Based on the novel "John Thomas and Lady Jane", by D.H. Lawrence, written in 1927. This novel was not published during the author's life; it was rewritten and published as "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in 1928.
A woman whose husband is paralyzed has an affair with the gamekeeper.
Well done, but to be honest I found it too beautiful. On the one hand, it raises interesting questions about the class system in 1920's England; on the other, I am not so sure about the verisimilitude of these characters and situations. And I was a little bored.
Rating: 67
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Combat!: The Bridge at Chalons (1963) (TV)
Saunders' assignment is to lead a squad escorting a demolition man to a bridge he will blow up. The man is an obnoxiously unfriendly type.
Excellent episode.
Excellent episode.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Combat!: Masquerade (1963) (TV)
Two soldiers carrying a German prisoner in a jeep pass by Saunders and his squad. The three are actually Germans in disguise who want to get to the American battalion.
OK episode. This is the one where we almost get to know Saunders' first name.
OK episode. This is the one where we almost get to know Saunders' first name.
Judge Dredd (1995)
In the future, the justice system works by way of so-called "judges", who are police, jury and executioner in one person. One of these judges is framed in a crime he hasn't committed. Parallel to that, a conspiracy to reactivate a secret genetic engineering project is under way.
Not bad action/futuristic thriller. I thought the dialogue rather uninspired though.
Rating: 50
Not bad action/futuristic thriller. I thought the dialogue rather uninspired though.
Rating: 50
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV)
Biographical drama. The style is soap-operatic, with recurring references to gypsy prophecies and assorted superstitions. I find incidents in small boats (cf. Knife in the Water, Dead Calm) very interesting cinematic material, and that was reason enough for watching this. On the other hand, the rape depiction is weird: the pre-rape events in the rapist's apartment are not shown, for some mysterious reason. But then again, this is not an ordinary fiction work: it is more like a semi-documentary, with interviews with some of the real persons which inspired the film, interspersed with the narrative sections.
Rating: 35
Rating: 35
Fay Grim (2006)
A sequel to Henry Fool. Henry's Confessions become a valuable item when it is learned that it contains sensitive political information. The CIA uses Henry's wife Fay as an instrument to recover the Confessions. She travels to Europe, where she faces all sorts of danger.
A dry parody of espionage thrillers; occasionally funny, but overall it is rather boring and pointless.
Rating: 36
A dry parody of espionage thrillers; occasionally funny, but overall it is rather boring and pointless.
Rating: 36
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Atonement (2007)
An upper-class young woman is in love with her housekeeper's son. She has a younger sister who is disturbed by their behavior and ends up accusing the lad of a crime he hasn't committed.
To classify this simply as kitsch would in fact be complimentary, since I have seen other instances of kitsch with greater entertainment value and thematic consistency. The fact is that, even disregarding style, the film has structural problems: it feels choppy and condensed. And the greatest problem of all seems to come from the text itself: some of the individual episodes were interesting, but they didn't seem to add to a meaningful whole. And, as everyone else has already pointed out, the film's idea of atonement is ridiculous.
Rating: 39
To classify this simply as kitsch would in fact be complimentary, since I have seen other instances of kitsch with greater entertainment value and thematic consistency. The fact is that, even disregarding style, the film has structural problems: it feels choppy and condensed. And the greatest problem of all seems to come from the text itself: some of the individual episodes were interesting, but they didn't seem to add to a meaningful whole. And, as everyone else has already pointed out, the film's idea of atonement is ridiculous.
Rating: 39
Detention (2003)
A gang who plans a spectacular robbery uses a high school after the class period for its activities. The problem is that there are some students and a teacher (not to mention a security guard) still in the premises of the school.
Quite absurd at its most basic level, as many reviewers pointed out: the bandits have no reason to attack anyone, to begin with, since they could do their job out of everyone's sight; second, their plan (using a police car which they will repaint) is beyond ridiculous. In terms of action, the layout is simple: the bad guys are terrible shooters, which allows the good guys to survive in all but the most direct confrontations.
Rating: 25
Quite absurd at its most basic level, as many reviewers pointed out: the bandits have no reason to attack anyone, to begin with, since they could do their job out of everyone's sight; second, their plan (using a police car which they will repaint) is beyond ridiculous. In terms of action, the layout is simple: the bad guys are terrible shooters, which allows the good guys to survive in all but the most direct confrontations.
Rating: 25
Auf der anderen Seite (2007)
U.S. title: The Edge of Heaven.
