Wild Wild West (1999)

Based on the homonymous TV show (1965-1969).

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, two government agents, one a captain and the other a gizmo and disguise expert, investigate the kidnapping of several scientists. They find out that a mad Southern inventor who lost his legs during the war is behind the kidnappings and has an evil plan.

The idea of associating a legless inventor with spiders is interesting; also, the film is not devoid of visual flair, and some of the one-liners are funny.

Rating: 38

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

It's about a car racer, his absent father, his best friend, his bimbo wife, his smitten assistant, his French rival, his mother, his two incredibly undisciplined sons.

Rather elementary humor.

Rating: 35

For Your Consideration (2006)

In a movie set rumors are spread that its stars will be nominated for an important award.

It's funny but the humor is kind of obvious.

Rating: 51

Delirious (2006)

A homeless young man starts living with a paparazzo -- herein called a paparazzi, as is perhaps common usage -- and working as his assistant. Their friendship suffers a blow when the former meets a beautiful starlet.

It has funny bits, and is mostly easy to watch; the first half is better than the second.

Rating: 51

Black Snake Moan (2006)

A man who has been dumped by his wife rescues a hurt unconscious nymphomaniac from the highway; he then tries to cure her from her evil ways.

It's mostly a compilation of clichés which don't resolve into anything particularly interesting, yet is somehow watchable.

Rating: 37

Happy Feet (2006)

These penguins can sing. One that can't but tap-dances instead is looked down upon. The shortage of fish is a big problem; our hero investigates it.

Awful, despite the pretty visuals.

Rating: 20

Police (1985)

A cop investigating Tunisian drug dealers in Paris falls in love with a suspect's girlfriend.

This is possibly the most bizarre police drama I have seen, and yet I kind of liked it. The free interaction between characters on both sides of the law is somewhat implausible, lending the film a melodramatic flavor, which operates simultaneously with the more realistic aspects of it. In a scene near the ending a character invites the same cop that beat him earlier for a drink, telling him that he held no grudge; I was intrigued by this scene, wondering whether this is in tune with the melodramatic side or was it intended to be realistic in regards to France's social reality. It was all the more puzzling to me since here in Brazil I think no scene of this kind would ever be possible. At any rate it's an interesting, intense film.

Rating: 61

Infamous (2006)

The story behind the writing of the book "In Cold Blood".

This story begged to be told correctly, and there you have it. It also proves once and for all that a Brit can play an American faultlessly, even better that an American would (or, in this case, has).

Rating: 69

Flightplan (2005)

A woman loses her daughter inside an airplane; it's all part of an evil scheme.

One of the most absurd criminal plots ever. The Internet Movie Database Message Board for this film is especially funny.

Rating: 11

The Parallax View (1974)

A journalist investigates the murder of a politician and finds out it was the result of a conspiracy engineered by a secret organization; he infiltrates that organization.

Second viewing. Solidly directed and tense; also, very bleak.

Rating: 56 (up from 46)

Breakheart Pass (1975)

Aboard a train which is bound to a fort are a governor and his mistress, a sheriff and his prisoner, a major and his soldiers. Several strange incidents occur and nobody is what he seems.

Second viewing. An entertaining -- albeit a little far-fetched and not without some poorly explained details -- mystery story in a Western setting; the filmmaking is perfect. I don't recall why I didn't like it as much the first time I saw it.

Rating:56 (up from 47)

Chicken Little (2005)

Inspired by the fable "The Sky Is Falling" which originates from the Daddabha Jataka, one of the Jataka Tales of Buddhist Indian folklore dating from the period ranging from the 6th century Before the Common Era to the 3rd century of the Common Era.

A young chicken causes havoc in his small town when he reports that the sky is falling; they later conclude it was only an acorn which struck him and from then on he becomes the laughing stock of the community.

Weird musical references and an uninspired script are major liabilities here; the animation is good as usual in big studio movies. A possibly alarming twist in regard to the original fable is that they reversed the moral of the story: here the chicken is right all along and everybody else is wrong for not taking him seriously; sign of the panicked, paranoid times we live, no doubt.

Rating: 40

Deja Vu (2006)

A terrorist blows up a ferry full of military personnel; a woman is found dead near the explosion site; the crime investigation makes use of a powerful device that can visualize the past and maybe even send a person to that past.

One of those complicated films which demand an external explanation (4 timelines are involved -- see Wikipedia, for example) for its understanding; after that explanation, they tell you the plot holes which invalidate it. The main flaw is not mentioned there though, namely, what is the motivation for creating a better timeline if ours will either remain shitty or vanish? Anyway, the film has a taut narrative and good direction and I was not excessively bored (even though I would only really understand the intricacies of its plot afterwards).

Rating: 40

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Loosely adapted from the picture book "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" by William Joyce (1st ed. 1990).

Lewis is an orphan boy with inventing skills who is transported to the future by another boy; they are chased by a villain who wants to steal one of Lewis's inventions; in the future Lewis meets a bizarre but warm-hearted family.

