Friday, December 25, 2009
Combat!: Gulliver (1966) (TV)
Littlejohn is given a day's leave, but is caught by a German air raid and wounded. A gang of French kids ties him up and takes him to a house, where they keep him hostage and plan to sell him to whoever is willing to pay.
This interesting episode belongs to a recurring streak in cinema and TV history featuring sinister children, where they reflect the adult evil that surrounds them, amplifying it.
This interesting episode belongs to a recurring streak in cinema and TV history featuring sinister children, where they reflect the adult evil that surrounds them, amplifying it.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Cassandra's Dream (2007)
*spoilers follow*
Two brothers with different personalities receive the visit of a rich uncle, on whom they place their hopes of financial redemption. But the uncle has problems of his own.
The narrative exemplifies the trap: the first line is not so hard to cross, but once you've crossed it, you must cross a second, harder, one. If you think of the two brothers as the embodiment of two opposing tendencies within one individual, what the film exposes is how ethical concessions really break the human unity, thus destroying man. On another angle, it is a money power play, in which the rich gets richer and the poor get dead. They never had a chance, really. All performances are completely satisfactory, regardless of what you may have heard or read.
Rating: 62
Two brothers with different personalities receive the visit of a rich uncle, on whom they place their hopes of financial redemption. But the uncle has problems of his own.
The narrative exemplifies the trap: the first line is not so hard to cross, but once you've crossed it, you must cross a second, harder, one. If you think of the two brothers as the embodiment of two opposing tendencies within one individual, what the film exposes is how ethical concessions really break the human unity, thus destroying man. On another angle, it is a money power play, in which the rich gets richer and the poor get dead. They never had a chance, really. All performances are completely satisfactory, regardless of what you may have heard or read.
Rating: 62
Monday, December 21, 2009
Combat!: The Outsider (1966) (TV)
This is about Culley, a replacement. He was a small farmer in West Virginia. He doesn't like to be a soldier and refuses to engage in social intercourse with the other members of his new platoon. In combat, he follows orders very strictly and does not go out of his way to help a fellow soldier. He is saving money to buy a tractor. His colleagues develop a strong aversion to him.
One of the sadder episodes, with a heavy tragicity about it.
One of the sadder episodes, with a heavy tragicity about it.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Combat!: Conflict (1966) (TV)
The squad is tired and the men are nervous; a bitter conflict arises between Caje and Littlejohn. They are all sent on a mission to make a prisoner.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Los abrazos rotos (2009)
*possible spoilers follow*
English title: Broken Embraces.
A filmmaker recalls the incidents of his life relating to his love affair with one of his actresses, the wife of a millionaire.
In this, a Barbara Stanwyck lookalike plays an Audrey Hepburn lookalike in a film produced by her Anthony Quinn lookalike husband. Los abrazos rotos's primary contribution to universal wisdom is that you shouldn't ignore someone who looks dead: he might be faking it just to see if you will ignore him. At a particular point in the film, I yearned for a truly awful car accident to happen, and my wish was promptly answered. Am I the psychic or is the filmmaker? I couldn't find other reasons for this film's existence.
Rating: 20
English title: Broken Embraces.
A filmmaker recalls the incidents of his life relating to his love affair with one of his actresses, the wife of a millionaire.
In this, a Barbara Stanwyck lookalike plays an Audrey Hepburn lookalike in a film produced by her Anthony Quinn lookalike husband. Los abrazos rotos's primary contribution to universal wisdom is that you shouldn't ignore someone who looks dead: he might be faking it just to see if you will ignore him. At a particular point in the film, I yearned for a truly awful car accident to happen, and my wish was promptly answered. Am I the psychic or is the filmmaker? I couldn't find other reasons for this film's existence.
Rating: 20
Wo shi shei (1998)
English title: Who Am I?
A CIA operative loses his memory after an operation involving a powerful mineral with explosive capabilities and is then hunted down.
The plot skeleton bears a resemblance with The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and with the Jason Bourne novels. Here, the emphasis is on action and spectacle. Creatively choreographed fight sequences are the highlights. Chan has successfully marketed violence to kids all through his career.
Rating: 39
A CIA operative loses his memory after an operation involving a powerful mineral with explosive capabilities and is then hunted down.
The plot skeleton bears a resemblance with The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and with the Jason Bourne novels. Here, the emphasis is on action and spectacle. Creatively choreographed fight sequences are the highlights. Chan has successfully marketed violence to kids all through his career.
