The Last Hurrah (1958)

 Frank, an experienced politician, is running for reelection as mayor of an important city. The local newspaper owner has a grudge against him, and is backing a newcomer rival. Frank turns the funeral of an impopular man into a campaign event. He then tricks a banker into making a loan to a housing project.

Dramatic comedy which pits an Irish-descended populist politician against the dark forces of old elites. Although its basic ideology is rooted in liberal democracy, what the film shows is how that system is inherently inefficient, and the only way to make it work minimally is by circumventing rules through cunning or deceit. Aside from that, the paradox which the film exposes is that its protagonist is advanced in political ideas yet backward in political methods, whereas his antagonists are the opposite: reactionary in political ideas yet progressivist in political methods. The film's purported aim is to depict the end of an era in politics. The humor is tame, the drama is sentimental, the analysis is superficial.

Rating: 46

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

*spoilers ahead*

 Intelligent apes live in harmony with humans, but Aldo, a militaristic gorilla, wants to seize power from Caesar, the chimpanzee leader. Caesar is told by MacDonald, a human, that there are tapes preserved with footage of Caesar's parents, so they -- plus Virgil, the genius organgutan -- go on an expedition to the city's ruins. Unfriendly humans still inhabit the ruins, and detect the invaders, who escape after playing the tape. The ruin-dwelling humans decide to locate the ape community and destroy it.

This is the conclusion of the saga, exploring mainly the conflicts between pacifist and warlike apes in a primitive community setting. A minor part of the movie is set in the radiation-contaminated ruins of the human city, where there is a similar conflict between pacifist and warlike humans. As the other sequels, it has some mildly entertaining action-filled plot, with a very thin layer of ideas coating it.

Rating: 31

Son of Paleface (1952)

 The son of a Western icon returns to collect his father's inheritance. He gets involved with a saloon singer who is actually a stagecoach robber. A federal agent is acting undercover as a singer with the aim of identifying and arresting the robber gang.

Comedy which exaggerates in practically every department: the main actor's histrionics, the use of one-liners (some of which I admittedly didn't catch), the cartoon-like visual effects, and the number of tedious musical numbers. While not exactly an unbearable movie, it can become slightly annoying for some of the time, and is seldom truly entertaining.

Rating: 35

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

 The baby chimpanzee whose parents were travelers from the future has grown, and, after an incident with the police, is chased by the authorities who think he spells doom for mankind. He starts an underground ape movement to take the power from the humans.

As the preceding films in this franchise, this one is heavily invested in action and spectacle but is actually not very rich in ideas. The plot does not make much sense: the apes at once evolved too rapidly since the previous movie, and did not evolve enough for taking over the planet. America in the early seventies was very much obsessed with revolutions and riots, and this film explores that theme in a very elementary way with apes as the oppressed class. 

Rating: 31

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

 In a future where apes are intelligent and humans are dumb animals, two simian scientists travel back in time fleeing a war. Their ship regresses to our times, and its passengers are imprisoned by the humans.

Tedious sequel which explores the ethical dilemmas posed by time travel and other types of ethical dilemmas, for example, is it ok to lie when one doesn't know whether the truth would be understood? 

Rating: 31

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

*possible spoilers* 

A second ship is sent in search of some astronauts who had been sent into the future, and lands in the same ape-ruled place and time. This time the apes set out to explore the forbidden zone. What they find there will blow your mind.

This is the first of four sequels. It explores the points left open in the end of the first movie. The first half is basically just a lot of action. In the second half, we are introduced to a human community, more evolved culturally than the savages we saw in the first movie, who lives underground and practices some weird religious cult. Discussions about atomic power and doomsday ensue. It's not exactly a philosophically deep movie, and might provoke laughter fits if one is in a specially hilarious mood. The visuals of the movie, on the other hand, are just as impressive as those of its predecessor.

Rating: 31

Anna Boleyn (1920)

U.S. title: Deception 

King Henry VIII wanted a male heir. His first wife didn't produce one. He broke with Catholicism and divorced her to marry the title character, an aristocrat.

Historical drama which drags at certain points. It has some good moments, though, and the sets and costumes are impressive. The film has very little in the way of historical analysis or insight, but as a drama of superficial human passions it is well-made.

Rating: 55

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Second viewing; previously viewed on an unremembered date, earlier than 1986.

A team of astronauts are on an experimental space journey whose purpose is to prove that, by moving at speeds close to that of light, one travels in time into the future. They land on a place ruled by intelligent apes.

Science fiction with a provocative premise and some stunning architectural sets and special make up. The script is mediocre at best, and, in addition to its dramatic flaws, has plot holes that are hard to swallow (are we really supposed to believe that no one in this film finds it strange that people supposedly on different planets speak the same language?). Films reflecting the fear of nuclear holocaust were very popular throughout the Cold War; after that, the fad sort of fizzled out.

