São Bernardo (1972)

In Northwestern Brazil, a man makes his way from very poor origins to owner of a big farm. His lack of scruples and brutality alienates the people around him.

Second viewing. A very static film. It makes its points well (through a Marxist analysis), but is not a rich cinematic experience.

Rating: 62 (down from 71)

Kingpin (1996)

Second viewing. My previous synopsis and comments are sufficiently good, so here they are:

A former bowling champion sees in an Amish amateur player his chance at big bucks.

Imaginative, consistently funny, with inventive visual gags, in short this is a successful comedy. It is also an influential film, playing with excess and shock in a way that has been imitated by many but was only equaled by these directors themselves. The comic skill of the two leading actors contributed significantly to the success of the movie.

(written on June 30, 2006)

I would like to add the sole observation that my shifting from present perfect to simple past on the same sentence is bizarre and obviously incorrect.

Rating: 71 (up from 67)

Exit through the Gift Shop (2010)

Documentary about street art, but also about one specific person whose filming habit drew him closer to the street art scene.

Entertaining and funny documentary, which draws its appeal simultaneously from its take on contemporary art and from its central character and his idiosyncrasies.

Rating: 63

Royal Wedding (1951)

Dancing partners and siblings Tom and Ellen go to England to do a show. Their stay there coincides with a royal wedding.

This is a film about siblinghood, between people and between nations; notice how, apart from the central pair, there is also a comic actor playing twins, one American and the other British. The idea of incest is present, in a very subtle way as expected from a Hollywood musical, and the rather sudden decision to get married at the end of the movie can be best explained by considering the overhanging shadow of that age-old taboo. Let's not forget also that royal weddings are historically notorious for happening between relatives, so it is ambiguous the exact manner in which it works as an inspiration for the marrying protagonists. And there is the inevitable joke: (--We are getting married! -- I thought you two were related.). Apart from these thematic issues, the film is a pleasant watch, with good dancing, fair-to-good songs, good choreography, and fair-to-good comedy.

Rating: 63 (second viewing; unchanged)

The Big Heat (1953)

An honest policeman in a corrupt police force is under pressure to abort further investigation of a retired officer's suicide.

Second viewing.

A technically perfect film, with some memorable lines of dialogue, and an above-average realism in the presentation of police corruption.

Rating: 65 (unchanged)

L'illusionniste (2010)

Animation. A decadent magician travels overseas in search of a job, and befriends a lonely teenage girl.

In its general contours, an interesting film; a flawed one, however. The middle section is a little plodding at times, and the whole episode of his job at the advertising agency is uninspired. There is a structural resemblance to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) as both films explore, among other common threads, the idea of non-existence, a very compelling one in its metaphysical and psychological ramifications.

Rating: 52

Inside Job (2010)

Documentary about the U.S. financial crisis of 2008.

Overall I found it quite informative. Reading other people's comments, however, I get the impression that some facts were somewhat misrepresented. Anyway, there are things in it that just rubbed me the wrong way. For example, someone saying that high executives see prostitutes and then go back to their wives... ok, what has this got to do with anything? This kind of remark should not have been included, simple as that. And about the ending, it is just that same old same old: we got to do our best, fight for a better world, blah blah blah. Well, that's what I (and everyone else, I suspect) always do, so please spare me -- unless one would be a little more specific about it. I do not have a deep enough knowledge of the situation which would allow me to criticize this movie with confidence, and if I had I would not be among its target audience to begin with. Here is a very general reflection, though. The idea that greed for money is evil should be balanced with the idea that there are non-monetary types of greed as well. A populist government which is not sure he can afford his populist actions is greedy for popularity, and is just as guilty (perhaps more) in case of a catastrophe. And let's not forget that there are other capital sins. Like, for instance, sloth.

Rating: 52

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

A clumsy policeman tries to avert the assassination of Queen Elizabeth, to be carried out during a baseball game.

Second viewing. I laughed as hard as on my first viewing, the film is intelligent and well-made.

Rating: 60 (unchanged)

Timeline (2003)

A company develops a machine that transports people to the 14th century. A team is assembled to rescue an archaeologist who used it to travel to the past and did not come back.

Not much to say about this one. It is very poor on all levels, except acting. (I liked especially Thewlis, Connolly, and Butler, who is splendid).

Rating: 25

Coup de tête (1979)

English title: Hothead

In a small town in France, Perrin, a local football player, is fired from the team on account of a conflict with the team's star player. After that, Perrin is accused of rape and convicted on the grounds of the testimony of the victim (who is not sure, though) and of three other alleged witnesses.

A silly movie, despite some competence in the screenplay's first half and the excellence of the cast. The second half of the movie, however, is marred by very implausible events and generalized boredom.

