Synopsis: Betty begins dating a classmate. Bud's advisor, a slightly older guy, questions her choice and her social behavior in general, which he finds to be conformist. There may be deeper motives for his opposition, as he too appears to be interested in Betty.
Appraisal: I have no memory of other episodes I may have seen in the past, but this one is priceless. Part of its interest is probably due simply because it is a window to another time, but anyhow it is smart enough for a delightful viewing. Too bad the version I watched was dubbed in Portuguese.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Steal This Film - Part 1 (2006) (V)
Description: Documentary about file sharing.
Appraisal: Interesting as information and debate.
Appraisal: Interesting as information and debate.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Waiting... (2005)
Synopsis: A bunch of guys and girls working at a restaurant as waiters and waitresses.
Appraisal: Quite entertaining, and, although formulaic, gives a convincing picture of life in a restaurant.
Rating: 55
Appraisal: Quite entertaining, and, although formulaic, gives a convincing picture of life in a restaurant.
Rating: 55
Copenhagen (2002) (TV)
Synopsis: Werner Heisenberg paid a visit to Niels Bohr in 1941. The motives of that trip from Germany to occupied Denmark are discussed in a dramatic form.
Appraisal: I found this kind of interesting. The obligatory poeticizing of science comes about in the last act, alas.
Rating: 40
Appraisal: I found this kind of interesting. The obligatory poeticizing of science comes about in the last act, alas.
Rating: 40
The Alternate (2000)
Also Known As: Agent of Death.
Synopsis: The staff of a President stages his kidnapping in the hope that it will boost his popularity. One of the team members reveals himself as a real kidnapper.
Appraisal: Some action scenes are badly staged and/or edited. The script is not so bad. On the whole, it's on the watchable side, but just barely.
Rating: 30
Synopsis: The staff of a President stages his kidnapping in the hope that it will boost his popularity. One of the team members reveals himself as a real kidnapper.
Appraisal: Some action scenes are badly staged and/or edited. The script is not so bad. On the whole, it's on the watchable side, but just barely.
Rating: 30
Monday, January 21, 2008
Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
Synopsis: A man cheats on his wife. She finds out about it.(The film is a musical.)
Appraisal: I didn't like it much, but it's hard to explain why. The format -- soundtrack music "commenting" the action -- is not exactly my cup of tea. But I think what rubbed me the wrong way was its sentimentality which sounded faux at certain moments. Anyway, I kept finding interesting things in the movie, although often they would be followed by other things I didn't like much.
Rating: 52
Appraisal: I didn't like it much, but it's hard to explain why. The format -- soundtrack music "commenting" the action -- is not exactly my cup of tea. But I think what rubbed me the wrong way was its sentimentality which sounded faux at certain moments. Anyway, I kept finding interesting things in the movie, although often they would be followed by other things I didn't like much.
Rating: 52
Bringing Down the House (2003)
Synopsis: A lawyer meets a woman on the Internet who says she is also a lawyer. They set up a date, and he finds out that she is no lawyer, and wants his help to clear her name from a crime of which she was convicted.
Appraisal: The first twenty minutes are fairly good; the rest of the movie is almost invariably unfunny and at times makes little sense.
Rating: 30
Appraisal: The first twenty minutes are fairly good; the rest of the movie is almost invariably unfunny and at times makes little sense.
Rating: 30
Tout feu, tout flamme (1982)
English title: All Fired Up.
Synopsis (mild spoilers): After a long absence, a man returns to France where he has three daughters and his mother. The eldest daughter works for the U.N. and is very suspicious of her father. When she hears that he has conned his own mother into selling her possessions so that he can open a casino, she is very enraged and tries to stop him from going ahead with the deal.
Appraisal: Dramatic comedy without much interest which nonetheless lets itself be seen without great effort, thanks to the agility of both script and mise-en-scene.
Rating: 34
Synopsis (mild spoilers): After a long absence, a man returns to France where he has three daughters and his mother. The eldest daughter works for the U.N. and is very suspicious of her father. When she hears that he has conned his own mother into selling her possessions so that he can open a casino, she is very enraged and tries to stop him from going ahead with the deal.
Appraisal: Dramatic comedy without much interest which nonetheless lets itself be seen without great effort, thanks to the agility of both script and mise-en-scene.
Rating: 34
Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003) (TV)
Synopsis: His life from childhood until he becomes the dictator of Germany.
Appraisal: Vibrant telefilm, impeccable in all departments with the possible exception of less-than-ideal casting (which was to be expected given that it is an American production, and a TV one at that) and a somewhat vague depiction of his childhood and adolescence years (which was also to be expected due to length constraints and perhaps lack of reliable historic information). There is an interesting parallel with our times too, in which fighting terrorism is an excuse for the suppression of civil liberties.
