The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

A capitalist is concerned about recent collective demonstrations on the part of his workers which display great hostility toward him. He decides to investigate the matter further.

A greatly absurd film in its dramatic solutions, yet somewhat interesting and fun while it is in the process of arriving at such solutions. This is a pattern which is almost invariably followed in American films up until the 1960s. One wonders if, at any rate, the film's material is not unusually liberal for its director, and then wonders further if it is not the writer-producer who is calling the shots (here and elsewhere), and then wonders some more if the compromising way in which conflicts are solved is not perfectly fit to acommodate all political views. The middleman is always punished in these films, and in this specific instance it's managers who get the worst in the end (policemen do not fare much better), while capital and labor dance together into eternal bliss. One finally wonders if that is so absurd after all, and if this is not exactly how real life is.

Rating: 51

Triangle: Remembering the Fire (2011)

Documentary about the fire that consumed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911, in which 146 persons died. This is a very well made documentary, which I recommend, if you are into historical stuff and such. You can also read the Wikipedia article on it. And this little take on the ethnic angle.

Killer Joe (2011)

Chris needs cash to settle a debt, so he plans to have his mother killed in order to collect the insurance. He talks with his father, who is now living with another woman, about it.

Adapted from a play which, in turn (and I speak based on the movie), seems to have cinematic influences on its theme and style. Not bad as a concept. The performances are excellent.

Rating: 53

Strait-Jacket (1964)

A woman is released after spending 20 years in an institution for the criminally insane. She moves in with her daughter and some relatives, in a farm house. Her adjustment to normal life is not without incidents.

Effective (and a bit crude) psychiatric thriller. Despite its obvious psychological simplifications, it is interesting to meditate afterwards about one's own reactions to the characters and events of the film.

Rating: 55

Just Cause (1995)

A professor is approached by a woman who says her son is to be executed for a crime he didn't commit. She pleads with him to help her son get a new trial and to defend him.

At a certain point of the movie, its outcome becomes, in general terms, predictable. That shortcoming notwithstanding, this is a reasonably entertaining cerebral criminal story with the subtheme of race relations in America.

Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.

Rating: 50

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

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

Maria is an American woman in her twenties who moves to Rome to work as a secretary at an overseas American agency (a fictitious one?). She is introduced to Anita, who is shortly quitting the agency and returning to America. Anita is friends with Frances, who is older and works as a private secretary for an American novelist living in Rome. An Italian translator who works at the agency carries a torch for Anita. Maria, in turn, develops an interest for an Italian prince.

Beautifully filmed, yet a little tame, dramatic depiction of some of the aspects of unmarried women's lives in the fifties. Compared with today, their life choices seemed quite limited. But do not ask me if they were less happy because of it -- how could I know?

Rating: 51 (up from 42)

Nancy Drew (2007)

A teenage girl who has a passion for detective work moves to Los Angeles, to a house where a famous actress once lived and where she died in mysterious circumstances.

It is mostly comprised of formulaic elements, yet imbued with a peculiar style. The characters are well defined through script and acting. On the whole, quite watchable.

Rating: 51

Encino Man (1992)

A high school kid finds a prehistoric man preserved within a block of ice in his back yard. He lodges him in his house and enrolls him in school, in the hopes that the newcomer will somehow increase his (the teenager's) popularity.

This was better than I expected based on its harsh reception. It is a wacky film, to be sure, one that makes you wonder how much of it was improvised and how much was scripted. I suppose Shore created much of his character's lines, but I cannot be sure. Anyway, this is not a masterpiece, but it is clearly not the monstrosity which some accused it to be. But you have to like wackiness, and apparently silly details, as opposed to a film where a lot goes on and everything makes perfect sense.

Rating: 50

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)

Chuck, a New York firefighter, with a bureaucratic problem which has left him without a pension plan, and not wishing to remarry on account of his still poignant memories of his late wife, decides on a risky plan: to fake a domestic partnership with his Fire Department colleague Larry.

