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Both men take a run at asking her out with and the three start going out together on platonic terms, but Rocky ultimately succeeds in winning Kate over. This is where the film takes a bit of an odd turn. They keep going out on "dates" with Dan playing third wheel and no one seems to mind. The audience never quite comes to understand Purvis' motivations but in the post credits commentary Noir Alley host Eddie Muller alluded to an element of homosexuality in the relationship. That might or might not clarify things but it's not really integral to the story.
The two partners end up arresting gangster Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka) in the first act. He then swears to even the score and this chain of circumstances takes up the last two acts of film. Somewhere in there Rocky and Kate find the time to get married which means everything is in place for things to shake out in standard fashion. Most viewers will be able to guess where it's all headed. I didn't find this to be essential viewing except maybe for noir or Edmond O'Brien fans.
65/100
Inquietude (1998) - ★★★ (Remarkable)
AKA Anxiety, dir. Manoel de Oliveira
While this turned out not to be the last Manoel de Oliveira film I still hadn't seen, - it seems that I've still to watch at least three of them - it'll be hard for the remaining few to top this one in terms of quality, be it the lustrous, humbly aesthetic cinematography most exemplified in the last story, or narrative brilliance that it sports in its first third. The second story is a little bit of both, connecting the two stories with the character played by the illustrious Spanish actor Luís Miguel Cintra, de Oliveira's regular. Inquietude is an intriguing film because it betrays de Oliveira's two greatest strengths: verbose journeys into the world of literary adaptations and remarkable aesthetic sense.
Manoel de Oliveira is a special filmmaker. Not only a great auteur (one of Portugal's greatest, though there's no denying this rather small country has a cornucopia of incredible auteurs, from Paulo Rocha to Margarida Cordeiro, to João César Monteiro, to Pedro Costa, to Miguel Gomes, to Rita Azevedo Gomes) but also a centenarian who could direct a great movie at the age of 23 (Labor on the Douro River in 1931) as well as 106 (The Old Man of Belem in 2014). Which other director achieved that? Maybe Kaneto Shindo comes close save for two decades (the first film in 1951, the last in 2010).
There is a scene in this film where Leonor Baldaque, playing a country girl who discovers her fingertips are made of gold, sits on a bench and looks in the distance like a woman from a Baroque painting. The natural light of the sun illuminates her photogenic face, revealing its contours and expressions, its grace and mystery. She is joined by de Oliveira's grandson Ricardo Trêpa, playing her boyfriend, who gazes ahead, into the distance. They are both touched by the light that connects them, the light that is the source of beauty.
This scene brings to mind the greatest profundity to be found in the works of Straub- Huillet, the filmmakers who devoted their lives to capturing the essence of Communist materialism through near-spiritual means. Like Straub-Huillet, de Oliveira uses his camera as a tool of revelation, as a way of accessing the hidden dimensions of reality. But he doesn't make the mistake of the French duo of mixing humble aesthetics and prolix dialogues or proclamations. The first story of the film is the most talky but also the least visually attractive. The last has the least talking of them all but emanates visual beauty.
At this point, I'd love to rewatch the film just so that I could focus on the initial two-thirds of it. But the last story, and how it achieves eternal beauty full of humility and grace is everything I can think (and talk) about right now. The Portuguese maestro creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between the human and the divine, between the material and the immaterial. He seeks to restore a lost art of portraying both body and soul, an art that respects the beauty of film (not digital), beauty (not prettiness), and Light (not darkness), an art that challenges and inspires senses.
De Oliveira’s visuals are more naturalistic and less artificial than those of Eugène Green, another filmmaker who manages to achieve a similar grace in his mise en scène. Green talks about the Light. De Oliveira shows the Light. And he does it so subtly that you might very well miss it. Even though I just compared the two great auteurs of cinema, De Oliveira does not rely on overtly stylized gestures or lifeless performances to convey his vision. His approach is much more balanced.
This was my 37th de Oliveira film. It makes me want to rewatch those of his oeuvre that I saw years ago. Especially Abraham's Valley, which, in hindsight, is probably my favorite of his. But also Francisca, Doomed Love, The Satin Slipper, The Cannibals, The Divine Comedy, The Letter, A Talking Picture, and Magic Mirror, all of which are singular works of art.
I wish more directors made films like this. Shot films like this. Made films that make me feel like this.
