An advertising executive doesn't get promoted because she is single (her boss thinks people with attachments are less likely to move to rival companies). A work colleague tries to help her by spreading the news that she became engaged to a guy she appears with in a photo.
Watchable romantic comedy which is not actually very romantic, and isn't exactly funny. It is in fact a bit more amoral than the average Hollywood stuff, which is not necessarily a bad thing in itself. I guess it does not accurately portray the corporate environment, although there is a certain logic to the ideas and behaviors depicted. Not an unpleasant film, but not likely to grab you by the balls, either (sorry for the expression, lady readers, and ball-less male ones).
Rating: 46
Monday, February 24, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Based on the 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup. According to that book, Northup was a free black man who was conned by two white men and sold into slavery.
A pamphlet against slavery, with implausibilities which range from the obvious (e.g., a sailor killing a valuable slave with no reasonable cause) to the subtler (general psychological characterizations, details of the plot). An interesting review was published in the user review section of this film's IMDB page, under the nickname Ashley Blanner (but the correspondent user page identifies him (or her) as robinbishop34). Said review has several sections of text which are identical to another review written by American writer Steve Sailer.
Rating: 35
A pamphlet against slavery, with implausibilities which range from the obvious (e.g., a sailor killing a valuable slave with no reasonable cause) to the subtler (general psychological characterizations, details of the plot). An interesting review was published in the user review section of this film's IMDB page, under the nickname Ashley Blanner (but the correspondent user page identifies him (or her) as robinbishop34). Said review has several sections of text which are identical to another review written by American writer Steve Sailer.
Rating: 35
Philomena (2013)
A woman teams up with a journalist in the search for the son whom she had as a teenager and was taken away from her.
A further examination of the issue tackled in The Magdalene Sisters (2002), this time from another angle. Apart from other virtues and faults with which I will deal in a bit, this is a minor film, yet mostly watchable, except for some annoyingly overscored passages and a tendency to schmaltz at some points. The film's greatest virtues are the psychological characterization of the title character, and the performance that materializes it. Its major fault is, alas, something a bit embarrassing for me to talk about, considering my previous enthusiastic endorsement of The Magdalene Sisters. Fact is, a year ago a report by the Irish government has seriously put into question the allegations of that film, as you can read here. Thus, I am taking a more balanced view of Philomena, and it has some aspects which are a bit problematic. The demonization of Sister Hildegard is childish, particularly in the embarrassingly ridiculous scenes near the end. When you read that these scenes are entirely fictitious (that nun died before the investigation started), you get a sense of anti-Catholic persecution and bigotry just as evil as any hypothetical Catholic traits of the same kind. To wrap this review up, there is also a profoundly stupid dialogue between Philomena and the journalist in which she admits to having suspected her infant son (three years old, if I am not mistaken) of homosexual tendencies on account of how he looked in overalls (or whatever the name of that type of clothes is). No further comments.
Rating: 40
A further examination of the issue tackled in The Magdalene Sisters (2002), this time from another angle. Apart from other virtues and faults with which I will deal in a bit, this is a minor film, yet mostly watchable, except for some annoyingly overscored passages and a tendency to schmaltz at some points. The film's greatest virtues are the psychological characterization of the title character, and the performance that materializes it. Its major fault is, alas, something a bit embarrassing for me to talk about, considering my previous enthusiastic endorsement of The Magdalene Sisters. Fact is, a year ago a report by the Irish government has seriously put into question the allegations of that film, as you can read here. Thus, I am taking a more balanced view of Philomena, and it has some aspects which are a bit problematic. The demonization of Sister Hildegard is childish, particularly in the embarrassingly ridiculous scenes near the end. When you read that these scenes are entirely fictitious (that nun died before the investigation started), you get a sense of anti-Catholic persecution and bigotry just as evil as any hypothetical Catholic traits of the same kind. To wrap this review up, there is also a profoundly stupid dialogue between Philomena and the journalist in which she admits to having suspected her infant son (three years old, if I am not mistaken) of homosexual tendencies on account of how he looked in overalls (or whatever the name of that type of clothes is). No further comments.
Rating: 40
Saturday, February 22, 2014
L'homme du train (2002)
Title in English-speaking countries: Man on the Train.
