Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Bonanza: The Secret (1961) (TV)
*SPOILERS*
Fatally compromised by its premise, which relies on a triple coincidence consisting not only in the real culprit being left handed and having a horse like Joe's, but, more improbably, in that the victim has told her father that she was seeing Joe, of all people, for some unexplained reason.
Fatally compromised by its premise, which relies on a triple coincidence consisting not only in the real culprit being left handed and having a horse like Joe's, but, more improbably, in that the victim has told her father that she was seeing Joe, of all people, for some unexplained reason.
Bonanza: The Infernal Machine (1961) (TV)
Great episode about an inventor who wants to develop an automobile. Great comedy fun, one of the best episodes.
Robin Hood (2010)
*SPOILERS*
A prequel to the legend, in which Robin, after having fought in the Crusades with king Richard, must fight against the French who, thanks to a conspiracy between the new king's secretary and the French king, are ready to invade England.
A horrible movie. There is hardly an enjoyable moment in it. (Well, perhaps a shot or two of some beautiful woods.) The plot is downright unappealing (and at times makes little or no sense), told in the pace that kills (of boredom), with characters I couldn't care less for. Among the "pearls", in random order: Robin feels bad about the slaughter of poor Muslim children; Marian fights as a soldier; Robin, who was an abandoned child, has a "feeling" he will find out about his origins in Nottingham, and bingo: he does, and his father was an important chap too; the bad guys, who are in a national plot, choose to chase after Robin in Nottingham, who by then has little or no bearing on said plot; probably more stuff, but I don't want to go on recollecting.
Rating: 25
A prequel to the legend, in which Robin, after having fought in the Crusades with king Richard, must fight against the French who, thanks to a conspiracy between the new king's secretary and the French king, are ready to invade England.
A horrible movie. There is hardly an enjoyable moment in it. (Well, perhaps a shot or two of some beautiful woods.) The plot is downright unappealing (and at times makes little or no sense), told in the pace that kills (of boredom), with characters I couldn't care less for. Among the "pearls", in random order: Robin feels bad about the slaughter of poor Muslim children; Marian fights as a soldier; Robin, who was an abandoned child, has a "feeling" he will find out about his origins in Nottingham, and bingo: he does, and his father was an important chap too; the bad guys, who are in a national plot, choose to chase after Robin in Nottingham, who by then has little or no bearing on said plot; probably more stuff, but I don't want to go on recollecting.
Rating: 25
Bonanza: Sam Hill (1961) (TV)
*SPOILERS*
This was meant to spin a different show off, but didn't. It is plainly the best Bonanza episode so far, and one of the greatest things ever in television. My sixth sense tells me that this must have been based on previous material, either from literature or from folklore. I may be wrong, of course, and there is no actual reference to an external source anywhere that I have seen. Then all the credit should go to the screenwriter (well, some of it to the director as well), who happens to be the show's creator. If anyone recognizes this to be a version of anything from literature or tradition, please tell me. It is the story of a man who visits his mother's grave once a year and won't sell the land she is buried in. In one of these visits he encounters his father, who had abandoned him in his early childhood. The father is a drunkard and sells the land to a colonel whom Sam dislikes. It turns out this colonel is responsible for Sam's mother, whom he coveted. There is also a tree brought from the Orient which grows by her grave, and thrives thanks to a subterranean hot air current.
I rank this as a film, and place it among my favorites of that year (15th entry).
Rating: 72
This was meant to spin a different show off, but didn't. It is plainly the best Bonanza episode so far, and one of the greatest things ever in television. My sixth sense tells me that this must have been based on previous material, either from literature or from folklore. I may be wrong, of course, and there is no actual reference to an external source anywhere that I have seen. Then all the credit should go to the screenwriter (well, some of it to the director as well), who happens to be the show's creator. If anyone recognizes this to be a version of anything from literature or tradition, please tell me. It is the story of a man who visits his mother's grave once a year and won't sell the land she is buried in. In one of these visits he encounters his father, who had abandoned him in his early childhood. The father is a drunkard and sells the land to a colonel whom Sam dislikes. It turns out this colonel is responsible for Sam's mother, whom he coveted. There is also a tree brought from the Orient which grows by her grave, and thrives thanks to a subterranean hot air current.
