Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)

An FBI agent who has become a celebrity quits field work to be a sort of public relations person for the Bureau. However, when a beauty queen who is a friend of hers, and the latter's manager, are kidnapped, she decides to investigate the case at her own initiative, with the help of her new partner, a martial arts expert with antisocial tendencies.

Mildly comical sequel to a mildly comical film. The investigative plot has some interesting ideas.

Seen dubbed in Portuguese.

Rating: 45

La religieuse (1966)

English title: The Nun

Based on the novel by Denis Diderot (written 1780, published 1796).

A young woman is placed since her infancy in a convent, and is persuaded to stay there as a nun. She tries to be released.

Great movie, very well made. The film intends to be a sort of exposé of certain practices which allegedly were common at the time when the source novel was written (some dispute this, saying these practices were already rare or nonexistent at that time),  but it transcends that aspect. And it is not a condemnation of the Church or of nunneries (nor their absolution): the moral problems that it presents are mostly outside the convent's walls and outside the ecclesiastical sphere (adultery, unequality between the sexes, etc.). As a psychological study, the film shows human behavior within confined spaces, shedding light on some darker aspects of human nature. Philosophically, one is stimulated to question the meaning of freedom, and how free a person can really be.

Rating: 72

Guess Who (2005)

A black woman introduces her white boyfriend to her parents, causing a certain discomfort.

This is, in a way, a necessary remake, introducing a necessary change in the recipe. The script is not the brightest thing you ever saw, but it is decent, and so is the execution. Mac's strong presence is one of the movie's mainstays.

Rating: 50

Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

Second viewing; the first was on September 23, 1990.

A group of aerial combatants who do daytime precision bombing in World War II is having a low performance and the top brass decides to replace their commander.

The question of verisimilitude is bound to be raised regarding this film. On the other hand, considering that one of the writers was a real flyer, one is allowed to evoke the old saying, that truth is stranger than fiction. I read that the film is used in leadership courses. Well, truth is definitely stranger than fiction. At any rate, it is hard to deny that this is a cinematically effective work.

Rating: 55 (unchanged)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

A writer visiting Paris with his fiancée has a time travel experience when he is alone in the street one night, in which he is taken back to the 1920s and meets some famous people from that era. He undergoes that sort of transportation for several subsequent nights.

A mostly inconsequential film, with a hackneyed premise and not much structural consistency between the various plot threads. There is little in it to distinguish it from a piece of touristic propaganda.

Rating: 33

Firehouse Dog (2007)

Canine actor is lost and given as dead; he is found by a firefighter unit.

The dramatic aspects are formulaic but the criminal plot has intelligent ideas. Overall it is reasonably entertaining. The target audience seems to be children, but adults may enjoy it.

Seen mostly dubbed in Portuguese.

Rating: 51

Allegro non troppo (1976)

Second viewing; the first one was between 1983 and 1986.

Animation shorts each of which illustrates a musical piece, attempting to translate the music into images. Between the animation segments there is a live-action narrative which comically depicts the musical performance and cartoon drawing processes.

Fairly successful endeavor which follows on the footsteps of Fantasia, only in a more comical style. I suppose the most remarkable segment is the one which matches Ravel's Bolero to the evolution of species; it attains genuine surrealism. I didn't care much for the live-action bits though.

Rating: 58 (up from 52)

Kindergarten Cop (1990)

A cop is trying to locate a drug dealer and murderer's wife, and persuade her to testify against her husband. Knowing the city she lives in, he and his female partner go there planning to place her undercover as a kindergarten teacher. Things do not go exactly as planned though.

Consistently watchable comedy. It could be shorter, it seems; some minor subplots concerning the kids at school are tedious and could be excised without harming the film. But its overall structure is interesting, and I think the screenplay handles the situations it creates with sufficient intelligence and at times even with wit.

Rating: 50

Wernher von Braun (1960)

Alternate title: I Aim at the Stars: the Wernher von Braun Story.

Biopic about the pioneering rocket engineer who built the V-1 and V-2 bombs for the Nazis and, when the war ended, switched to the American side, and was responsible for the development of the American space program.