Rating: 31

Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

A fiction pretending to be the life of composer Jerome Kern (1885-1945). He befriends an arranger (a fictional character) and his little daughter Sally (ditto), travels to England, meets an American Broadway producer, meets Eva, a young woman with whom he falls in love with, comes back to America to do a musical for said producer, the show does not happen, he barely fails to embark to England again on the ill-fated Lusitania (yes, he really missed that boat), later returns to England on another ship, gets married with the one he fell in love with, becomes famous, searches for Sally who has left home to become a singer, Sally's father dies, Sally is found (she sings in a Memphis nightclub), Jerry goes to Hollywood.

This has reportedly little to do with Kern's real life. There are many well done musical numbers (which happen as musical numbers in the diegesis), the best of which is probably the circus one. A lifeless biography. The copy I watched was probably not complete.

Rating: 41

Geometría (1987)

Based on the short story "Naturally", by Fredric Brown.

A student summons the Devil in the hope of getting some help to pass an exam.

Amusing.

Watched it dubbed in Italian.

The Ninth Gate (1999)

A dealer in old books is hired to verify the authenticity of a copy of a demonology manual, of which only two other copies exist.

Second viewing. This is not as bad as I thought on my first viewing, but is still a weak movie. The ending is kind of beautiful, though.

Rating: 32 (up from 18)

Amei um bicheiro (1952)

Marcos is an operator in the illegal business of "jogo do bicho" gambling in Rio de Janeiro. His wife needs an operation, so he decides to make a risky move against his boss.

Second viewing. Despite some naiveté here and there, the general lines that drive the movie are frankness and realism. The direction is competent and makes good use of location shooting. The actors are good.

Rating: 52 (down from 54)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Blanche is a penniless woman who leaves her hometown to stay at her married sister's house. They come from a formerly wealthy Southern family. The sister's husband, of an inferior social class and a brute, doesn't like the idea of having Blanche in the house.

A play of very intense pathos which somehow has undertones of a weird comicity. As film adaptations go, I don't think one can do better than this. The performances are simply stupendous, but I do not need to say this at this point in history.

Rating: 62

Missing in Action (1984)

A veteran of the Vietnam War who spent several years as a prisoner of war is convinced that there are still American soldiers being held prisoners in Vietnam camps, and decides to rescue them.

A fairly insane movie, yet not an altogether bad one, once you watch it with the proper spirit. Cannon, the company behind it, specialized in low-budget films, many of them rip-offs of bigger productions. Missing in Action is sometimes tagged as a Rambo rip-off due to certain similarities between the protagonists of both franchises. It should be pointed out, though, that the first Rambo film, called First Blood, had a very different plot, and the second one appeared after Missing in Action. In plot, it is closer to Uncommon Valor (1983), which is a superior film, and not in the low-brow surreal genre as this one.

Rating: 34

Baby Doll (1956)

A man (named Archie Lee) is married to a much younger woman (nicknamed Baby Doll) who has agreed to consummate their marriage on her twentieth birthday. Coincidentally, on that very day they are having the cotton syndicate manager as guest, who is there to make justice against Archie Lee, who has set his cotton gin on fire.

Of all Williams I have seen this is the closest he gets to comedy. It is a well orchestrated film which is amusing to a certain extent. It is a satire of the U.S. South, of relations between ethnic groups, and of capitalism.

Rating: 58

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Two generations of Chinese-American women and their stories. The mothers were born in China and their daughters in America. Civil war, abuse from their husbands, backward customs, all are part of the mothers' stories. Some of that still affects the daughters' lives, although they live in a modern society.

Second viewing. This is perhaps the most extreme case of a change in my appreciation of a movie, to such an extent that I have trouble understanding my previous assessment. For, now I see it, this is blatantly a soap-opera, with all the stereotypes one is entitled to. The events are crammed into the length of the movie in such a fashion that there are no genuinely cinematic sequences: most are static dialogue and the rest are sequences where there is little movement or it is very simple. What enjoyment one may take from it comes from a perception of its very exaggerations and simplism which overflow into kitsch.

Rating: 48 (down from 80)

Tocaia no asfalto (1962)

A hitman is hired to kill a politician and falls in love with a prostitute. A subplot concerns a congressman who is investigating the illegal activities of the aforementioned politician.

This political thriller has some naive touches in its plot, foremost among which is the hitman's scruples at the church, on account of an ecclesiastical tale he heard from his girlfriend stating that a church where a murder has occurred must stay closed for a hundred years. Also worthy of note is one particular sequence featuring ludicrously pompous dialogue between an honest young congressman and his girlfriend, whose father (another politician) is being investigated by him. It is not badly filmed, especially considering the overall poorness of Brazilian cinema of that period (but shouldn't I say: of any period?). The film's title, which translates to "Stakeout on the Asphalt", refers presumably to one specific sequence wherein a gang of hitmen trap the honest congressman in a very risky (and implausible) manner: one of them lies on the road, thus forcing the congressman to stop his car and barely avoid killing the bad guy. The other stakeouts in the movie do not involve asphalt at all and take place, respectively, at a church, at a cemetery, and at a train station. The last of these has, again, some implausible behavior on the part of the ex-prostitute, who could have done a lot better in her attempt to save her boyfriend.

