The Fortune (1975)

Second viewing.

The 1920s. A married man seduces a rich young woman and convinces her to elope to California, only in order to do it he must get around the Mann act which punishes who carries a woman across state borders "for immoral purposes". He gets around it by marrying his sweetheart to a friend, a stupid fellow who is a little greedy as well.

Funny farce with moments of brilliance.

Rating: 69 (unchanged)

Radioland Murders (1994)

In the heyday of radio, the premiere night of a network station is beset by a series of murders at the studio facilities.

Hysterical comedy, with excellent technique and relentlessly witty dialogue.

Rating: 60

Fierce Creatures (1997)

A corporate mogul sends one of his new executives (a woman), along with his son, whom he hates, to England to run a zoo who has been recently under new management. The zoo's staff enters in conflict with the American managers (as they had with the recently empowered English one).

Mildly entertaining comedy which is critical of corporate capitalism. Despite the good ideas, the screenplay is not in the least sophisticated, the humor is strained, and the ending, which was redone based on viewers' rejection of the former one, is the strainedest, unfunniest part of the movie.

Rating: 39

Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008) (TV)

Drama about a couple's disagreement about making a cochlear implant on their son.

Well-made and has a fascinating subject, which, in general terms, is analyzed in Wells' short story The Country of the Blind. On the particular universe of deaf people, there is also a splendid documentary called Sound and Fury. The open ending seems a chickening out.

Rating: 51

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

Santa Claus is looking for a substitute and finds him in a TV actor whose show has just been cancelled. But the guy has another job offer and is reluctant to take Santa's. Ernest is a taxi driver who serves as Santa's helper in his task. There is also a young runaway girl who joins them.

Bad comedy, not even children will have fun with this.

Rating: 17

Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988)

Col. Braddock witnesses the fall of Saigon. He is married to a Vietnamese woman at the occasion. He mistakenly thinks she dies during those events. Many years later he is looked up by a priest who works in Vietnam with Amerasian children.

Reasonably well-made yet derivative. The insanity of the plot may be construed as surrealism.

Rating: 35

Mean Streets (1973)

Second viewing.

In New York, a guy is some sort of debt collector for his uncle. His best friend is an irresponsible fellow who owes money to everyone. A better, more comprehensive synopsis is given on IMDb, and I will transcribe it here:

--beginning of quote--
The future is set for Tony and Michael - owning a neighbour- hood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York city's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. He's probably too nice to succeed. In love with a woman his uncle disapproves of (because of her epilepsy) and a friend of her cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all - he can't reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained future. Written by Dave Cook <cookd@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca>
--end of quote--

In my first viewing I could not connect to this film. I think I get its style better now, anyway I had a good time watching it. It is very predictable what the story will unfold to, the important is how it happens. There are several unexpected microevents which are pretty insignificant to the plot itself but add to the film's mood which shifts between humorously realistic and lyrically intimate. Keitel's character is not without a certain kinship to the one he played in Fingers a few years later; in both cases you see a man overburdened by his environment and by one or more persons around him.

Rating: 68 (up from 39)

Dirty Harry (1971)

Second viewing.

A San Francisco police officer investigates a series of crimes committed by a lunatic who demands payment so that he will not kill a certain person or persons.

A thriller which depicts the policeman's angst stemming from the various vicissitudes to which he is exposed: the legal system, low salaries, deficient sex life, etc. An interesting film, and very well made.

Rating: 54 (up from 49)

Le colonel Chabert (1994)

English title: Colonel Chabert.

Based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac (1st ed. 1844).

A man given as dead on the war returns to claim a share of his possessions. His wife remarried to an ambitious man.

A tale of ambition and the fragility of human bonds. The cinematography is gorgeous. It is well directed too.

Rating: 52

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Second viewing.

Riggs and Murtaugh fight a South African gang of drug dealers led by a diplomat who hides behind his diplomatic immunity. While they do it they must also look after a key witness in a drug case.

A frantic comedy with nonstop action, with a racism subtheme.

Rating: 50 (up from 40).

Il bidone (1955)

English title: The Swindle

The exploits of three men who make a living out of swindling poor people out of their money. Their leader is a middle-aged man, whose relationship with his daughter becomes sort of the focal point at around midmovie.

*SPOILERS*
Second viewing. I was not very impressed. The characters act for the viewer, example: 'Carlo' is a struggling painter, so he is shown making observations about a landscape, comparing it to a Corot; Roberto is always singing (that is his intended career); etc. The film is very easy to watch and, concessions being made about the points mentioned, well directed. Another interesting aspect is the moral ambiguity of the main character, shown in the ending of the movie: he tries to be a good father even at the moral cost of fleecing both a poor family and his crime partners.
There is an allegorical level to Il bidone which I am not sure anyone has remarked. On that level, its theme is cinema itself. The criminal activity performed by the swindlers has a necessary component of staging which makes it akin to the theatrical art (and by extension to cinema). The two auxiliary members -- the would-be painter and the would-be singer -- symbolize respectively the visual and aureal artistic ideals which a cinematic work of art should aspire to. By the end of the movie they have defected the crime life, presumably to pursue their art. The older man, devoid of their assistance, must resort to other persons. It all goes wrong, signalling the fate of cinema itself should it forsake its artistic potential to focus on profit alone. The attempt to divert the money for a good cause will be curtailed by the businessmen (criminals). So, what it is saying is: when cinema becomes dominated by the business side, Art will necessarily be crushed.

Rating: 60 (down from 70)

Hallam Foe (2007)

A teenage boy lives in social isolation and antagonizes his stepmother on account of his mother's death. He also has developed voyeuristic habits. One day he packs his things and leaves for Edinburgh where he finds a job and meets his mother's lookalike.

Not exactly the smartest film of all times, nor the most original, but I found myself watching it painlessly, and especially enjoying Forlani's performance. She builds a very sexy character. It is curious to observe how several hitchcockian themes and imagery (from Vertigo, Rear Window, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Saboteur, and who knows what more) were incorporated into a film which is very non-hitchcockian in style.

Rating: 51

Ruby (1992)

A drama based on the final period of Jack Ruby's life. He was a club owner in Dallas who got involved with the Cosa Nostra and ended up killing Lee Oswald. The film invents a female dancer whom Ruby takes under his wings.

A fine film, but its plot at every moment leaves the less knowledgeable viewer with a sensation of incomplete understanding about what is going on. The fictitious relationship with Candy serves the story well, the film is well written and very well directed. A study on the loser.

Rating: 57

Snake Eyes (1998)

Second viewing at least.

At a boxing event an attempt is made against the life of the Secretary of State. An investigation is carried out by a corrupt police officer, who is a childhood friend of the security chief. A conspiracy is unraveled.

The first half-hour or so is one of the most dazzling pieces of cinema in history, and that alone would put to shame the IMDb 5.9 rating, but let us not get into sordid affairs like the masses' tastes. It would be next to impossible to keep the film on that initial level, but the fact is that it is good from start to finish. Cage is very much at home in his part, and Sinise's performance is also anthological. One of the best-directed, best-written films of the 90s, not easy to grasp fully in a single viewing perhaps, but worth the effort. Of course it is about corruption and evil and levels of corruption and evil, and smart as hell at that. Enough said, watch it.

Rating: 83 (unchanged)