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

César et Rosalie (1972)

English title: César and Rosalie.

Rosalie is married to César, who is an expansive guy and older than she. When young David, with whom she had a love affair years ago, returns to Paris, her old feelings revive.

The theme of one woman and two men seems to be a French favorite (cf. Jules et Jim). The reverse was also tackled (Le bonheur, haven't seen it). But whereas those were sixties movies with a libertarian flair, César et Rosalie is very much a seventies film, that is, a plead to reason, so to speak. I will not speak ill of it, it is a well-written psychological study. A bit on the banal side, I'd say. Sami Frey is an earlier version of Willem Dafoe. Sort of.

Rating: 59

The Assignment (1997)

A Naval officer is a lookalike of a feared terrorist. He is proposed the task of impersonating said terrorist. The plan is having the Soviets believe said terrorist has betrayed them.

Awful thriller, with a screenplay which follows a very clichéd path. A formal quibble: practically every other sequence begins with a plongée, for some reason; it is very unsettling.

Rating: 13

Miramar (1997)

The first act concerns a family composed of man, wife and son. The second act concerns the son who aspires to be a filmmaker.

The first act has a decent level of articulation. The second act is mostly uninspired (pretensely) modernistic shit, with a couple of interesting verbal utterances.

Rating: 35

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

A semi-retired lawyer decides to act for the defense of a military who killed a bar owner who allegedly raped the military's wife.

This is my second viewing of this film, and I can safely say (although it has been a long time since I watched it for the first time) that I didn't understand it the first time. I will not make a deep analysis here because this film is an established classic and I am sure analyses abound by better men than me. I will only make a few remarks, mostly for myself.
Reading the "hated it" section of the IMDB user comments, I notice that some people had the same problems I had upon my first viewing. This film is not like most other courtroom movies. There is no hero in it. It is not going for the viewer's empathy. It is a movie about Justice as an institution, and it implicitly says two things about it: one, that it is not perfect; two, that, even with its imperfections, it is a necessary institution. On a deeper level perhaps, the movie is an analysis of strategy, conveying the insight, perhaps above all others, that one way to win a case that seems lost in advance is to use your adversary's perfidy against him. We see the prosecution try to, so to speak, kill a fly with an atom bom, and it blows in their face. To close, a few words on the movie's title. In the past, I was a bit aggravated at what seemed to me a completely inappropriate title. I took it to mean that the film was intended as the "anatomy" of a murder, and of course I was disappointed. However, there is no evidence that the title refers to the movie. It seems to fit better as a reference to the trial itself. And then it is necessarily an ironic title, since it is quite evident that this would be a very poor and inconclusive anatomy. This irony seems quite in place when directed against an event within the movie, as opposed to against the movie itself.

Rating: 79 (up from 50)

Barão Olavo, o horrível (1970)

A barely narrative collage of scenes involving the title character, who is fond of corpses, two young women who live with him and are sexually involved with each other, another woman who seems to be the Baron's wife, and two men who seem to be religious preachers or priests.

I guess alienation can produce the kind of cinema displayed here. It oscillates between pastiche (of a very primitive type) and pornography (of a very shy type) and performatic ludicity (of a very uninspired type). Almost completely unfunny.

Rating: 5

Silent Rage (1982)

A psychopath kills some people and is locked in an institution where they give him an experimental drug. It makes him nearly indestructible, for the excitement of an unethical scientist. The monster escapes, and a tough sheriff gives him pursuit.

A cheap rip-off of The Terminal Man (1974), not badly directed.

Rating: 31

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

A man known as The Bandit and his fellow trucker are hired to transport a mysterious package from Miami to Dallas by a governor candidate. The package in question turns out to be an elephant that is supposed to be delivered to the Republican Party in Dallas (the elephant, so I hear, is the symbol of said party).

Pretty tepid sequel, with some wit in the dialogue and a bunch of reasonable action sequences.

Rating: 32

Stroker Ace (1983)

A stock car racer has some problems with his sponsor, a fried chicken restaurant chain owner.

Low-brow humor and car races. And, if you will, a reflection on how difficult it is to have a "pure" human endeavor, not only sportsmanlike as is the case depicted in the movie but any other you can think of, under capitalism.

Rating: 31

Murphy's Law (1986)

A cop is framed for the murder of his ex-wife by a recently released woman whom he had arrested ten years before. He manages to escape and takes a young car thief woman along with him in his quest to find out who framed him.

