Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

There are some movies that are best seen at a cinema and the films in this series fall into that category, as indeed did the Lord of the Rings movies, so off I went to spend an enjoyable afternoon.  There is no denying that this entry is far too long, but it did hold my attention despite its running time.  As you have probably heard, Harry and Co. are now teenagers with raging hormones, but fortunately this is only part of the background to the adventures here.  Harry is mysteriously entered in the Triwizard Tournament and must fight dragons, battle sea monsters, and even face Lord V. in the scarifying form of a no-nose Ralph Fiennes.  There's a terrific new character in Mad-Eye Moody and good old Hagrid is also lovesick for a visiting giantess who makes him look petite.  For fans of the series, how good or bad this film is is almost superfluous, but they will not be disappointed.  And even those viewers who are indifferent to the novels will have a ripping good time here, but it is the darkest of the series so far and definitely not for very young kiddies.

In reply to Tommy, I've read the book too and agree that great chunks of the story have gone by the wayside -- but I don't approve of 2-parters a la Tarantino and it is up to the director to include the most important bits. It's hard for a movie to follow its source material completely and half the pleasure is seeing which parts the makers have managed to include.And we will always have Paris -- sorry, I mean the book!

Spare Parts (2003)

On the same basis that I recently viewed two films from Sri Lanka, I sat through this effort from Slovenia -- and believe me, it was an effort.  I am always amazed that films can get released which have absolutely no justification for existing.  This one was about two loners who were engaged in smuggling refugees across the border into Italy.  If it was meant as an expose of unethical practices, it really didn't work.  One was only aware that they were happy enough to accept the money, but didn't really give a damn if their cargo made it or not, especially since the elder of the two announced that most of them would end up as prostitutes or body parts for transplants.  OK, one knows this sort of thing happens, but making a film about it will not make it stop.  It left a bitter taste which I suppose was the point of the exercise.

Grace Quigley (1984)

About 100 years ago (or some time after 1984) I went to the National Film Theatre to see a move called "The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley".  I enjoyed it hugely, but it then disappeared off the radar having done no box office whatsoever.  Some years later it emerged on video under the above title in a truncated form and with a different ending, which seems to be the only way it is now available.  It's a black comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Nick Nolte.  When she sees the latter dispatching her despicable landlord (Nolte's a professional hitman), she thinks up the wheeze of getting all of her elderly friends who are waiting for death to pay him to speed up their departures.  A mother/son relationship is formed as more and more of the disenchanted aged seek their help.  I know this probably sounds a bit on the sick side, but it is done with great charm, and Hepburn -- even at her most affected -- is an actress I can watch 'til the cows come home.

Il Deserto Rosso/The Red Desert (1964)

The trouble with the Italain director Michaelangelo Antonioni is that my partner likes his films while I wouldn't care if I never viewed another.  This was his first in colour and some people rave about his palette; maybe the print I saw was faded, but it was really nothing special.  I find all of his movies dry and sterile, and if he is considered great for capturing this, so be it.  Here we have a bored housewife played by Monica Vitti, a  favourite of the director, starting a casual affair with Richard Harris (nothing remarkable in this role and dubbed into Italian to boot).  I have no idea what the title means.  Yes, her life was as empty as a desert, but I associate red with passion and there was little of that in evidence here.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)

With today's dependence on CGI, it is hard to remember how remarkable Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects were in days gone by.  While not as innovative as those in his earlier "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", the ones here are pretty nifty -- figureheads that spring to life, dueling six-handed statues, a cyclops and so on.  What isn't too remarkable is the standard of the acting from the lead (John Philip Law), his leading lady (Carolyn Munro), and downward.  Apart from the big villain, they're all on the wooden side, and since they are reacting to things that weren't there while filming, they stare blankly into outer space or fixate willy-nilly with eyes like those out of "Ivan the Terrible".  Never mind it's still good fun if one can force one's mindset to a simpler time.  

Open Water (2003)

This indie film was inexpensively made with unknown lead actors and took a respectable amount at the box office.  I understand that some people found it really scary, but I found it more on the annoying side.  It concerns a yuppie couple on holiday in the Caribbean who take a scuba diving excursion; through human error, the boat leaves without them and they are left floating in the ocean and being carried by the tides until they are surrounded by a school of sharks.  Their reactions seemed very real -- first hope, then the tendency to blame each other, then reconciliation, and finally despair. All well and good but not entertainment by any means.  To say it is based on a true story is a little ambiguous since if there were no survivors, the film-makers could hardly know how in fact the events played out.  I guess this is a spoiler, but the film has received sufficient publicity for the outcome to be known up front.

Where the Truth Lies (2005)

I wouldn't normally choose to traipse down West first thing on a Sunday morning, but it was worth it for a preview of this film (on release later this week).  Written and directed by Atom Egoyan, it was the most accessible of all his films that I've seen which often have a political agenda.  It's the story of a Martin and Lewis type entertainment act played by Colin Firth (a million miles from his Bridget Jones persona) and Kevin Bacon.  It begins at the peak of their success in the late 50's and then moves to the early 70's as an investigative writer, played by Alison Lohman, tries to discover why the duo broke up and the true facts of the death of a young girl found in the bathtub of their suite.  It was so refreshing to see a picture aimed at an adult audience with no concessions to the mindless.  Both actors deserve Academy Award nominations, especially Bacon who was shamefully overlooked last year for "The Woodsman", but I don't suppose logic rules in these matters.  Recommended!

