tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33174251706749290102011-11-16T18:58:21.754+01:00Reviews, usually short, of every movie I see for the first time. Marks are out of ten. Plus assorted non-review posts on film.LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.comBlogger3511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-80926912777038007212010-10-19T09:09:00.002+02:002010-10-19T09:12:41.149+02:00

I guess you ought to have seen it once. In the end, someone shoots at the screen. (5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-36005825009998877832010-10-19T09:01:00.002+02:002010-10-19T09:06:48.949+02:00

The movie about a team of French resistance members trying to keep the Nazis from deporting a collection of world-renowned paintings to Germany is another one of those incredibly well-crafted 1960s Hollywood pics that provide really good entertainment, but don't even intend to grab you by the lapels. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-58850031446432729872010-10-17T17:09:00.003+02:002010-10-17T17:12:07.388+02:00

Mizoguchi's film about two men who go out into the world to try their luck does have its moments of (typically Japanese) beauty, but overall it's hard for me to see what all the fuzz is about. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-21457820954812355302010-10-17T17:01:00.003+02:002010-10-17T17:03:05.468+02:00

The Film Everybody's Talking about, a courtroom drama of sorts, is an all-around good, funny and well-photographed dramedy, though it's a little too textbook to excite me. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-2879145816323087812010-10-17T16:58:00.003+02:002010-10-17T17:03:39.342+02:00

This silent ten-minute documentary, if you want to call it that, portrays a day in the life of Manhattan. Watching completely silent films (without music) is an experience I'm only getting used to, but it helps to look at the film as a series of animated photographs. "Moving pictures", you might say. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-387376025642233002010-10-15T20:40:00.002+02:002010-10-15T20:43:49.036+02:00

Bela Tarr's early film deals with a man in love with a married woman in a small Hungarian town, but what it's really about is light and shadow and movement in space. Not quite Werckmeister, but recommended in the unlikely case you're into this kind of thing. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-21188228784258138252010-10-09T08:53:00.003+02:002010-10-09T09:01:37.496+02:00

In a Nazi-occupied French village, a priest, played by Belmondo, converts a woman (Emanuelle Riva) from one false belief system (communism) to the next (christianity). Will he get into more than just her mind? - Melville's commercially most successful film, and of those I've seen the one I found least interesting so far. It's not bad, but it doesn't have a lot to recommend it either, except for a

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-85005926458387490022010-10-08T10:45:00.002+02:002010-10-08T11:24:35.125+02:00

The best Keaton short I've seen so far, with lots of cool stunts. A bit like The General, only shorter and without trains. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-73646248044241889612010-10-07T11:09:00.002+02:002010-10-07T11:14:28.519+02:00

Though it is sometimes hailed as Hitchcock's first masterpiece, I was not that impressed by the story of a family who rents an apartment to a man who may or may not be the serial killer the whole town is looking for. Some interesting visuals at the beginning; apart from that it seems a little old, probably because it is. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-88601290815418394282010-10-05T19:34:00.004+02:002010-10-05T20:16:43.375+02:00

A woman is torn between her rich but boring husband and her fiery Latin lover. The film moves along decently until, while lying in the bathtub, she decides to solve this conflict by falling in love with a completely uncharismatic student. As he doesn't mind either, we get treated to a scene in which the lovers walk through nature accompanied by the sound of a string quartet, which possibly marks

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-15432381738843193532010-10-05T10:29:00.002+02:002010-10-05T10:32:59.866+02:00

Riefenstahl's supposed masterpiece of propaganda filmmaking turn out to be surprisingly pedestrian. Though there are some nice shots, there's nothing that is truly spectacular apart from the sheer mass of people in some scenes. Not in the same league as Eisenstein, but recommended for fans of people marching. (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-39972471525106558712010-10-01T08:46:00.006+02:002010-10-01T08:46:00.915+02:00

The American (2010) - 7.5Stardust Memories (1980) - 7.5A Cock and Bull Story (2005) - 7.5Masculin feminin (1966) - 7.5Mildred Pierce (1945) - 7

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-5885888415030629272010-10-01T06:30:00.003+02:002010-10-01T06:30:00.719+02:00