Rating: 39
Combat!: Decision (1966) (TV)
The IMDB Plot Summary: "Saunders is uneasy about Charles Harris, a doctor turned demolitions expert."
Combat!: Headcount (1966) (TV)
The IMDB Plot Summary: "Ordered to escort an important group of German prisoners to the rear, Saunders faces heavy odds; the POWs outnumber the GIs 18 to 5."
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Combat!: The Letter (1966) (TV)
Saunders receives a letter from his younger brother saying he has enlisted. A new replacement looks like this brother, and this resemblance leads Saunders to assume a protective attitude towards him.
Mon colonel (2006)
English title: The Colonel.
English translation of the French title: My Colonel.
A young man volunteers to serve in Algeria, a French colony. His superior initiates him in the techniques of torture.
Mostly mediocre, directed in a mechanical style which reminded me of Truffaut. The subject is interesting.
Rating: 45
English translation of the French title: My Colonel.
A young man volunteers to serve in Algeria, a French colony. His superior initiates him in the techniques of torture.
Mostly mediocre, directed in a mechanical style which reminded me of Truffaut. The subject is interesting.
Rating: 45
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Combat!: A Child's Game (1966) (TV)
The IMDB Plot Summary: "Saunders' men are ordered to take a farmhouse that is defended by a determined group of teenage German soldiers."
Saturday, November 28, 2009
La graine et le mulet (2007)
English titles: The Secret of the Grain; Couscous.
English translation of the French title: The Grain and the Mullet.
An elderly worker of Arab ethnicity living in France is laid off from his job and decides to start a restaurant on an abandoned ship.
A collection of clichés, for the most part, albeit reasonable ones. That gives the film a deja vu quality, no doubt, but does not make it unwatchable. It is not well filmed, relying heavily on close-ups to no particular advantage (among other noticeable stylistic flaws).
Rating: 42
English translation of the French title: The Grain and the Mullet.
An elderly worker of Arab ethnicity living in France is laid off from his job and decides to start a restaurant on an abandoned ship.
A collection of clichés, for the most part, albeit reasonable ones. That gives the film a deja vu quality, no doubt, but does not make it unwatchable. It is not well filmed, relying heavily on close-ups to no particular advantage (among other noticeable stylistic flaws).
Rating: 42
Combat!: The Chapel at Able-Five (1966) (TV)
Saunders goes blind due to a grenade explosion, and is approached by a German chaplain who passes off as an ally one.
Interesting, albeit not very plausible at times.
Interesting, albeit not very plausible at times.
Tune In Tomorrow... (1990)
Based on the novel "La tía Julia y el escribidor", by Mario Vargas Llosa (1st ed. 1977).
A young aspiring writer has an affair with an older woman; he works in a radio station and befriends the author of its radio melodramas.
The comicity of the Carmichael subplot relieves the dullness of the romantic plot, but in the process renders either subplot superficial. That being said, no film, especially when it is this elegantly written and put together, may be readily dismissed. What one calls entertainment is actually something of some consequence.
Rating: 55
A young aspiring writer has an affair with an older woman; he works in a radio station and befriends the author of its radio melodramas.
The comicity of the Carmichael subplot relieves the dullness of the romantic plot, but in the process renders either subplot superficial. That being said, no film, especially when it is this elegantly written and put together, may be readily dismissed. What one calls entertainment is actually something of some consequence.
Rating: 55
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Edmond (2005)
Based on a 1982 play by David Mamet.
A man's life spirals down to catastrophe after he goes to a fortune teller. He leaves his wife and wanders in the underworld of New York City during one night, becoming increasingly disconnected with his former moral and philosophical frames of reference.
The clearly teleological structure reduces the film to the category of a joke which operates under the directing line of the sentence "one's fears are actually one's desires". The film has parallels of varying closeness in works such as Camus's L'étranger, Falling Down (1993), episode 1 of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), After Hours (1985), and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Macy's acting style reminds me (here and elsewhere) of Lemmon's, although Macy strikes me as the better actor of the two.
Rating: 55
A man's life spirals down to catastrophe after he goes to a fortune teller. He leaves his wife and wanders in the underworld of New York City during one night, becoming increasingly disconnected with his former moral and philosophical frames of reference.
The clearly teleological structure reduces the film to the category of a joke which operates under the directing line of the sentence "one's fears are actually one's desires". The film has parallels of varying closeness in works such as Camus's L'étranger, Falling Down (1993), episode 1 of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), After Hours (1985), and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Macy's acting style reminds me (here and elsewhere) of Lemmon's, although Macy strikes me as the better actor of the two.