No Highway (in the Sky) (1951)

The above are both the British and the US titles for this odd concoction.  It's been a long time since I last saw it, but my theory is that any film with James Stewart in the lead can't be all bad -- and you know what, he makes this story watchable.  He's in his absent-minded professor mode here as an aeronautics engineer convinced that the tail will fall off certain airplanes because of metal fatigue after a specified number of flying hours -- and nobody believes him, until he finds himself aloft with stewardess Glynis Johns and sexy screen siren Marlene Dietrich.  He's surrounded by a slew of British character actors of the period who are irrelevant, as are the female leads to some extent; he's the whole show and you gotta love him in his persistence.

Falling Behind Again!!!

There's just too much afoot at present, so I'm back to doing a multiple entry (sounds painful):

The Big Kahuna (2000): Another film that didn't get much exposure here, probably because it's really a filmed play, despite the attempt to open things out.  Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito play two old hands trying to flog their wares at a convention and teach a youngster (Peter Facinelli) the tricks of the trade as they man their hospitality suite.  They were hoping to entice a Mr. Big, but after deciding that he was a no-show, they discover that the kid had spent most of the evening talking religion with him -- a complete no-no from their point of view, but more important than business to the young one.   It was a talkathon -- well enough acted, but hardly a movie.

From Beyond (1986): No horror director has a better grasp of H. P. Lovecraft than Brian Yuzna who has made some of the gooiest, goriest pictures ever and really gets into Lovecraft's twisted imagination.  This is another tale of experimenting in areas that are better left alone with most of the cast ending up as mutated meat.  Unfortunately I do have the taste for this kind of madness.

Spartan (2004):  Another picture starring Val Kilmer who does not rank among my favourites.  However since the movie was written and directed by David Mamet, I thought it might be pretty good.  Unfortunately I was disappointed as it could just about have been written and directed by anyone with an extremely convoluted plot, a not overly likeable hero, and none of the sharp dialogue that usually is found in a Mamet film.  This one concerned the abduction of the President's daughter, not as a hostage, but into the white slave trade since her abductors did not know who she was.  The powers-that-be did not want the truth to be known, but of course Kilmer acting on his own -- like a Spartan warrior of old -- threw a spanner into their cover-up lies.  Yeah, and pigs will fly!

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)

For some reason the critics didn't like Jacques Demy's follow-up to "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" but it is actually a very pleasant diversion.  Granted it doesn't have as sober a story as the earlier film; but when three characters looking for love are played by Catherine Deneuve, her sister Francoise Dorleac (who, had she lived, might have been the greater actor) and Danielle Darrieux, how bad can it be?  Especially when two of their love interests take the forms of Gene Kelly and Michel Piccoli.  It's an all-singing, all-dancing pastel world, and if Michel Legrand's music is a little tinkly at times, so what; one doesn't have to be dead serious all the time.  The only thing that really puzzles me about this movie is that all of the singing voices are dubbed, including those actors that one knows to have perfectly acceptable voices.

The Ring (1927)

It's not often that I get to view a Hitchcock film that I've not seen before, so this was something of a treat.  (I do have another of his silents in my backlog, but I suspect that it will be a more pedestrian effort).  This one was really super-duper.  The basic story was a love triangle between two boxers and "the girl", so nothing unusual there.  But it was told with such verve and experimental camera work (Hitch was very influenced by what was happening in German cinema in the twenties) that the story was incidental to the development of a personal style.  I must confess that I was not previously familiar with the lead actor, one Carl Brisson, who was something of a lummox, but his rival was played by the suave Ian Hunter who had an illustrious career in Hollywood in the 30's and 40's.  The version I saw ran about 110 minutes but I understand that the original video release was only 73 minutes -- it must really have been hacked about, so I'm delighted to have finally caught up with this picture in its entirety.

 

Max Dugan Returns (1983)

Here's a perfect but little-known film for a grey day. Marsha Mason is the widow living very simply with her teenaged son (Matthew Broderick in his first screen role.)  Out of the blue her father whom she has not seen since she was a child appears, on the run from the mob with a suitcase full of bucks and only a few months to live.  He is played by the unflappable Jason Robards Jr. and wants to get to know his grandson and spoil them both.  He procedes to spend like a drunken sailor and Mason has trouble explaining all the new acquisitions to her son, her nosey neighbours, and her cop-boyfriend (Donald Sutherland), especially when Robards turns their humble home into a mini-palace. It's a feel-good movie with an ideal cast, but helped most of all by Robards' cheekiness.