El espiritu de la colmena, Il Gattopardo, Gran Torino, Rich and Strange, Theatre of Blood

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-78711932171631593632010-09-29T21:07:00.002+02:002010-09-29T21:10:55.428+02:00

The black-and-white remake of the 1960s classic (which I've never seen) about an impeding nuclear war between the US and the USSR is sort of outdated, but manages to entertain throughout with a tight screenplay and good visuals. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-53529778013206430612010-09-29T15:57:00.003+02:002010-09-29T16:00:35.812+02:00

A gangster film with the standard ingredients heist, hustlers, homicide. Plus a sick "love story", just because we're French. Not a bad screenplay, and a master would have made this a really good movie, but Jacques Bral isn't one of them, so instead you get what feels like a made-for-TV movie. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-33918630300103475352010-09-29T15:05:00.000+02:002010-09-29T15:06:10.444+02:00

Highly conventional thriller about a young woman who's forced to assist a stranger in killing a celebrity, or else. Nothing wrong with it, nothing impressive about it. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-55350061944824541442010-09-28T08:24:00.001+02:002010-09-28T08:26:39.377+02:00

Though somewhat trashy in an Italian-film-from-the-1970s kind of way, the movie about a policeman and a DA with different approaches to fighting crime entertains throughout. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-76695456544865401562010-09-28T08:11:00.003+02:002010-09-28T08:13:15.675+02:00

Fiction-documentary about what it might look like if Britain suffers a nuclear attack. Given that the outcome is rather dreadful anyway, I felt that the film might have been more effective if it had tried less hard. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-89105971183664392612010-09-27T20:54:00.000+02:002010-09-27T20:55:19.318+02:00

Much like Vreden's dag, another sparse Dreyer film set in the Danish countryside. Generally a nice unspectacular offering, but the young man who thinks he's Jesus's appearances border on the unintentionally comic (at least in the dubbed-into-German version I saw) and the ending is, um, unconventional. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-88059856452776601002010-09-26T12:31:00.002+02:002010-09-29T21:06:14.010+02:00

Evil capitalist gains control of the wheat market, as a consequence of which poor people can't buy bread anymore in Griffith's early short which, despite running for a little over 14 minutes, is too long. A must-see if you're writing a history of anti-market films. (4)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-10455092668450501062010-09-26T09:38:00.004+02:002010-09-26T09:42:40.158+02:00

Melville's road movie about an industrialist fleeing France for the USA and a failed boxer accompanying him as his "secretary" is typically slow and melancholic and untypically unstylized. Certainly not for everybody, but for me. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-33169786586189844342010-09-25T13:26:00.003+02:002010-09-25T13:30:24.426+02:00

The story itself - about how a man came to be murdered - isn't all that interesting, but it is told at quite a pace, and the frames show this was directed by Michael Curtiz, the man responsible for Casablanca. Why this is often classified as a noir escapes me, though. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-87001525991513401702010-09-25T10:58:00.001+02:002010-09-25T11:01:21.698+02:00

The film about a deviant youth's time in a reformatory and how he got there is generally done well, and I especially like the use of music in the running scenes. Could have done without the grandstanding in the final scene. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-27734303600594400362010-09-25T10:53:00.001+02:002010-09-25T10:55:26.730+02:00

Winterbottom's postmodern mashup of a film version of Tristram Shandy and the behind-the-scenes story of the actors involved in this film is excellently structured and a lot of fun. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-78620789092941108712010-09-25T10:24:00.003+02:002010-09-25T10:51:35.850+02:00

The story of a reporter putting a man's life in danger in order to have a better story and hence enhance his carreer is sort of pointless: You learn he's an egocentric arsehole in the first five minutes, and then the film spells it out. Still, the script is tightly written in an old Hollywood kind of way, so it's a decent 100 minutes. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-32008155311650923092010-09-24T19:35:00.002+02:002010-09-24T19:40:06.174+02:00

You can't expect any movie to be as gripping as Ian McEwan's masterful novel Enduring Love, about a well-off man who gets stalked by a not-so-well-off one. The screenplay does, in fact, do a decent job - with the notable exception of its attempts to bring the evolutionary psychology of love onto the screen, a feature of the film which pulls off the trick of being trivial and wrong at the same

