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I forgot the opening line.


BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (2017)

Directed by : S. Craig Zahler

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a lot of dumb fun, which is why it's a shame that it decides that, like it or not, it's going to be offensive at various moments throughout. It did go on to prove though, that I don't necessarily have to like any characters for me to enjoy a wacky film like this. Vince Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas who, due to the economic times, decides that smuggling meth into the United States is the only way he and wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) can afford nice things. Cue a ridiculous metaphor involving jars of cream, milk and milk substitute. Bradley beats up his wife's car instead of his wife when she cheats on him so that's perfectly okay (?) but I don't like Bradley, at all - too bad then, because he's our "morally complex" hero in this film. He goes to prison for meth-related reasons, but he does so in a heroic manner, saving the cops from a couple of the real villains and monsters in Cell Block 99's universe - Mexicans. Mexicans won't be the only ones our meth dealer hero has to contend with - he also has the face the likes of evil abortionists and an unfair justice system. So okay, I now know which audience will fully embrace Brawl in Cell Block 99 as an instant classic. Funny thing is, apart from constantly making me frown it also made me smile, because this is a very entertaining, fun, gory and violent movie.

Once Bradley Thomas gets to the titular "Cell Block 99" all restraints are let loose and this becomes one of the craziest prison films I've ever seen. This cell block is the worst cell block, which happens to be in the worst prison you could ever imagine anywhere. We've seen him graduate from a comparatively nice one, on and on, because of a plot contrivance introduced to the film via none other than Udo Kier - and I love Udo Kier, so the film was scoring points with me despite my feelings against it. Thomas has to make his way through prison guards, prisoners, and - worst of the worst - Mexicans - until he faces up against Warden Tuggs (Don Johnson), and treatment that would make members of the SS and Gestapo blush. This institution - Redleaf - has a literal torture chamber in it! The cells actually look like they belong in the Middle Ages, and wouldn't be out of place if this film was set in a castle's dungeons during a break in the Crusades. Everything ratchets up, and that includes the violence - which up until now has been bone-breakingly severe and rough as it is. During the climax of Brawl in Cell Block 99 the gore reaches "over the top" levels, and it stands to reason - everything else has also. I found myself having fun during the film's closing stretch, so I can see why it's popular.

Vince Vaughn plays Bradley Thomas in a very straight manner - aloof, serious, protective, principled, adept at just about anything - but especially mechanics, fighting and smuggling drugs. He cracks the odd sly joke, but his demeanor never deviates from a determined kind of seriousness. He's straightforward. He loves his wife, and he loves his country. He shows his emotion by breaking things. Where many people might cry, his method is destruction. He doesn't flinch when he's pistol-whipped in the face. Look - this film is dumb in many departments. It seems to think that the worst thing about meth is "meth mouth", and that a 7-year sentence for smuggling the destructive narcotic is unfair (our flawed hero is promised 5.) But Redleaf - from it's theatrical warden to it's torture devices (belts that deliver electric shocks) and cells with toilets overflowing with faeces - unleashes so much madness that all of the subtle misogyny, racism, lack of moral compass and extremism melts into a goo so remarkable that you can't help but point at it and go "look at that! It's horrible but also somehow beautiful." The villains are so evil that you want them to be mangled by the guy who is a little less evil than they are. The prison is so ridiculous you no longer take anything about this film seriously. Thank goodness, because some of this film is seriously messed up. I disliked a lot of things about this movie, but I'd definitely watch it again - despite the fact that it'd often annoy and bother me, I can look past that when something is this entertaining.

Glad to catch this one - it was named as one of the year's best films by publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The A.V. Club.





Watchlist Count : 430 (-20)

Next : The American Friend (1977)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Brawl in Cell Block 99
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Latest Review : The Big Clock (1948)



I forgot the opening line.


THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977)

Directed by : Wim Wenders

It didn't much matter that I'd already seen Liliana Cavani's 2002 adaptation of the same source novel, Ripley's Game, because this really seemed like a different take on the same story. That mainly happens because of what occurs when a maverick like Dennis Hopper takes a role like that of Tom Ripley and runs wild with it. Hopper's Ripley is something of a free spirit and a searcher. When he's hurt by a harsh comment Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) doles out, it's not because of excessive pride or a certain self-image that's being maintained, it's simply because Hopper's Ripley is sensitive and surprisingly introspective. I like it this way, because for me it makes more sense that this Ripley would suddenly pivot and become a guardian angel as opposed to an avenging one. I've read that Patricia Highsmith loathed this new interpretation of Ripley at first, but eventually came to accept it - and why not? It forms the basis of a great adaptation - a better one than the 2002 version. In a strange way, Jonathan Zimmermann seems more of a mystery in this film than Ripley does - a man wrestling with the idea of his own mortality.