Sufficiently entertaining; on the other hand, the problem with this (and with most present-day animations) is that there is a surface of movement and prettiness and even occasional inventivity all of which revolve around a somewhat trite core.

Rating: 55

Monster House (2006)

A house "eats" those that go near it.

The technique is very good; the characters are very well written and just as well animated. The plot is not exactly brilliant though.

Rating: 67

Wide Awake (2006)

Documentary about insomnia, sort of.

Neither really densely informative nor entertaining.

Rating: 31

Rocket Science (2007)

A high school kid suffering from stuttering is invited by a female colleague to be her partner at a debating tournament (or whatever they call it).

Full of affected quirkiness.

Rating: 23

D.E.B.S. (2004)

A group of female spies faces a crisis when one of them falls in love with a female top criminal.

Its maker strives for the 16-year-old mental age (or maybe has it). Within that scope, it is acceptable as an inconsequential pastime.

Rating: 39

Hostel: Part II (2007)

Some female students doing an art course in Rome are convinced to go to Slovakia by a model. Over there they fall victim to a ring of sadists.

Incompetent on every possible aspect. It is fit to induce vomit or laughter, depending on your temperament.

Rating: 15

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Perfect Murder (1956) (TV)

Two men plot the murder of their aunt in order to collect her inheritance.

One of the more predictable episodes so far -- in fact, I predicted exactly what was going to happen in the end; it was nevertheless well written, well acted and well directed.

Boksuneun naui geot (2002)

English title: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

A man kidnaps his former employer's little daughter, expecting to use the ransom money to buy a kidney transplant for his sister.

Weak.

Rating: 35

Happy Campers (2001)

Several characters at a summer camp.

I can't find much to say about this; it goes along very obvious lines, the monitors being the center of the attention. Despite a few attempts at psychological characterization, the film doesn't really take off either as a comedy or as a drama. Anyway, for better things dealing with somewhat similar environments, go for Meatballs or even Les Bronzés.

Rating: 31

Hot Cross Bunny (1948)

A scientist is conducting an experiment in psychic transference; he intends to exchange the psyches between a chicken and a rabbit, and uses Bugs as one of his test subjects.

Great cartoon. Christopher Mulrooney (see link at the right of this page) identified this as a source for the 'Doctor' character in Les yeux sans visage (1960). The similarity of both characters is indeed too striking to ignore.

Le sang des bêtes (1949)

English title: Blood of the Beasts.

Documentary which intercuts the bucolic outskirts of Paris with the depiction of the work in several slaughterhouses situated nearby.

The thematical essence of Eyes Without a Face (means/end dichotomy) was present already in this earlier short: the end is feeding humans, the means is killing animals; the landscape in the vicinity of a slaughterhouse does not betray the brutality going on inside it; moreover, said brutality does not in turn belie the rectitude of character of the men and women who work there. The plain assertion that Blood of the Beasts makes is: most people eat meat (or would if they could), and don't see anything horrible or reproachable in that act; and if most of them would probably be incapable of watching Blood of the Beasts in its entirety, it's OK, that is how society functions, namely by keeping its members in the ignorance of the subjacent violence which is necessary for such trivial acts as feeding oneself. Seen from another angle, this is a film about the human allegiance to humans, which excludes non-humans such as cows, horses and sheep.

Les yeux sans visage (1960)

English titles: Eyes Without a Face; The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus.

Based on the novel by Jean Redon (1st edition 1959, apparently)

Second viewing; the previous one was on December 11, 2005.

Spoilers below.

A surgeon whose daughter was horribly burned in an accident kidnaps (with the assistance of a former patient) young women in order to use their skins to rebuild his daughter's face.

Eyes Without a Face is about a man's allegiance to his daughter whom he has accidentally harmed, and a woman's allegiance to the doctor who restored her face; from another angle, this is a film about the dichotomy means/end, and I may be stating the obvious here, but it's important to stress that only superficially it's about a mad doctor and his creepy assistant and a horribly deformed woman. This is actually about how we humans through our actions -- and mostly through our omissions -- cause pain and death to other living beings with the excuse of bringing well-being to those to whom we are bound (by force or by choice) in allegiance. It's fascinating to see how most people need to remain unconscious of this reality in order to stay sane. The formal perfection of Eyes Without a Face has only a tiny stain which may very well be a product of my misplaced expectations (but there was another viewer with a similar opinion; see the IMDB's message board): when Edna rushes upstairs I could swear that she was going to find Christiane and see her (Edna's) own face on Christiane; when she screams, I thought that's what happened but then we find out that she has jumped out the window and no evidence is given that she found Christiane, and furthermore the timing of the sequence just does not seem to allow that to have happened. See also my upcoming review for Le sang des bêtes (1949).

Rating: 76 (unchanged) (13th position in 1960's best)

The Brotherhood (1968)

Two brothers end up on opposite sides inside the American Mafia.