Rating: 50 (down from 63) 

The Paleface (1948)

 Second viewing, and the first complete one; previously viewed on January 19, 1989, without the beginning

Calamity Jane is offered a pardon in exchange of working as a government agent. Her assignment is to find out who is selling guns to a tribe of Native Americans. She tricks a dentist into marrying her in order to pose as an innocent wife in a wagon caravan.

Comedy which is a little uneven, but delivers enough comic moments, either in the form of visual gags or through dialogue. Two basic situations get repeated throughout the movie: 'Painless' tries to make love to Jane, but is frustrated, either through cunning or through violence; and 'Painless' gets credit for some prowess made by Jane. Sometimes this gets a little monotonous, but overall the film acquits itself well enough. The central duo of actors is good, and work well together. 

Rating: 56 (down from 62)

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

During World War II, an American soldier (Kelly) stationed in France learns, while interrogating a German prisoner, that there are 14,000 gold bullions being stored at a bank in Clermont, behind enemy lines. Kelly convinces his platoon mates to join him in an attempt to rob that bank.

War comedy which entertains in a crude, vulgar manner. Its mocking tone is certainly in tune with the spirit of the times. Perhaps the overall insatisfaction with the Vietnam war was being channeled into productions which made fun of other wars, like WWII here, and the Korean war in M*A*S*H. The sheer number of characters in Kelly's Heroes, mostly in very small parts, and each with his peculiarities, is impressive. Although the film is somewhat longer than the average film, I suspect it wouldn't suffer by the inclusion of the deleted scenes, as detailed in its Wikipedia page. Incidentally, that page has some interesting details about the real-life affair which inspired this movie:

Kelly's Heroes - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Rating: 51

L'âge ingrat (1964)

 English title: That Tender Age

Marie and Antoine are planning to get married, and Marie's parents accept the invitation to spend their familial vacation as a guest of Antoine's parents in their seaside hometown. Their respective fathers strike up a friendship, interspersed with occasional bouts of mutual animosity. Things turn for the worse when the two lovebirds quarrel over a former suitor of hers.

Dramatic comedy. It's mainly about generation differences, but also about North-South human differences. It's all simplified for dramatic effect, and doesn't go very deep into any particular issue. The older generation gets more interesting characters and dialogue than the younger one. The ending is outwardly an optimistic one, but anyone with some real life experience would seriously doubt that the young couple's marriage could last more than a few years.

Rating: 40

The Long Gray Line (1955)

 An immigrant from Ireland goes to West Point. He starts out as an employee, but then enlists and spends the rest of his life there as a non-commissioned officer, mostly working as an athletic instructor. He marries, brings his father from Ireland, goes through two world wars, etc.

This film has been compared to Goodbye, Mr. Chips by some reviewers. The main difference between the two films is that the protagonist here does not seem to have anything remarkable about him. He does not seem to be a bad person, but that's as far as his qualities go. So, the only reason he becomes an object of affection is because, being a fixture of the place where he lives, a sentimental value is attached to him. This is a film with a void as a center. It becomes a film about West Point, really, but a rather trivial one. The amazing thing is that the leading actor gives what is probably the best performance of his career playing this nobody.

Rating: 31

Adorables créatures (1952)

 English title: Adorable Creatures

On his wedding day, a young man recollects his past adventures with three women. The first one is married and will not leave her husband; the second one is a money-grubber; the third one is a widow millionairess devoted to charity events. As he goes through those relationships, his feelings towards his neighbor's daughter (shown at the beginning as the woman he marries) grows stronger.

While not exactly an earth-shattering masterpiece, this film deserves more recognition than it has. It is splendidly directed, and has a very decent screenplay. It is structured as an episodic film, with each of the protagonist's women being the center of one episode. The first one is possibly not as good as the two following it. This film has been accused of being misogynistic; well, that is the whole point of the movie, made explicit already in its ironic title. 

Rating: 55

The Night of the Generals (1967)

 During World War II, a series of murders of prostitutes happen at various European cities where some German generals are staying. A German inspector is obsessed with finding the murderer. The plot to kill Hitler interferes with his quest.

Convoluted melodrama which is a mix of war drama and whodunit. It's all very silly, as many commenters have pointed out, but it looks good and entertains to a moderate degree, as long as one is prepared to spend more than two hours being thus entertained.

Rating: 44

Fuzileiro do Amor (1956)

 José Ambrósio enlists in the Marines (actually, their Brazilian counterpart) in order to be accepted by his girlfriend's father, who is himself a retired marine. Since José Ambrósio is physically unfit and clumsy, he is the constant butt of jokes of his comrades and a victim of harassment by his sergeant. By a strange coincidence, his identical twin is also a military who is stationed nearby. That causes some confusion.

Very unoriginal comedy with some musical numbers thrown in for good measure. As the initial plot concerning an unfit recruit didn't provide enough material for a full-length film, they inserted the twin subplot which completely diverts the course of the movie.

Rating: 31