Zimmermann's mortality comes to bear early in the film when his doctor lets the cat out of the bag, and through a slighted Ripley is targeted by gangster Raoul Minot (Gérard Blain) in an effort to get him to kill a rival for a large sum of money - something that would help his family when he's gone. Zimmermann becomes an unlikely assassin, but in the meantime Ripley has been becoming his unlikely friend and it's the intersection of plans and relationships that lead to the crux of the film. In the meantime Zimmermann's wife Marianne (Lisa Kreuzer) is left on the outer, frustrated by the wall of silence her husband maintains once she realises something big is going down. The film features two assassination scenes that you really want to watch fully focused and uninterrupted - the epitome of drawn out tension with an increasing sense of fear and desperation that's like a kettle coming to the boil. Wim Wenders proves that he's masterful when it comes to suspense here, and I have to say that the movie is worth watching just for those two wild segments that had me on the absolute edge of my seat. There's nothing as frightening as watching a protagonist you care about having to commit murder for the first time in his life, with his anxiety a factor you think will surely bring him undone.

Yep - I loved The American Friend. Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper have a really surprising chemistry that gifts the film the beating heart it needs - you believe in a friendship that has to develop in a limited number of scenes. I can't tell you the number of times I haven't believed in a friendship that suddenly develops out of nowhere in a movie - but here I can't question it. Two great performances. If I praise the film for having a real feel for the 70s, don't worry - I realise the movie was actually made in the 1970s, but there was simply something about the pre-digital, gadget-free age that took me back to my very early life. I had a fascination with trains as a youngster - and perhaps that's where I'm making the personal connection, because a lot of The American Friend revolves around train journeys and platforms. This reminded me of a Hitchcock film, but with a much more muted palate and a grounding in everyday ordinariness that's offset by Ripley's fantastical world. A really mature film for a 32-year-old to be making, and one that I admire one hell of a lot. Simply a marvellous creation that I'm glad I got to finally see after it being recommended for so long.

Glad to catch this one - Criterion #793 and in Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. This was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film by the U.S. National Board of Review.





Watchlist Count : 430 (-20)

Next : The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch The American Friend



I forgot the opening line.


THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)

Directed by : William Wyler

How strange it must have been to have life overshadowed and dictated by war for a number of years, and then suddenly be left with a sense of "what now?" when it ended. Those fighting came home only to discover (by their loved ones' reaction) that they had changed. The Best Years of Our Lives explores this with three main characters in it's arsenal. Technical Sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March) comes home to a plush bank job, wife Milly (Myrna Loy) and loving family - and an expectation that veterans will be afforded an exulted status. He also leans on booze to aid in his readjustment, making the transition harder for everyone. Captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) comes home to a wife (played by Virginia Mayo) he barely knows - and who has been having a good time while he's been away. He soon discovers his whirlwind marriage wasn't a match made in heaven. Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) has lost his hands - replaced by mechanical hooks - and worries about how his family and his love (literally the girl next door - played by Cathy O'Donnell) will treat him. He becomes extra-sensitive about any discomfort people feel, and the ugliness he sees in himself convinces him that he couldn't possibly be loved with such disfigurement. Once the joy of being reunited with loved ones starts to fade, the struggle to reintegrate themselves back into civilian life begins to bite, and the friendship this trio struck up on the way home must somehow see them through.

I've known about this film for a long time, and I'd always been curious to know why it was called "The Best Years of Our Lives". The optimism this title invokes always made me think it might be comparable to David Lean's 1944 film This Happy Breed, which I saw a number of years ago. That film involves those returning from the First World War, but if I remember correctly, there wasn't as much of a struggle to readjust - The Best Years of Our Lives takes trauma and the effects separation have had on family and friends a lot more seriously, and is introspective where in This Happy Breed you sense a need for continuity, a stiff upper lip and British stoicism. I have a sense that the difference is dictated by the fact that Lean's film was made during the war and Wyler's film after - making it free to take into account that war is traumatic, difficult, uncertain and leaves it's mark. Once over, there was a surge of documentaries examining the psychological effects war had left in it's wake, and it was a Time magazine article, "The Way Home", that inspired Wyler to make this film. I sensed an uncomfortable air of aimlessness as soon as the film started - where do you go after a World War? How do you just go back to everyday life after travelling the globe with a band of brothers, risking life and limb?