Correctly translated title: On the other side.
Two interrelated stories: 1) a Turkish-born professor living in Germany, his father and the prostitute who lives with the latter; 2) a Turkish student involved in an activist organization, who is forced to flee to Germany, and a German student with whom she starts a homosexual relationship.
The film lacks conflict: it flows too easily, with the characters assuming all too often a position of "peace, love and understanding"; still, it has qualities and is consistently watchable throughout.
Rating: 61
Correctly translated title: On the other side.
Two interrelated stories: 1) a Turkish-born professor living in Germany, his father and the prostitute who lives with the latter; 2) a Turkish student involved in an activist organization, who is forced to flee to Germany, and a German student with whom she starts a homosexual relationship.
The film lacks conflict: it flows too easily, with the characters assuming all too often a position of "peace, love and understanding"; still, it has qualities and is consistently watchable throughout.
Rating: 61
Congorama (2006)
Two stories which are interrelated. A Belgian inventor comes to Québec with the purpose of finding out his biological parents' identities. A Québecois man tries to recover his father's project notes for an electric car.
Watchable, but its notion of aesthetics is that of a jigsaw puzzle, where little things must fit one another.
Rating: 37
Watchable, but its notion of aesthetics is that of a jigsaw puzzle, where little things must fit one another.
Rating: 37
Little Nikita (1988)
A guy finds out that his parents are "sleepers", i.e., Soviet spies who established themselves in the U.S. with fake identities of American citizens with the purpose of being "activated" in the future. A rogue Soviet agent is killing all the sleepers with the intent of extorting money from the U.R.S.S.
Implausible at times, but entertains mildly. Phoenix's performance is too bad.
Rating: 41
Implausible at times, but entertains mildly. Phoenix's performance is too bad.
Rating: 41
Monday, August 10, 2009
Cloverfield (2008)
A giant monster attacks Manhattan.
A curious idea - a faux amateur movie - reasonably well executed on the technical side. That's all this is.
Rating: 44
A curious idea - a faux amateur movie - reasonably well executed on the technical side. That's all this is.
Rating: 44
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Dark Matter (2007)
A Chinese physics graduation student at an American university gets into a conflict with his advisor.
Manipulative account of the experience of foreign students in the USA. For anyone who knows just a little about how the Academia works in the exact sciences area (my case, with emphasis on the "just a little" part) it will be clear that the details of the story fall strictly in the fiction category, notwithstanding its loose inspiration on a real event. And while it is probably true that university professors are prone to having an oversized ego problem my very small experience suggests that this is not as big an issue in the exact sciences area as the film seems to imply. Anyway, the really bothersome aspect of the film is its agenda of demonizing the USA through a deliberate construction of characters and situations which seem to justify the protagonist's insane deeds at the end. The use of the U.S. National Anthem to imply that freedom in the U.S. is illusory eschews the issue which should be discussed instead, namely, how excessive freedom (to buy guns, in this case) is sometimes the real problem.
Rating: 12
Manipulative account of the experience of foreign students in the USA. For anyone who knows just a little about how the Academia works in the exact sciences area (my case, with emphasis on the "just a little" part) it will be clear that the details of the story fall strictly in the fiction category, notwithstanding its loose inspiration on a real event. And while it is probably true that university professors are prone to having an oversized ego problem my very small experience suggests that this is not as big an issue in the exact sciences area as the film seems to imply. Anyway, the really bothersome aspect of the film is its agenda of demonizing the USA through a deliberate construction of characters and situations which seem to justify the protagonist's insane deeds at the end. The use of the U.S. National Anthem to imply that freedom in the U.S. is illusory eschews the issue which should be discussed instead, namely, how excessive freedom (to buy guns, in this case) is sometimes the real problem.
Rating: 12
Half Nelson (2006)
A high school teacher faces a personal crisis fueled by his drug addiction. One of his students who faces some dilemmas of her own becomes attached to him.
Probably some of the faults pointed out are true, chiefly among them the unrealism of the central situation; other accusations are simply too narrow-minded to be mentioned. I defend that one should, if not overlook, at least try to see beyond these alleged faults. I do not want to come off as arrogant but it seems that not a few people misunderstood this film badly. In my view, the axis of the film is the idea that the way one views the world conditions the way one lives. Specifically, to view the world dialectically leads to an embodiment of that worldview in the form of a personality that is constantly in conflict with itself (and with others, it goes without saying); drugs are just the lifestyle that naturally suits this state of self. The opposition to that is established in the form of the friendship of a 13-year old girl, which is not dialectic at all, and thus works as the antithesis to the teacher's worldview. This operates in an infinitely self-contradicting framework, since any opposition is dialectic by definition. The film refuses to offer the final synthesis, a stance which is more than adequate to its proposition. There are further layers to this, such as the discussion about the relative positions of drug user/drug dealer, a theme covered also in Tropa de Elite.