Rating: 68
Appraisal: Vibrant telefilm, impeccable in all departments with the possible exception of less-than-ideal casting (which was to be expected given that it is an American production, and a TV one at that) and a somewhat vague depiction of his childhood and adolescence years (which was also to be expected due to length constraints and perhaps lack of reliable historic information). There is an interesting parallel with our times too, in which fighting terrorism is an excuse for the suppression of civil liberties.
Rating: 68
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Saddle Tramp (1950)
Synopsis (spoilers): Chuck, a cowboy and a drifter, is riding to California and decides to drop by on his friend along the way. He finds that his friend's wife has died leaving him four boys to look after. Chuck is staying overnight and while he is drowsing his friend goes out to check on a noise. He takes Chuck's horse to go after a coyote but the horse bucks after a shot and Chuck's friend falls and dies. Chuck reluctantly decides to take the children with him and look after them. He employs himself as a cowboy at a ranch but has to hide the children because the owner is not fond of children. A series of cattle thefts are occurring there and the rancher suspects of the neighboring rancher. Meanwhile a teenage girl who is running away from her sexually abusive uncle takes refuge in the children's camp. Chuck finds out that the thefts are being committed by both ranchers' foremen in alliance. After all is cleared up and the bad guys are dealt with, Chuck marries the girl (she's actually 19) and all of them live happily everafter.
Appraisal: Interesting little western, very humorous and light.
Rating: 51
Appraisal: Interesting little western, very humorous and light.
Rating: 51
Zui hao de shi guang (2005)
English title: Three Times.
Synopsis (spoilers): First story, 1966 -- A young man meets a woman in a snooker hall, then goes to military service on another town. He writes her letters. When he finishes his service period, he goes after her. Second story, 1911 -- Mr. Chang, a young man who works for the liberation of Taiwan from Japan, has a lover who works as a prostitute in a brothel. One of her friends gets pregnant and is considered for concubine of a man, but they couldn't reach a financial agreement. Mr. Chang helps her financially so that the deal can be made. Meanwhile, his own lover wants to free herself from the work in the brothel. Third story, 2005 -- A young woman cheats on her female lover with a young man. Her female lover gets more and more unhappy with the situation.
Appraisal: There are interesting elements in this film, both in individual scenes and in the general concept behind it. It seems to be trying to make some philosophical point about how the different times shape the individuals. The director doesn't seem to be especially competent, a suspicion which had already been aroused in the only other film I have seen directed by him (A City of Sadness). Notwithstanding that fact, he seems to be serious about the projects he chooses, based on these two films alone, and both films are interesting and watchable. Specifically in the case of "Three Times", he makes several serious mistakes which considerably compromise the quality of the film. In the first episode, there is a lot of wasted time in nonevents, and the use of pop music is atrocious. In the second episode, the choice of the use of intertitles is absurd and ridiculous. These are, despite these flaws, the two best episodes of the film. The third one is even more seriously flawed in its essence, and it's hard to know the whole point of the story, which goes nowhere and draws a rather stereotypical portrait of contemporary youth. It is also inexplicably shy in the depiction of physical contact.
Rating: 45
Synopsis (spoilers): First story, 1966 -- A young man meets a woman in a snooker hall, then goes to military service on another town. He writes her letters. When he finishes his service period, he goes after her. Second story, 1911 -- Mr. Chang, a young man who works for the liberation of Taiwan from Japan, has a lover who works as a prostitute in a brothel. One of her friends gets pregnant and is considered for concubine of a man, but they couldn't reach a financial agreement. Mr. Chang helps her financially so that the deal can be made. Meanwhile, his own lover wants to free herself from the work in the brothel. Third story, 2005 -- A young woman cheats on her female lover with a young man. Her female lover gets more and more unhappy with the situation.
Appraisal: There are interesting elements in this film, both in individual scenes and in the general concept behind it. It seems to be trying to make some philosophical point about how the different times shape the individuals. The director doesn't seem to be especially competent, a suspicion which had already been aroused in the only other film I have seen directed by him (A City of Sadness). Notwithstanding that fact, he seems to be serious about the projects he chooses, based on these two films alone, and both films are interesting and watchable. Specifically in the case of "Three Times", he makes several serious mistakes which considerably compromise the quality of the film. In the first episode, there is a lot of wasted time in nonevents, and the use of pop music is atrocious. In the second episode, the choice of the use of intertitles is absurd and ridiculous. These are, despite these flaws, the two best episodes of the film. The third one is even more seriously flawed in its essence, and it's hard to know the whole point of the story, which goes nowhere and draws a rather stereotypical portrait of contemporary youth. It is also inexplicably shy in the depiction of physical contact.
Rating: 45
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Panic (2000)
Synopsis: A middle-aged man works as a hitman for his father. He begins to see a shrink and falls in love with a young woman, even though he is married with one son.