I saw the film as more optimistic than a lot of other commentators have. The returning veterans always have the support of someone, even if sometimes it takes time to find the right balance and the right people - and the contrast between this and what those returning from Vietnam faced is stark. Economic uncertainty can be faced (anything can be) when it's faced together, with family, friends and loved ones. There's light at the end of the tunnel, despite the anxiety I often felt when Al started drinking, Homer pushed people away or when Fred had to deal with a recalcitrant wife, unhappy with having a husband unable to afford a lavish lifestyle. It affirmed my belief in people as intrinsically good for the most part, while at the same time providing enough pain and struggle to keep me engaged and apprehensive. The Best Years of Our Lives also takes the time to examine it's subject in an intelligent, intimate, and meaningful way - not afraid to be frank when it needs to, and up-front about what capitalism lacks when it comes to not really rewarding the worthy, or even looking after them. Those occasional digs at the system was what sealed the deal for me, and made The Best Years of Our Lives a very gratifying watch.

Glad to catch this one - won Best Picture at the Oscars in 1947, along with Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Score, along with an honorary award for Harold Russell because the Academy didn't think the double-amputee could possibly win a competitive Oscar (he did though!) Nominated for Best Sound Recording. In Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.





Watchlist Count : 430 (-20)

Next : Memoir of a Murderer (2017)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch The Best Years of Our Lives



Definitely one of the best films of the 40's. Its emotional resonance is really highlighted by the year it was released (had it been made today, it wouldn't hit nearly as hard). I do think it makes one slight misstep near the ending, but everything else about it is perfect. Especially since its optimism is balanced out by a shade of bittersweet given the subtle political undercurrent thrown into the mix.



It's a very solid film, and I like the way it tackles a whole range of problems facing veterans. (Including that scene in the diner where the guy says they were "fighting for the wrong side" or whatever).



I forgot the opening line.
It's a very solid film, and I like the way it tackles a whole range of problems facing veterans. (Including that scene in the diner where the guy says they were "fighting for the wrong side" or whatever).
That "fighting for the wrong side" guy felt familiar - I'm guessing he would be reading fringe websites if he were transposed into the current age.



I forgot the opening line.


MEMOIR OF A MURDERER (2017)

Directed by : Won Shin-yeon

Memoir of a Murderer might have a title that comes pretty close to Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder, but the film itself hits a lot closer in tone and substance to Christopher Nolan's Memento - only very South Korean, with it's rural, atmospheric misty vibe and bumbling cops who are plentiful but good for nothing. Kim Byeong-soo (Sol Kyung-gu) is a retired veterinarian who is suffering from the onset of dementia, and as such he's decided to write down his life story before all of it has departed his mind. It's also a confession of sorts, because Byeong-soo was once a serial killer - he used to kill people he deemed as deserving of having their lives snuffed out. He stopped 17 years ago, after he suffered head injuries in a car accident, and now lives with his young daughter Kim Eun-hee (Kim Seol-hyun) who helps care for him. Life is relatively straightforward until one day he prangs his car and interrupts a current-day serial killer (played by Kim Nam-gil) who is trying to get rid of a body. So begins a game of cat and mouse as both killers try to outwit each other in a desperate contest which soon involves the safety of Eun-hee. Can Byeong-soo possibly hope to win a game he sometimes even forgets that he's playing?

Talk about unreliable narrators! Well, the term usually more or less refers to some kind of surreptitious trick being played on us, the audience, but here our protagonist simply isn't always on top of the situation at hand. One of the biggest rewards this has is how it stacks the odds against Kim Byeong-soo. With gruff but kindly old Sol Kyung-gu playing the part it's easy to forget that the character almost literally has skeletons in his closet, and what puts us even more on his side is the way Kim Nam-gil plays his character - with a confident smile, and an obvious enjoyment in being bad. Memoir of a Murderer builds a nice, unsettling atmosphere with it's cinematography and score, and isn't interested at all in being torture porn or gory - it's much more thriller than horror, and the shocks aren't related so much to killings as they are to unfortunate mistakes Kim Byeong-soo makes (his last ever as a veterinarian was giving someone's cat an accidental overdose.) But, if he's as hazy as he is, then are we being told the whole story or is Kim Byeong-soo telling it wrong? At one stage he nearly kills his own daughter because he doesn't recognize her. Can we trust anything that's coming from the mind of someone losing touch with reality?