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-75373724683363505752010-09-24T11:30:00.002+02:002010-09-24T11:33:34.017+02:00

Starts out as a cool cop flick, then devolves into a drama about Jewish identity. Shame. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-23881070542831964112010-09-22T17:43:00.004+02:002010-09-22T18:00:43.344+02:00

Woody Allen's mockumentary on the "chameleon man" whose looks change in response to his surroundings pretty much takes the format of a standard History Channel documentary and is about as entertaining - but a little more so for the occasional typical Allen joke ("I worked with Freud in Vienna. We broke over the concept of penis envy. Freud felt that it should be limited to women."). (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-73637526469430981672010-09-21T22:06:00.002+02:002010-09-21T22:10:48.254+02:00

A couple of killers wonder why a victim they killed just stood there and took the hit, and soon they're tracing the million from a robbery he was involved in. When they line up accomplice after accomplice, the victim's story is told in a series of flashbacks. - No-nonsense, hardboiled and well-photographed movie of the kind that one imagines Tarantino enjoys. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-22037778725318790072010-09-21T19:40:00.002+02:002010-09-21T19:43:32.634+02:00

Watching the late-80s documentary about Essen's then-not-yet-famous metal band Kreator and their social and architectural surroundings was an all-around weird experience. That is all.

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-13739600551770758732010-09-20T21:38:00.003+02:002010-09-20T21:44:35.820+02:00

Another loosely structured black and white film about young French people from Godard. In this one, both the naive main character and the filmmaker himself (via all-caps intertitles) get on one's nerves with simplistic messages from the far left, but it doesn't really matter: Like previous pics, Masculin feminin has that hard-to-pin-down nervous energy that they don't teach at film school. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-20353682062398414782010-09-20T13:04:00.002+02:002010-09-20T13:09:43.668+02:00

Yes, this film features some terrible acting and a number of technical blunders that may, indeed, make the movie a valuable teaching example for film school, but on a more general level it is no more trashy than the widely-acclaimed 1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still, and certainly more entertaining.

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-13854545499047079952010-09-19T19:31:00.002+02:002010-09-19T19:36:39.591+02:00

The theatre's an attractive backdrop for movies anyway, and the setup here is nice, too: Young wannabe actor lucks into a job with pre-Citizen Kane, but already famous, Orson Welles, who is directing Julius Caesar and falls for a fellow employee, whom everyone else, including the boss, also finds attractive. It could be a great film, but was apparently streamlined according to screenwriting 101,

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-41657405900651041372010-09-19T09:37:00.003+02:002010-09-19T09:58:32.089+02:00

The title character is a killer, played by Clooney, hiding out in a village and getting to know a number of people. But there are films in which the plot is not important, and this is one of them. Anton Corbijn, who previously directed the masterpiece Control, again is in no hurry, and lets the film breathe slowly like an old animal. Naturally, many people find this boring. Which is fine, as long

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-4377519651392138462010-09-15T18:32:00.002+02:002010-09-15T18:39:35.886+02:00

You can read this film about a womanizer with a small conscience as either a statement about the advantages of conventional monogamy or a celebration of alpha maleness with a tacked-on ending to set the church's mind at ease. Either way, a bad basic idea. (5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-22654184265389935772010-09-14T20:51:00.001+02:002010-09-25T10:24:10.457+02:00

I though it was a joke when it said on the back of the DVD case that they took a Japanese action movie and added a new soundtrack. Not so! Quite silly. I wouldn't want to see a hundred movies like that, but one was quite entertaining. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-61959996912639603032010-09-13T20:40:00.003+02:002010-09-13T20:45:54.897+02:00

This almost plotless picture is Woody Allen's Otto e mezzo, a film about a famous director (Allen) who gets pestered by half of the people about how brilliant they are and the other half about how his old films were funnier. But it's better than Fellini's movie, or at least the 25 minutes I managed to sit through, merging Allen's usual humour with some shots of real beauty. And aliens. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-51679679313928909742010-09-13T09:04:00.002+02:002010-09-13T09:08:19.766+02:00

Lars von Trier is a director that has nothing on his mind but to deliver extreme emotional experiences to his audiences. That's fine with me, though in this shocker - about a couple retreating to the woods after their son's death - at times he's trying a little too hard. Even so, the somewhat Lynchesque film, which features the usual imagery like imposing trees, insects, talking foxes and a woman

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-36364847829881301412010-09-11T22:05:00.002+02:002010-09-11T22:07:28.087+02:00

The thriller about a bank clerk blackmailed into stealing 100,000 dollars is shot in pristine black and white and all-around well made. Not much else to say about it. A weak 7.