Rating: 33

My Fellow Americans (1996)

Two ex-presidents by rival parties are incidentally united on account of a plot to frame one of them, conducted the present occupant of the presidency.

This has an elaborate screenplay, is funny and moderately critical of the American political system.

Rating: 64

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Gigantic skyscraper catches fire on the night of its inauguration due to its builders having used cheap material in it. The architect, at first with the building's personnel and later with the firemen, tries to help avoid a complete tragedy.

Second viewing. Very well-made and entertaining disaster-movie. This genre's plot conventions are mostly true to human nature, as can be observed in the real-life economic cataclisms that recently shook, and are still shaking, several countries of the world, and of which this film is a metaphor.

Rating: 52 (up from 36)

Bogus (1996)

A fatherless boy who just lost his mother "creates" an imaginary friend who comforts him. He is placed under the care of his mother's foster sister, who is a busy woman and is not enthusiastic about her new duties.

This is a fairly bad film, an ideological signpost of an era which, having lost its faith in the Great institutions, and systems of ethics, metaphysics, politics, etc., retained their "believing" element and placed it in an "anything goes" superstructure. Of course this kind of trend is not altogether new in cinematic narrative: Miracle on 34th Street was released in 1947 (yes, blame it on post-WWII angst) and, certainly not by sheer coincidence, remade only two years before Bogus' release. This film's apparent anticapitalist message (centered on the foster mother, a workaholic businesswoman) is actually pro-capitalist when you think that for Capitalism to work it must balance production and consumption; all it's saying is "Relax, take some time off, spend some money, if not with yourself, then with your kid."

Rating: 14

Body Double (1984)

Jake is staying at his friend Sam's residence while Sam is away. Sam informs Jake about a woman who lives at a nearby building, and who can be seen through a telescope while performing a sensual act (which she does every day at the same hour).

Second viewing. A gratuitous but very well filmed and, to a certain extent, entertaining blend of Rear Window and Vertigo. The filmmaker puts no holds on vulgarity and the film is best enjoyed with an eye to self-parody.

Rating: 56 (down from 68)

Intervista (1987)

English title: Interview.

A famous Italian film director is making a film, and gets interviewed by Japanese journalists. His film reenacts his first visit to the studio as a journalist who would interview a movie actress. Next he starts to shoot what is apparently another film, based on a literary work. An old actor with whom he had worked before shows up on the set and they take a weekend off to visit an actress who worked with the two of them many years earlier in a movie. In that movie the old actor played a journalist and the old actress played a young actress whom the journalist interviewed and had a brief affair with. They all rewatch that movie in the old actress's house.

I guess this is not entirely without interest as an "essay" on interviews (and also filmmaking, I guess), and by the way it is my second viewing. My rating did not change, I am afraid. To be honest I did not find it particularly remarkable.

Rating: 41 (unchanged)

The Flying Deuces (1939)

Ollie joins the Foreign Legion after he is rejected by a woman. He is accompanied by Stan. It doesn't take long for them both to realize that the demands of military life are above their capabilities and disposition.

My second viewing of this lesser comedy of the famous duo. The most interesting aspect is perhaps the funny play with "forgetting" and the naive notion of a voluntary effort towards the consecution of the oblivious condition.

Rating: 42 (unchanged)

Corações sujos (2011)

English title: Dirty Hearts.

After the end of World War II, the Japanese community in Brazil is torn over issues of loyalty. Isolated from the world at large by the very laws of the country, and suspicious of the little information that arrives to them, many believe that Japan won the war.

The screenplay leaves some questions unanswered, apparently; on the other hand, it may be that there is no completely rational explanation for the behavior which the film tries to depict. The narrative is solemn and static; the scoring is excessive. The use of out-of-focus cinematography in some takes is unaccountable. Overall, not a satisfying film.

Rating: 38

Dumbo (1941)

A baby elephant in a circus is ridiculed for having oversized ears. The source of his afflictions proves to be just the ticket to overcoming his problems, though.

The plot is just a weird variation on a recurrent fairy tale motif, most explicitly present in Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling". The film is composed of very elaborate set-pieces, which are stylistically quite diverse from one another, although consistent with the progression of the plot. This is one of the most modernistic works produced by Disney (following on the at least equally so "Fantasia"). The film is, at its essence, very plausible, albeit in an obviously metaphorical manner, in its depiction of personal adaptation and success. The only minor quibble I have with it is its yielding to the temptation of narcissism in the finale (Dumbo goes to Hollywood). A movie should not suppose that its own symbolical sphere is the ultimate horizon of expectation of mankind (or even elephantkind).

Rating: 75 (up from 64)

Também somos irmãos (1949)

Two black brothers who were raised by a white family take differents paths in life: one becomes a lawyer and the other a petty criminal. Their stepsister gets involved with a crook.