I didn't see the director's cut of Memoirs of a Murderer (not the first time that has happened to me during my watchlist travails) so there were a few twists that I never ended up being subjected to - twists that pretty much spin the film in a completely different direction. I guess this is that kind of film - with dementia the mystery aspect isn't always solved until the narrator is put to one side and the film comes clean with us. In any event, I recommend this movie for those who are looking for lots of tension and excitement, because it really delivers on that front. Kim Byeong-soo is such a vulnerable protagonist - when he tells his daughter that this man is a killer, it's "my dad having one of his turns again", so there's an impotency there that adds to various weaknesses, such as having the threat of being exposed as a killer, and the fact that at times he has no idea that a week has passed, and what in the meantime has happened during that week. The silent bamboo groves and misty plains speak of the dead, and as such they drip with malevolent ambience. It's a really good thriller/murder mystery, and although it's not as good as Memories of Murder or Memento, it's worth having a look at if you like this kind of thing. The South Koreans really know how to make a movie.

Glad to catch this one - Sol Kyung-gu and Kim Seol-hyun were nominated for acting awards at the inaugural Seoul Awards, with Sol Kyung-gu winning a few other film festival awards in his home country .





Watchlist Count : 429 (-21)

Next : The Animatrix (2003)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Memoir of a Murderer



That "fighting for the wrong side" guy felt familiar - I'm guessing he would be reading fringe websites if he were transposed into the current age.
I think it's also a really important moment from a modern perspective. I think that America in particular has this communal memory that "Oh, yeah, we totally beat down those Nazis!", without realizing that there were people who didn't want to get involved not just because of usual war stuff, but also because maybe they didn't 100% disagree with what was happening.

It's something very interesting about movies made about a topic very close to the time period. You might see nuances that decades can erase from communal memory.



I forgot the opening line.


THE ANIMATRIX (2003)

Directed by : Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Mahiro Maeda, Shinichiro Watanabe, Takeshi Koike, Peter Chung, Koji Morimoto and Andrew R. Jones

I remember the early 90s as the end of high school and an era when I'd catch stuff like Aeon Flux on a cartoon channel geared for young adults - a show that circled the rim of insanity and played more like a dream than science fiction. It was part of the animated avant-garde, the influence of which I see throughout the short animated films that make up The Animatrix, along with one of them being directed by Aeon Flux's creator himself, Peter Chung. It's no coincidence then that he directs the strangest segment - Matriculated, where the machines from The Matrix universe are lured to a base where humans put them into a matrix of our devising, and teach them to basically love humans. A robot's mind can be as curiously bizarre as a human's it seems - or more so, from our perspective. All of the short films are stand-alone stories from the Matrix universe, with a couple of them having a direct relation to events or characters from the films themselves. None of them really connect with each other except for The Second Renaissance Part I and Part II, which tell the story of how machines rose up and enslaved mankind after mankind turned against machines.

The Matrix and it's sequels (I've seen the trilogy, but not the belated sequel The Matrix Resurrections) are films I have a funny relationship with. I watch them and understand them - but despite the fact that I've seen the first one maybe four times, I always have a hard time remembering specifics about how they work. The artificial reality construct that serves as a basis is easy enough to grasp, but once you add Oracles, Architects and various plot twists the structure keeps fading and I keep having to refer back. Fortunately, the short films here focus on the basics, and were easily accessible - which is something I liked. Only Final Flight of the Osiris really demanded any specific knowledge of a plot point from one of the films - and even then, it was straightforward - a character races to deliver an extremely important and urgent message. Program features combat in the kind of training module that exists for those in the resistance. World Record is about a sprinter who exerts himself to such an extent that he actually wakes up in the real world. Kid's Story features a minor character from the films, and shows us how he willed himself out of the Matrix. Beyond shows us how what some people consider a haunted house is actually a glitch in the Matrix, and A Detective Story gives the Matrix universe a film noir spin.

