A Star Is Born (1976)

Based on the homonymous 1937 movie from a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson; that movie in turn shared several plot points with What Price Hollywood? (1932), based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns and Louis Stevens.

A declining rock star meets a struggling singer and starts a relationship with her. He promotes her work and she rises to stardom, whereas he sees his career fade.

A bad film in almost every aspect one can think of. In fact, I consider it quite a feat for a person or persons to have come up with so meticulously incompetent a job of work, and I think that gives it some kind of parodic value. There is one sequence, however, that I feel does not belong in it in any way: when the leading actress sings the beautiful Evergreen, composed by herself and a lyricist. It totally differs in style from the rest of the film. The recurrent attraction exerted by this story throughout the decades (4 films, 5 counting its 1932 cousin) is noteworthy. There must be some fundamental relevance about it. Note that in none of those 5 productions the gender of the two main characters has been reversed. Why do you thing that is? Maybe its appeal has something to do with a larger phenomenon affecting the sexes and their roles from the 20th century onwards?

Rating: 19

Kazaam (1996)

A genie who had been trapped for millennia is freed. He is found by Max, who is 12 and lives with his mom. She wants to get married with her new boyfriend, but Max rejects him. Max finds out that his father is in town and goes looking for him. His father is involved with gangsters. 

Unimaginative fantastic drama aimed at the youthful segment. It's all about second chances.

Rating: 25

Funny Lady (1975)

Fanny is a comic entertainer-singer. She meets composer-producer Billy and they start working together. They get married but their different projects put a distance between them. Also, Fanny could never get over a former love of hers.

Musical drama. This is one of those biopics about the life of stars whose main point seems to be that stars have no life. Well, anyway, there are songs and some smart dialogue, and at one point the titular character is at a polo field in Beverly Hills and says: "You can't keep up with the goyim!".

Rating: 32

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

A family moves to a house where macabre events took place. Jesse, the teenage son, has horrible nightmares with a monstrous murderer named Fred. Fred wants to use Jesse to commit murder. Lisa, who loves Jesse, tries to help him.

There's very little here in the way of excitement. The Wikipedia page of the film is actually more interesting than the film itself, what with all discussions about 'subtext' and the like. But the film, for all its lack of novel ideas, is fairly well directed, and may be viewed as a document of 1980s aesthetics and way of life.

Rating: 30

Une femme mariée (1964)

English title: A Married Woman.

A woman cheats on his husband, an aviator, with an actor.

When one follows a filmmaker's career, and that filmmaker is a complete author, that is an interesting experience. Someone's art ages in a similar manner to how a person ages. His youth films look like masterpieces when compared to his middle-age films, which in turn look like masterpieces when compared to his old age movies. But I stress: I am referring only to full authors: people who write original scripts and direct them. Well, to Une femme mariée, then. This film is an amusing critique of sixties' advertising and the effect they had on women; also amusing is the contrast between the protagonist's frivolous life and the matters which occupied the minds of reputedly serious people, emblematized by the topic of concentration camps. Not particularly brilliant, but overall interesting enough.

Rating: 51

Northanger Abbey (2007)

TV Movie. Based on the novel by Jane Austen, the first version of which was written in 1798-1799; it was revised in 1816-1817.

Catherine is invited by a couple to live with them for some time in another town. She meets Henry, whose father invites her to stay in their castle for a while. Catherine is led to believe there is a family secret.

While superficially this is just a costume drama which through a well-woven web of human interactions manages to grab and keep the viewer's attention, one is tempted to construe a deeper meaning in it as a moral tale, stating that love of money is intrinsically murderous.

Rating: 51

Westward Ho (1935)

John starts a vigilante group with the intent of finding the men who killed his parents and kidnapped his brother when John was still a child.

B-Western with a very simple plot. May be watched, may be skipped.

Rating: 33

Les Misérables (1998)

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862.

Jean is released on parole from prison, to where he was sent for stealing bread. He violates his parole and assumes another identity, under which he becomes mayor of a small town. A very zealous police inspector tries to arrest him, but Jean escapes to Paris. The inspector develops a fixed idea on capturing Jean.

This is a well-made melodrama, fairly watchable. It is said to be a faithful, albeit very summarized, adaptation of the novel. It is a thesis-film, making a case against excessive attachment to the letter of the law in penal affairs, and for a greater attention to socially-related causes of crime. Everything in the movie is greatly exaggerated, particularly the cruelty and bigotry of the bourgeoisie. It's the kind of story that shouldn't be taken seriously, but which provides entertainment even through its flaws.