Not altogether bad, and is somewhat curious for being one of the few Brazilian films of the time which dealt with race issues. It is basically a melodrama, though.

Rating: 34

The Avengers (2012)

Some people from the other side of the universe steal a thingum which is very dangerous indeed. A team of superheroes is assembled to recover it. Oh, and there is a flying serpent of sorts which is really a scare.

Wow, that 3D is sensational. Now, I am waiting for the remake of "Cries and Whispers".

Rating: 40

Casque d'or (1952)

English title: Golden Helmet.

Paris, late 19th century (or early 20th). A carpenter who has served time in prison gets involved with a beautiful woman. She's the unwilling lover of another, who is a member of a gang; she is also coveted by the gang leader, who also owns a commerce and is a friend of the police chief.

Second viewing. A masterpiece. It is a double (or triple) edged story which, on one side, focus on the feelings and behavior of the woman whose nickname is "Golden Helmet" (referring to her blonde hair), who is forced to live under the authority of men but rebels. The other side is a study of organized crime, on a small scale. And, last but perhaps not least, this is the story of a man who chooses independence but -- is that possible to achieve?

Rating: 86 (down from 88)

King Solomon's Mines (1985)

Adventurer helps woman find her dad who was kidnapped by thugs in search of the titular mines.

Poor adventure which rips off the Indiana Jones movies, with rather infantile sense of humor and hackneyed situations. I was rather impressed with Gagoola and the actress who played her, though.

Rating: 32

The Salton Sea (2002)

A drug addict whose girlfriend was killed is now a police informant.

Here is another one which lost a lot on second viewing. It is a blend of the neo-noir and the junky subgenres. Enjoyable but not as original or consistent as I first thought.

Rating: 66 (down from 77).

Sudden Death (1995)

Terrorists seize the vice-president in a stadium during a big hockey game. A security man, whose two kids are in the audience, try to stop the bad guys from killing the hostages and blowing up the stadium.

I read on IMDB that this was first written as a comedy. I think it was a big mistake to have changed their minds, because as a serious action movie this has not got much to offer (and a little vestigial comicity remains in the movie). It admittedly has a few spectacular sequences, and is not badly directed, but overall it is hackneyed and not very plausible.

Rating: 32

Victory (1981)

World War II. In a camp for prisoners of war, a football match is arranged between the inmates and German players. The inmates plan to use the event to escape.

Basically mediocre, but the shockingly unrealistic switch near the end establishes a vague similarity with Jorge Luis Borges' El sur.

Rating: 36

Carrefour (1938)

A man is accused of not being the person he claims to be (a wealthy industrialist) but rather a lowly crook wanted by the law. Fact is, he returned from World War One with amnesia and (if I understand correctly) was recognized as said industrialist by the latter's wife. He then assumed he really was this person. In the trial, a man testifies in his favor saying he knew the lowly criminal in question and that he saw him die.

A mediocre drama with, in my view, a plot hole: after a man testifies in court it is unlikely that he will blackmail someone because it would be hard for him to recant from his testimony. There are other implausible points in the film, but they are not worth mentioning. The story (by one Hans Kafka) was filmed at several occasions (one of which is Sommersby).

Rating: 32

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Based on the novel by Choderlos de Laclos (1st ed. 1782).

Two aristocrats, a man and a woman, wager with each other whether he can seduce a certain married woman. There is also another target for seducton, a virgin who is promised in marriage to one of the first woman's former lovers.

A great disappointment this was. With myself, mainly, for having liked it so much the first time I saw it. Although it is not exactly a bad movie, it has obvious script problems. The processes of seduction, and their effects on the seduced women, are not convincing. (Some say that is because of the leading actor's performance and persona, and they may be partly right.) I mistook it for a refined work of art and it is just an artificial moralizing drama which crosses the kitsch threshold for much of its duration. Viewed within these constraints, however, it is a lush and entertaining spectacle.

Rating: 62 (down from 86)

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011)

English title: A Separation

A couple separates and the husband needs to hire someone to look after his Alzheimer's-afflicted father. A serious incident involving the woman he hires leads to criminal charges set upon him.

Effective melodrama. However, as is often the case with this genre, some plot details are contrived and/or strained. For example, the couple's separation's relationship to the whole legal incident does not look as big as the film implies, and if it were, is the film implying that a woman's role is to nurse her husband's invalid father? Maybe I am missing something here. As for the legal aspect, I think that, once it has been established that a push could not send the woman down the stairs, the whole case crumbles. Maybe I am nitpicking or, again, missing some aspect of the drama. Anyway, as I implied in the beginning, overall a good, well-structured melodrama. And very well-acted.

Rating: 65

La lengua de las mariposas (1999)

Title's translation: The Butterfly's Tongue.

Spain, circa 1936, before the outbreak of the Civil War. Some episodes in the life of a young boy, centering on his entering school and his relationship with his elderly teacher.