P.S.: all of the above but the synopsis is a JOKE (sorry, my very few readers, I am assaulted by a pranking spirit once in a blue moon). Now, my true opinion about HALF NELSON: another inane sundance-thing, posing as a heart-wrenching descent-to-hell-and-redemption tale.
Rating (the real one): 27
Probably some of the faults pointed out are true, chiefly among them the unrealism of the central situation; other accusations are simply too narrow-minded to be mentioned. I defend that one should, if not overlook, at least try to see beyond these alleged faults. I do not want to come off as arrogant but it seems that not a few people misunderstood this film badly. In my view, the axis of the film is the idea that the way one views the world conditions the way one lives. Specifically, to view the world dialectically leads to an embodiment of that worldview in the form of a personality that is constantly in conflict with itself (and with others, it goes without saying); drugs are just the lifestyle that naturally suits this state of self. The opposition to that is established in the form of the friendship of a 13-year old girl, which is not dialectic at all, and thus works as the antithesis to the teacher's worldview. This operates in an infinitely self-contradicting framework, since any opposition is dialectic by definition. The film refuses to offer the final synthesis, a stance which is more than adequate to its proposition. There are further layers to this, such as the discussion about the relative positions of drug user/drug dealer, a theme covered also in Tropa de Elite.
P.S.: all of the above but the synopsis is a JOKE (sorry, my very few readers, I am assaulted by a pranking spirit once in a blue moon). Now, my true opinion about HALF NELSON: another inane sundance-thing, posing as a heart-wrenching descent-to-hell-and-redemption tale.
Rating (the real one): 27
Combat!: The Battle of the Roses (1963) (TV)
Saunders' squad is at a town being attacked by Germans. They must evacuate it but a young woman driven mad by recent events refuses to leave a garden where she sits listening to music in the company of her faithful servant.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Hanky Panky (1982)
A guy becomes involved in a plot involving the theft of important military secrets contained in a computer tape. He is accused of murder and is forced to flee, in the company of a woman who claims to want to help him.
Not bad as entertainment, but way too derivative to be really of interest.
Rating: 43
Not bad as entertainment, but way too derivative to be really of interest.
Rating: 43
Hard Times (1975)
A man employs himself as a street fighter in the U.S. of the Depression years.
The problem here is the lack of a solid plotline beyond the obvious situations that one might expect from this kind of premise. It is all done with competence but it is less a gritty realistic depiction of the Depression than a melodrama about a guy whom nobody can beat.
Rating: 43
The problem here is the lack of a solid plotline beyond the obvious situations that one might expect from this kind of premise. It is all done with competence but it is less a gritty realistic depiction of the Depression than a melodrama about a guy whom nobody can beat.
Rating: 43
Savage Grace (2007)
A socialite and her husband live in various places in Europe throughout the sixties and seventies; they have a son. The socialite comes from a lower class and behaves obnoxiously in social occasions, much to her husband's dismay. He eventually leaves her.
Although inspired by real characters and events relating to the Baekeland family, the film handles the factual and speculative material so incompetently that it becomes an incomprehensible mess. There is no causal arc between any of the characters' acts, and at times what they say and do is simply not believable.
Rating: 25
Although inspired by real characters and events relating to the Baekeland family, the film handles the factual and speculative material so incompetently that it becomes an incomprehensible mess. There is no causal arc between any of the characters' acts, and at times what they say and do is simply not believable.
Rating: 25
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Strange occurrences have been taking place at the Opera House. A masked man and his mad assistant, both living in an underground lair in the Opera House building are behind these events. The new singer becomes the masked man's protegee. The composer is a lecher after the singer's favors.
There isn't much logic in it, which is partly a consequence of the major changes made in regards to the original novel; also, the plot development is a little bit choppy (I couldn't find out whether the 84 minute version I saw was the complete one). But, changes and all, this version has had an enormous appeal on our collective imagination, and the film is an attention grabber for the most part of it, which is also due to its being masterfully filmed. Its influence was felt in several other films, most notably perhaps in the two Dr. Phibes films of the early seventies.