AKA Anxiety, dir. Manoel de Oliveira
While this turned out not to be the last Manoel de Oliveira film I still hadn't seen, - it seems that I've still to watch at least three of them - it'll be hard for the remaining few to top this one in terms of quality, be it the lustrous, humbly aesthetic cinematography most exemplified in the last story, or narrative brilliance that it sports in its first third. The second story is a little bit of both, connecting the two stories with the character played by the illustrious Spanish actor Luís Miguel Cintra, de Oliveira's regular. Inquietude is an intriguing film because it betrays de Oliveira's two greatest strengths: verbose journeys into the world of literary adaptations and remarkable aesthetic sense.
Manoel de Oliveira is a special filmmaker. Not only a great auteur (one of Portugal's greatest, though there's no denying this rather small country has a cornucopia of incredible auteurs, from Paulo Rocha to Margarida Cordeiro, to João César Monteiro, to Pedro Costa, to Miguel Gomes, to Rita Azevedo Gomes) but also a centenarian who could direct a great movie at the age of 23 (Labor on the Douro River in 1931) as well as 106 (The Old Man of Belem in 2014). Which other director achieved that? Maybe Kaneto Shindo comes close save for two decades (the first film in 1951, the last in 2010).
There is a scene in this film where Leonor Baldaque, playing a country girl who discovers her fingertips are made of gold, sits on a bench and looks in the distance like a woman from a Baroque painting. The natural light of the sun illuminates her photogenic face, revealing its contours and expressions, its grace and mystery. She is joined by de Oliveira's grandson Ricardo Trêpa, playing her boyfriend, who gazes ahead, into the distance. They are both touched by the light that connects them, the light that is the source of beauty.
This scene brings to mind the greatest profundity to be found in the works of Straub- Huillet, the filmmakers who devoted their lives to capturing the essence of Communist materialism through near-spiritual means. Like Straub-Huillet, de Oliveira uses his camera as a tool of revelation, as a way of accessing the hidden dimensions of reality. But he doesn't make the mistake of the French duo of mixing humble aesthetics and prolix dialogues or proclamations. The first story of the film is the most talky but also the least visually attractive. The last has the least talking of them all but emanates visual beauty.
At this point, I'd love to rewatch the film just so that I could focus on the initial two-thirds of it. But the last story, and how it achieves eternal beauty full of humility and grace is everything I can think (and talk) about right now. The Portuguese maestro creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between the human and the divine, between the material and the immaterial. He seeks to restore a lost art of portraying both body and soul, an art that respects the beauty of film (not digital), beauty (not prettiness), and Light (not darkness), an art that challenges and inspires senses.
De Oliveira’s visuals are more naturalistic and less artificial than those of Eugène Green, another filmmaker who manages to achieve a similar grace in his mise en scène. Green talks about the Light. De Oliveira shows the Light. And he does it so subtly that you might very well miss it. Even though I just compared the two great auteurs of cinema, De Oliveira does not rely on overtly stylized gestures or lifeless performances to convey his vision. His approach is much more balanced.
This was my 37th de Oliveira film. It makes me want to rewatch those of his oeuvre that I saw years ago. Especially Abraham's Valley, which, in hindsight, is probably my favorite of his. But also Francisca, Doomed Love, The Satin Slipper, The Cannibals, The Divine Comedy, The Letter, A Talking Picture, and Magic Mirror, all of which are singular works of art.
I wish more directors made films like this. Shot films like this. Made films that make me feel like this.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
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Rachel, Rachel (1968)
I only gave it a 7.5/10, but I really love this movie. I really liked her. Narration. She was so delicate, and in a tough situation. Great first scene.
'The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds' (Newman directs that one, too) is a good one, too, but I don't remember much, even though I gave it the same score.
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Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17009109
Ladies in Lavender - (2004)
Where do I start with this? Charles Dance's only film as director or screenwriter - and I'm not quite sure what to make of lone films made by famous actors. Passion projects? Failed attempts to turn filmmaker? Or is it just a change of pace, without the intention of going on with the career change? Anyway, Ladies in Lavender is interesting. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith play Ursula and Janet Widdington, two elderly spinsters who rescue a young man, Andrea Marowski (Daniel Brühl), when he washes up on the shoreline near their cottage. Nursing him back to health, they fall in love with him in their own ways. A mix of maternal and romantic passion, emotions that have been dormant for decades. Their stories aren't trotted out via exposition but instead come in dreams and the odd comment - stories of loss and missed opportunity. Meanwhile, Marowski is discovered to be a virtuoso violin player, and while the Widdington's jealousy guard their captive joy, a young woman, Olga Danilof, recognizes his talent and wants to help him, while the town doctor, Mead (David Warner), who has his own 'way too old' eyes for Olga, suspects him of being a spy. A film that builds to a really emotional denouement - it's a really sad kind of film, at least to me.