Simplistic and cliché-ridden, predominantly badly acted, except for superb Fernán-Gómez.

Rating: 30

Conviction (2010/II)

Alternate title: Betty Anne Waters

Massachusetts, circa 1980. A guy is sentenced to life for muder. His sister believes in his innocence and fights to prove he was wrongly convicted.

Well made based-on-real-events drama with a really touching story. It is an eloquent eulogy of science. On another level, it has thematic affinities with Marco Bellocchio's similarly titled La condanna.

Rating: 60

The Big Store (1941)

Marx Brothers comedy. The trio gets involved with the heir of a department store and a plot to murder him.

Announced as a farewell, but they made more movies after it. This is my second viewing. The style is somewhat less aggressive than that of their previous movies. The musical numbers are generally of extremely good taste. The screenplay has a degree of cohesion that is not usually found in the Bros' movies. There is verbal as well as visual humor (like in Go West, their previous one). One of various sublime moments is particularly memorable for its mysterious character: a female singer sings a lullaby in a strange deadpan manner, as if she were in a trance.

Rating: 61 (up from 57)

Officer Pooch (1941)

Cartoon. A canine police officer gets into a lot of trouble while trying to help a small cat. Another extra in the DVD I mentioned in my recent postings.

A Pete Smith Specialty: Flicker Memories (1941)

Short. Parody of silent movies. Very funny. Extra to the DVD I mentioned in my previous postings.

The Milky Way (1940)

Cartoon. Three kittens are denied their milk meal in punishment for their having lost their mittens (people then would do anything for a rhyme). They travel to the Milky Way (don't ask) where milk is very abundant. Extra to the same DVD I mentioned in my previous postings.

James A. FitzPatrick's Traveltalks: Cavalcade of San Francisco (1940)

Documentary in Technicolor about the famous Californian city, with a lot of time devoted to the World Fair held there. It is an extra feature in the Marx Bros DVD mentioned in my previous posting.

A Pete Smith Specialty: Quicker'n a Wink (1940)

Documentary about stroboscopic photography, very entertaining. It is included in the DVD of The Marx Brothers' "Go West" and "The Big Store".

Go West (1940)

The Marx Bros. get involved with a gold miner and some thieves who steal the  mine's deed. Although there is no gold in the mine, the land is worth a lot of money because the railroad company wants to buy it.

Several brilliant sequences in this comedy. The style of Buster Keaton is present in some of them (IMDb says he co-wrote the film, uncredited). Not top-drawer Marx Bros., but apparently they never made a bad movie (I haven't seen them all).

Rating: 53

Little Fish (2005)

Ex-addict who looks after her junkie stepfather reencounters ex-boyfriend, who tells her he is now a stockbroker. Actually, he is a drug dealer and her brother is his associate. She wants to raise money to buy a share of a  computer game house.

Acceptable drama with reasonably interesting characters and a plot that evolves in a reasonably well concocted manner.

Rating: 51

Joan of Arc (1999) (TV)

Medieval teen fights for the unification of France against English invaders. She claims to be inspired by the apparition of saints.

Well made TV pic about the significance, power, importance, value, what have you, of a word, in this specific instance the word "France".

Rating: 50

The Bridge at Remagen (1969)

Near the end of World War II, the Germans face a dilemma of whether to destroy bridges which are necessary for the evacuation of their own civilians and soldiers, but also can be used by the allies.

Exciting war drama, very well made.

Rating: 60

La collina degli stivali (1969)

English title: Boot Hill

Some miners being swindled by a crook get the help of some circus artists.

The usual Italian Western absurdities, somewhat better directed than usual.

Rating: 31

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

Widower with children buys zoo trying to get out of depression.

Formulaic dramedy, a few nice sequences.

Rating: 35

The City of Your Final Destination (2009)

Grad student flies to Uruguay to write biography of some dead writer. First he has to convince his heirs to authorize it.

Banal, has some interesting dialogue.

Rating: 31

La bataille du rail (1946)

English title: The Battle of the Rails.

During the Second World War, in occupied France, some of the railroad workers engaged in acts of sabotage on trains, as well as other acts of resistance connected with the railway.

A propaganda film made right after the war, allegedly based on the experience of real railway workers. It is very well made and makes for passable entertainment.

Rating: 55

O mestre de Apipucos (1959)

English title (or, anyway, the translation): The Master of Apipucos.

Documentary. Gilberto Freyre the sociologist at home. He walks in his garden, sits in his den (writes down: "someone must write a history of student life in Brasil"), has breakfast with his wife, served by a very dark-skinned servant, he has been with the family all his life -- does anyone see any relation to the subject matter of Freyre's magnum opus? In case one does, the English title -- if there is an English title, if there have been viewers of this film outside Brasil -- has troubling connotations (not in Portuguese: a "mestre" masters only knowledge, not men). He lies on the beach with a book, later he lies in the hammock with another (poetry, to ease the mind).

