Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Tools    





Victim of The Night

By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6498038

Batman Begins - (2005) - rewatch

I've always felt that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises were really good, but not great. They just happen to sandwich one of my favourite films - The Dark Knight. The first in the trilogy is the one I'm the least familiar with - and as such I felt it deserved a rewatch.
I actually like Begins the most, by a pretty significant margin actually, because TDK just totally falls apart in the third act for me and TDKR is just silly (but unintentionally so).




Defending Jacob (2020)

The miniseries was based upon a novel by William Landay rather than on a true story. A boy is found murdered, and gradually the suspicion arises that it was committed by the featured family’s son.

It’s a well done production in all facets but length. Absent another story line or two, 8 episodes were a tad too generous. An hour or so less would likely have tucked in the pacing and improved the tension.

The chief appeal in the project is its bouquet of fine acting from a strong cast: Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Cherry Jones, J.K. Simmons, and Jaeden Martell. In fact I had come across the series while looking for films which starred Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), and she was not disappointing here, using a perfect American accent in playing the suspect’s mother. She was light years away from Lady Mary Crawley.

But the major surprise to me was the superb acting and nuance from Chris Evans. Having only seen him as Captain America and in Knives Out, I’d never considered him as a heavyweight actor. Here he impresses as the suspect’s father, the only minor deficit was in some of the dialogue writing.

Cherry Jones was perfectly cast as the boy’s defense attorney. I never could fully buy her as President Allison Taylor in the 24 series. But she was made for this part, and sends it home memorably. The ubiquitous J.K. Simmons plays the boy’s grandfather who is in prison for life due to murder. He’s convincing here, although IMO he's best when there’s a little humor in his part.

Lastly, the boy is played very nicely by Jaeden Martell. He did a competent job, although the character did not require much range-- mostly detachment. Still, the story could not have flourished without him.

First rate photography and direction. A good watch, but a smidge too drawn out.

Doc’s rating: 7/10



The ending's great.
The ending is really great, but there are lots of great plot advancements and twists along the way. There's actually a part that occurs about 40 or so minutes in that I thought was the most surprising and shocking.





Bird of Paradise, 1932

A ship is caught in a storm and finds itself swept toward the Virgin Islands, where they interact with the indigenous people while repairing their ship. One of the sailors, Johnny (Joel McCrea) becomes smitten with a local princess, Luana (Dolores Del Rio). But it is considered taboo for her to be with anyone who isn't island royalty.

This is a pre-code adventure romp with all the high and low points of such a film.

On the plus side, McCrea and Del Rio are pretty charming and for the most part their playful romance is fun to watch. There's plenty of old-timey stock footage of sharks and underwater shots. And the very classic forbidden romance story is compelling enough.

The downsides to the film largely have to do with some of the painfully dated aspects of the story. Luana often behaves more like a child than an adult and it can be a bit cringey. There are also some moments that, from a modern perspective, make it hard to root for Johnny. At one point he chases Luana down a beach (that part is fine and she is laughing). But then he tackles her and pins her down, and she struggles to get away, looking fearful. But don't worry---he forces a kiss on her and she likes it! *barf*. There's also a horrible part where Johnny hunts and kills a sea turtle. Just . . . no. Bad look, Johnny. The portrayal of the indigenous tribe is, unsurprisingly, not the most enlightened. I had to laugh at the irony of Johnny telling Luana that she should come live in America, where people don't have any "silly superstitions."

Storywise, I wish that the film had been clearer in terms of the idea of Luana angering the gods. Luana believes in her god, Pele, and Johnny doesn't. (I mean, he does condescendingly tell her that there's "only one real god"). But many events in the film do seem to support the idea that the curse is real. The film seems to want to have its cake and eat it too: mock the tribe for their beliefs AND have some action sequences that suggest the curse is real.

An entertaining, if dated, film.




Runners (1983)

Interesting Poliakoff story about a father (James Fox, with a pretty good "northern" accent I must say), who after 2 years cannot accept the disappearance of his older daughter...he is still trying all channels. He eventually goes to London on a supposed wild goose chase. Well directed in an eighties manner and the hustle and bustle of London compared to his pretty sedate life is well portrayed. I was impressed by this.




Defending Jacob (2020)

The miniseries was based upon a novel by William Landay rather than on a true story. A boy is found murdered, and gradually the suspicion arises that it was committed by the featured family’s son.

It’s a well done production in all facets but length. Absent another story line or two, 8 episodes were a tad too generous. An hour or so less would likely have tucked in the pacing and improved the tension.

The chief appeal in the project is its bouquet of fine acting from a strong cast: Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Cherry Jones, J.K. Simmons, and Jaeden Martell. In fact I had come across the series while looking for films which starred Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), and she was not disappointing here, using a perfect American accent in playing the suspect’s mother. She was light years away from Lady Mary Crawley.

But the major surprise to me was the superb acting and nuance from Chris Evans. Having only seen him as Captain America and in Knives Out, I’d never considered him as a heavyweight actor. Here he impresses as the suspect’s father, the only minor deficit was in some of the dialogue writing.