6/10
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18569193
The History Boys - (2006)
Okay - there was a bit of a barrier between me and this film because of the way it treated the subject of a teacher groping his high school students, and also a budding teacher-student relationship. Is there any situation that makes either of those things okay? This film is based on an Alan Bennett play which won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award - so I guess it's all context and meaning. Anyway, this is about a bunch of quite brilliant boys studying for the final exam which will hopefully place them in the university they want to go to - whether that's Oxford or Cambridge, which are damn hard to get into, or some other place I've never heard of. Douglas (Richard Griffiths) is their familiar old loveable teacher who has opened up a world of reading, music and language (while always inviting any student who is willing to accept a ride home with him) and then the newcomer, Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore) who encourages the boys to be different, and is all the way about how they express their knowledge instead of the knowledge itself. While the kids are cheeky, there's a friendly and intelligent kind of edge to their rebelling which makes them all really likeable.
6/10
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Air Force One (1997)
The dialog is cheesy in parts but not terrible. The action and story is solid. You get the notion its going to be a dumb cliche movie but every scene surprises you and when you get to the end you're really into it. There's a lot of gunfire on the plane and you'd think that would be enough to end the flight but thats the only innacuracy I can see. Great movie.
9/10
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Stagecoach - 1939 -- 5/5 amazing to see this influential western for the 1st time, the scene with the Apaches attacking was thrilling!!
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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
There's a lot of good things to say about this movie. Ultra HD. Explosions galore. Monster trucks.
That first hour was continous action in ultra HD. I could only say that I wish that I went to see this in the theater. But unfortunately about halfway through the movie when it slowed down it seemed sort of lacking and I was thinking damn why didnt they cut this out? That seems harsh but then it got near the end 30 minutes and the the action picked up once again it didnt hold up to that first hour. So thats why I say 7/10 because its like half an awesome movie.
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Well, you're probably the first person I've ever seen say that Fury Road was too slow/too long at all; I actually felt it should've been longer, and taken some time to actually firmly establish the relationships between Joe and Furiosa/the "wives" instead of what it did (which was next to nothing in that regard), though I do like the movie a lot besides that mistake.
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There was plenty of space when the screen went blue, or they could have flashed back to the home base area that they returned to. It seems in reflection that the second half of the movie should have developed those parts of the story.
Last edited by StuSmallz; 07-05-23 at 06:01 AM.
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‘Olivier, Olivier’ (1992)
Directed by Agnieszka Holland
Directed by Agnieszka Holland
‘Olivier, Olivier’ focuses on a dysfunctional family in France. Dad is a vet, mum is a housewife, and the two children seem fairly happy if a little odd. One day, Olivier, the son disappears. This severely affects the parents, understandably, and the family fractures as a result.
What happens over the next hour of the film is part psychological thriller, part study of grief and a whole lot of mystery. I could not stop thinking about the fine Jonathan Glazer film ‘Birth’ during this one, which came 12 years later – I don’t think that’s a spoiler (especially given Olivier, Olivier’s movie poster / cover) but surely Glazer must have been hugely inspired by this film, as it covers so many themes that are essentially identical. The performances are really notable, especially from young Gregoire Colin (Olivier) – I agonized over where I’d seen him before, until I realised he was in Claire Denis’ masterwork ; ‘Beau Travail’.
The viewer is left picking up the pieces towards the end 30 minutes that features one extremely harrowing scene, and the film comes together quite well in terms of a resolution. Despite a few scenes early on that feel rushed, there are moments of real emotion, mystery and agony, which show how good a Director Holland is.
7.8/10
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Blue screen? If you mean the quick flashbacks we see, I guess they could've spent more time with those, but I don't think it was neccessary, since I appreciate the "unanswered questions" Miller left there about Max's haunted past (and the same goes for the suggestion about the home base, which I can't imagine would've added anything of worth); my suggestion about establishing the character dynamics more is the only major thing I would've changed about it. Edit: Oh, I guess by "blue screen", you mean when they're driving slower through the desert at night. Well, I still don't think they needed to expand that anymore.
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Huge fan of the director, but this one is underwhelming to say the least. And grainy photography which I always dislike. Interesting movie though to some extent & I did finish it.
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