Rating: 50
There isn't much logic in it, which is partly a consequence of the major changes made in regards to the original novel; also, the plot development is a little bit choppy (I couldn't find out whether the 84 minute version I saw was the complete one). But, changes and all, this version has had an enormous appeal on our collective imagination, and the film is an attention grabber for the most part of it, which is also due to its being masterfully filmed. Its influence was felt in several other films, most notably perhaps in the two Dr. Phibes films of the early seventies.
Rating: 50
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Black Belt Jones (1974)
Some unscrupulous real estate entrepreneurs want the site of a martial arts school for the building of a condominium. In defense of the poor sports educators, call Black Belt Jones, an agent and karate expert.
A very poor screenplay is the major deficiency here. The highlight of absurdity is when the protagonist invites some beach girls to help him raid the enemy's house. (This and other pertinent observations were also made by the The Bad Movie Report reviewer, who nevertheless seemed to enjoy the movie more than I did).
Rating: 31
A very poor screenplay is the major deficiency here. The highlight of absurdity is when the protagonist invites some beach girls to help him raid the enemy's house. (This and other pertinent observations were also made by the The Bad Movie Report reviewer, who nevertheless seemed to enjoy the movie more than I did).
Rating: 31
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
A man is caught up in a web of murder as he assumes the role of protecting a baby from a gang of assassins. The gang's motives are related to a complex imbroglio involving the arms industry and a sick senator.
Deliriously cartoonish, unrelentlessly inventive and funny, flaunting its fundamental contradiction (guns are good/guns are bad) with a cynicism so blatant that it becomes its exact opposite, perhaps.
Rating: 69
Deliriously cartoonish, unrelentlessly inventive and funny, flaunting its fundamental contradiction (guns are good/guns are bad) with a cynicism so blatant that it becomes its exact opposite, perhaps.
Rating: 69
Monday, August 03, 2009
Picasso Trigger (1988)
I can't explain the plot of this film with any exactitude. Very loosely, it is about a group of agents against a criminal named Ortiz who seems to have killed his partner named Salazar. There is also a ring of sex slavery, whose connection to said criminals I did not get.
Very poor filmmaking, a very dull film.
Rating: 9
Very poor filmmaking, a very dull film.
Rating: 9
The Foreigner (2003)
A special agent is hired to deliver a package from France to Germany.
The plot does not make sense. The action set-pieces are mediocre.
Rating: 27
The plot does not make sense. The action set-pieces are mediocre.
Rating: 27
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Combat!: Survival (1963) (TV)
Hanley's squad is captured. They are released when the site they are in is bombed, but Saunders is left behind, tied up inside a room on fire.
One of the more imagetical episodes.
One of the more imagetical episodes.
Combat!: No Hallelujahs for Glory (1963) (TV)
A newspaper reporter with a penchant for getting into trouble wants to do a story on the war and Saunders has to keep an eye on her.
Quite interesting episode, with a good deal of complexity in it and a strong yet somewhat misguided critique of the press. The forgotten aspect is that newspaper coverage was in the best interest of the war effort inasmuch as it helped build a favorable public opinion, which translated into tax dollars.
Quite interesting episode, with a good deal of complexity in it and a strong yet somewhat misguided critique of the press. The forgotten aspect is that newspaper coverage was in the best interest of the war effort inasmuch as it helped build a favorable public opinion, which translated into tax dollars.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Three situations evolve simultaneously: a professor tries to imbue a student with civic spirit, a senator tries to coopt a journalist into a military strategy devised by him, and two soldiers in Afghanistan are dropped in a region infested by enemies.
Or: 'Liberalism for Dummies'. To call this film preachy would be an understatement; as a matter of fact, I do not see any dramatic entanglement and disentanglement in it. The screenwriter practically speaks through the mouth of the 'professor' character (no wonder the director took this role for himself). The film's 'points' are hard to determine, given the lame way in which they are delivered. If you want the simple truth about the Iraq war, see No End in Sight (I have yet to see it in its entirety, but what I saw is staggering enough).
Rating: 12
Or: 'Liberalism for Dummies'. To call this film preachy would be an understatement; as a matter of fact, I do not see any dramatic entanglement and disentanglement in it. The screenwriter practically speaks through the mouth of the 'professor' character (no wonder the director took this role for himself). The film's 'points' are hard to determine, given the lame way in which they are delivered. If you want the simple truth about the Iraq war, see No End in Sight (I have yet to see it in its entirety, but what I saw is staggering enough).
Rating: 12
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