Pauvre Pierrot (1892)

English title: Poor Pierrot.

The plot summary on the Internet Movie Database is accurate: "One night, Arlequin come[s] to see his lover Colombine. But then Pierrot knocks at the door and Colombine and Arlequin hide[s]. Pierrot starts singing but Arlequin scares him and the poor man goes away." (Grammatical corrections between square brackets are mine.)

An excellent historical presentation of this movie is given by F. Gwynplaine McIntyre, on the Internet Movie Database user comment section:

"Charles-Émile Reynaud deserves credit as the inventor of the animated cartoon. Unfortunately, he was a poor businessman, and his artistic innovations outstripped the technical hardware which he invented to exhibit them. Reynaud died penniless in a Val-de-Marne hospice. A few years before he died, embittered, he took most of his animated films -- too deteriorated to be restored yet again -- and flung them off Pont Saint-Michel into the Seine. I am reluctant to describe any movie as 'lost' unless it was deliberately destroyed, since many early films which some expert described as 'lost forever' have returned from the dead. Sadly, it does appear that the most of the cartoons drawn and produced by Reynaud -- each running 15 minutes or less -- are, indeed, lost.

Reynaud's first innovation was to adapt the zoetrope -- basically a toy -- into the more sophisticated praxinoscope. This placed a series of drawings on the inside of a cylinder, with a mirror at the centre. As the cylinder revolved, an onlooker -- viewing the mirror through a slit -- would see the drawings as a continuous moving image, courtesy of the same optical illusion (persistence of vision) now exploited by modern films. But the length of the 'story' told by a praxinoscope was limited to the number of images which could be displayed within the cylinder's finite diameter. Usually, a praxinoscope's drawings depicted a single event happening over and over (with each circuit of the cylinder).

Reynaud's next innovation was to devise a much longer filmstrip, which -- with sprocket holes -- could be fed into and out of the praxinoscope so as to display a much longer sequence of images. A dedicated artist, Reynaud painted his drawings in bright elaborate colours, and affixed them to the transparent filmstrip via a flexible clear gelatin. Unfortunately, Reynaud's technical innovations did not allow for the permanence of his art. As the gelatin aged, it hardened and cracked while turning opaque. The heat of his projection lamp corrupted the delicate colours of his images. The sprocket holes tore easily. The very act of projecting his filmstrips contributed to their destruction. This seems to have been the single greatest reason for Reynaud's commercial failure: the tremendous amount of labour, time and money expended on creating one of his filmstrips could not be recouped in the very small number of projections (for paying audiences) which it would sustain before deteriorating.
(...)"

This small gem is an enchanting piece of cinematic prehistory, artistically done. Its amusing narrative is interesting too, as it evokes the fear of the supernatural, and the profitable use that a pragmatic lover makes of it.

Desperate Hours (1990)

Based on the novel (and play) by Joseph Hayes.

A criminal escapes from the courtroom premises during his trial and takes refuge, along with his gang, in an upper class residence, taking its dwellers hostage.

An interesting film, with an energetic script and several touches of caricature thrown in to compose a slightly surrealistic spectacle. The cast is uniformly perfect.

Rating: 53

Evil Angels (1988)

Alternate title: A Cry in the Dark

Based on the real incident of a mother accused of murdering her baby when in fact it was snatched and killed by a dingo (a kind of Australian wild dog).

This is my second viewing of this film, and it remains one of my favorite films of 1988, albeit with a considerably diminished rating. It is extremely well-done and delivers a stupendous amount of information in a remarkably concise and elegant manner. The acting is simply perfect. The lesson implicit in the film was cleverly perceived and stated by Christopher Mulrooney (see link to his page): "don't feed the dingos". Mulrooney is metaphorically meaning that one should not expose oneself imprudently in the mass media.

Rating: 72 (down from 85)

The Blue Max (1966)

Based on the novel by Jack Hunter.

In World War I Germany, a young officer joins the German air force and becomes a distinguished fighter pilot. He comes from humble origins and is single-minded in his pursuit of the Blue Max medal, the greatest decoration a pilot may receive.

A pulpish plot with a preposterously implausible ending does not completely ruin this charmingly directed war drama. The aerial sequences are a special highlight.

Rating: 51

Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)

Ernest and some kids awaken a troll who was sleeping for centuries. The creature starts kidnapping kids and turning them into wooden dolls. He plans to turn them into his private army of trolls.

This film's verbal invention and marginal satirical charges make it a moderately enjoyable experience.

Rating: 50

China Seas (1935)

Based on the novel by Crosbie Garstin.

A ship going from Hong Kong to Singapore has pirates on it. The captain is harassed by a vulgar singer and is in love with a refined socialite.

The plot is uninspired. The storm sequences are impressive. Robert Benchley is the comic relief playing a drunkard.