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-81041182907960289052010-09-08T17:15:00.003+02:002010-09-08T17:20:04.267+02:00

Goodness gracious! If you are looking for a film to make you really, really aggressive, I recommend this one featuring Dustin Hoffman as a nerdy American mathematician whom the locals in his new, English home village dislike. Of course, things get out of hand. Everybody involved certainly did a very effective job on this one - the screenplay in particular is well-constructed - but an enjoyable

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-48529841993037566582010-09-01T08:43:00.004+02:002010-09-01T08:43:00.509+02:00

Synecdoche, New York (2008) - 8.5Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour (1963) - 8.0Le petit soldat (1963) - 7.5Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960) - 7.5Vanilla Sky (2001) - 7

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-80866167596016845082010-09-01T05:41:00.002+02:002010-09-01T05:41:00.298+02:00

Gertrud, Repulsion, Storm, Toni Takitani

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-88038970075648364262010-08-28T18:45:00.002+02:002010-08-28T18:47:55.903+02:00

Pointless film in which a proper plot is eschewed in favour of almost constant, but not particularly spectacular, action. Even genius cinematographer Robert Elswit apparently could not be bothered. (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-24461343788658408272010-08-26T08:49:00.002+02:002010-08-26T08:51:19.361+02:00

Yes, the screenplay makes suspension of disbelief hard at times, but it's a 1970s Hollywood thriller involving an upstanding journalist, old Nazis and Israel. Is it going to be entertaining? Of course it is! (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-30145903933528528032010-08-25T18:05:00.006+02:002010-08-25T18:38:40.832+02:00

Four people meet in a room in Boulogne-sur-mer and their interconnected lives proceed from there. There's love and hate and the war in Africa and a lot of stuff I'm sure I didn't get on the first viewing. But, if that's a basis for that kind of opinion, it's not about the plot anyway, it's mostly about style. Muriel has a modernist soundtrack (think Stockhausen), shows lots of modernist

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-7809987878553011202010-08-19T10:53:00.004+02:002010-08-19T11:05:23.769+02:00

Godard's second feature, starring Anna Karina and some bloke who's not Jean-Paul Belmondo, was banned by the French government for three years, for telling the story of a man who gets caught between the fronts of the opposing fractions fighting the Algerian war in Europe. More importantly, like the earliest talkies, it was apparently shot silently, with only the most important sounds overdubbed

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-66959368836723121992010-08-18T20:27:00.002+02:002010-08-18T20:27:00.913+02:00

The film about resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Denmark is generally good, but little not-so-good elements here and there make it merely o.k. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-32179506679619733512010-08-18T19:36:00.003+02:002010-08-18T19:40:21.997+02:00

Visconti tells the story of four southern Italian brothers who come to Milan in search of a better life, focusing on the tender Rocco and the up-to-no-good Simone. - It's got a last half hour to die for, but the other two have some (mild) lengths. Overall, a very good movie, though. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-59214849095850021222010-08-17T21:31:00.000+02:002010-08-17T21:31:00.728+02:00

The nonlinearly told film starts with the death of the title character, a 1940s Sicilian outlaw, and tells the stories of people connected to him, as well as the history of Sicily during that era. It's a little hard to follow at times, but nicely contrasts the city with the countryside, Sicily with Rome, and darkness with light. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-6910737676231290122010-08-16T21:17:00.004+02:002010-08-16T21:37:29.568+02:00

You shouldn't think a film about a prisoner in solitary confinement who becomes a bird expert is all that interesting, but it's pulled off in a very professional manner: a well-structured screenplay (Guy Trosper) and no-nonsense direction (John Frankenheimer). Old Hollywood: It did have something going for itself. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-51246155174467066862010-08-16T16:33:00.002+02:002010-08-16T16:33:00.192+02:00