Overall I only had one major complaint, and that's the fact that after each short end credits run - which really messes with the tempo and rhythm of the collection as a whole. So many times I had to go into a mental holding zone as 3 or 4 minutes of credits played out - and I didn't enjoy that. It would have been easy enough for a long end credits sequence after all the sequences had finished. Another factor which is common to all anthology films is that my enjoyment wavered a lot, with some chapters I really found thrilling and some that weren't my kind of jazz. My favourites were The Second Renaissance Parts I & II, World Record, Beyond and Matriculated - that makes for five out of the nine getting my highest approval, which isn't a bad ratio for an anthology I guess. I loved all of the psychedelic imagery, and the crazy style Takeshi Koike imprints on his World Record segment which turns the ordinary into the strange and the strange into the incredible - drawing with extremely exaggerated angles and shapes. All in all good for me, and great for the fans - of which I'm really not one. The original film was great, but the concept morphed into something monstrously convoluted eventually. These animated shorts though - they're mostly really enjoyable, and don't go down any overly brain-taxing rabbit holes.

Glad to catch this one - in Helen McCarthy's 500 Essential Anime Movies. Winner of "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Entertainment Production" at the 2004 Annie Awards.





Watchlist Count : 428 (-22)

Next : The MacKintosh Man (1973)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch The Animatrix



I forgot the opening line.


THE MACKINTOSH MAN (1973)

Directed by : John Huston

I remember going through a phase reading spy thrillers, but it never became a long-term thing, because eventually they became a little repetitive to me. I guess everything does until you manage to find something that really speaks to you. The Mackintosh Man didn't speak to me, but whenever it clicked into high gear it worked well enough. Our agent - an American working for the British - is Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman), who is ordered by MI5 honcho Mackintosh (Harry Andrews) to rob someone and get thrown into the same jail as KGB mole Ronald Slade (Ian Bannen) both of whom end up escaping together. Things go awry of course, and Rearden has to depend on his own wits once burned, with only Mackintosh's deputy, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda) to aid him. Complicating matters is British MP Sir George Wheeler (James Mason), who becomes personally involved in the matter. The action takes place in London, Galway in Ireland and Malta. It's rather more toned down than a James Bond film, although there is a little bit of action and suspense which works to varying degrees of success.

We get a fun car chase in The Mackintosh Man, it's originality stemming from the fact that it's along muddy Irish trails, which produce great big skids and offer nonchalant cows walking into the path of the oncoming cars as hazards. Watch out for those cliff faces! There are chases on foot (and be aware dog lovers, Rearden is forced to drown one that has been sicced on him), fights, escapes and Mexican standoffs - nothing that will make a highlight reel regarding the history of cinema, but all staged well enough and entertaining. For nearly the entire first half, Paul Newman has to pretend to be an Australian, which provided me with no end of amusement. I don't know if he'd fool Londoners and his prison inmates (along with those who help him later on), but it wouldn't fool a fellow Aussie. Newman does really, really well in a relative way, but the accent slips every now and then, which sounds really weird to my ears. So hard for an American to try and pull that off for nearly half a movie! An impossible mission. Tickled me to death - watching Paul Newman doing that. I give him seven out of ten as far as the accent goes. His performance is measured, and he's even upstaged a little when James Mason becomes a prominent figure in the film.

One of Mackintosh Man's biggest flaws is that Rearden's mission doesn't seem all that important, and as such there are no stakes aside from the risks he's taking personally in dealing with the criminal underworld and KGB agents. What will happen if he fails? Nothing much, or at the very least we don't know. Reardon's mission is a mystery to the viewer at first, and only becomes clear once he's well into it. Do we get a chance to really fall in love with the character? He's kind of serious, stoic and straightforward - hard to read. Also, the villains in this movie are so nice! They help Rearden escape and treat him like he's a king, getting him anything he asks for and treating him to first class meals and service as well as being polite and ingratiating. Conflict does eventually erupt, but for a while there's an unusual ease to Reardon's odyssey. All that said though, there's enough suspense, action and adventure here to go a ways to make up for some of the film's negatives, even if it's not quite enough to lift this into classic territory. As a whole you'd need to be a big Paul Newman fan, or extremely devoted to spy thrillers, to love The Mackintosh Man. I thought it was okay - nothing more.

Glad to catch this one - based on the novel "The Freedom Trap" by Desmond Bagley which itself was loosely based on the real-life identification, defection, and escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in 1966 of Russian spy George Blake , who was working in British intelligence as a double Agent.





Watchlist Count : 427 (-23)

Next : America America (1963)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch The Mackintosh Man



I forgot the opening line.


