Sunday, January 31, 2010

Combat!: The Partisan (1967) (TV)

The Germans bomb a site where the allied soldiers are camping. Saunders gets a superficial injury and Caje a more serious one; the latter is taken prisoner. Saunders gets help at a blind woman's house.

King Kong (1976)

An oil-searching expedition to a remote uncharted island unveils a mysterious community which sacrifices young girls to a gigantic ape.

The musical score is good. Almost nothing else is, though. Even so, somehow, it keeps itself out of dullness, barely. And since we are at it, Kong was obviously a bad guy. He killed countless previous women, which per se rules out any kind of sympathy I could have for him. And there should be a reasonable suspicion that he was a racist, since it took a white woman to make him fall in love, after those countless natives whom he just slaughtered.

Rating: 36

Transsiberian (2008)

A young American couple decides to make a trip by train through Siberia. On the train they are made to share a cabin with another young couple, who perhaps is up to no good.

Thriller filled with absurd or improbable situations, yet, despite of that, easy to watch and suspenseful on occasion.

Rating: 48

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Bloody Mama (1970)

A family of criminals consisting of a woman and her four sons ravages Chicago in the 30s.

Exploitative and cheaply made, with a marginal interest for the comical effect which emanates from its outrageous content. The relation with the real people bearing the characters' names is minimal.

Rating: 40

Defiance (2008)

Two Jewish brothers, living in Poland in 1941, decide to take refuge in the woods. There they assemble a community of people, and must face the hardships of survival and the threat of the Nazis.

It has an interesting subject, but the approach is rather insipid and dull. Some departures from fact are justifiable only by the melodramatic effect.

Rating: 43

Class Action (1991)

A lawsuit involving an alleged defect in a car model which would make it explode has father and daughter in opposite sides as prosecutor and defense lawyer, respectively.

This is my second viewing of this film.

Solid entertainment, with perhaps minor improbabilities, but I am not a legal expert, so I may be wrong about this.

Rating: 56 (unchanged)

Luther (2003)

The life of a monk in the 16th century who rebelled against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences; he eventually founded a separate Church.

Highly edulcorated and fictionalized biopic, which fails to convince and feels like a soap opera much of the time.

Rating: 20

Gran Torino (2008)

An elderly widower befriends his neighbors of Vietnamese Hmong ehtnicity.

Quite ridiculous, bordering on self-parody on several occasions.

Rating: 15

Amen. (2002)

Based on the play "Der Stellvertreter" (The Deputy), by Rolf Hochhuth, first staged in 1963.

A chemical engineer who, in Nazi Germany, was responsible for the production of gas for extermination camps, tries to stop the killings via the Lutheran church at first, and then via the Catholic church.

Interesting story, based on true events and characters, with, it seems, minor fictionalizations. A film which deals with the ironies of fate and the limits of individual and collective action in war times. The situation has some similarities with the one depicted in Die Fälscher. One minor caveat is due, regarding the misleading publicity poster, which implies a connection between Christian organizations and the Nazi regime. The film never makes that connection, but rather presents a balanced view, with all its nuances and details.

Rating: 63

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cinderella Man (2005)

In the American Depression years, a ex-boxer who has been banned from competition gets a second chance.

An extremely conventional melodrama.

Rating: 33

Two Flags West (1950)

In the final years of the American Civil War, some Southern prisoners obtain their freedom from jail under the condition of fighting to protect a frontier post from rebellious Native Americans. The post, however, is run by a neurotic officer who, among other things, has an unsound obsession toward his late brother's widow.

Made with the usual Hollywood competence, but marred by a poorness of dramatic scope which, particularly in the third act, brings forth some weary clichés (e.g., nobility of character triumphing over wartime allegiances, etc.).

Rating: 45

Bez konca (1985)

English title: No End.

In Poland, during the early nineteen-eighties, a widow is haunted by her late husband, a lawyer. The case of a former client of his, a political prisoner, is taken over by an experienced lawyer.

This is practically two films in one, a supernatural drama and a courtroom drama. Neither one is engaging. The haunting story is childish and ridiculous. The political story is unconvincing and its whole point is hard to detect. The direction is rigid in both. The only actor who manages to lend some personality into his character is Bardini, who plays the aging lawyer. A hard-to-sit-through film.

Rating: 16

O Rei da Noite (1975)

English title: King of the Night.

The film follows the life trajectory of a man spanning the 1930's, 40's and 50's in Rio de Janeiro. He falls in love with a beautiful woman but she is declared gravely ill, and committed to a sanitarium. He then has affairs with a prostitute-singer, and three sisters from a middle-class house, one of whom he marries.

Curious little film, which occasionally shows a primitive vigor, but is frequently spoiled by the extremely amateurish direction (it's a debut), which nevertheless is incapable of preventing good performances from the more experienced actors in it.

Rating: 39

Combat!: Encounter (1967) (TV)

With the help of an engineering officer, the squad is engaged in a mission to build a bridge over a river. The peace is upset with the arrival of a war correspondent who happens to be that officer's son.

Combat!: Anniversary (1967) (TV)

In a city which the allied and the Germans are fighting to gain control of, a lone lunatic starts killing men from both sides.

Combat!: Entombed (1967) (TV)

The squad gets trapped in a cave with an enemy squad.

Combat!: Gadjo (1966) (TV)

The squad encounters a group of gypsies.

Laissez-passer (2002)

English title: Safe Conduct.

A series of episodes in the lives of a screenwriter and an assistant director, during Occupation in France.

An uneven film, to begin with. The first episode almost made me stop watching it, it is so ridiculously ("belle, belle, belle" - get out of here...) overdone. As a rule , the Devaivre parts are better than the Aurenche ones (by the way they are practically two separate films shown as one). A non-negligible amount of scenes is virtually incomprehensible for the non-initiated in the persons and situations being depicted. The director does not believe in subtlety: take the scene where Devaivre is riding his bicycle in the countryside, and a pungent aria is played in the soundtrack to make it clear that the scene is supposed to be lyrical. For those willing to withstand these annoyances, an interesting film.

Rating: 57

La cena per farli conoscere (2007)

English titles: A Dinner for Them to Meet; The Get Together Dinner.

An over-the-hill third-rate Italian actor is forced by circumstances to receive help from his estranged daughters.

Defined as a "sentimental comedy". Bad acting abounds in it, the most evident exception being the main actor. The film is watchable, but far from brilliant, the most embarrassing moments being provided by the protagonist's "quirky" son-in-law, who is obsessed with women's hair. Perhaps the film is intended as a joke, the punchline being the protagonist's hilarious filmography which is displayed in the end. I notice that the three last sentences in this review are similarly structured with the word "being".

Rating: 33

Combat!: Cry for Help (1966) (TV)

The squad captures a German medic.

Combat!: The Furlough (1966) (TV)

Saunders meets a woman during his furlough and falls in love.