David Aames has it all: Good looks, great job, shitloads of money, and he gets to dump Cameron Diaz for Penelope Cruz. Naturally, fortune must soon deal him a bad hand, and deal him a bad hand it does. - Everybody seems to like the Spanish origninal (Abre los ojos) better. I haven't seen that one; at any rate, Vanilla Sky creates a cohesive aesthetic system which is pleasant in a Dido kind of way

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-3623213457819026392010-08-15T17:52:00.000+02:002010-08-15T17:52:00.163+02:00

Wes Anderson's movie about an outsider at an expensive high school is noteworthy for the contrast between the quirkiness it's trying very hard to project and the fact that the screenplay is a collection of the most-used devices from the screenwriting textbook. A self-indulgent film about a self-indulgent teenager, but it does have its strenghts, such as Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, early The Who

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-60752079788022363232010-08-14T17:39:00.000+02:002010-08-14T17:39:00.222+02:00

Despite identifiable weaknesses such as a poor leading actor and some implausibilities, the German TV classic, about a game show in which a candidate can win a million if a bunch of killers does not manage to get him within seven days, manages to entertain thoroughly. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-10574046004561867392010-08-13T08:09:00.003+02:002010-08-13T08:17:35.141+02:00

I hear Jerry Bruckheimer's planning a remake of this one: A Swedish village pastor has doubts about the existence of god in Bergman's unremarkable, but decent significant-slice-of-life picture. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-75963795064489079122010-08-11T19:42:00.004+02:002010-08-11T21:08:54.341+02:00

Cleo spends the two hours between visiting the hospital to have a test done which will tell her whether she suffers from cancer and receiving the test results driving in a taxi, being visited by her lover, talking to her maid, etc. Very good music (though sparse) and cinematography; overall decidedly decent. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-30154022247936681542010-08-11T19:37:00.004+02:002010-08-11T19:42:32.846+02:00

The bourgeois guests at a dinner party find themselves unable to leave afterwards. Their subsequent behaviour suggests poor stress resistance. Featuring lots of dialogue, perhaps too much, and the little surrealistic touches one may expect from Bunuel (in addition to the general surrealistic setup). Why not? (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-9639043404785318642010-08-08T17:04:00.003+02:002010-08-08T17:11:27.264+02:00

In a 17th century Danish village, witch-burning is alive and well, and people are not shy to let non-witch-related influences guide their decisions about whom to denounce. Combine with the intra-family conflict in a Danish pastor's household, and you have a nice setup for this drama directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer using austere frames and deliberate (but not slow) pacing. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-59558144068228184072010-08-06T09:15:00.004+02:002010-08-06T09:25:06.874+02:00

Brilliant movie, reviewed here. (8.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-6994370624432987682010-08-06T09:11:00.001+02:002010-08-06T09:13:12.097+02:00

Reviewed here (6.5).

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-8235051451999557012010-08-02T18:32:00.003+02:002010-08-03T00:43:19.344+02:00

A run-of-the-mill script about a cabbie who gets kidnapped by a contract killer to drive him around L.A. so he can go about his job. Directed by Michael Mann, but it's not in the same league as Heat. It's not even in the same league as Manhunter. (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-66349548844990882872010-08-01T18:24:00.003+02:002010-08-01T18:28:46.741+02:00

Once you got over the concept of manliness that is promoted in the second installment of Leone's trilogy about the overly talkative bounty hunter and are ready to enjoy it for what it is (an exercise you're already familiar with, having seen the first one), you'll realize it's not very entertaining. (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-43691045231290691562010-08-01T09:19:00.007+02:002010-08-01T09:19:00.577+02:00

The Guns of Navarone (1961) - 8L'armée des ombres (1969) - 8Love and Death (1975) - 7.5Le clan des Siciliens (1969) - 7.5Oktyabr (1928) - 7.5

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-87484217022150560782010-08-01T08:55:00.002+02:002010-08-01T08:55:00.240+02:00

The Honeymoon Killers, Ikiru, The Mist, 16 Blocks

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-47945927363056105422010-07-31T23:04:00.003+02:002010-07-31T23:09:09.179+02:00