Rating: 55
Combat!: The Brothers (1966) (TV)
*SPOILERS*
Two brothers: one is the leader of the maquis, the other is a coward. The brave one insists on taking the coward one along on a recon mission led by Lt. Hanley. They are captured; the French brothers are tortured. The brave one doesn't talk. The coward one resists torture but gives in when he is put before a firing squad. His brother won't allow his treason, he stabs him before he can reveal the details of their mission. Meanwhile Hanley and friends have dug a hole in the wall and escaped.
Classic, like practically any episode of this show.
Two brothers: one is the leader of the maquis, the other is a coward. The brave one insists on taking the coward one along on a recon mission led by Lt. Hanley. They are captured; the French brothers are tortured. The brave one doesn't talk. The coward one resists torture but gives in when he is put before a firing squad. His brother won't allow his treason, he stabs him before he can reveal the details of their mission. Meanwhile Hanley and friends have dug a hole in the wall and escaped.
Classic, like practically any episode of this show.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Bug (2006)
Lonely woman meets a strange man and lodges him at her motel room.
Paranoia meets hysteria: l'amour fou, American style. The film operates in a crescendo which culminates in a sort of epiphany, the ecstasy of madness. I am not sure this is very mature. It's fun though. And the acting is magnificent.
Rating: 65
Paranoia meets hysteria: l'amour fou, American style. The film operates in a crescendo which culminates in a sort of epiphany, the ecstasy of madness. I am not sure this is very mature. It's fun though. And the acting is magnificent.
Rating: 65
Lan feng zheng (1993)
English title: The Blue Kite.
A woman raises a son through the upheavals in Chinese society.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The Rectification of 1953, the Great Leap Forward of 1958, the Cultural Revolution of 1968. Her first husband went to the bathroom at the wrong moment; the report which sent him to a labor camp was written by the second husband. Widowed again, remarried again, her third one was lynched by the Red Guard for being a counter-revolutionary. She tried to stop them, they sent her to a camp. The child was left orphaned. Side stories: the army entertainer who didn't want to fuck her superiors (she went to prison); the brother who suffered from progressive blindness (avoid stress, the doctor said); the mother who eventually complains the revolution has been going on for 20 years, is there anything left to change? Her daughter chides her for being outspoken, she replies that she has one foot in the grave anyway.
The style is dry. Well written, well directed, well acted. But it does feel cursory.
Rating: 60
A woman raises a son through the upheavals in Chinese society.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
The Rectification of 1953, the Great Leap Forward of 1958, the Cultural Revolution of 1968. Her first husband went to the bathroom at the wrong moment; the report which sent him to a labor camp was written by the second husband. Widowed again, remarried again, her third one was lynched by the Red Guard for being a counter-revolutionary. She tried to stop them, they sent her to a camp. The child was left orphaned. Side stories: the army entertainer who didn't want to fuck her superiors (she went to prison); the brother who suffered from progressive blindness (avoid stress, the doctor said); the mother who eventually complains the revolution has been going on for 20 years, is there anything left to change? Her daughter chides her for being outspoken, she replies that she has one foot in the grave anyway.
The style is dry. Well written, well directed, well acted. But it does feel cursory.
Rating: 60
Combat!: Ollie Joe (1966) (TV)
Saunders and squad pick up two replacements, one of whom is a strange character.
Wow, creepy character.
Wow, creepy character.
An Englishman in New York (2009)
Back in England in the 30s, he was quite an event because of his outrageous attitude toward clothes and sex. His memoirs were inspirational to some individuals on the other side of the Atlantic. In the 80s, a writer and a wit, he is hired to do some one-man shows in New York. He is an instant hit, mixing humor and self-help philosophy. He establishes residence there, but falls in disgrace because of some silly remarks about AIDS. His life has ups and downs; he befriends a painter, and helps to give his work exposure. He writes film criticism. He ages. After a period of relative ostracism, he is invited to do a show with a young avant-garde theaterwoman. He should slow down, his friends say.
Arch-reactionary Quentin Crisp's later life. TV movie, apparently. Nothing much happens; a bit of sexual sociology here, some tepid drama there. The acting is uniformly good.
Rating: 45
Arch-reactionary Quentin Crisp's later life. TV movie, apparently. Nothing much happens; a bit of sexual sociology here, some tepid drama there. The acting is uniformly good.