Rating: 45

Scarecrow (1973)

Two drifters meet on the road, one is fresh out of jail and has plans for starting a business, the other is on his way to meet his infant son or daughter (he doesn't know which) whom he abandoned. They go through several adventures and misadventures.

The seventies were the manneristic decade, and this is a prime example. It was also the male actor's decade, and that is not unrelated to the former characteristic. I had watched this film before, but remembered next to nothing of it. Scarecrow achieves what it sets out to do, I guess: the characters are amusing, the set-pieces are amusing, the two leading players are in their prime, everything runs smoothly. It is a time capsule, both in form and in content.

Rating: 69 (unchanged)

Divided by Hate (1997) (TV)

In rural U.S.A., a family which aspire to become farmers struggle to make ends meet while they watch local farmers face ruin. A preacher draws the attention of the wife, who becomes a fanatic. Said preacher builds a closed community into which the wife moves with her children. The community members rob farm equipment, practice target shooting, and stock food. The husband tries to locate his wife and kids.

Telefilm of little consequence. It addresses a real problem of rural U.S., but the final captions ("still hopes to own a farm") give one the notion that bigger problems haven't been addressed.

Rating: 36

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Based on the novel "Les trois mousquetaires" (1st ed. 1844) by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet.

In 1625, a poor man from Gascogne travels to Paris intending to become a musketeer of king Louis XIII. He gets involves in the rivalry between the king and his prime-minister (actually the term is wrong, but that is what he is, functionally speaking, at least in the film), cardinal Richelieu. The bone of contention is war with England, which the prime-minister wants and the king does not (apparently).

My second viewing. This exceedingly lavish Hollywood production starts out gay and choreographic and grows more melodramatic as it proceeds. The plot is not to be taken seriously and has an emphasis on subaltern people taking the lead of the action (I guess this resonates with the petit-bourgeois public). The good and evil political axes are entirely arbitrary from a modern point-of-view, and are of course reinforced with characters' individual traits that settle the matter, so to speak. Taking as a reference the novel's summary on Wikipedia, the murder of Constance is different in the film and novel versions. In the novel, Constance is not in the same premises where De Winter is kept prisoner; she is killed later in the story, when both are interned in a convent.

Rating: 51 (up from 47)

Brewster's Millions (1985)

Based on the novel by George Barr McCutcheon (1st ed. 1902).

A baseball player inherits 300 million dollars subject to the condition that he spends 30 million in 30 days without accumulating or destroying assets.

A cerebral film on an economics theme. And an allegory of life itself, under an economical worldview. In such an allegorical reading, a month stands for an entire life and the protagonist's great-uncle stands for God (as such, it is a reworking of one of Christ's parables). The monetary values have been reportedly updated from the novel and former filmic avatars, but the style is decidedly antiquated. The cast is fine except for McKee, who is simply bad. Pryor is a comic actor who actually acts, and before you accuse me of pleonasm, compare him with Eddie Murphy, for example, who displays an almost invariable persona and a minuscule range. A watchable film, but too anachronistic for my taste.

Saw it dubbed in Portuguese, and then rewatched its first half with the original audio.

Rating: 50

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

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

A journalist, aided by a hacker punkette, investigates, at the request of a millionaire, the disappearance of a girl a long time ago.

Quite silly and boring.

Rating: 15

J. Edgar (2011)

Momma's boy is spurred by her into becoming a big police chief. He modernizes libraries, then the police. Rejected by a girl at work, he turns to boys. His strange perversion is having meals with one of them. He wiretaps people in power. He becomes too powerful himself. His mother makes a speech, then dies. After his death, the girl who rejected him burns all his "private files".

A film consisting in alternating a man's old age with his own account of his youth. My opinion of it should be inferrable from the synopsis above, but, to spell it out, I frankly do not get what the precise point is, and the dialogue and dramatics follow recent standards of inverisimilitude and enigmatic patterns of behavior and emotionalism.

Rating: 28

The Descendants (2011)

A rich lawyer and landowner in Hawaii is legally pushed to selling his lands. Meanwhile, his wife is in a coma after a jet-skiing accident. He finds out she was having an affair. All that and he has two daughters to look after, whom he hasn't payed much attention to in the past.

An absurdly bad movie, almost totally devoid of storytelling interest and human understanding. The only bearable moments are when good old Beau Bridges brings his unfailing acting charisma to the screen (and, well, his part is well-written, which accounts for the "almost" above).

Rating: 25

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Our hero investigates a certain maharaja's theft of a sacred stone and some children.

Second viewing. It is a parody of ancient Hollywood trash and, to a certain extent, of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The fact that the franchise continued afterwards, and went back to a more serious tone, is interesting but not surprising.

Rating: 50 (unchanged)

Aquarela do Brasil (1942)

A short cartoon in which an American humanoid duck named Donald Duck meets a Brazilian humanoid parrot named José Carioca. The latter shows the wonders of his country to the former. The narrative is situated at one remove from the spectator, as the latter views a hand with a paintbrush draw the images on the screen. The levels of diegesis are deliberately confused, e.g., the water or a river is used as ink by the painter.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

In 1936, a U.S. archeologist looks for the Biblical covenant ark which is supposed to have extraordinary powers. The Nazis are looking for it too.