Better translation for the title: Man from the Train.
A man arrives at a small town with the intent of robbing the local bank. He meets by chance a local who invites him to stay at his place. Between them an improbable friendship develops.
The essential idea behind the story is that everyone of us lives only half a life; our choices inevitably preclude experiences which are antagonistic in nature to them. The film has two men who chose opposite paths meet and contemplate what they have missed out of life's possibilities. An interesting film which could be reduced to half its size with profit. The girlfriend sections are irrelevant and frankly not well done at all (some of her lines are cringeworthy). The robber's quirky partner is a funny notion but, again, adds nothing to the film's essential point. The two main actors are perfect for the parts.
Rating: 50
Better translation for the title: Man from the Train.
A man arrives at a small town with the intent of robbing the local bank. He meets by chance a local who invites him to stay at his place. Between them an improbable friendship develops.
The essential idea behind the story is that everyone of us lives only half a life; our choices inevitably preclude experiences which are antagonistic in nature to them. The film has two men who chose opposite paths meet and contemplate what they have missed out of life's possibilities. An interesting film which could be reduced to half its size with profit. The girlfriend sections are irrelevant and frankly not well done at all (some of her lines are cringeworthy). The robber's quirky partner is a funny notion but, again, adds nothing to the film's essential point. The two main actors are perfect for the parts.
Rating: 50
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Sister Act (1992)
An important witness in a case against a gangster takes refuge in a convent. The contrast between her pagan way of life and that of the nuns is the basis for the humor.
Despite the inevitable (and hypocritical) "I came out of it a better person" kind of ending, it is obvious to me that, rather than being a case of nuns teaching values to an irreligious person, it is actually the other way around that prevails in this movie: it's Hollywood telling the Catholic Church how to behave in order to be "cool". Anyway, sticking to more prosaic matters, one IMDb user nicknamed winner55 pointed out an important flaw of this movie, namely, that the main character was written as a Latino woman, not a black one. And, I add, especially not the physical type embodied by its actual main actress. Anyway, the film went through seven screenwriters so as to ensure nothing remotely deviant from absolute blandness would happen in it. Of course, offending Catholics does not depart from that standard, as it's, as late writer Gore Vidal once brilliantly put it, "beating on a dead dog". But the direction is competent and, within its limits and considering its target audience, the film works.
Rating: 34
Despite the inevitable (and hypocritical) "I came out of it a better person" kind of ending, it is obvious to me that, rather than being a case of nuns teaching values to an irreligious person, it is actually the other way around that prevails in this movie: it's Hollywood telling the Catholic Church how to behave in order to be "cool". Anyway, sticking to more prosaic matters, one IMDb user nicknamed winner55 pointed out an important flaw of this movie, namely, that the main character was written as a Latino woman, not a black one. And, I add, especially not the physical type embodied by its actual main actress. Anyway, the film went through seven screenwriters so as to ensure nothing remotely deviant from absolute blandness would happen in it. Of course, offending Catholics does not depart from that standard, as it's, as late writer Gore Vidal once brilliantly put it, "beating on a dead dog". But the direction is competent and, within its limits and considering its target audience, the film works.
Rating: 34
Monday, February 17, 2014
Music and Lyrics (2007)
This concerns the efforts of a pop singer and composer who had a brief period of fame back in the 1980s and is now trying to revive his moribund career. Romantic interest is provided by a young woman whom he hires to help him with the lyrics, and who was once an aspiring writer.
The plot is thin as ice, but there is a certain charm in some of the dialogue, and the casting was felicitous. The music video that opens the film is a masterpiece of 80s style emulation, both in image and in sound.
Rating: 41
The plot is thin as ice, but there is a certain charm in some of the dialogue, and the casting was felicitous. The music video that opens the film is a masterpiece of 80s style emulation, both in image and in sound.
Rating: 41
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Seven Up! (1964)
Documentary. A number (twenty, it is said at some point, I didn't count) of seven-year-old British children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds are brought together during one day of leisure. They go to the zoo and other places. They are also interviewed.