A killer comes to Christmastime New York to do a job. Grainy black and white, a hectic jazz soundtrack, lots of second-person voiceover, rooftops, nightclubs - this one delivers just what you expect from a noir. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-13241091571213146732010-07-31T17:51:00.004+02:002010-07-31T18:04:08.674+02:00

After Dreyer's masterful take on the process against Jeanne d'Arc, it seems like an incredibly shite idea to shoot a film on the same topic, based on the same protocols, but apparently that didn't occur to Robert Bresson. His version is matter-of-factly, austere to the point of artlessness, and a great film to show in history class. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-3258483186996046312010-07-31T15:15:00.000+02:002010-07-31T15:15:00.426+02:00

The film about a mysterious elf from the wet realms who needs help from an unlikely assortment of landlings, in which M. Night Shyamalan does his usual spiel, suffers a little from slowness, but more from the fact that the screenplay fails to make us care about said lady. Exposition, baby! (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-20279926780434912982010-07-31T12:47:00.005+02:002010-07-31T12:58:00.069+02:00

Ah, splendid! The WW2 film about a rugged band of colourful characters on an all-important mission to destroy two of the Nazis' most powerful weapons on the greek island of Navarone is just what Hollywood blockbuster cinema is supposed to be: An epic featuring interesting locations, suspense, lots of silent-loud contrasts between the scenes and a cast of actors that are stars for a reason. (8)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-87306900432415623122010-07-31T12:42:00.003+02:002010-07-31T12:47:44.990+02:00

I am no expert on the Nuremberg trials, but it appears that the film gives as good a treatment of the moral and legal questions surrounding such a case, as well as the various shades of guilt between black and white, as you can expect from a fictional work of entertainment. As a work of entertainment, it succeeds, as it is well structured, populated by interesting characters played well, and, at

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-5087477598479148902010-07-30T23:27:00.004+02:002010-07-31T13:11:56.837+02:00

One hears this film got director Seijun Suzuki's carreer into trouble, and it's not hard to see why. The studio were probably hoping for just another film about a yakuza killer; what they got was something in a style somewhere between experiment and insanity. The film has lots of nice little ideas, but in my view, sometimes Suzuki is directing too much (instead of going for the simple solution),

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-87386610093086609092010-07-30T15:10:00.000+02:002010-07-30T15:10:00.975+02:00

It is hard to stay neutral when telling the story of an actual historical case in which a science teacher in the USA's bible belt was sued for teaching evolution, and this film clearly, and perhaps a bit to forcefully, makes clear that it's not on the side of the religious zealots. Otherwise, this is a well-structured and all-around professionally done piece of political entertainment. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-20178380327463470082010-07-30T09:26:00.000+02:002010-07-30T09:26:00.360+02:00

The loose sequel to Lola has the kind of screenplay that won't get you any love in screenwriting class: A day in the life of George, who has to deal with his girlfriend nagging about his lack of ambition, the worry of being drafted into Vietnam and the company who want to repossess his car, so George drives around town trying to raise a hundred dollars and meets Lola, who now works in a "model

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-14431574406112721322010-07-29T15:19:00.002+02:002010-07-29T15:19:00.917+02:00

Hitchcock's first talkie, about a homicide detective who investigates a murder he knows his girlfriend has commited and the man that blackmails them, is awkwardly structured and glacially paced, yet I found it reasonably entertaining. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-19511660378599169732010-07-29T09:20:00.002+02:002010-07-29T09:23:57.852+02:00

A married couple invite a hitchhiker to join them for a weekend sailing trip. He has a personality problem and a knife. - Good screenplay, good direction, good all around. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-10198300222837985562010-07-28T21:55:00.000+02:002010-07-28T21:55:00.228+02:00

Various people live in a French seaside town. Good cinematography, but too much talking. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-39450256769425384612010-07-28T14:46:00.003+02:002010-07-28T14:49:11.007+02:00

The conventional and quick-moving crime drama, dealing with London homosexuals being blackmailed (homosexual behaviour still being illegal in Britain at the time), predictably suffers from anti-anti-gay soapboxing, but is otherwise a solidly done film. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-12588793102754750892010-07-27T19:36:00.000+02:002010-07-27T19:41:08.683+02:00