It is about several conflicts of allegiances, and the eventual predominance of one allegiance which is hierarchically dominant over all the others; e.g., one character must choose between honoring the memory of his father on one side and safeguarding his own position in a criminal organization on the other; another character must choose between his brother on one side or his wife and kids on the other. It's tautly narrated and has splendid cinematography.

Rating: 57

The 300 Spartans (1962)

In 480 B.C. the Persians under Xerxes decide to conquer Greece, but Leonidas of Sparta vows to stop him by placing his men in the strait of Thermopylae. He can't get full support from Sparta due to the opposition of the second Spartan king, so all he can count on are the 300 members of his personal guard.

It features the faint notion of a nation in a context where cities were more or less independent (ancient Greece), thus establishing a conflict of allegiances. It's passable but lacks vigor in the battle scenes and inspiration in the dialogue which invokes "freedom" as a general motivation for the Spartans and their allies.

Rating: 35

Saskatchewan (1954)

In 19th century Canada, conflicts arise between the hitherto peaceful Cree natives and the Mounted Police when the latter confiscate the natives' weapons. The situation becomes explosive when the bellicose Sioux cross the border into Canada offering their allegiance to the Crees. The film follows a caravan transporting ammunition across wild territory; they also escort a woman who is facing a murder charge.

It is about the shifting allegiances of a tribe of peaceful natives in Canada. While the natural Canadian landscape has been gorgeously filmed, the plot presents situations which have been explored dozens of times in the Western genre; it does so without much in the way of excitement or surprise.

Rating: 33

Karov La Bayit (2005)

English title: Close to Home.

The friendship and maturing of two young female Israeli soldiers.

It deals with an environment where young Israeli people learn to cope with the notion of the oppression of Arabs as a condition for urban safety. Put in more general terms, it is about the arduous establishment of an allegiance of young citizens to their country. It's quite affecting.

Rating: 67

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

Two guys meet on the road; they become friends and do a robbery with some others.

Second viewing. Decent film, although I didn't understand some minor aspects of the plot, most of them related to the job's set-up.

Rating: 55 (unchanged)

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

A guy keeps changing his past and making his life worse.

A trite proposition founded on a truism (actions have consequences which are sometimes impredictable). The individual pieces of the puzzle have some amount of dramatic appeal, but its utter humorlessness makes it wearisome.

Rating: 35

Vendredi soir (2002)

English title: Friday Night.

Man and woman meet during a traffic jam. They spend a glorious night together.

An exercise in dullness. The main characters seem to go through the movie without changing their facial expressions; their sex-making doesn't really look like sex; also, they seem to have lost the ability to talk.

Rating: 14

Omaret yakobean (2006)

English title: The Yacoubian Building.

Several characters living in an apartment building in Cairo: a womanizing old pacha, his imbalanced sister, a homosexual newspaper editor, his young proletarian lover, a pretty young woman who is constantly harassed by her employers, her fiancé who falls under the spell of a fundamentalist preacher.

This ridiculous film is what is usually called a soap, and here goes the definition: the kind of melodrama characterized by stereotypes and a plot which takes realistic elements and distorts them in such a way as to make it completely implausible yet fit to stimulate the emotional identification expectations of its target audience.

Rating: 25

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)

Based on the novel The Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley, first published in 1961.

A Russian submarine gets stuck near the coast of an American island. Its crew goes ashore, causing panic among the local population.

Uneven, predominantly unfunny, yet occasionally intelligent, comedy. This being my second viewing, I must confess it improved a little upon it.

Rating: 42 (up from 30)

Sicario (1994)

A boy growing up in Medellín, Colombia, in 1990, becomes an assassin for the drug cartel.

Unbelievably absurd -- the mob has its operatives kill each other for no reason, among countless other reason-defying events, worthy of the imagination of a 12-year-old; at any rate, the film is professional enough in the technical and acting departments, which makes it kind of endurable.

Rating: 25

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Back for Christmas (1956) (TV)

Based on a short story by John Collier, first published in 1939.

A man kills his wife and buries her in the basement, on the same day when they were leaving for the U.S..

Nice episode, and, among its niceties, an interesting idea (women seem to value tidiness regardless of its function, as opposed to men), a variation of which is present in Crumb (1994).

Gun Belt (1953)

An ex-outlaw turned rancher is requested by his brother to take part in a robbery. He refuses but certain complications follow which will demand action from him.

B-Westerns like this one are not really memorable, yet fulfill their role of entertaining, no questions asked.

Rating: 34

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

When the pollution in the Springfield lake reaches catastrophic levels, the government decides to put a dome over the city, thus isolating it from the rest of the country.

I guess I would have to see it again in order to make some sense of the above-described plot. In any case, the film is bland, a far cry from the sharp humor displayed in the earlier seasons of the TV show. As a mild form of entertainment, it's OK, although some of the jokes are somewhat irritating.

Rating: 42