Rating: 48

É Proibido Beijar (1954)

**spoilers below**

A gossip columnist is assigned with interviewing an American actress visiting Brazil. At the airport another woman pretends to be that actress, and he believes her (he has never seen a photo of that actress!). The impostor woman asks to stay in the columnist's apartment, claiming she is without a passport. Her mysterious identity and behavior intrigue the young man. He becomes attracted to her, but she refuses to give him even a kisss. Eventually it is revealed that she has a wager going on which states that she should live off the favors of a man for a certain period of time, without retributing those favors in any way, even with a mere kiss.

Comedy whose plot and style have been said to evoke the screwball comedy of American cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. While the dialogue and direction have a certain refinement which places it above the average of Brazilian productions of the time, the utter silliness of the premise weakens it somewhat.

This is said to be based on a play by Alessandro De Stefani, and the book Participação italiana no cinema brasileiro, by Máximo Barro, says that É Proibido Beijar is a "remake of an Italian comedy from the years 1930-1940"; the plot bears a slight similarity with La prima donna che passa (1940), written by him. The synopsis for the latter film provided by IMDB is as follows:

At the 17th century French Court, Cardinal Richelieu bets with two courtesans about the possibility that by midnight he succeeds in conquering the first woman who will pass at that time.

I don't really know if this is the comedy to which Barro alludes to, but I couldn't locate any other movie with a similar plot.

Rating: 45

Richard III (1995)

Based on the play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1593.

This film is an exercise in anachronism. Although based on events which took place in the 15th century, and sporting dialogues from the play written in the 16th century, the film is visually set in an imaginary England of the 1930s, after a civil war which dethrones the monarch. Richard, a brother of the new king, covets the throne for himself, and uses all kinds of immoral schemes to achieve his goal, and when he succeeds he establishes a fascist-like government.

Although as a statement in political science I have severe doubts about the seriousness of this film, as a visual and dramatic spectacle it is quite convincing and, at times, even dazzling.

Rating: 60

Waterhole #3 (1967)

An Army sergeant is stealing army gold. He hides it in a pond in the desert. A card shark accidentally comes into possession of the map to where the gold is hidden. He looks for the gold, but is chased by a sheriff.

Unusual Western comedy with sung verses which narrate the goings-on of the plot. A considerable part of the narrative involves a rape and its consequences. This is approached in a comical way. It is a cynical movie, and occasionally funny. All in all, a curious movie, well acted and well directed; I guess one could call it a product of its time, and leave it at that.

Rating: 51

La peau de chagrin (2010)

(TV movie)

Based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1831.

Raphael is a penniless young aspiring author who, while in an antique shop -- which he entered with the intention of buying a gun for suicidal purposes --, receives from the shop's owner a donkey's skin with magical properties: it grants its owner's every wish, claiming in return a bit of his remaining time of life. To every granted wish would ensue a shrinking of the skin. This would ultimately lead to the owner's death. Raphael accepts the skin and obtains many of his cherished wishes: he becomes a famous author, receives a large amount of money from a distant relative, and sleeps with a woman he desired. However, happiness is an elusive beast. Furthermore, the shrinking of the skin is a constant reminder of his impending doom.

This is well-made, with good production design and cinematography, and a nicely-flowing narrative, as well as adequate acting by everyone involved. The problem is the story itself, a variation on the Faust theme which has all the predictable elements one usually attaches to it, and hardly any surprise. Even so, it is an easy watch.

Rating: 46

Candleshoe (1977)

Based on the novel Christmas at Candleshoe, by J.I.M. Stewart (writing as Michael Innes), first published in 1953.

A teenage delinquent is sold by her foster parents to a crook who passes her off as a child who went missing many years earlier. He delivers her to the missing girl's grandmother, who lives in a big estate. The girl is assigned with finding a treasure which is hidden in the mansion.

Mildly entertaining juvenile comedy. The locations are interesting and agreeable, the humor is mostly bland, the plot is conventional but not dumb. The actors are competent.

The Wikipedia page has a link to a film called Crooks and Coronets, from1969, which has a remarkably similar plotline but apparently gives no credit to Innes' novel.

Rating: 38

Warpath (1951)

A former army official is on a mission to avenge the death of his fiancée by some bank robbers fleeing the scence of their crime. When he hears that one of the robbers has joined the Cavalry, he reenlists.

*mild spoilers below*
Moderately entertaining Western, with a reasonably well-woven plot and some tension. The most interesting thing of the movie is that a very intelligent plot point is entirely wasted, and seems to happen by coincidence. The protagonist, at a certain point of the narrative, leads a wagon train through a Sioux camp, and the wagon master shoots a Sioux child. This makes the position of the protagonist become similar to that of his offenders, since all are now respectively responsible for one death.

Rating: 41