This is the first installment of a series of films featuring the same persons, and made at intervals of seven years; in the latest film to date the subjects are 56, I think. In this first installment, the narration and questioning of the children reflect the transitional ideology of the 1960s, and embody the adult's viewpoint of the world. These children are simply viewed as adult prototypes, not as children. The fact that they are children shows of course in their answers, and the result is sometimes quite funny; sometimes you can see they were coached by their parents, and that is funny too. In those days the U.K. was not nearly as multicultural and multiracial as it is today, but the mindframe was already shifting, as evidenced by the question about how the children feel about persons of color; it is obvious from the answers that then this was exclusively a concern of adults (and, I speculate, of few of them). An enigmatic moment arises when, after this question is posed to some white kids and they answer it, the scene shifts to a different place and, without explicitly showing the question, we see another interviewee, a mixed-race kid, say that "they are pretty much like myself" (quoted from memory).
This is the first installment of a series of films featuring the same persons, and made at intervals of seven years; in the latest film to date the subjects are 56, I think. In this first installment, the narration and questioning of the children reflect the transitional ideology of the 1960s, and embody the adult's viewpoint of the world. These children are simply viewed as adult prototypes, not as children. The fact that they are children shows of course in their answers, and the result is sometimes quite funny; sometimes you can see they were coached by their parents, and that is funny too. In those days the U.K. was not nearly as multicultural and multiracial as it is today, but the mindframe was already shifting, as evidenced by the question about how the children feel about persons of color; it is obvious from the answers that then this was exclusively a concern of adults (and, I speculate, of few of them). An enigmatic moment arises when, after this question is posed to some white kids and they answer it, the scene shifts to a different place and, without explicitly showing the question, we see another interviewee, a mixed-race kid, say that "they are pretty much like myself" (quoted from memory).
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
This Above All (1942)
Second viewing; first one was on January 11, 1992.
A working-class deserter and an aristocrat who joined the WAF have an affair during World War II.
Wartime propaganda aimed at disencouraging desertion. Of course, one can always view it as a psychological study of sexual pressure and other pressure that lead a person to finally complying with the sad business of fighting in a war. The use of the title expression, from Shakespeare, is an example of how a lie may be disguised as the truth through sheer emotionalism; in my perception, the case of the main character is such that being "true to himself" implies precisely following his first line of action, that is, deserting; he only diverts from it because of the abovementioned pressures, and then he of course is not being "true to himself". On the more prosaic aspects of dramatic efficacy and verisimilitude, the film falls short, this being the most incompetent deserter of history (unless of course he wanted to get caught); the movie's "highlight" of badness is the female protagonist's speech about England. The author of the source novel died in a plane crash while on Army duty, a case of poetic justice.
Rating: 25 (up from 20)
A working-class deserter and an aristocrat who joined the WAF have an affair during World War II.
Wartime propaganda aimed at disencouraging desertion. Of course, one can always view it as a psychological study of sexual pressure and other pressure that lead a person to finally complying with the sad business of fighting in a war. The use of the title expression, from Shakespeare, is an example of how a lie may be disguised as the truth through sheer emotionalism; in my perception, the case of the main character is such that being "true to himself" implies precisely following his first line of action, that is, deserting; he only diverts from it because of the abovementioned pressures, and then he of course is not being "true to himself". On the more prosaic aspects of dramatic efficacy and verisimilitude, the film falls short, this being the most incompetent deserter of history (unless of course he wanted to get caught); the movie's "highlight" of badness is the female protagonist's speech about England. The author of the source novel died in a plane crash while on Army duty, a case of poetic justice.
Rating: 25 (up from 20)
Friday, February 07, 2014
Django Unchained (2012)
A bounty hunter and a former slave team up, and after some time working together go after the slave's wife with the intention of buying her freedom.
Epic melodrama with interesting characters, yet extremely unimaginative action. In fact, it seems in recollection that there is only one type of resolution to every conflict: the hero exterminates a dozen or so antagonists with serial shooting. And although "epic" is the general tone of the work, there is no care whatsoever in respecting that tone; an example of tone-breaking is a sequence depicting a Ku Klux Klan raid which follows the Mel Brooks line of humor.