Quite ridiculous as nearly all biopics, and nevertheless I liked it sufficiently. Its bullshit is transparent for an experienced viewer (sorry for the self-compliment), rendering it ineffectual. And the film is moderately entertaining. There is an informative review by an Internet Movie Database user, which I will transcribe here. The information about availability should probably be disregarded as outdated, since I saw it on a magnificently sharp copy on cable TV.

*quote*
Wernher Von Braun: A Space Fantasty

Author: sprpick from Regina, Canada
26 February 2008

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

As Michael J. Neufeld's important new biography "Wernher Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War" demonstrates, Columbia Pictures "I Aim For The Stars" has only a passing relationship to reality.
Neufeld says that at first Von Braun was fascinated with the idea of a bio-pic when it was pitched to him by Columbia in the late '50s. He thought it would do a power of good for his ceaseless efforts to promote space travel to the American public. As production advanced, though, he realized the movie was going to draw unhealthy attention to his Nazi past and he was disenchanted by the hostile sub-text inserted by the screen-writers and director: that he was a well-meaning wimp who gave into Nazi evil.
He was no wimp, as the book shows, but he was far more involved with the Nazis than is shown in the movie.
Far from being the reluctant civilian member of the Nazis pressed into the Party late in the war, Von Braun, Neufeld says, was a sometimes uniformed member of the SS who was promoted and decorated several times.
The movie does correctly depict Von Braun being tossed into jail briefly for getting on the wrong side of Heinrich Himmler, but it probably wasn't as traumatic as this film suggests. Von Braun kept going on to bigger and better things in Germany right until the end of the war.
The movie doesn't touch at all on what was the most shameful part of Von Braun's life and career: his complicity in the atrocious treatment of slave labourers in the underground Dora rocket plant in Germany in 1944 and '45.
To this day, documentary film is frequently shown on TV of emaciated prisoners near dead but weeping in relief as they are liberated by Allied soldiers. A surprising amount of this footage was taken at Dora.
Von Braun generally disavowed any knowledge of prisoners being mistreated and executed in his rocket factories, but Neufeld suggests he actually knew quite a bit about it and felt guilty about it until the end if his life.
As Neufeld says, Von Braun loathed the movie (possibly out a guilty conscience) and tried to distance himself from it and forget the whole thing. Fortunately for Von Braun, any controversy that followed the release for "I Aim For The Stars" quickly blew over. It also helped relatively few people saw it because it was box office turkey, except in Germany where he remained a national hero.
The movie survives, although barely as a long undistributed (1992) VHS tape. I managed to see a bad dub on to DVD. And while on the whole, the movie is silly -- especially the bogus love story between the mythical British spy in Von Braun's rocket plant and an equally mythical rocket scientist "colleague" -- it is an interesting historical document that's given new currency by the Neufeld biography.
Hopefully, Columbia will see fit to re-issue it on an official DVD or at least make it available for download as that technology improves and becomes more widely available.
*unquote*

Rating: 53

The Three Caballeros (1944)

God only knows whether I have seen this one before, and when; parts of it seemed familiar. In any case, I am sure I did not see it after 1986.

Some segments are purely animated while others mix live-action and animation.

Several episodes set in various places in Latin America. Donald the duck, plus a parrot from Brazil and a rooster from Mexico, are the tourists.

The first half of this wartime diplomatic effort is unquestionably good, especially the opening story with the penguin that leaves Antarctica. The second half is uneven, with sparks of creativity interspersed with somewhat boring bits.

Rating: 53

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

A man who spent 8 months in a psychiatric hospital is released and goes to live with his parents. A friendly couple introduce him to a young widow who has also been through psychiatric treatment. She wants a romantic relationship with him, but he can only think of contacting his ex-wife, who has a restraining order on him.

Very feeble romantic comedy, pervaded by TV sitcom style, which I guess is somewhat of a trend in these days. I was going to say this was David and Lisa for the postmodern age, but reconsidered: the film isn't even good enough to deserve that kind of definition.

Rating: 20

Ladder 49 (2004)

The life of an American fireman. At the beginning of the film, he is on duty and gets trapped inside a building in flames; then, the film proceeds in flashbacks to tell his story since he joined the firefighting unit until the present situation.