A heist and its aftermath have repurcussions when their protagonists meet again in Paris 7 years later and everybody's looking for revenge. This no-punches-pulled, wham-bam-bam, in-yo-face film is another quality piece of work from the underrated Brian de Palma, mainstream auteur. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-51071056865092911362010-07-27T08:59:00.002+02:002010-07-27T09:04:25.035+02:00

A London reporter with personal problems is our main man and witness as the simultaneous tests of nuclear bombs by the Americans (at the South Pole) and the Russians (at the North Pole) causes the earth to shift on its axis, which brings about extreme weather changes that are depicted in a refreshingly un-Emmerichian style. Solid work. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-11744396359217795742010-07-26T15:04:00.003+02:002010-07-26T15:04:00.573+02:00

In an English village, a number of children are born who have apparently been begat by aliens and who are blond, precocious and eerily powerful in this crisp, entertaining and totally nonscary old horror/sf film. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-2312686953290076102010-07-25T19:40:00.002+02:002010-07-25T19:40:00.530+02:00

This critics' favourite, directed by Buñuel, about the young, kind and beautiful Viridiana's fateful last visit to her uncle and its aftermath, leaves me cold - there's nothing wrong with it, but there's not much right with it either. (5.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-24679315275523897972010-07-24T19:45:00.003+02:002010-07-24T19:45:00.079+02:00

Tetsu has decided to leave his yakuza gang and sworn off violence, but naturally, the past won't leave him be, so you can expect lots of shooting in this fun violence movie. Apparently, this was director Seijun Suzuki's first film in colour, and as such is remindful of pop songs from the 1960s, when stereo had just become available: Let's put one half of the instruments on the left and the other

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-89070729876012732642010-07-23T08:33:00.002+02:002010-07-23T08:38:27.238+02:00

Bob & Carol go on a weekend seminar about self-actualization, or whatever you want to call it, and swallow the stuff hook, line and sinker, returning to tell their friends Ted & Alice, another wealthy couple that they want to know about their honest feelings. Within five minutes, Carol also goes on record saying that nobody should ever do anything to make other people feel degraded, so you can

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-90317251589930840582010-07-22T20:09:00.001+02:002010-07-22T20:09:00.414+02:00

Although it's been a while since Pulp Fiction hit the screens (let alone the first printing of Tristram Shandy), nonlinear storytelling is still considered all the rage in contemporary Hollywood. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but when it is employed mainly as a gimmick, as in this thriller-drama about a robbery that goes all pear-shaped, the nonlinear fashion is a little annoying. Also,

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-49280414696952354282010-07-21T20:06:00.000+02:002010-07-21T20:06:00.376+02:00

George A. Romero's template for pretty much all zombie films to follow it is visibly cheap, but not all that trashy and reasonably diverting, but no more. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-15366038418249147802010-07-20T15:54:00.000+02:002010-07-20T15:54:00.611+02:00

Mashup of sounds and moving pictures recorded in wartime Britain. Meant as uplifting in a patriotic way and considered a classic, but strikes me as pointless. (3.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-8052137814720926882010-07-19T13:41:00.001+02:002010-07-19T13:41:00.273+02:00

Mirrors, knives, waves - this experimental short has the whole psychoanalytic mumbo-jumbo. It's easy to see how someone could call this "meaningless experimental crap", but I quite like its Latin feel - the grainy b/w recording of the sunlight -, the music (not that I'd buy it on CD) and the crude surrealism. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-85946376389773098062010-07-18T14:00:00.000+02:002010-07-18T14:00:44.970+02:00

Jean Gabin! Lino Ventura! Numerous mentions of Quai des Orfevres! Modern interior architecture! Occasional female nudity! Questionable police investigation methods! Plot holes! Narrow ties! In short, it has everything a French crime film is supposed to have. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-37278174803306877492010-07-17T20:03:00.003+02:002010-07-17T20:07:14.039+02:00

Woody Allen's very silly film about a Russian torn between war and females' loins, which plays endlessly on his betaness and is really very silly indeed, is by far the funniest of his films I've seen. That is all. (7.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-36357578221108709102010-07-14T20:43:00.003+02:002010-07-18T10:28:27.395+02:00