Cherry Jones was perfectly cast as the boy’s defense attorney. I never could fully buy her as President Allison Taylor in the 24 series. But she was made for this part, and sends it home memorably. The ubiquitous J.K. Simmons plays the boy’s grandfather who is in prison for life due to murder. He’s convincing here, although IMO he's best when there’s a little humor in his part.

Lastly, the boy is played very nicely by Jaeden Martell. He did a competent job, although the character did not require much range-- mostly detachment. Still, the story could not have flourished without him.

First rate photography and direction. A good watch, but a smidge too drawn out.

Doc’s rating: 7/10
This is a series not a movie , just saying...





Stranger on Horseback, 1955

Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) arrives in a small town in Colorado that is essentially owned by a wealthy cattle family called the Bannermans. Thorne has arrived to bring Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) to trial for a killing that took place. But with the key witnesses (including the dead man's wife (Jaclynne Greene)) intimidated into silence and the town under the family's thumb, can Thorne bring the man to justice? Complicating matters is the romantic tension between Thorne and Amy Lee (Miroslava), Tom's cousin.

This was a short, sweet, and to-the-point Western. What I liked most about it was the way that it subverted a few predictable directions that it could have gone.

As the unflappable Judge Thorne, McCrea does a solid job. He manages to convey both a man who is studied and a proponent of the law, but at the same time a man who is comfortable riding into danger and using deadly force if needed. McCarthy also carries a surprising amount of the weight of the story, because he does a great job of embodying the sociopathic rich kid who doesn't fear consequences because daddy's got everyone--even the sheriff--in his pocket. Tom is so smarmy that you really, really want to see him get what's coming to him.

When it comes to the romance with Amy Lee, the film is a bit less successful. At first, I was really intrigued by her character. We are introduced to Amy Lee as she aims a revolver at Tom and shoots a cigar out of his hand and then shoots a jug nearby, something their patriarch compares to "two bear cubs playing around." But the movie ultimately seems to struggle about what to do with her. (Sidenote: Amy Lee being a crack shot BEGS to be important at the end. It isn't. Boo.). The story wants her to be a conspirator, but at the same time, it wants her to be naive as to the actions of her cousin and family. It just doesn't work. Everyone in town knows that Tom dragged a Mexican man to death behind a horse just for spilling a pot of coffee. But somehow that's news to Amy Lee, despite the fact that she is present (and participating!) at every big family conversation. But if Amy Lee is seen as too complicit, it makes her relationship with Thorne much more complicated, and the film clearly isn't interested in much more than the two of them making eyes at each other. (Okay, she does make one important decision in the last act, but it feels off-kilter because of what came before).

I enjoyed this Western---adapted from a Louis L'amour novel--and especially enjoyed the last 25 minutes.




Dementia, 1955 (A-)

An opaque film about a woman with what seems to be a guilty mind taking a stroll around town. On the way, she meets mysterious men that she either knows or doesn't, that is revealed gradually. What the relationship is and who they are is a bit more obscure. Are they abusive? Are they 50s gentlemen? Who can tell.

It's a silent film, so it has constant music. If you find that grating, you might not enjoy it too much. Though it is under one hour, so you at least have that. It's generally very good and the main character. There is a music show scene near the end that, in a movie this long, still feels like padding with how long it goes on before resuming to the main intrigue.

I recommend it.



GRIZZLY MAN
(2005, Herzog)



"Thank you so much for letting me do this. Thank you so much for these animals, for giving me a life... I had no life... Now I have a life."

Brave, tough, committed, hero, sentimental, naïve, crazy, angry, unhinged, a dear friend... those are some of the words that some have used to describe Timothy Treadwell. A self-proclaimed environmentalist and bear enthusiast, he dedicated 13 summers of his adult life to live in isolation in the Alaskan wilderness among brown bears, while advocating for their protection. That is until he was killed by one in 2003.

Grizzly Man follows the life of Treadwell, primarily during those years. An aspiring documentary filmmaker himself, he recorded hours of footage of himself interacting with the bears, which filmmaker Werner Herzog used to assemble this film. In addition, Herzog interviews Treadwell's friends and family, as well as experts, as he chronicles the events that might've lead to his death.

In Grizzly Man, he dedicates most of the first half of the film to follow Treadwell's idealized and sentimental vision of these bears and nature overall. But as the film enters its second half, he starts digging up a bit more into Treadwell's psyche, showing a bit more of his volatility and anger. Herzog also doesn't shy away from challenging Treadwell's beliefs of "harmony in nature", instead of "chaos, hostility and murder".

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
__________________
Check out my podcast: The Movie Loot!



Apaches (1977) -


WARNING: spoilers below
I have a weird interest in public information films and advertisements. As long as you're not endangering other people, I don't care if people do drugs, get drunk, etc. and I recognize it as your own personal choice. However, I enjoy the horrific, disturbing, gory, surreal, and darkly humorous ways these forms of art can deliver their messages. So far though, I've yet to see a PIF better than this one.

