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
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Red River (1948)
Second viewing; my first one was on December 29, 1989.
A man decides to move his cattle from Texas to Missouri. Along the way, things get rough and his men get restless and he becomes more and more tyrannical. The man's adoptive son faces a dilemma.
I really like this film and its dramatic and epic vigor which is felt in most of its scenes. Upon this second viewing, a few weaknesses became apparent (e.g., the romantic scenes). The ending is also notoriously weak. But it is still a gripping western, highly enjoyable, and with Wayne giving a brilliant performance (but here I differ with some: I think he is alway good). Clift is fine too. The obvious inspiration is Mutiny on the Bounty; Christopher Mulrooney draws a parallel with the Saul and David biblical story.
Rating: 83 (down from 90)
A man decides to move his cattle from Texas to Missouri. Along the way, things get rough and his men get restless and he becomes more and more tyrannical. The man's adoptive son faces a dilemma.
I really like this film and its dramatic and epic vigor which is felt in most of its scenes. Upon this second viewing, a few weaknesses became apparent (e.g., the romantic scenes). The ending is also notoriously weak. But it is still a gripping western, highly enjoyable, and with Wayne giving a brilliant performance (but here I differ with some: I think he is alway good). Clift is fine too. The obvious inspiration is Mutiny on the Bounty; Christopher Mulrooney draws a parallel with the Saul and David biblical story.
Rating: 83 (down from 90)
The Neighbor (1993)
A couple moves to an old house, with a creepy neighbor. He seems to have evil designs on the pregnant woman's baby.
This is a predictable suspenser, not badly directed, and with a memorable performance by Steiger.
Seen dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 50
This is a predictable suspenser, not badly directed, and with a memorable performance by Steiger.
Seen dubbed in Portuguese.
Rating: 50
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013)
A dramatization of the legal proceedings surrounding an American prizefighter's refusal to fight in the Vietnam war on allegedly religious grounds.
Well-written drama involving some interesting issues which transcend the merely legal sphere into the historical and political ones. Do not expect anything earth-shattering, and do not watch it if you do not have a minimal amount of interest in its theme.
Rating: 55
Well-written drama involving some interesting issues which transcend the merely legal sphere into the historical and political ones. Do not expect anything earth-shattering, and do not watch it if you do not have a minimal amount of interest in its theme.
Rating: 55
Monday, January 20, 2014
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
A man starts a relationship with a woman, not knowing her secret identity is G-Girl, a superhero. Whe he decides to break up with her, she doesn't take it lightly.
An intelligent premise, to a good extent well developed, but limited, especially toward the last section, by a TV-show style of humor characterized by excessive self-consciousness.
Rating: 60
An intelligent premise, to a good extent well developed, but limited, especially toward the last section, by a TV-show style of humor characterized by excessive self-consciousness.
Rating: 60
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Joyeux Noël (2005)
Title's English translation: Merry Christmas.
Highly fictionalized dramatization of the Christmas truce of 1914, when World War I soldiers of enemy armies agreed on a truce and during several days engaged in fraternization with one another.
Mediocre and dull, with some terrible performances on the German section, yet it has a high score on IMDB, go figure, guess this is what the "average taste" favors. For the historical facts about the truce, see here.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese, a bizarre experience, the different nationalities are expressed by accents, I wonder if this was also how it was done in the original.
Rating: 35
Highly fictionalized dramatization of the Christmas truce of 1914, when World War I soldiers of enemy armies agreed on a truce and during several days engaged in fraternization with one another.
Mediocre and dull, with some terrible performances on the German section, yet it has a high score on IMDB, go figure, guess this is what the "average taste" favors. For the historical facts about the truce, see here.
Saw it dubbed in Portuguese, a bizarre experience, the different nationalities are expressed by accents, I wonder if this was also how it was done in the original.
Rating: 35
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011)
Documentary about two industrial designers, and also architects, filmmakers, exposition planners, etc.
A conventional documentary, informative enough. The most interesting aspect of the Eames phenomenon is perhaps the conjunction of the artist's individualistic temperament with the necessities of collective creation; also, the contrast between the creative individuals and the mass-targeted products they made. I am not familiar with much of the Eameses' products, except of course the famous chairs, and a short film they made (it was mostly Charles' film, it seems) called Powers of Ten.
A conventional documentary, informative enough. The most interesting aspect of the Eames phenomenon is perhaps the conjunction of the artist's individualistic temperament with the necessities of collective creation; also, the contrast between the creative individuals and the mass-targeted products they made. I am not familiar with much of the Eameses' products, except of course the famous chairs, and a short film they made (it was mostly Charles' film, it seems) called Powers of Ten.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
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
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
Sunday, December 29, 2013
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
Saturday, December 28, 2013
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
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
Sunday, December 22, 2013
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
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
Saturday, December 21, 2013
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)
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)
Friday, December 20, 2013
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
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
Saturday, December 14, 2013
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
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
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.)
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
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
Monday, December 02, 2013
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)
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)
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