Lola rennt (1998)

English title: Run, Lola, Run

Guy loses drug money in the amount of 100 thousand marks inside a train. The money has to be delivered to his boss, a drug kingpin, in 20 minutes. He calls his girlfriend and she tries to help him raise an equal amount. Three different outcomes from that premise are laid out.

Ingenious and stylish meditation on the power of chance, within a modern urban context which is prone to produce such chaotic outcomes as the ones imagined here.

Second viewing.

Rating: 68 (unchanged)

Guilty as Sin (1993)

A woman lawyer takes the defense of a man accused of murdering his wife. She finds out he is guilty and also a sociopath who may place her life in danger.

An implausible plot which is woven into entertaining drama. The films of Larry Cohen (meaning those which were written by him) explore, almost invariably, some kind of inversion in the function of a part in the social mechanism. A baby who is actually a murderous monster, an ambulance which kills instead of saving, a messiah who preaches hatred, a cop who is a homicidal maniac, and so on. In Guilty as Sin the most visible malfunctions are a man who emulates the parasitic behavior of women, and a defense lawyer who plots her client's conviction.

Rating: 50

Die Hard (1988)

A group of German robbers posing as terrorists takes a corporate building in Los Angeles on Christmas night and holds some party guests hostage. A NYPD officer whose wife works for the company is at the premises and saves the day despite the LAPD and FBI's incompetence and the greed of the press.

Extremely well-made thriller with obviously exaggerated criticism of press and police, and the usual background drama of an estranged couple's reconciliation. This is my second viewing, and I cannot exactly account for my previous low rating.

Rating: 65 (up from 49)

Unstoppable (2010)

A runaway train loaded with toxic chemicals puts a town in danger.

Extremely well-made thriller. The screenplay puts us through the age-old ordeal of following the reconciliation of a disaffected couple ("Call her again, that is how it works", the older guy tells the younger one.).

Rating: 64

Mr. Magoo (1997)

A ruby is stolen from a museum and a purblind museum sponsor, with his assistant plus two government agents, go after the jewel.

The credits do not apparently place a mention to the character's creators (and nor does the IMDB), screenwriter Millard Kaufman and director John Hubley, in a 1949 cartoon. Magoo was without the shadow of a doubt the best and funniest cartoon ever produced (and ever to be in the future, no doubt at all about this). It is funny too to read that it was originally conceived (by the two pinkoes cited) as a reactionary. As usual, good art is unintentional, or, parodying a famous saying, heaven is full of bad intentions. As this is supposed to be a comment of the 1997 film, I am obliged to say that it is very well made but not very funny.

Rating: 41

Happy Here and Now (2002)

A girl goes missing after she chats on the internet with a guy. Her sister comes to New Orleans (where she lived) to look for her.

This has to do with internet avatars which can take on the visual aspect of someone other than the person who is speaking. It also has some New Orleans sightseeing. And excerpts from Pascal. And two very good-looking chicks. Lightheaded bizarreness.

Rating: 34

In Like Flint (1967)

An all-women gang infiltrates the space program and is about to place atom bombs in a space platform. Flint flies to the Virgin Islands where their headquarters are. (This summary may contain errors. I am not sure I followed this film's plot a hundred per cent.)

The style is much the same as in Our Man Flint. This film at times seems better directed, but I am really not sure about it.

Rating: 50

Robin Hood (1991) (TV)

England, the Middle Ages. Sir Robert Hode, a Saxon, is bullied by a Norman nobleman with whom the local lord has made an alliance for purely selfish interests. Sir Robert breaks with the governor and is thus stripped of his title and possessions, joining a gang of thieves subsequently.

A classical rendering, directed with much competence and taste. The screenplay has little imagination though.

Rating: 50

Our Man Flint (1966)

Am organization manipulates the Earth's weather as a means to force countries to get rid of atomic weapons. A superspy is called in to thwart that organization's plans.

This is my second viewing. A satire on James Bond, displaying dry humor and even a certain dullness which is intrinsic to that character's early films. As with most culturally referenced films with a satirical import, not everything is spot-on and a certain amount of incoherence and loose ends is present.

Rating: 55 (unchanged)

Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)

Multimillionaire Arthur Bach loses all his money due to a financial maneuver made by his rejected ex-fiancee's father. That situation puts Arthur's marriage and adoption plans "on the rocks".

The outrageously immoral plotline has the protagonist becoming a blackmailer in order to revert his financial setbacks. As a sequel, this does not add a great deal, as Arthur can't make an honest living and, it seems, can't stop drinking no matter how desperate his situation is. The first movie had a deus ex machina finale and the second one has, guess what, a deux ex machina finale, so that Arthur can go back to being a loafer, now with two kids which he can raise into loafhood himself. The film is very well directed and, scene by scene, is sufficiently bearable.