Rating: 50
Epic melodrama with interesting characters, yet extremely unimaginative action. In fact, it seems in recollection that there is only one type of resolution to every conflict: the hero exterminates a dozen or so antagonists with serial shooting. And although "epic" is the general tone of the work, there is no care whatsoever in respecting that tone; an example of tone-breaking is a sequence depicting a Ku Klux Klan raid which follows the Mel Brooks line of humor.
Rating: 50
Sunday, February 02, 2014
Lock Up (1989)
A prisoner nearing the completion of his term for a minor crime is transferred to another prison run by a man with a deep grudge against him.
Prison drama expounding the political opposition of individualism versus civilization, the fundamental dilemmma of which is hammered down the viewer's head in a histerically exaggerated and repetitive manner. If all institutions are corrupt - it implies - fighting them in a more than strictly individualistic way will inevitably be corrupted too. The way these things are resolved in movies like this is always felicitous for the protagonist and unsatisfactory for the viewer.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 33
Prison drama expounding the political opposition of individualism versus civilization, the fundamental dilemmma of which is hammered down the viewer's head in a histerically exaggerated and repetitive manner. If all institutions are corrupt - it implies - fighting them in a more than strictly individualistic way will inevitably be corrupted too. The way these things are resolved in movies like this is always felicitous for the protagonist and unsatisfactory for the viewer.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 33
Saturday, February 01, 2014
La voie lactée (1969)
English title: The Milky Way.
Second viewing; first one was between the beginning of 1983 and the end of 1986.
Two wanderers follow the Way of St. James, an ancient pilgrimage road which crosses France and ends in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). They encounter many people along the way, and go through many incidents, all somehow related to the history of dissensions in and from the Catholic Church.
It is like a History of Catholicism through its heresies. Mostly an intelligent film, occasionally funny, but also occasionally frivolous, like in the joke about Jesus' beard. Upon my original viewing, I didn't enjoy it as much as now, and I vaguely remember having then reasoned that making fun of religion is unfit for a Catholic and irrelevant for a nonbeliever. I now think this is a wrong assessment of the film. To begin with, what is done here is not simply "making fun", but rather postulating an alternative history of one religion, by the angle of its problematic, or, if you prefer, more interesting points. And the kind of events and ideas depicted are exactly the stuff surrealism is made of.
Rating: 58 (up from 38)
Second viewing; first one was between the beginning of 1983 and the end of 1986.
Two wanderers follow the Way of St. James, an ancient pilgrimage road which crosses France and ends in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). They encounter many people along the way, and go through many incidents, all somehow related to the history of dissensions in and from the Catholic Church.
It is like a History of Catholicism through its heresies. Mostly an intelligent film, occasionally funny, but also occasionally frivolous, like in the joke about Jesus' beard. Upon my original viewing, I didn't enjoy it as much as now, and I vaguely remember having then reasoned that making fun of religion is unfit for a Catholic and irrelevant for a nonbeliever. I now think this is a wrong assessment of the film. To begin with, what is done here is not simply "making fun", but rather postulating an alternative history of one religion, by the angle of its problematic, or, if you prefer, more interesting points. And the kind of events and ideas depicted are exactly the stuff surrealism is made of.
Rating: 58 (up from 38)
Red Sonja (1985)
Based on a character created by Robert E. Howard, which first appeared in 1934.
In a savage land, Sonja vows revenge against the Queen for having killed her parents and subjected her to rape by soldiers. The Queen steals a magical object (an "orb", as described in IMDB) which gives its owner immense power and was in the process of being destroyed or neutralized because of the dangers it posed to the world. A gallant warrior offers his help to Sonja but will have to overcome her aversion to men.
Undistinguished epic with occasional comic bits. The production design is reasonably attractive, and the overall narrative is bearable.
Rating:33
In a savage land, Sonja vows revenge against the Queen for having killed her parents and subjected her to rape by soldiers. The Queen steals a magical object (an "orb", as described in IMDB) which gives its owner immense power and was in the process of being destroyed or neutralized because of the dangers it posed to the world. A gallant warrior offers his help to Sonja but will have to overcome her aversion to men.
Undistinguished epic with occasional comic bits. The production design is reasonably attractive, and the overall narrative is bearable.
Rating:33
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
