action/adventure fans.





Paprika

Well , there are great anime films out there and all of them have been produced by Studio Ghibli. This science fiction thriller has some very enjoyable dream sequences , but the actual story that unfolds is quite different. Dull characters suck the magic out of the dream film genre and leave you with an overall flat unimaginative movie - in an attempt to make logical sense out of our illogical subconscious thoughts.





Midnight Cowboy

What a terrible film to watch as I'm exiting high school and entering the uncertainty of college in the midst of economic recession , Midnight Cowboy is a film about discovery in an age where traumatized hurt people can't make sense out of each other and are paranoid of the new. It's rare the film feels so modern with it's original release in 1969 , shot with enormous energy and a brilliant charisma between leads Hoffman and Voight - this one has instantly become a favorite of mine.





Return of the King : Extended Edition

Perfection. Does the uncertainty of your own personal well being matter in the face of your complete and utter destruction as well as the ruin of everything ? As small as Midnight Cowboy (and it's scope is remarkably large) feels in the face of Return of the King , you realize just how amazing the movie is for bringing an entire world to life and even though I know how it ends - there is a doubt every time I watch that Middle Earth will in fact be saved.

All of the pieces are in place , the characters fully introduced , and the stakes realized - everything the first two films have been building up to pays off with the same awe the others have managed with enormous fictional environments explored and fought upon.

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Thieves' Highway (1949, Jules Dassin)

The result of one sleepless night...



Naked (Mike Leigh, 1993) -

First viewing in over a year and it's still as stunning as it ever was. Bleak, bitter, surprisingly brilliant.



Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990) -

Repeat viewings aren't as kind to this, I've found. While Arnold is always good for a laugh (as are the film's copious amounts of pre-CGI effects work), it's still an interesting film. I have a question, though - does anyone honestly reckon it was a dream? If so, why?

I'm going to check out Naked, if I can find it.

You do that, I reckon it'd be right up your alley. It's got a Criterion release, if that's any help.

The library has a copy so I'll check it out sometime in the next couple of weeks.

If you want more, I wrote a longer review about a year back, it's in the first couple of pages of my review thread. I'd also recommend reading the review Tacitus did in his review thread (first page).

I've liked what I've seen from Mike Leigh, and Naked was one that I'd always wanted to watch but could never find it. You just reminded me to check again and what do you know they have a copy.

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (first viewing)


Holy Manolos! Obviously this is a tour de force performance from Better Davis and as interesting as she is to watch, I was paying closer attention to Joan Crawford. There are many ways to play the victim and Crawfords performance comes from the eyes. I enjoyed both ladies performances even though Davis chews the scenery sometimes.



Plotwise I felt it was a little too confined to a short time period, i kind of felt that a lot of interesting points in their lives were brushed over very quickly and it didnt set up the relationship between the sisters as it is currently. Also I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending - the trip to the beach seemed to come out of left field and it lacked a defined conclusion that the viewer kinda deserved. All in all its a very good movie, but not one ill rush to watch again.

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

Das Boot (1981)



This was recommended by someone here and I wasn't disappointed. Apart from its length, it seemed a bit too long, Das Boot is one of the best sub-world war II films I've seen. After being raised on American war films it was refreshing to see something different and more raw and maybe more real.

24 Hour Party People (2002)



24 Hour Party People reminded me of Tristam Shanty, I was expecting a real movie not a Steve Coogan mash up. That said I still like Coogan, it was funny and informative if your into 80's bands like New Order and Bez. Just not as good as I expected.

Lady In The Water (2006)



Ive been interested in seeing this for a while but what I heard is right, it sucks. Lady In The Water is messy and pointless. Amature at best. To his credit Paul Giamatti did good with what little he had.

The Fly (1986)



Its been so long since I've seen this that I didn't realize Jeff Goldblum and Gina Davis were in it. I liked it, no real complaints. Cool scifi-horror.

Into the Wild (2007)



A friend told me about Into The Wild a few years ago, I never got around to it, now I regret not seeing it. Its hard to describe how good a movie this is, excellent cast and acting, beautifully shot but its the story and script that make it what it is, such a overwhelming story about freedom and living your own life.

The Boat That Rocked (2009)



The Boat That Rocked is one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a long time. I have no words just go and see it, even if you hate 60's rock and roll you won't be dissapointed.

Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam)

It's been about ten years since I last saw this film and my opinion of it hasn't changed.

All right, it's been quite a while, so I'll do a fairly quick run-down lest I take two hours writing up a half a dozen mini-reviews and finding/posting a half a dozen images.

All I Want (AKA Try Seventeen) -

Waiting -

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Still Waiting -

Labyrinth -

A Walk to Remember -

All in all, a very decent week or so of movies. This was the first time I'd seen Waiting and its sequel, and while its sequel--Still Waiting--had its moments, Waiting was full of moments that had me laughing out loud and greatly entertained. Then there's Labyrinth, which I could watch every other week for a flippin' decade and not get tired of, and after this rewatch, All I Want is safe in my Top 100.