A curious film, rather unfashionable for its time. Despite its simple structure and conventional approach, it has some basic honesty about it, has some well-made fire scenes, and has a very good central performance.

Rating: 53

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

A rocket crashlands off the coast of Sicily, and two men are rescued from it. A container with an extraterrestrial creature escapes into the sea and is picked by a boy.

The screenplay exists solely in function of the animation sequences with the creature. These sequences are well done, and provide what there is of entertainment in this film.

Seen on a colorized copy.

Rating: 35

First Men in the Moon (1964)

Second viewing; the first one was on June 4, 1991.

An expedition to the moon finds out that other humans had been there before. A search locates the only living member of that earlier trip, and he tells all about it.

A fun film, no matter how ridiculous it may seem today (and, I suspect, even at its own time). Jeffries' performance is especially good, the script is agile, the stop-motion animation effects are beautiful, etc.

Rating: 51 (up from 43)

Cinderella (1950)

I have probably seen it before; if so, it must have been before 1983 (it was certainly no later than 1986).

Based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

This is about that orphan, those step-relatives, that ball, that slipper, that prince. And of course they added some mice and a fat cat just to make it funny.

Delightful animation, where even bad taste is put to good use (I am thinking of the filtered voices for the mice, which some may find irritating but for me worked beautifully). There isn't much too say about the story, who would want the ugly to beat the beautiful through vileness? In a way, this story represents the spirit of democracy, regardless of the monarchical framework. And everything is told with creativity and first-rate animation artistry.

Rating: 72

Eyewitness (1981)

Second viewing; the first was between 1983 and 1986.

Late one night, the janitor in an office building discovers the body of a murdered businessman who had an office in that building. A friend of the janitor's came to the building to see him on that afternoon; it so happens that this friend recently got fired from a job under said businessman. A TV reporter on whom the janitor has a crush is covering the case.

No doubt this is a very contrived plot, but I will not explain this further because I do not want to spoil the potential fun for those who have not seen the movie yet. The film is as well directed as possible within the script's limitations, and that makes for enjoyable set-pieces. But as a whole it is far from convincing.

Rating: 52 (down from 64)

A Margem (1967)

Second viewing; the first was on August 7, 1990.

English title: The Margin

Several people wander more or less aimlessly at and in the vicinities of a riverside shanty town: a middle class outsider who has just arrived on a boat, a prostitute who has wedding fantasies about him, an oligophrenic man holding a daisy, another prostitute whom the oligophrenic loves, etc.

This might be categorized as a cinematic poem, since there is next-to-no narrative, and the tone is decidedly lyrical. I loved it on my previous viewing, but could not keep the same level of admiration on my second one. It is an uneven film, with the beginning half hour faring slightly better than the rest of it. Overall, it is an interesting film, genuinely poetic, and, despite the director's alleged inexperience, intelligently filmed. At times one senses a certain artificiality, and then the film's limitations cannot be ignored. Technical issues, too, mostly related to badly edited sequences, although not serious enough to compromise the film, are occasionally a burden to the viewer. And sometimes it is simply too hard to understand what is going on with the characters. The score is a major factor on this film's artistic status. The composer and performers might even be considered co-authors.

Rating: 60 (down from 77)

Man in the Shadow (1957)

The murder of a ranch worker is witnessed by a colleague of his, whom I suppose is the titular "man in the shadow". It is a big ranch, and without its economic presence the adjacent town would pretty much vanish. The sheriff's sense of duty prevails.

I guess this could be classified as a morality tale, although in this instance private morality is inextricably linked to political conscience. It is a low-budget film, but perhaps that is just as well; otherwise it would drag on and on, instead of imposing fast resolutions. As for verisimilitude, there is little of it, of course, but then again I haven't seen many big-budget slow-moving films which fared much better in that department. Not much more to say about this, except that it is well made and easy to watch.

Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.

Rating: 51

Solntse (2005)

English title: The Sun

The film portrays the emperor of Japan, depicting the events in his life during a few days following the dropping of atom bombs in Japan.