A lot of PIFs can be preachy with their messages, but this film avoids that and delivers its messages in subtle ways. For example, instead of a preachy line of dialogue that condemns the parents for failing to properly take care of their kids, this point is conveyed indirectly. The parents are shown mostly in the background of their kids playing, paying no attention to them and going about their work as normal. The implication is that the parents aren't watching their kids closely enough and are partly responsible for their deaths. Even the closing credits which list various kids who were killed in farm accidents avoids being preachy as, since it's juxtaposed with the parents nonchalantly eating dinner and seemingly paying no attention to how several kids have died on the farm in such a short time span, it implies that nothing has been fixed and these accidents will continue to happen if the parents don't change their ways.

I think that director John Mackenzie finds the right balance between depicting the disturbing elements of the death scenes without wallowing in excessive violence. For example, a young girl is run over by a tractor in the opening, but instead of showing her body being run over, we see a cut away right as she falls under the wheel, a shot of the tractor wheels moving up and down as they drive over her, and a small trickle of blood left over after her death. While some blood is shown in at least one more death scene later on, the violence in it isn't excessive either and feels more disturbing than violent. Mackenzie also utilizes quick cuts and frenetic cinematography for the build up to some of the death scenes to increase the intensity of them, making them all the more effective. The most disturbing death in this film though was Sharon's, by far. After she accidentally ingests a toxic substance on the farm (weed killer, I think), she returns home and begins screaming in pain and calling for her parents in the middle of the night as the substance burns her from the inside. It's a truly horrifying scene and, even though it's shown offscreen, her blood-curdling and horrifying screams say all that is needed.

The film also feels dreamlike for a handful of reasons. For instance, in between the vignettes of the kids dying lies a couple scenes which occur after their deaths at different points in time. A few of those scenes, like their nametags or books being removed from their school or their clothes being removed from their dressers, convey part of the aftermath of their deaths. Another recurring scene shows a group of parents getting ready to eat dinner. They set the table, shine their shoes, and lay out clothes to wear for it. The lack of context to what they're doing causes one to speculate on what the purpose of the dinner will be and what it means for the surviving kids. Danny's narration also contributes to the film's dreamlike feel. He assumes the character of a Native American chief and gives insight both to what the kids are doing when they play and the "party" the parents are preparing for. Since Danny dies prior to the dinner, his narration takes on a ghostly feel, one which is heightened upon rewatching the film. These touches of surrealism add a lot to the film.

The best extension of the surrealism though concerns the behavior of the kids. In spite of how their reckless behavior causes them to die one by one throughout the film, they continue to play with each other as if nothing has happened. Though this may seem really confusing at first glance, the title of the film provides the reason for their behavior. The Apache are a group of Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States that have been around for several hundred years. Historically, if some of them were killed in a raid or a fight, they wouldn't give up - they would fight in more raids. This extends to the behavior of the kids. They pretended to fight each other and other people throughout the film and, even if one of them was killed, they'd continue play-fighting as Apaches another day.

Overall, Apaches is a great short film. Even if public information films aren't in your normal wheelhouse, you should still check it out as it contains a lot to enjoy.






Night of the Demon (Curse of the Demon) - You can't go wrong with Jacques Tourneur. He directed 31 movies (plus four in his native France) and I've watched 7 of them (They All Come Out, Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Leopard Man, Out of the Past, Curse of the Demon and The Comedy of Terrors), all of them decent and some of them classics. Curse of the Demon would qualify as both.

Dana Andrews plays American psychologist John Holden and he's on his way to the UK to attend a conference but also to investigate a satanic cult run by Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). Professor Henry Harrington (Maurice Denham), a colleague of Holden, has died under mysterious circumstances which the local authorities have ruled an accident. At the funeral Holden meets the man's niece Joanna (Peggy Cummins) who later gives him her uncle's diary which outlines Harrington's growing fear of Karswell. He believed himself to have been cursed which the skeptical Holden immediately dismisses as superstitious nonsense. But a series of unexplainable events work to subvert Holden's resolve on debunking Karswell's cult.

Tourneur was a master at building and maintaining tension, ratcheting up the urgency and conveying menace and inherent danger solely through the use of sound effects and lighting. His offhand use of shadows in a scene spoke volumes and this movie is no exception. There is a major plot point that I won't give away, but it was a huge bone of contention between producer Hal E. Chester and Tourneur and screenwriter Charles Bennett. It would have certainly turned this into a much more abstract treatise on the power of belief versus discipline. But that would have made for an entirely different film. I personally think there was room for compromise. As it stands though this is a throughly enjoyable supernatural thriller that's fit to stand with some of the heavyweight horror classics.




Duck Soup, 1933

In the fictional European country of Freedonia, the newly appointed leader Rufus Firefly (Groucho Marx) is supported financially by the wealthy Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). Meanwhile, the leader of another country conspires to begin a war with Freedonia, hiring Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx) to steal valuable war plans.
...
A fun little flick, certainly worth seeing.
I agree. What I always thought interesting was that Herman J. Mankiewicz was the production supervisor on this great film, and he had also produced W.C. Field's Million Dollar Legs (1932)-- both set in fictional countries, and both hilarious. The two films happen to be my personal favorites from both artists respectively.