Appraisal: This is a fine example of a perfectly executed piece of perfectly predictable yet perfectly enjoyable black comedy. The cast is superb, with no exceptions.
Rating: 64
Appraisal: This is a fine example of a perfectly executed piece of perfectly predictable yet perfectly enjoyable black comedy. The cast is superb, with no exceptions.
Rating: 64
Maboroshi no hikari (1995)
English title: Maborosi.
Synopsis (spoilers): A woman is happily married and one fine day her husband commits suicide for no apparent reason. She remarries in a different town but is still disturbed by her previous husband's final act.
Appraisal: The material here is obviously of superior quality, full of psychological nuances and insights. The direction is able at staging scenes as naturalistically as possible, although the after-sex scene is marred by their wearing underwear. What really mars the film is the excessive distance of the shots, and the unnecessary slowness at some points. All these remarks have already been made in the review (at this page) by IMDb user CountZero313, which is right on the money.
Rating: 59
Synopsis (spoilers): A woman is happily married and one fine day her husband commits suicide for no apparent reason. She remarries in a different town but is still disturbed by her previous husband's final act.
Appraisal: The material here is obviously of superior quality, full of psychological nuances and insights. The direction is able at staging scenes as naturalistically as possible, although the after-sex scene is marred by their wearing underwear. What really mars the film is the excessive distance of the shots, and the unnecessary slowness at some points. All these remarks have already been made in the review (at this page) by IMDb user CountZero313, which is right on the money.
Rating: 59
Dear Brigitte (1965)
Synopsis: A Poetry professor has a low esteem of Science; he suffers a severe blow when his son reveals himself as a genius of Mathematics.
Appraisal: It's hard to know whether this film is simply dated or whether it was antiquated even for the day when it was released. The subplot about the young boy's infatuation with the French starlet is particularly annoying. Anyway, aside from that and other unsuccessful attempts at being funny, the plot has some points to make about the interrelationship (and interdependence) of the artistically inclined and the more down-to-Earth people who value knowledge and the quantification of the Universe.
Rating: 33
Appraisal: It's hard to know whether this film is simply dated or whether it was antiquated even for the day when it was released. The subplot about the young boy's infatuation with the French starlet is particularly annoying. Anyway, aside from that and other unsuccessful attempts at being funny, the plot has some points to make about the interrelationship (and interdependence) of the artistically inclined and the more down-to-Earth people who value knowledge and the quantification of the Universe.
Rating: 33
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Gunsmoke: Matt Gets It (1955) [Season 1, Episode 1]
Synopsis (spoilers): A gunfighter from Amarillo comes to Dodge after having killed an unarmed man (he didn't know it, he claims). The sheriff of Amarillo comes to arrest him (he would rather kill him) but is killed by him. Matt Dillon, the sheriff of Dodge, tries to arrest him and is seriously wounded. He recovers and tries again to arrest him, only this time he has learned that the outlaw is not so good at a distance (he doesn't take his time to aim), and shoots him before he comes too close.
Appraisal: It's a fair entertainment; as far as I can remember, it's the only episode I have seen, although who can really tell what he has seen in his faraway days of childhood?
Appraisal: It's a fair entertainment; as far as I can remember, it's the only episode I have seen, although who can really tell what he has seen in his faraway days of childhood?
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Os Reis do Riso, Volume I [compilation VHS]
This Brazilian issue contains 5 butchered short silent films which were aired in the 60's on the TV show Comedy Capers. All of them had their names changed. The films are:
Smith's Vacation (1926) [retitled as "The Cruise"]
A Prodigal Bridegroom (1926) [retitled as "The Butter and Egg Man"]
At the Ringside (1921) [retitled as "You're Under Arrest!"]
Boobs in the Wood (1925) [retitled as "Tall Timber"]
Whispering Whiskers (1926) [retitled as "The Crystal Ball"]
No real assessment is possible since, as I have already mentioned, the films are heavily cut, but it is possible to appreciate the gags.
Smith's Vacation (1926) [retitled as "The Cruise"]
A Prodigal Bridegroom (1926) [retitled as "The Butter and Egg Man"]
At the Ringside (1921) [retitled as "You're Under Arrest!"]
Boobs in the Wood (1925) [retitled as "Tall Timber"]
Whispering Whiskers (1926) [retitled as "The Crystal Ball"]
No real assessment is possible since, as I have already mentioned, the films are heavily cut, but it is possible to appreciate the gags.
Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
Description: Documentary about a ballroom dance competition among elementary school children.
Appraisal: It's very well made, and both serious and fun to watch; the only problem, if I may call that a problem, is that it's all a bit too trivial.
Rating: 54
Appraisal: It's very well made, and both serious and fun to watch; the only problem, if I may call that a problem, is that it's all a bit too trivial.