It fulfills basic entertainment criteria, namely a plot that has a lot of action and light humor. The idea of an ex-con who seeks revenge on policemen and judges is something I see often on films but I do not know of any similar real-life cases. Not a very memorable movie.

Rating: 40

O homem que copiava (2003)

This is my second viewing. 

On Monday, May 22, 2006, I posted the following on this blog: 

-quote- 

O Homem que Copiava (2003) 

English Title: The Man Who Copied. 

Synopsis: A guy that works as a photocopier operator is in search of a way to improve his humble condition. 

Appraisal: This is a painful film to watch. I really couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. The storytelling is flooded by voiceover, which means the filmmaker either can't say what he wants through the action and dialogue, or that he considers the viewers to be morons that need constant explaining. The script is fairly convoluted, but to no avail: it all amounts to an elaborate piece of crap with zero empathy. The performances are pretty decent, which is a feat considering the material the actors had to work with. Give yourself a break. 

Rating: 31

-unquote- 

I stick with my previous opinion and rating. This film's flimsy moral justification rests on plot contrivances. Aesthetically and morally, it is antithetical to L'argent (1983).

Visage (2009)

English title: Face.

A Taiwanese filmmaker is making a film which is set in the Louvre. The shooting is filled with problems.

The above plot is just hinted at in the movie, as there is no real coherent plot. It is a sort of postmodern 8 1/2, with touches of La nuit américaine, and at least one visual quoting of Il deserto rosso. However, references to old movies and bizarre camera angles do not a film make.

Rating: 0

Tamara Drewe (2010)

A young newspaper columnist moves to the English countryside when she inherits a farm house. She gets romantically involved with three men: a drummer of a famous pop band, a middle-aged married writer, and a farm worker who had been her flame in their teens.

Amusing little comedy, based on a graphic novel which in turn was loosely based on Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. The little rural town where it is set is a writers' refuge, and the film satirizes writers of all kinds.

Rating: 70

Câncer (1972)

A series of variations on a basic configuration of three main characters, a black thief-beggar, a white thief, and a white actress.

The film's author has summarized well what it is about: violence, moral and physical. It is not particularly insightful or deep, and at times not even very articulate. But it succeeds moderately in conveying its theme, and the improvisational aesthetics produces occasional good results. The film, at the very least, works as a snapshot of an especially difficult period in Brazilian history, with many social and political issues.

Rating: 40

Barbe bleue (2009)

English title: Bluebeard.

Two sisters are living in misery after their father dies. A rich nobleman seeks a wife. Most are afraid of him because of his appearance and because his former wives have died.

This is an unimaginative and a little idiotic retelling of a fairy tale. A poor excuse to put actors into old costumes.

Rating: 20

Cidadão Boilesen (2009)

Documentary. The subject is a Danish-born man who moved to Brazil and was a high executive during the military dictatorship in the 60s and early 70s. He was very proactive in the financing of the repression to groups of resistance against the regime. He was murdered by one these groups in 1971 (hope the date is correct).

Interesting documentary about the connection of capital and a rightwing regime. The psychological angle is also tackled (sadism is mentioned). It is superficial both in the political and the psychological angle. There is a tangential thematic affinity to Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. One of the interviewees bears a physical and ideological resemblance to Richard Nixon.

Bonanza: A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town (1966) (TV)

Little Joe is hit by a bullet (a ricochet, not a serious wound) fired by a man who was trying to steal a Ponderosa horse. Hoss is deputized and goes after the thief.

This is a lighter-in-tone episode, finely scripted. Vaughn Taylor is almost preternaturally resemblant of John Hurt in this.

La donation (2009)

English title: The Legacy.

A medical doctor responds to a job offer at a remote Canadian region; she must fill in for the old general clinician during some time off that he is taking, and after that decide whether she will take the position permanently.

A scene in the movie describes it more than anything I could say. The new doctor is shown a landscape of mostly grass and finds it beautiful; her interlocutor replies that some find it austere. Analogously, I found the film austere; this is not a bad thing, and this is not a bad movie, but to say it is beautiful would require a taste different than mine.

Rating: 52

The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004)

A man films his relationship with a terminally ill woman.

Just boring. Some parts of it bear some similarities with The Pillow Book (1996), another negligible film.

Rating: 20

Hængbok (2007)

English title: Happiness.

A man develops cirrhosis of the liver because of too much drinking and goes to a sanatorium. There he meets a young woman who has a lung problem.

The story is believable but a little tedious; the character of the ex-girlfriend is badly developed and unconvincing.

Rating: 37