The Deep (1977)

A couple vacationing in Bermuda find some objects while scuba diving. One of the objects is an ampule which arouses the interest of a local drug dealer. They hire an experienced diver to guide them in a new visit to the site.

Perfectly anodyne adventure, filled with thrills of a predictable nature. It is expertly filmed, though.

Rating: 40

My Blue Heaven (1990/I)

An ex-mafioso decides to testify against his former colleagues and is put under government protection in a small town. He becomes a sort of mentor to his FBI custodian.

A naive comedy which oscillates between mildly funny and mildly annoying. Certain reverberations are felt in Find Me Guilty (2006).

Rating: 38

Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975)

English title: Seven Beauties.

The life story of an Italian man living in the Mussolini years. He kills his sister's pimp and fiancé, feigns madness, goes to war, deserts, is made a prisoner by the Germans.

A poor film, in every aspect but the acting. A sort of portrait, I think, of the "common man" of Italy, with his political ignorance, his sexist worldview, and, perhaps most basic of them all, his survival instinct. The mise-en-scene is at times awkward, the tone is highly caricatural, not my idea of fun, really.

Rating: 35

Tango & Cash (1989)

Two cops operating in Los Angeles are very different in style: one dresses slickly and is a kind of wealthy dilettante, and the other dresses very casually and is more of a working class type. The two happen to be on to the same drug case and are set up by the drug dealer who is behind the criminal operations. They end up doing time in the same prison.

Low-brow cop action drama, which has a minimal amount of entertaining value.

Rating: 33

Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)

Ernest is a janitor in a bank. He is summoned for jury duty. The defendant's boss is a prison inmate and Ernest's dead ringer. A switch is planned.

Both screenplay and direction are moderately competent. The Ernest persona is here explored to a certain amount of comicity.

Rating: 38

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

The life story of a man. He marries, joins the police force, finds out he is adopted, divorces, becomes a fulltime homosexual, quits the force, resorts to fraud for increasing his income, goes to prison, finds a new lover, etc.

A good film made of comical proceedings which weave a dramatic story. The paradox of the con man is that he chooses to be an outsider in order to be within the system (cf. Catch Me If You Can).

Rating: 60

Los Borgia (2006)

English title: The Borgias.

Historical drama about the notorious family of the Renaissance consisting of Pope Alexander VI and his children, the most remarkable of whom was Cesar, who intended to be the first king of Italy.

Dreadful compilation of a miniseries. Do not waste your time with this chopped-up monster. As for the complete miniseries, I wouldn't count on it being much better, based on this sample.

Rating: 11

Jade (1995)

The gruesome murder of a millionaire has as main suspect a psychologist who apparently leads a hidden sexual life.

Second viewing of this not very attractive thriller. It is competently made, though.

Rating: 41 (up from 40)

Spanglish (2004)

A Mexican woman with a small daughter is hired as housemaid to a dysfunctional family.

Insipid dramedy, which I saw for the second time.

Rating: 30 (up from 15)

Water (2005/I)

In 30's (I think) India, a child is considered a widow whose promised husband dies. She is obliged to perpetual chastity and is sent to a house where widows live.

Conventional drama about the retrograde customs of India.

Rating: 30

El ángel exterminador (1962)

English title: The Exterminating Angel.

A group of people gathering for a dinner is not able to leave the house, for no reason at all.

Second viewing. Interesting venture into absurdity. The style is a cross between Twilight Zone-ish and Buñuel-ish. I don't see the point of the elements apparently unrelated to the central situation, such as the bear, and the film's title.

Rating: 63

Tangshan dadizhen (2010)

English title: Aftershock.

A Chinese child is separated from her family after an Earthquake.

Melodrama without much interest. It is well-made, though.

Rating: 33

Extract (2009)

The owner of an extract (that's the name of a drink made of the juice of a fruit) manufacturing company hires a male prostitute to have sex with his wife, so that he may be guilt-free when pursuing extramarital affairs. His love target is a dangerous woman though.

Entertaining comedy; I laughed several times through it. And it provides a snapshot about the current situation of capitalism in the U.S..

Rating: 61

Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)

A summer camp janitor aspires to be camp counselor. A mining company wants to buy the property.

Extremely low-brow comedy. One might compare its view of native americans with that of They Died with Their Boots On, and see they don't differ much.

Rating: 13