Rating: 34

Mildred Pierce (2011) (TV)

Based on the novel by James M. Cain, 1st ed. 1941.

During the American depression, Mildred separates from her husband and, after a brief table waiting job, opens a restaurant. She succeeds but her daughter hates her.

Lifeless miniseries with very detailed apparent proceedings but little exploring of characters' inner workings.

Rating: 37

10 (1979)

A 42-year-old musician who has a long-term relationship with a singer more or less his age enters a midlife crisis and is smitten by a young woman whom he glimpses in a car.

This is my second viewing. An exceedingly intriguing movie, with hilarious moments of comedy and a dramatic structure which runs parallel to the comic bits. As I said, the film has a touch of mystery to it. For instance, is it a coincidence that Andrews wore a masculine haircut for her part and went on to play a woman playing a man playing a woman in a subsequent film with this same filmmaker?

Rating: 61 (unchanged)

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

Riggs and Murtaugh are after an ex-cop who has been stealing guns from the police storage room and is using the money to build a housing complex.

Mediocre, unmemorable comic actioner. One scene of furious stupidity: the mother of an adolescent criminal slaps the officer who killed her son in self-defense.

Rating: 35

The Undefeated (1969)

The American Civil War has just ended. A former yankee colonel retires and decides to capture wild horses and sell them; he gets a good offer from Mexican emperor Maximilian and drives the herd to Mexico. A former Southern colonel travels with his family and army to Mexico where they expect to gather new strength. Both colonels meet.

Second viewing. A wildly unrealistic film, a retrospective dream of reconciliation(s), released in a time when the U.S. was similarly divided over the Vietnam War. Italo Calvino's novel The Cloven Viscount has a more abstract view of these matters.

Rating: 35 (unchanged)

The Love Bug (1968)

An automobile race pilot down on his career finds a car which appears to have a mind of its own.

This silly movie has some identities with the Wacky Races cartoon which came out three months before it; it also seems to have influenced a horror novel (and subsequent film version) named Christine. But before all those, in 1965, there was a TV series (which I have no recollection of having ever seen) called My Mother the Car. The Love Bug has a serious theme buried under the supernatural and romantic antics which make for its surface plot: people like to think they "made" something which is simply the product of technology.

Rating: 36

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)

An evil witch turns a prince into a baboon. A sea captain who is in love with the prince's sister helps getting the royal simian back into human shape.

Lazily written, lazily directed, a showcase for stop-motion animation sequences. Ridiculous in a marginally entertaining way.

Rating: 32

Gigi (1958)

Based on the novella by Colette (1st edition 1944).

Paris, beginning of the 20th century. A girl receives lessons in courtesanship from an aunt. A rich bachelor who is a friend of the family becomes her natural candidate for a first lover. This guy has an older friend who is also a bachelor and has collected many mistresses over the course of his past life.

The lyrics are mostly good and some are very good. The actors are all good, as far as I can remember. The screenplay is well constructed, within the constraints of sentimental musical drama. The spectacle side of it is attractive, even though the mise-en-scene is frequently simple.

Rating: 59 (this is one of a number of films which I have no record of having watched before, but probably have, at least a part of it anyway).

The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)

In the nineteenth century, the first consul of the U.S.A. in Japan is met with hostility and romances a geisha.

A perfectly mediocre film, about which I do not have anything of interest to say.

Rating: 38

Kidnapped (1960)

Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson (1st published in 1886).

Scotland, the eighteenth century. After his father dies, David leaves his native city. He carries a letter written by his father to the latter's brother, to be delivered by David. But this is only the starting point to a series of adventures.

Coming-of-age here means finding out about one's duality, and the world's, Robert Louis Stevenson's perpetual theme. What meaning can these ancient monarchical rivalries hold to present audiences? Probably none, but perhaps that is the point: structure is placed above meaning. Does the film work these ideas out satisfactorily? Alas, I did not think so.

Rating: 42

Hotel Atlântico (2009)

An actor takes some time away from work, wandering aimlessly from city to city. He encounters some people and gets into serious trouble.

A more or less inconsequential exercise in the bizarre or absurd or surreal, consisting of a series of sections each of which a transfiguration of a classical movie. Thus you have "The Morning After" in the episode with the woman on the bus, then "The Most Dangerous Game" with the psycho and his buddy, then "The Beguiled" in the small town, and then it all switches to a more lyrical tone in the last act, and you have "Midnight Cowboy". What is extraordinary is how, in a country where bad acting is the norm, this filmmaker has managed to assemble a set of absolutely correct performances.

Rating: 52