Rating: 45
No habrá más penas ni olvido (1983)
English title: Funny Dirty Little War.
Based on a novel by Osvaldo Soriano (1st ed. 1978).
In a small city in Argentina, during the seventies, the mayor stands up for one of his employees who is being accused of being a communist. The conflict degenerates into a veritable war, with the mayor and his few allies bunkering inside City Hall.
Dark political satire, concerning which it would be excused to talk of surrealism, since it has firm roots in reality.
The first half is funnier, and could probably be described as the better part of the movie; the second half is darker, degenerating into very brutal violence.
The conflict has no real political meaning: both parties at war call themselves peronists.
The film is remarkably well directed; there isn't one actor who isn't pitch perfect.
Rating: 65
Based on a novel by Osvaldo Soriano (1st ed. 1978).
In a small city in Argentina, during the seventies, the mayor stands up for one of his employees who is being accused of being a communist. The conflict degenerates into a veritable war, with the mayor and his few allies bunkering inside City Hall.
Dark political satire, concerning which it would be excused to talk of surrealism, since it has firm roots in reality.
The first half is funnier, and could probably be described as the better part of the movie; the second half is darker, degenerating into very brutal violence.
The conflict has no real political meaning: both parties at war call themselves peronists.
The film is remarkably well directed; there isn't one actor who isn't pitch perfect.
Rating: 65
Combat!: The Losers (1966) (TV)
Saunders and Littlejohn are supposed to meet some replacements who would help them on a mission. No one shows up, and Saunders decides to use some soldiers who were destined for court-martial. They are: a sergeant who lost his stripes for indiscipline; his buddy who worships him; a thief and black-marketeer; a coward.
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
Sherlock Holmes suffers from cocaine addiction; Watson takes him to see Sigmund Freud in Vienna. They will join efforts in a kidnap investigation.
The detective plot is by-the-numbers, the tone is generally humorless; the sight of an addicted Holmes is not exactly a pleasant one. I am not sure this was a good idea. But it is pacy and there is a train chase.
Rating: 45
The detective plot is by-the-numbers, the tone is generally humorless; the sight of an addicted Holmes is not exactly a pleasant one. I am not sure this was a good idea. But it is pacy and there is a train chase.
Rating: 45
Monday, November 09, 2009
Combat!: Ask Me No Questions (1966) (TV)
Saunders and squad are held prisoners in a German compound. They share the facilities with Sgt. Mastin, who isn't really Sgt. Mastin but a German soldier who is after information.
Entertaining episode.
Entertaining episode.
Combat!: The Gun (1966) (TV)
After the squad wipes out a German post, they seize their cannon. Saunders wants to use it to aid Hanley and his men in the destruction of a German bunker. For that purpose, however, the heavy cannon must be transported over a great distance, without any vehicle to carry it.
A Sisyphean episode. Good as drama, good as action.
A Sisyphean episode. Good as drama, good as action.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Die Fälscher (2007)
English title: The Counterfeiters.
In World War II's Germany, the Nazis use the services of an imprisoned counterfeiter in carrying out their plan of flooding ally countries with counterfeit money, thereby destroying their economies.
Some interesting ethical issues are exposed here, such as, how should we guide our actions in times when there aren't really many options and our survival is at stake. Nothing really new here, but it is watchable (despite the zooming-handheld camera which has taken over all small-to-medium productions and isn't probably going away). The leading actor gives an excellent performance.
Rating: 52
In World War II's Germany, the Nazis use the services of an imprisoned counterfeiter in carrying out their plan of flooding ally countries with counterfeit money, thereby destroying their economies.
Some interesting ethical issues are exposed here, such as, how should we guide our actions in times when there aren't really many options and our survival is at stake. Nothing really new here, but it is watchable (despite the zooming-handheld camera which has taken over all small-to-medium productions and isn't probably going away). The leading actor gives an excellent performance.
Rating: 52
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Combat!: The Farmer (1965) (TV)
The squad is staying at a farm whose owners had to be evacuated. One of the replacements is fond of farming and cares so much about the farm that it jeopardizes the mission.
Apparently silly, but really about a serious issue, namely, that some rural people were not as motivationally connected with the war effort as urban ones were. Values differ, ways of life too. In a way, one could almost say that they were dragged into other people's war.
Apparently silly, but really about a serious issue, namely, that some rural people were not as motivationally connected with the war effort as urban ones were. Values differ, ways of life too. In a way, one could almost say that they were dragged into other people's war.