Borges once said (I am not completely sure whether he was not quoting someone, but I think he was not) that defeat is aesthetically superior to victory. I think this is, at least in part, what drives this film. Unfortunately, that thought alone cannot a good film make: it takes some talent to it, which the filmmakers, at least in this instance, do not display in sufficient amounts. Another notion which may have inspired them is Arendt's "banality of evil", since the film seems to place great importance to the intimate, the quirky -- in short the small. Not having read that aforementioned philosopher, though, I always wondered how her report about a Nazi bureaucrat came to be regarded as pertinent to evil in all its materializations and agencies. Here, for instance, a viewer might have a hard time believing that the man who commanded a whole nation through atrocity after atrocity was "a mere child". Perhaps what I have written so far may produce the impression that I loathed the film, and I want to correct this right away, for it has some level of professionalism to it, and even manages to achieve a certain level of storytelling coherence, but that is as far as it goes. Overall, it is a pretty poor film.

Rating: 41

The Sword in the Stone (1963)

Second viewing, probably; previous viewing or viewings, if any, occurred no later than 1982.

In medieval England, a boy meets a wizard who decides to give him an education. Concurrently to that, there is an upcoming tournament in London the winner of which will be crowned king of England. The boy's older brother is very excited about it.

Although I must admit up front that this film has almost nothing to do with medieval history, and in fact it appears to have little to do with any one thing in particular, it is still a moderately enjoyable one, which will appeal to kids, and will not be disagreeable to adults. It is basically a series of set-pieces, and if I had to state its theme I would be forced to say it is people morphing into animals, due to the amount of screen time devoted to that phenomenon. This is bound to be disputed, however, by those who will prefer to say its theme is education. Well, as I said, this is hardly what we would expect from the basic plotline and time setting, but, well, that is how films are, or, anyway, those aimed at lower age audiences. It is visually pleasing, with nice watercolor-like backgrounds, and has funny characters, so I guess that is what one should expect from it, and little more.

Rating: 51

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Second viewing; the first was on August 5, 1990.

A traveling salesman persuades a group of revivalists to take him in as a preacher, and he becomes an instant sensation.

I cannot think of much to say about this film. I liked it a little less than I had on my previous viewing. Within certain limits, it is a correct film, which exposes some social phenomena of America in the 1920s. The title character is an interesting one, and I think the film does a good job of portraying him with his many dimensions. But some of the dramatic developments are simply not convincing enough, particularly the episode with the prostitute, and other ones are a bit dull or too caricatural. I guess the revival ceremonies are the highlights of the movie, and some are quite well done. The "good cop, bad cop" reference was a smart insight about Christianism.

Rating: 67 (down from 88)

Holy Man (1998)

A shopping TV executive is having troubles with his sales rates. A drifter with a sort of religious or philosophical agenda whom he met by chance becomes an overnight hit when he appears unexpectedly on one of the live TV shows. But some ethical dilemmas shall ensue.

The form is traditional, with dramatic solutions which one can see coming well ahead. I frankly expected more of a strategy from the title character, who, by the way, is not the main one (this would be the sales executive). This is not that kind of movie, though -- there is no card up the screenwriter's sleeve. On the other hand, what there is of satire -- especially the sections showing the TV network's broadcast material -- is quite enough to assess the state of things. The finest aspect of the movie is the main character's lines of dialogue, especially around the beginning of the movie, and Goldblum's perfect rendition of them -- the rest of the cast is good also. A watchable film which has some interesting things to say about the TV shopping phenomenon, and also about "waving back".

Rating: 56

Speed Racer (2008)

A young automobile racer -- whose older brother died in mysterious circumstances while racing -- gets in touch with the corrupt world of corporate business when he is offered to sign in with a big corporation.

A mixed bag in terms of tone -- juvenile, at times even infantile, regarding style, character definition and visual design, yet with a semblance of seriousness in its theme. The seriousness cannot resist analysis, because auto racing is a very peculiar sport, in which huge compromises simply are inevitable, part of the game even, and machines are often of equal (some say greater) importance as humans. That renders some plot points and the protagonist's inner conflicts rather implausible. I guess this film is only for those who can enjoy, or at least withstand, unbridled frivolity.

Seen mostly dubbed in Portuguese.

Rating: 35