AMERICA AMERICA (1963)

Directed by : Elia Kazan

There's a certain duality about the America young Stavros Topouzoglou (Stathis Giallelis) dreams about in Elia Kazan's America America. "It's no different from here!" is something he often hears once he's made his way to Constantinople, and that holds true when looked upon from the viewpoint of how the wealthy have all the privileges. But there's one important difference which makes America a dream place for many Greeks and Armenians living under their brutal Turkish overlords as part of the Ottoman Empire - there are no massacres, and a young man can make something of himself there. During this film's opening stages we're witness to a Hamidian massacre - this concerns our young Greek protagonist's friend, Vartan Damadian (Frank Wolff) - who is Armenian, and killed before he can even start his journey to the promised land of equality and opportunity. Stavros is sent to Constantinople to help his father's cousin's rug business and then send for the rest of the family - but he has other ideas. America. His desire to emigrate there is such an obsession that those he works with while trying to earn the money call him "America". His journey from Kayseri to New York is such an epic one that it takes 174 minutes to detail each heartbreaking setback and reversal of fortune.

Elia Kazan lets us know directly, at the start of the film, that this is the story of his uncle, Avraam Elia Kazantzoglou - and the movie itself has a docudrama feel to it. You can tell that this isn't a typical Hollywood production - it was filmed in Istanbul, Athens, rural Greece and New York City. Little-known actors appear in it, including 21-year-old Greek actor Stathis Giallelis. Visually, it reminded me a lot of the Turkish films I've seen from this era much more than an American film. There's an authenticity to it that feels very unusual and different from what you'd be expecting when you find out this is an American film directed by Kazan. Instead of an American tale it's an immigrant's tale objectively speaking - but as an American Elia Kazan is saying that this is his tale - his American identity is inextricably linked with the incredible journey his ancestor undertook. Stavros Topouzoglou's family gives him everything they own - every bit of money, and every scrap of jewellery, carpets, clothes and goods of value. On his way to Constantinople he's robbed by a miscreant who he has to kill in order to not be slaughtered for the few coins he's swallowed in an attempt to keep them. He then finds out that working honestly and alone, it would take him decades of back-breaking employment to afford the fare on an ocean liner. It will also take ingenuity to get to his destination - not only perseverance, bravery, effort and luck.

Talk to an immigrant from Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Bosnia etc., and you'll most likely hear a horror story concerning this person's family and/or friends - and if you're an Australian, Canadian or American then their story is our story. Their story is what makes our respective countries great - because these people were compelled to want to be part of a nation greater than those they come from. This especially holds true for the American understanding of all people being born equal - and I simply can't understand why some Americans are turning their back on the principles that makes their country great. America is supposed to be a beacon for the rest of the world to follow because all religions are accepted, and nobody is persecuted because of their race - only because they've broken the law. America America helps to clarify the issue even more when it offers Stavros great wealth and a place in society through marriage that still can't compare to the promise of true freedom and the opportunity for him to write his own story, live his own life, and become part of a great nation's chronicle. Hardly any of this movie is set in the United States, but at the same time it's one of the greatest exponents of the U.S. because of what this journey represents.

Glad to catch this one - nominated for Best Picture at the 1964 Academy Awards along with Best Director, Best Writing (Elia Kazan), and Best Art Direction (which it won). Also nominated for 8 Golden Globe Awards.





Watchlist Count : 427 (-23)

Next : Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch America America



Mr Blandings is a classic.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Victim of The Night


THE MACKINTOSH MAN (1973)

Directed by : John Huston

I remember going through a phase reading spy thrillers, but it never became a long-term thing, because eventually they became a little repetitive to me. I guess everything does until you manage to find something that really speaks to you. The Mackintosh Man didn't speak to me, but whenever it clicked into high gear it worked well enough. Our agent - an American working for the British - is Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman), who is ordered by MI5 honcho Mackintosh (Harry Andrews) to rob someone and get thrown into the same jail as KGB mole Ronald Slade (Ian Bannen) both of whom end up escaping together. Things go awry of course, and Rearden has to depend on his own wits once burned, with only Mackintosh's deputy, Mrs. Smith (Dominique Sanda) to aid him. Complicating matters is British MP Sir George Wheeler (James Mason), who becomes personally involved in the matter. The action takes place in London, Galway in Ireland and Malta. It's rather more toned down than a James Bond film, although there is a little bit of action and suspense which works to varying degrees of success.

