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Reviews
Blithe Spirit (1945)
Dated and boring
Truly disappointed by this. The plot and play have aged very badly. The supposed witty dialogue is no longer witty- just dreary. Margaret Rutherford's over acting as the 'medium' is really tiresome and her cliched character is cringe-worthy.
It is quite a pretty picture shot in Technicolor and may have some appeal for those who are still interested in English upper class toffs' country houses and life.
I have no idea why this was such a hit in its time or why it has been revived so many times and is considered a comic masterpiece. I am in complete agreement with Graham Greene who called it "a weary exhibition of bad taste".
Noel Coward less than impressed with the film. He said that the film "wasn't entirely bad but it was a great deal less good than it should have been".
Chunmeng (2013)
If you have spent serious time in Beijing this film will resonate
This film explores the inner life of the Beijing middle class, and in particularly women, in a way that will not be easily understood by Westerners.
Could only have been done by a female director to portray the sexual longing and the motherly tenderness.
The fortune tellers, buddhist monks, vacations in Dubai, boy toys, dreams and ghost stories are all quite a part of life. As is the iPad game obsessed husband who ignores his wife, the Karaoke club and many other scenes.
Thus the Asian film awards and puzzlement by others. The film has weaknesses and strengths. Well worth 90 minutes of your time to get a perspective I have not otherwise seen portrayed.
Next (2007)
Shallow 24 Hours imitator
A pathetic effort that takes an interesting idea (being able to see 2 minutes into the future( and corrupts it into a cheap 24 hours imitator.
The irredeemably evil bad guys (at least they are not Arabs) want to blow up LA with an atom bomb and only 1 man can save us.
Give me a break. he should be a day trader worth millions not a cheap casino chiseler.
Sad that a couple of good actors Cage and Moore would put in time to get this pay cheque.
Also sad that post 9-11 the kind of moral vacuum that US Federal agencies exist in is taken for granted in this film and that to 'save millions' any action is always permitted.
Eros (2004)
A modestly pleasant diversion - leave before the Antonioni
Wong Kar Wai does a reprise of In the Mood for Love. A sadder, but wiser (and shorter) version. Rich sumptuous imagery.
Sonderburgh does a cute little comedic turn. Alan Arkin and Robert Downey have a surprising chemistry. At least someone will still make movies with Downey
Antonioni does a soft porn film. I think it was a great way to get handsome women to take off their clothes and sooth his old age. Naked on the beach playing in the waves. And even horses for the girls. For the men there is a really swell new Maseratti convertible with leather seats and side mirrors that swivel in for tight spots. Really - no fraud like an old fraud.
The Lost Empire (2001)
HK martial arts meets college-boy - result true love
Interesting combination of Hong Kong martial arts / fantasy technique with Hollywood Raiders of the Lost Ark cheekiness. Well sketched, updated characters from the classic Chinese novel, with great special effects, fun fight scenes, poignant romance and a leading actress simply too gorgeous for words.
The college idealist American hero with the great racquet ball backhand gets bit tiresome, as does the ideological spin that the true Chinese spirit is rugged individualism.
Still the original somehow shines through and retains its interest and fascination.
Pan Tadeusz (1999)
A marvelous, rollicking tale - visually stunning
Although I am Polish by extraction, I had never read or been told the story of this great, early 19th century Polish classic poem. To my delight the tale of rustic Lithuania, at the time of Napoleon is exciting, warm, tender and just sweeps you off your feet.
The dialogue is drawn directly from the poem so it is in rhyming couplets. The acting styles and set design marvelously match the romantic, expressive language. The poem was published in 1834 and Adam Miczkiewicz was, I understand, influenced by Walter Scott. The English subtitles fail the film badly. They should have taken the risk of using a translation in a similar style. Unfortunately, for a non-Polish speaking person, I expect it is like watching Shakespeare translated into the language of the evening news. It looks terrific but a lot of the richness is missed.
Quintet (1979)
Quintet is excellent SciFi from an unlikely source.
Excellent Sci-Fi from an unlikely source- Robert Altman. The world is dying. Glaciers are descending so quickly that a city "in the South" that still functioned until recently, is almost no longer working. People swaddled in thick layers of clothing are huddled in the remains of an ice-bound city, no longer able to reproduce, with no future. Waiting for death, they spend their time playing a dangerous gambling game. From out of the snow an adventurer arrives (Paul Newman) with his pregnant young spouse.
The snowed-in city is brilliantly created on the site of Montreal's World Fairgrounds (Expo 1967). Dim electric lightbulbs thaw small hollows of ice in frigid snow-drifted rooms. One thinks of Doris Lessing's world dying of cold in "The Making of the Representative for Planet 8". A keen portrayal of a race without hope, barely clinging to any shreds of humanity.
The Organization (1972)
Description of the show including stars.
Probably one of the most cool and concise portrayals of office life ever done - at "Greatrick Co."- The young man one-upping his fellow job-applicants,the fiendish game-playing PR Director, the PR manager who's been sleeping with the Chairman, the bloke who just won't retire, and the fellow who's shuffled off the form the "Greatrick Symphony Orchestra"(Anton Rogers), and of course, the secretary who knows where all the skeletons are hidden. It doesn't get much better. Donald Sinden as the Director, and Peter Egan as the young man infatuated with the secretary who has to learn about life and timing to get his way.