Lang's film about the state fighting a criminal mastermind that's not called Mabuse is a tad unfocused and long, yet overall a decent bit of entertainment. First appearance of a stache-twirling villain that I'm aware of. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-71348399661384550572010-07-13T11:35:00.003+02:002010-07-13T11:44:43.927+02:00

Beautiful but stern Russian special envoy "Ninotchka" Yakushova (Greta Garbo), while in Paris on an official mission, falls into the hands of a playboy, who, um, makes her a woman. If you can deal with this plot, it's a charming old black-and-white comedy for rainy afternoons. Garbo, by the way, laughs! (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-91470764050858491982010-07-11T13:18:00.004+02:002010-07-13T12:00:41.548+02:00

The Eisenstein film about the Russian Revolution, which I saw in a GDR version with German intertitles, Shostakovich's music and added sound effects, is interesting in that a certain interpretation of history affects the way the story is told at a very basic level: Unusually, here are practically no individual characters of relevance, which makes sense if you believe that there is no such thing

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-88214763043521186602010-07-05T22:09:00.003+02:002010-07-05T22:09:00.202+02:00

This variant of the man seeks revenge story suffers from a bad case of The "Blimey Mate" Problem, complete with Cockney Rhyming Slang; indeed it's a pretty unsophisticated script all around. Director Steven Soderbergh perhaps should have gotten an Oscar for making it into a visually interesting, reasonably entertaining film. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-77885032519350674032010-07-04T09:14:00.004+02:002010-07-04T09:19:33.310+02:00

The film about professional psychic talking her beta husband into kidnapping so they don't have to be middle class anymore and then offering her services as a medium to the kidnappee's parents suffers a little from a heavy-handed exposition but is otherwise good all around. (7)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-41493690693807234182010-07-03T11:41:00.000+02:002010-07-04T11:45:53.343+02:00

In order to defraud investors, a Broadway producer and his accountant devise a scheme to produce a flop. They think they've found the right script when they come across Springtime for Hitler, but of course it turns out to be a huge success. - Much too slapsticky for my taste, but even so, the tightly scripted movie provides reasonably good entertainment. (6.5)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-23351136389241380652010-07-01T10:15:00.006+02:002010-07-01T10:56:14.960+02:00

When Inglourious Basterds came out, some people complained that it was not what they had expected from a film advertised as depicting the work of freedom fighters behind enemy lines: No training scenes, no raids on barracks, wtf? It is possible that Tarantino's deviations from the genre standards were inspired by L'armée des ombres, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 flop about the French resistance.

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-75119631583919924382010-07-01T08:50:00.004+02:002010-07-01T08:50:00.362+02:00

Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962) - 7.5Kumonosu-jô (1957) - 7Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965) - 7

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-90427334938901600382010-07-01T02:59:00.001+02:002010-07-01T02:59:00.440+02:00

If...., Themroc

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-54053684969520304202010-06-30T20:04:00.004+02:002010-06-30T20:18:23.040+02:00

Godard's take on the Lemmy Caution character is a science fiction film in which the agent comes to Alphaville, the place where logic rules. Lemmy meets a woman, and you can guess the rest. Though a lot is made of the fact that Godard didn't build any sets but rather filmed the most modern-looking parts of Paris he could find, but given that the film is set in the mid-1970s (if I interpret the

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-55840279118792608792010-06-29T13:00:00.000+02:002010-06-29T13:00:05.886+02:00

Not only is Lindsay Anderson's documentary about a school for deaf children boring, it also has voice-over narration that alternates between the usual third-person view and taking the (inauthentic) voice of the children ("We are deaf."). Bonus: Contains the remarkable assertion that if you don't have words, you cannot think. (4)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-20728586650191230692010-06-28T09:54:00.002+02:002010-06-28T09:56:26.796+02:00

Solid but unexceptional narration of the well-known story. I've previously seen the 1962 version with Marlon Brando, and filming the South Seas in black and white somehow seems wrong. (6)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3317425170674929010.post-58269033130907447992010-06-27T14:16:00.004+02:002010-07-04T11:50:52.146+02:00

Upon the return of his ex-girlfriend into his flat, a young man starts a ten-minute monologue until the film comes to a predictable "surprise" ending. Pointless twelve-minute early Godard. (4)

LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.com0