We get a fun car chase in The Mackintosh Man, it's originality stemming from the fact that it's along muddy Irish trails, which produce great big skids and offer nonchalant cows walking into the path of the oncoming cars as hazards. Watch out for those cliff faces! There are chases on foot (and be aware dog lovers, Rearden is forced to drown one that has been sicced on him), fights, escapes and Mexican standoffs - nothing that will make a highlight reel regarding the history of cinema, but all staged well enough and entertaining. For nearly the entire first half, Paul Newman has to pretend to be an Australian, which provided me with no end of amusement. I don't know if he'd fool Londoners and his prison inmates (along with those who help him later on), but it wouldn't fool a fellow Aussie. Newman does really, really well in a relative way, but the accent slips every now and then, which sounds really weird to my ears. So hard for an American to try and pull that off for nearly half a movie! An impossible mission. Tickled me to death - watching Paul Newman doing that. I give him seven out of ten as far as the accent goes. His performance is measured, and he's even upstaged a little when James Mason becomes a prominent figure in the film.

One of Mackintosh Man's biggest flaws is that Rearden's mission doesn't seem all that important, and as such there are no stakes aside from the risks he's taking personally in dealing with the criminal underworld and KGB agents. What will happen if he fails? Nothing much, or at the very least we don't know. Reardon's mission is a mystery to the viewer at first, and only becomes clear once he's well into it. Do we get a chance to really fall in love with the character? He's kind of serious, stoic and straightforward - hard to read. Also, the villains in this movie are so nice! They help Rearden escape and treat him like he's a king, getting him anything he asks for and treating him to first class meals and service as well as being polite and ingratiating. Conflict does eventually erupt, but for a while there's an unusual ease to Reardon's odyssey. All that said though, there's enough suspense, action and adventure here to go a ways to make up for some of the film's negatives, even if it's not quite enough to lift this into classic territory. As a whole you'd need to be a big Paul Newman fan, or extremely devoted to spy thrillers, to love The Mackintosh Man. I thought it was okay - nothing more.

Glad to catch this one - based on the novel "The Freedom Trap" by Desmond Bagley which itself was loosely based on the real-life identification, defection, and escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in 1966 of Russian spy George Blake , who was working in British intelligence as a double Agent.





Watchlist Count : 427 (-23)

Next : America America (1963)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch The Mackintosh Man
I wanted to like this one a lot - because of Newman - but alas, it is actually just kinda boring.



I forgot the opening line.


MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948)

Directed by : H. C. Potter

This was a nice and easy change of pace to what I've usually been watching lately - a Cary Grant comedy, of which I seem to have watched quite a few by now. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is about the titular character Jim Blandings (Grant) and wife Muriel (Myrna Loy) becoming embroiled in a costly endeavor once they find out that the property they fell in love with and purchased is unsafe and needs to be demolished. They find that building the dream replacement ends up fraught with problems as they sink more and more money into a project they simply can't back out of once they've invested so much. Grant's deadpan reactions to each foul-up, unexpected occurrence and difficulty is what makes the process as funny as it is - and the movie is quite dependent on the sheer charisma, charm and comedic ability the superstar wielded at this time. A formidable actor who had his schtick honed to an absolute sharp point. As something of a romantic rival, but also friend and lawyer, Melvyn Douglas turns up as Bill Cole, who spends as much time with the family as Jim seems to do - much to Jim's considered and playful consternation. The movie never seriously considers this a love triangle, but at the same time plays with the concept for the sake of amusement.

Jim is an Ad man (every time I see him at his office, I can't help but picture in my mind the series Mad Men), and there's a running gag throughout the whole film with regards to WHAM, which basically looks to be a variety of Spam which was introduced to grocery shelves in 1937. Jim can't quite think up a good enough slogan - the constant pressure of the process he's going through distracts him. That's a lot of what this film is about, which in turn was the basis of the novel (same title) by Eric Hodgins that this was based on. The story Hodgins wove together was actually based on his own experiences - a house in the country that was meant to cost $11,000 ended up costing him $56,000 when all was said and done, and the process had him in such a dire financial position that he had to immediately sell it. In an amazing reversal of fortune, the book he wrote ended up becoming a hit, and aside from the money he earned from that, the movie rights ended up netting him $200,000. He tried to buy his dream house back because of his new circumstances, but the owners wouldn't sell. I don't usually waste so much time in my reviews detailing the origins of a story - but I found this one to be quite interesting, and I can't help but repeat it.