Rating: 54
Monday, January 07, 2008
Crank (2006)
Synopsis: A man is injected with a chemical which inhibits the flow of adrenalin to his heart. He has to keep himself in constant activity and excitement to compensate for the drug's effects.
Appraisal (mild spoiler): This is a variation on Speed (1994/I) (the bus is replaced by a person) and also of D.O.A. (1950 or 1988). The camerawork is frantic, the pace too. Halfway into the movie, it realizes its extreme amorality and shifts into extreme hypocrisy: the protagonist is revealed to be quitting his job. The woman, as usual in recent films, is innocent (and, I deduce, a little retarded). The action sequences are delirious -- well, almost.
Rating: 45
Appraisal (mild spoiler): This is a variation on Speed (1994/I) (the bus is replaced by a person) and also of D.O.A. (1950 or 1988). The camerawork is frantic, the pace too. Halfway into the movie, it realizes its extreme amorality and shifts into extreme hypocrisy: the protagonist is revealed to be quitting his job. The woman, as usual in recent films, is innocent (and, I deduce, a little retarded). The action sequences are delirious -- well, almost.
Rating: 45
Schultze Gets the Blues (2003)
Synopsis: A German man in his retirement goes to the U.S. for a music festival.
Appraisal: Really, this movie leaves something to be desired in the way of character definition and detailing of the events which unfold in the story. This is not to say it doesn't achieve a certain mood, or doesn't have intelligent ideas.
Rating: 45
Appraisal: Really, this movie leaves something to be desired in the way of character definition and detailing of the events which unfold in the story. This is not to say it doesn't achieve a certain mood, or doesn't have intelligent ideas.
Rating: 45
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Seabiscuit (2003)
Synopsis: In the 1930s, a horse begins racing and surprisingly becomes a champion.
Appraisal: Ideologically reactionary, it dismisses the importance of the government actions for reverting the big Depression, claiming that the spirit of competition and individualism were more crucial to that effect. Nevertheless, a film that has to be respected for the level of professionalism in all technical departments, and is moderately enjoyable as an extremely conventional narrative.
Rating: 49
Appraisal: Ideologically reactionary, it dismisses the importance of the government actions for reverting the big Depression, claiming that the spirit of competition and individualism were more crucial to that effect. Nevertheless, a film that has to be respected for the level of professionalism in all technical departments, and is moderately enjoyable as an extremely conventional narrative.
Rating: 49
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Ju-on: The Grudge (2003)
Synopsis: A house where a murder has occurred is haunted by apparitions and strange supernatural materializations which are fatal for those that encounter them.
Appraisal: This is supposed to be a horror movie, yet I was more bored than scared. It is built as a collection of set-pieces from which formal elaboration is not absent, but the general effect is of a cold and unaffecting aestheticism.
Rating: 40
Appraisal: This is supposed to be a horror movie, yet I was more bored than scared. It is built as a collection of set-pieces from which formal elaboration is not absent, but the general effect is of a cold and unaffecting aestheticism.
Rating: 40
The Happy Thieves (1962)
Synopsis: A trio of thieves of classic paintings is blackmailed into stealing a painting from a museum.
Appraisal: All efforts are made at lending this film an aura of lightness and sophistication --prominent among them the ad nauseam playing of a whistling tune. The plot is not completely uninteresting and the dialogue is occasionally philosophical, but it is not especially thrilling or humorous or ingenious; I guess it will do as a time killer.
Rating: 36
Appraisal: All efforts are made at lending this film an aura of lightness and sophistication --prominent among them the ad nauseam playing of a whistling tune. The plot is not completely uninteresting and the dialogue is occasionally philosophical, but it is not especially thrilling or humorous or ingenious; I guess it will do as a time killer.
Rating: 36
Sleep, My Love (1948)
Synopsis: A woman keeps finding herself in strange situations, appearing in unexpected places without recollection of how she got there, and seeing people nobody else saw. Her husband's strangely cold behavior and association with some shady characters place him as a suspect of staging a conspiracy of some kind. Fortunately, she meets a young man who will try to solve this mystery.
Appraisal: The plot follows strictly routine patterns, and is absurd at its core -- unless you believe that hypnosis can make people who are asleep -- and under the effect of heavy drugs -- rise and do all sorts of things as commanded. The direction -- as related to acting and the general technical factors that give a movie its superficial polishing -- is of a superior kind, but there is only so much one can do with such a material.
Rating: 31
Appraisal: The plot follows strictly routine patterns, and is absurd at its core -- unless you believe that hypnosis can make people who are asleep -- and under the effect of heavy drugs -- rise and do all sorts of things as commanded. The direction -- as related to acting and the general technical factors that give a movie its superficial polishing -- is of a superior kind, but there is only so much one can do with such a material.
Rating: 31
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