Despite Labyrinth, the main attraction here in this bunch for me was A Walk to Remember. I had seen it before, but not for a long time, and with this revisiting, I was utterly moved and completely blown away. I'm not sure how others/the majority feels about this film (I haven't researched it on the Internet much yet to get others' feedback), but I know my own feelings. At first, it gives off that "cheesy," cliche teen romantic comedy/drama vibe, complete with your tolken black guy (sigh), but as things move along, I quickly became enveloped in the remarkable story. Add in Mandy Moore's brilliant, breathtaking performance and an ending (and several scenes throughout the entire film) that packs an emotional punch that made me look at and contemplate my own life in a new light, and you have something that now belongs in my Top 100, and very high up it.

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"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
John Milton, Paradise Lost

My Movie Review Thread | My Top 100

The Ox-Bow Incident
William A. Wellman, 1943

You know what the funny thing about this is for me, I didn't even mean to watch it. I was trying to click on something else in my Netflix instant queue, but clicked this by accident, so I just decided to watch it. I got to say that it was a pretty great mistake to make, because I ended up really liking it. It was short and simple and right to the point of the movie. I guess it could somewhat be counted as a western, and I really love westerns. The story right from the very beginning got me really interested because it was something different that I hadn't seen before.

The main thing that had me from clicking back when I started watching this was when I found out that it starred Henry Fonda, and I'm always looking for some more of his movies to watch. I do got to say that I kept wishing he'd go 12 Angry Men on all the guys and change their mind. It never happened, though, but his acting was still pretty great. The ending was really good, but I don't want to spoil it for people that hasn't seen it yet.





Ran
Akira Kurosawa, 1985

I'm really just starting to get into foreign movies, so I'm really trying to just see as many as I can right now. The main one I want to see is Seven Samurai, though, but of course Netflix doesn't have it. So I'm basically just trying to check out some of Kurosawa's other movies first. While this is still only the second movie of his that I've seen, it's my favorite so far. He's really impressing me as a director. This movie is an epic in every sense of the word, even though it does seem to start off a little slow and weird. It was pretty weird watching it in color, though, because I thought all of his films were in black and white. This possibly has some of the most vibrant colors that I've ever seen, too. All the colors just seemed to pop out right towards your eyes.

My main problem with this is it's characters, like Lady Kaede because she was such a psycho and I just wanted to punch her in the face. Her character was meant to be like that, so I guess I shouldn't really have a problem with it, but for some reason I did. I also wish Saburo could've gotten some more screen time than he did. Still any foreign film fan, this is a definite must to check out if you haven't yet.





City Lights
Charles Chaplin, 1931

Much like foreign films, I'm basically just starting to watch silent movies, and this is actually only the second I've seen so far. So far I'm pretty much liking it, too. I'm trying to figure out if all silent films are meant to be comedies or what, or at least most of them. Well never mind, because I know that's wrong, but I don't know if I'll like non-comedy silent films as much. Who knows, I may end up liking them more. My main problem with this is that it just seems to keep repeating itself too much, and it really wasn't all that exciting, at least compared to something like The General. It was still somewhat exciting, my favorite part was the boxing match.

Charlie Chaplin is a true genius at silent films, though. I couldn't stop laughing at some parts just because of the somewhat stupid stuff that he did throughout the movie. There are other parts where I just didn't like his acting much at all and I just stood there blank. It's still a pretty good movie, and I'd say that you should watch it if you ever get the chance to watch it.





The Outlaw Josey Wales
Clint Eastwood, 1976

I absolutely love westerns, it's probably my favorite movie genre there is. What I really love is that I still have so many westerns to see, because I always love seeing something new. Something I have noticed about a lot of westerns is that the movie seems to basically lose the point from the first half during the second half, then right towards the end the point comes back. I don't really have a problem with that, because it keeps the movie interesting. Clint Eastwood is seriously the king of westerns, not only is an amazing actor in westerns, he does a great job directing them too. I think this or Unforgiven is a prime example of that.

Yeah, like I just said, Eastwood is really a true king at these westerns. He just has something about him that works in westerns, it's like everytime he gets to do a western he suddenly gets very cool. Not to say that he isn't cool all the time. This would probably make it in my top 5 favorite westerns, even if it would probably be at the number 5 spot. This is a must see for any fan of westerns that hasn't gotten to this one yet, or anyone for that matter. You won't be disappointed.

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The Abyss
James Cameron, 1989

Well holy crap, those are basically the only words that can really describe my thoughts on this right now. I never really had much interest in seeing it, and I probably wouldn't have if I remembered to change around my Netflix queue the other day. I'm so glad that I didn't though, because sci-fi is slowly becoming my second favorite genre ever, right after westerns. I know that this is pretty much the movie that revolutionized CGI until right up about now, at least until the end of the year when Cameron's revolutionizing it agian. The visuals in this are beyond amazing, possibly some of the best visuals that I've ever seen. This was incredibly tense right from the very start, up until the ending. Of course it had a happy ending, but it totally worked for this, and I just love it.

Ed Harris has always been an actor that I really appreciated, and this just made me appreciate him even more. His acting in this just gets so strong in some scenes that it's amazing. He really works well with stronger roles, and I'm pretty surprised that he's yet to take home an oscar. I think that my rating could seriously increase with repeat viewings, because I think it's just that amazing. Any movie fan must see this one, because it's a film that just must be experienced.

I think Kurosawa had a rough transition from black and white to color - his films in black and white look so much better than his color ones.