I rank this as a film, and place it among my favorites of that year (15th entry).
Rating: 72
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Hunted (2003)
A soldier got a little crazy after fighting in Bosnia. He now is a protector of wild animals and kills the men who hunt them. His former trainer is summoned to hunt him down.
Ridiculously juvenile variation of First Blood, with some watchable action sequences.
Rating: 37
Ridiculously juvenile variation of First Blood, with some watchable action sequences.
Rating: 37
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Bonanza: The Duke (1961) (TV)
Good episode, but one detail is very intriguing: what in the Duke provoked women's laughter? In my wild guess, this is an example of metaphoric drama. The kiss which preceded the laughter stands for something else, which television would not be allowed to show.
Monday, May 17, 2010
It Runs in the Family (2003)
Three generations of family members interact in this dramatic comedy.
The film's point seems to be showing how character gets diluted over the generations. The virile and headstrong grandfather is followed by the responsible yet far too disoriented paterfamilias, who in turn is followed by an irresponsible elder son and a borderline autistic younger son. Watchable film, done in a formulaic manner, mostly devoid of excitement or inventivity.
Rating: 45
The film's point seems to be showing how character gets diluted over the generations. The virile and headstrong grandfather is followed by the responsible yet far too disoriented paterfamilias, who in turn is followed by an irresponsible elder son and a borderline autistic younger son. Watchable film, done in a formulaic manner, mostly devoid of excitement or inventivity.
Rating: 45
Bonanza: The Dark Gate (1961) (TV)
The way movies and TV handle the theme of mental illness always fascinates me. In this episode, evil is seen as a mere symptom of it. Of course, the affected man's behavior is not consistent with any real cases of catalogged psychopathies, but that's not the point (or rather, maybe it is just that what makes these fictions so appealing).
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Comes a Horseman (1978)
A small rancher establishes a professional, and then intimate, partnership with the guy who just bought the ranch adjacent to hers. They both face a double assault from a big rancher and from an oil tycoon.
The ending is monstrous, as everyone knows. What comes before it is not without merit, but for me the whole film was less than engaging.
Rating: 40
The ending is monstrous, as everyone knows. What comes before it is not without merit, but for me the whole film was less than engaging.
Rating: 40
Bonanza: The Rescue (1961) (TV)
Keywords: rustlers / pinned down / reconciliation / moral superiority of Big Landowners / no women / Little Joe's smile gets carved on his face / Hoss's legendary appetite / Hop Sing is back from China / Ben gets an epic beating.
Bonanza: Vengeance (1961) (TV)
Infinite variations on the theme of accidental/self defense killings which entail passionate yet inappropriate responses from relatives/spouse of the deceased.
Bonanza: The Tax Collector (1961) (TV)
There is nothing an American hates more than a tax collector. Good old liberalism.
Bonanza: Bank Run (1961) (TV)
Unusually witty episode. A few scenes bearing no relation whatsoever with the main plot consist of Hoss' repeatedly encountering a mysterious lady, or rather, it's not her the second time but a considerably uglier woman. I wonder if in this there is the hand of a yet-to-become-famous director who has notabilized himself for a quantum of quirkiness.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
A divorce lawyer falls in love with one of his clients.
Not an otherworldly masterpiece, but still it has elegance and wit in sufficient amounts.
Rating: 54
Not an otherworldly masterpiece, but still it has elegance and wit in sufficient amounts.
Rating: 54
Sunday, May 02, 2010
The Piano Tuner of EarthQuakes (2005)
An opera singer is abducted by an evil scientist and taken to his castle at an uninhabited island. Once there he sents for a piano tuner to fix his music-generating automata.
Quite dull oneiric piece with some artistic visuals.
Rating: 33
Quite dull oneiric piece with some artistic visuals.
Rating: 33
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