A major letdown, devoid of real humor. Save for the actors, this is not worth your while.

Rating: 33

District 9 (2009)

A spaceship makes its way into Earth's proximity and finally just hovers above Johannesburg. After some time, a team is sent to investigate its contents, and finds a population of extraterrestrials inside it. Called 'prawns' due to their physical appearance, they are settled in an enclosed area in the town's outskirts. The local population's avertion to such intruders grows with time, leading the government to take measures.

A sociopolitical take on an old science fiction topos. Despite some interesting insights and a very strong central performance, it suffers from a poorly thought out screenplay. Some of the details strain credibility even for an exceedingly tolerant genre as science-fiction; furthermore, it eventually collapses into mindless action.

Rating: 44

Hashmatsa (2009)

English title: Defamation

Israeli documentary purporting to investigate the phenomenon of anti-semitism (this is dubious, see my clarifying comment below). Several angles are approached. A New York-based organization called Anti-Defamation League is more or less the main focus, and some of its activities are depicted. Another line of investigation consists of following a trip which takes some Israeli school kids to visit a former Nazi camp in Poland. Some American Jews are interviewed, as well as an Israeli opposition politician. Two scholars of names Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer, respectively, who (separately) wrote books about pro-Israel activities in the U.S.A., are interviewed.

This is an informative film, and funny too, on occasion. As some IMDB users wrote in a criticizing tone, this is not effective as an investigation of anti-semitism per se, because it doesn't really go to places where it is most intense. This is not, however, valid grounds for criticizing the movie, save that (maybe) it misleads the viewer about its purpose. As an exposé of the misuse of anti-semitism, on the other hand, this is a good movie.

(I do not rate documentaries numerically.)

As You like It (2006)

Based on a play by William Shakespeare estimated to have been written circa 1600.

A duke is overthrown and banished by his brother. Both dukes' daughters are friends to each other, and decide, along with some other courtiers, to flee the court for the neighboring forest, in search of the exiled duke. In their wanderings they will meet several persons.

This is said to have omitted a good deal of the original play (which I have not read), so I cannot say for sure what my appreciation of the source material would be. But, as it is, I found the whole literary concept and development quite anodyne, except for a few interesting ideas (e.g., the insight into how the two daughters' friendship might be politically harmful to the usurper). As for the properly cinematical aspects, the film is filled with annoying nonsense, such as casting blacks as some of the characters and making absolutely nothing of it. Well, Shakespeare wrote an entire play making the case that people are not color-blind, so I rest my case there.

Rating: 44

Tales of Manhattan (1942)

Second viewing; the first one was on September 30, 1990.

The film is comprised of six segments, connected only by a tail coat which changes hands from one story to the next. I have not been able to ascertain who wrote what in it, except for Donald Ogden Stewart, who is reported by Wikipedia to have written or co-written the last episode.

Story 1: A theater actor, after opening night, decides to pay a visit to his former lover, who is now married to an older man. Story 2: On her wedding day, a woman finds a compromising letter in the pocket of her fiancé's tail coat. Story 3: A nightclub pianist who aspires to a career in classical music gets an audition with a renowned conductor. Story 4: A homeless man receives an invitation for his Law School class reunion. Story 5: A crook is scheduled to give a temperance lecture at a society woman's house, but the drink has been tampered with by her husband. Story 6: Money from a robbery falls from a plane onto a poor rural community.

I love omnibus films, they are very easy to watch and rarely disappoint me. In this one, I liked all the stories but one. The connecting theme seems to be that event which suddenly changes the fate of a person or a group of persons. The stories have that touch of poetry and humor that is, I think, more usual in shorter stories than in longer ones. The one story I did not like is the one about the homeless man, which is very implausible and totally devoid of humor. And, since we are at it, I have a question (not that it matters much): after a lawyer is disbarred, how will he be able to practice again?

Rating: 60 (unchanged)