This is my second or third viewing. I am a little amazed that I used to admire this film. It is not extraordinary in any way. It is competently directed, but its screenplay leaves a lot to be desired. And what does the climactic scene (where, in order to survive, Jones and his girlfriend avoid looking at the ark's visual projections) tell us about the film's stance toward itself?

Rating: 52 (down from 75).

Tati (1973)

Based on the short story "Tati, a Garota" ("Tati, the Girl"), by Aníbal M. Machado.

Manuela and her daughter Tatiana (Tati for short) move from her humble house to an apartment. Manuela is unmarried, and Tati is an impossible kid. Manuela works as a seamstress and Tati makes friends in their neighborhood. Manuela finds it hard to make ends meet and, to complicate things further, is pregnant again. A boat captain becomes attached to the two.

Not very good. It has obvious deficiencies of mise-en-scene, and is plagued by often inadequate vocal utterances. Carvana is miscast as a boat captain. The fact that the movie is almost invariably attributed an erroneous title in Brazilian film dictionaries is a dead giveaway that practically no one in that country has watched it.

Rating: 31

The Next Three Days (2010)

Based on the French film Pour elle (2008).

A man does everything he can to clear his wife of a murder conviction, and after all devices are exhausted he decides to break her out of prison.

A well-designed thrilling machine. The psychological angle was not disregarded.

Rating: 53

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Based on the novella "Dream Story" (Traumnovelle), by Arthur Schnitzler.

A New York doctor goes through some strange nocturnal adventures after his wife tells him about a sexual fantasy of hers.

Second viewing. It is a well-made movie, and a thoroughly enjoyable one, but the simple fact that it is based on a 1920s literary work makes the situations a little anachronistic. A few of the directorial choices are odd, to say the least, like 'Marion''s eye-rolling, but mostly the director has an intelligent way of handling the story and the characters.

Rating: 64 (unchanged)

Oscar (1967)

A rich businessman is awakened one morning by the visit of an employee of his. He is there for an important communication. And a series of subsequent revelations, twists and confusions ensue.

A well-designed farce, well directed, well acted, with De Funès at his hysterical best.

Rating: 60

Goodbye, New York (1985)

A woman leaves her husband and New York for a trip to Paris, but she falls asleep and ends up in Israel instead.

I could not find any review by professional critics. Dale Thomajan, a critic who worked for Film Comment, puts it among his Top Ten of 1985. There are a few user reviews on IMDb, some of which praise it highly and the rest pan it. Most of these reviews got the film entirely wrong: it's not a journey of personal growth, it is not Israeli propaganda, it is not Arab bashing. I see it as a comedy where things keep happening unexpectedly, and comicity or amusement is extracted from it. To be honest, I found it neither exciting nor boring. But I plan on seeing more stuff from this director. And I plan on seeing Goodbye, New York again, because I am not so good at getting film dialogue in English without subtitles.

Rating: 50

Houve uma vez dois verões (2002)

English title: Two Summers.

Two teenage boys vacationing on a beach town are after sexual or romantic adventures. One of them gets involved with a con woman and thief.

Interesting as a concept, it has a sense of style which at times comes out all right, and other times does not. Too much rock music in the soundtrack is a problem. Anyway, love and money are the themes, or rather, the conjunction of both is the theme.

Rating: 50

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

A man-made man-like creature is found in an abandoned castle. He has scissors for hands.

Second viewing. I took issue with it on the first one. I found it enjoyable this time, but its setup is better than its development, which in turn is better than its finale. Thematically it echoes Frankenstein (obviously) and Of Mice and Men (perhaps not so obviously).

Rating: 60 (up from 49)

Me and Orson Welles (2008)

A teenage boy gets a small part in Welles' directed play "Julius Caesar" in 1937. Welles is an arrogant dictator.

This is a very formulaic coming-of-age story, with nothing to say about artists big or small except old clichés.

Rating: 33

Militia (2000)

Government agents bomb a community which advocates free use of fire weapons. Their leader goes to jail and is later offered parole in exchange for helping a special agent to infiltrate the newly formed community which developed after the massacre and is planning a terrorist attack.

Very cheap actioner with lots of scenes from other films used as stock footage. The screenplay is implausible and the film is very poor.

Rating: 13

Live Wire (1992)

A bomb-defusing expert working for the FBI is in a case involving terrorist attacks where the detonating device is nowhere to be found (it's actually a liquid which, if ingested, will blow up). Concurrently to that, his wife has left him for a senator.

Entertaining thriller the plot of which has several inconsistencies and fuzzy spots and is structured according to age-old patterns. It won't add much to the viewer's spiritual advancement.

Rating: 43