Ernest and some kids awaken a troll who was sleeping for centuries. The creature starts kidnapping kids and turning them into wooden dolls. He plans to turn them into his private army of trolls.
This film's verbal invention and marginal satirical charges make it a moderately enjoyable experience.
Rating: 50
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
China Seas (1935)
Based on the novel by Crosbie Garstin.
A ship going from Hong Kong to Singapore has pirates on it. The captain is harassed by a vulgar singer and is in love with a refined socialite.
The plot is uninspired. The storm sequences are impressive. Robert Benchley is the comic relief playing a drunkard.
Rating: 45
A ship going from Hong Kong to Singapore has pirates on it. The captain is harassed by a vulgar singer and is in love with a refined socialite.
The plot is uninspired. The storm sequences are impressive. Robert Benchley is the comic relief playing a drunkard.
Rating: 45
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Scarecrow (1973)
Two drifters meet on the road, one is fresh out of jail and has plans for starting a business, the other is on his way to meet his infant son or daughter (he doesn't know which) whom he abandoned. They go through several adventures and misadventures.
The seventies were the manneristic decade, and this is a prime example. It was also the male actor's decade, and that is not unrelated to the former characteristic. I had watched this film before, but remembered next to nothing of it. Scarecrow achieves what it sets out to do, I guess: the characters are amusing, the set-pieces are amusing, the two leading players are in their prime, everything runs smoothly. It is a time capsule, both in form and in content.
Rating: 69 (unchanged)
The seventies were the manneristic decade, and this is a prime example. It was also the male actor's decade, and that is not unrelated to the former characteristic. I had watched this film before, but remembered next to nothing of it. Scarecrow achieves what it sets out to do, I guess: the characters are amusing, the set-pieces are amusing, the two leading players are in their prime, everything runs smoothly. It is a time capsule, both in form and in content.
Rating: 69 (unchanged)
Friday, May 11, 2012
Divided by Hate (1997) (TV)
In rural U.S.A., a family which aspire to become farmers struggle to make ends meet while they watch local farmers face ruin. A preacher draws the attention of the wife, who becomes a fanatic. Said preacher builds a closed community into which the wife moves with her children. The community members rob farm equipment, practice target shooting, and stock food. The husband tries to locate his wife and kids.
Telefilm of little consequence. It addresses a real problem of rural U.S., but the final captions ("still hopes to own a farm") give one the notion that bigger problems haven't been addressed.
Rating: 36
Telefilm of little consequence. It addresses a real problem of rural U.S., but the final captions ("still hopes to own a farm") give one the notion that bigger problems haven't been addressed.
Rating: 36
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Based on the novel "Les trois mousquetaires" (1st ed. 1844) by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet.
In 1625, a poor man from Gascogne travels to Paris intending to become a musketeer of king Louis XIII. He gets involves in the rivalry between the king and his prime-minister (actually the term is wrong, but that is what he is, functionally speaking, at least in the film), cardinal Richelieu. The bone of contention is war with England, which the prime-minister wants and the king does not (apparently).
My second viewing. This exceedingly lavish Hollywood production starts out gay and choreographic and grows more melodramatic as it proceeds. The plot is not to be taken seriously and has an emphasis on subaltern people taking the lead of the action (I guess this resonates with the petit-bourgeois public). The good and evil political axes are entirely arbitrary from a modern point-of-view, and are of course reinforced with characters' individual traits that settle the matter, so to speak. Taking as a reference the novel's summary on Wikipedia, the murder of Constance is different in the film and novel versions. In the novel, Constance is not in the same premises where De Winter is kept prisoner; she is killed later in the story, when both are interned in a convent.
Rating: 51 (up from 47)
In 1625, a poor man from Gascogne travels to Paris intending to become a musketeer of king Louis XIII. He gets involves in the rivalry between the king and his prime-minister (actually the term is wrong, but that is what he is, functionally speaking, at least in the film), cardinal Richelieu. The bone of contention is war with England, which the prime-minister wants and the king does not (apparently).
My second viewing. This exceedingly lavish Hollywood production starts out gay and choreographic and grows more melodramatic as it proceeds. The plot is not to be taken seriously and has an emphasis on subaltern people taking the lead of the action (I guess this resonates with the petit-bourgeois public). The good and evil political axes are entirely arbitrary from a modern point-of-view, and are of course reinforced with characters' individual traits that settle the matter, so to speak. Taking as a reference the novel's summary on Wikipedia, the murder of Constance is different in the film and novel versions. In the novel, Constance is not in the same premises where De Winter is kept prisoner; she is killed later in the story, when both are interned in a convent.
Rating: 51 (up from 47)
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Brewster's Millions (1985)
Based on the novel by George Barr McCutcheon (1st ed. 1902).
A baseball player inherits 300 million dollars subject to the condition that he spends 30 million in 30 days without accumulating or destroying assets.
A cerebral film on an economics theme. And an allegory of life itself, under an economical worldview. In such an allegorical reading, a month stands for an entire life and the protagonist's great-uncle stands for God (as such, it is a reworking of one of Christ's parables). The monetary values have been reportedly updated from the novel and former filmic avatars, but the style is decidedly antiquated. The cast is fine except for McKee, who is simply bad. Pryor is a comic actor who actually acts, and before you accuse me of pleonasm, compare him with Eddie Murphy, for example, who displays an almost invariable persona and a minuscule range. A watchable film, but too anachronistic for my taste.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese, and then rewatched its first half with the original audio.
Rating: 50
A baseball player inherits 300 million dollars subject to the condition that he spends 30 million in 30 days without accumulating or destroying assets.
A cerebral film on an economics theme. And an allegory of life itself, under an economical worldview. In such an allegorical reading, a month stands for an entire life and the protagonist's great-uncle stands for God (as such, it is a reworking of one of Christ's parables). The monetary values have been reportedly updated from the novel and former filmic avatars, but the style is decidedly antiquated. The cast is fine except for McKee, who is simply bad. Pryor is a comic actor who actually acts, and before you accuse me of pleonasm, compare him with Eddie Murphy, for example, who displays an almost invariable persona and a minuscule range. A watchable film, but too anachronistic for my taste.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese, and then rewatched its first half with the original audio.
Rating: 50
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