I think absolutely everyone can relate to really wanting something with all your heart, but finding out that the price it will cost is way more expensive than it should be. Do you pay more than you should because it's worth it to you? Jim and Muriel really think so, which is why they rarely falter when hit with so many setbacks and expensive problems. They also get carried away with their dream, as we all tend to do, and in a very funny scene with an architect start adding rooms and features to the plans until it becomes a veritable Frankenstein's monster of a drawing (with the second story being bigger than the ground floor!) You can't put a price on your dream, but what the film doesn't tell us is that the real-life Blandings, Eric Hodgins, lost it because of cost overruns. No sense adding that to this light and breezy film though. The movie has a lot of fun with all the various problems you run into when building a new home, but none of this would have worked as well if it weren't for the amazing Cary Grant. Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas provide able back-up, but they're completely outshone in the end by the charisma machine Grant is, and how pleasing this man is to watch with his impeccable comedic timing and all. A very solid entry for the talented Mr. Leach.

Glad to catch this one - the Writers Guild of America ended up nominating screenwriters Norman Panama and Melvin Frank for a Best Written American Comedy Award, and this film would later by remade with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as The Money Pit.





Watchlist Count : 428 (-22)

Next : O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House



I forgot the opening line.


O-BI, O-BA : THE END OF CIVILISATION (1985)

Directed by : Piotr Szulkin

Oh my lord, these post-apocalyptic films are real studies of despair and hopelessness. If you're at all sensitive to that kind of suffering, they can really put you in a depressed mood. O-bi, O-ba : The End of Civilisation is Poland's version of World War III's aftermath, where a couple of thousand survivors have been herded into a vault called "The Dome", safe from radiation, but existing on dwindling food supplies, medical supplies and anything resembling what was once normality. The people in The Dome who aren't in positions of authority have been promised the eventual arrival of "The Ark", which will take them to a better place - but of course The Ark is a myth created by The Dome's overseers to give the general population some kind of hope. Among those keeping order is "Soft" (Jerzy Stuhr), a portly romantic who barters and trades so he can enjoy such treasures as an onion or the loving embrace of his lover Gea (Krystyna Janda) who is otherwise engaged in The Dome's bar/brothel. When Soft discovers that The Dome's days are numbered, and that the structure's integrity is becoming more unstable by the day, he desperately attempts to initiate all manner of schemes in order to either repair The Dome or escape it, while those he begs help from try and assure him that the Ark will come and save them - the very myth that he invented.

This one if unforgiving, even though it refrains from delivering anything gruesome or hard to watch - it's the grind of joyless living which gets to you. The lighting itself is brutal in it's unforgiving glare, which doesn't seem to do anything to brighten the pitch-black surroundings. Cinematographer Witold Sobociński shuffles through muck-caked corridors like The Dome is one large and cramped submersible, and there's a dark blue/green filter which removes any natural, vibrant colour from the surroundings. The one bright spot in the whole dystopian nightmare is the brothel, and that's the only place we'll see much colour in. It seem to be the last bastion of recognizable humanity, the bar/brothel, and it stands to reason - this is a society where The Bible has been pulped, but dirty magazines held onto as worth preserving for our future. Oh, and about those books being pulped - it seems that this is what the lowly in The Dome are being fed with. The living dead wander around aimlessly in rags, crazed and obsessed with the arrival of The Ark - even as loudspeakers try to disavow the myth. Soft's journey takes him to all corners of The Dome, so we can see what has become of humanity's last enclave.

So, this was the mid-80s. We had Threads (Britain) in 1984, The Day After (United States) in 1983, Dead Man's Letters (Soviet Union) in 1986, Testament (United States) in 1983, this film (Poland) in 1985 and an endless assortment of other movies which dealt with the aftermath of Nuclear War. The 1960s had probably been the most dangerous decade as far as getting close to war goes, but it seems that our collective anxiety took a while to catch up, and by the 1980s we were visualizing all over the world what it would look like. Are we meant to take all of O-Bi, O-Ba seriously? How much of the madness that we see is satire, and how much is simply madness? The whole subject of our extinction is hard to digest without recourse to an acknowledgement of how crazy all of this really is. Just look at how Stanley Kubrick got his point across in Dr. Strangelove. You won't be laughing when you watch O-Bi, O-Ba however - it's just too grim and dark. I'm hopelessly curious when it comes to seeing what these visions look like, but invariably I walk away pained that such a dead end for humanity is even possible.

Glad to catch this one - Andrzej Kowalczyk won the Best Production Design Award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, where the filmed premiered.





Watchlist Count : 427 (-23)

Next : The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch O-Bi, O-Ba : The End of Civilisation



Victim of The Night


MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948)

Directed by : H. C. Potter




Thank you very much to whomever inspired me to watch Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
I also enjoyed this "light, breezy film".