Purgatory (1999)

I've seen a number of pix in the last few days but have been a little too busy with other things (yes, I do have a life) to post reviews of them all.  I thought I would share my opinion of this made-for-cable film which I've seen previously;  you know, sometimes a movie will stick in your mind -- not because it's great or anything but because there is something memorable about it.  This one has a clever concept which grabs the viewer.  A bunch of bank robbers led by a typically mean Eric Roberts (it's amazing how he has become a straight-to-video actor while his little sister earns 20-mil a film) take temporary refuge from a posse in a town which is actually over the gateway to hell.  Old West characters who have passed on bide their time there until it can be decided whether they are going up or down; so we have the likes of the sheriff played by Sam Shepard, who is actually Wild Bill Hickok, plus Doc Holliday, Jesse James and Billy the Kid trying to behave themselves when confronted with Roberts' violent mob, since any lapse into lawlessness could doom them eternally.  The resolution and the fate of the good vs. the bad is satisfying indeed.  It's all presented with a great sense of style which places it well above the average cable movie.

Flying with One Wing (2002)

My second film from Sri Lanka this month and it couldn't have been more different.  This one was an Asian "Boys Don't Cry", except our heroine was older, plumper and had taken a wife (who she honestly believed did not know she was a woman).  There was no real explanation whether her years of living as a man was for economic necessity or a trauma in her past or just a pyschological quirk.  However all of the men in the movie were despicable.  After a minor accident her workmate takes her to the nearest doctor, who happens to be an uncaring abortionist, who immediately discovers her secret; however, this fat, thumb-sucking pig develops a deep lech for her.  Her workmate also fancies her, but he thinks she is a man and he is that way inclined.  She works as a mechanic and her boss is a philandering brute.  When she continues to rebuff the doctor, he gives away her secret with brutal and tragic results. A strangely powerful film, but disturbing as well. 

 

The Missing Movies - Part Three

I'm still a bit paranoid that everything will crash again, but here goes:

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004):  This is the unnecessary sequel to the first Resident Evil flick -- and quite useless, unless of course you really like films based on video games.  I don't know who decided that Milla Jovovich was cut out to be an action hero (probably a result of her once being married to Luc Besson and starring in his "The Fifth Element"), but she's a pretty feeble one.  I don't suppose that will stop some bright spark from proposing yet another zombie-fighting film for her.  Mr. Romero, look what you have unleashed!

Lulu on the Bridge (1998):  This is yet another example of a movie that has fallen between the cracks and taken years to surface on the box.  Its director, Paul Auster, is much more talented as a novelist and screenwriter, but the film retains its interest, if only because the viewer is curious as to what is going on and how it will develop and/or resolve itself.  Harvey Keitel plays a musician who has been shot and who subsequently finds a mystical blue rock, falls in love with Mira Sorvino, and is kidnapped by an un- known mob which includes a threatening Willem Dafoe.  The real kicker is at the end of the movie when one discovers what actually has been going on for the previous hour and a half.

White of the Eye (1987):  The director Donald Cammell is probably best-known for co-directing "Performance" with Nic Roeg; he didn't make many more movies before topping himself in 1996 when the final edit of his last film was taken away from him.  This movie is brilliantly conceived and shot concealing the fact that it is actually a B-movie with a B-list cast (David Keith and Cathy Moriarty in the leads).  It concerns a messy serial killer -- the police suspect Keith but find it hard to believe that a devoted family man could also be a psycho.  Wrong!  It is, despite itself, consistently interesting.

Should catch up with myself soon, unless I meet myself on the way back.

The Missing Movies - Part Two

I'll try to keep this short just in case there are still problems with this computer; I had it half-written once and AOL decided to disconnect me!

Daughters of Darkness (1971):  The Belgian director Harry Kumel is little-known here apart from this strange art-house horror (and I use the word very loosely) and a glorious oddity called "Malpertuis" (Orson Welles speaking Flemish anyone?)  What we have here is a grand hotel in Ostend out of season inhabited only by a honeymoon couple with problems and the Countess Elisabeth Bathory, played by a very glamourous Delphine Seyrig, and her lesbian companion.  For those who know their horror history, the countess is probably several hundred years old and kept her youth by drinking blood (originally of virgins -- but she's less fussy now.)  A weird yet beautiful bit of nonsense.

The Red House (1947): I've wanted to see this again for a long time, but it wasn't worth the wait as it has aged badly.  Good old Edward G. Robinson plays a crippled farmer who possessedly is raising the daughter of his lost love, together with his sister played by Judith Anderson (the wonderful Mrs. Danvers but pretty ordinary here).  There's something evil lurking in the woods near the ruins of the red house or so Eddie G. would have us believe, but the movie is no more than mouldy melodrama.

I'll try posting this now and see how I get on...

Testing only

Only testing--any joy this time?

The Missing Movies - Part One

You would not believe the problems I have been having not just with AOL (like everyone else) but it managed to muck up my brand new computer as well.  This is being entered with my crummy old computer which now works just fine.  I am not a happy bunny.  Anyhow this is just a brief report of what I've been trying to watch in the meantime:

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (2005): I didn't do this on standby at the London Film Festival, so I again dragged myself to a local fleapit to see it. It was pretty good fun if a little too "knowing" and complicated.  Robert Downey Jr. is a delight as usual playing the dim bulb narrator who finds himself over his head; Val Kilmer plays the gay P.I. who helps him out -- less annoying than sometimes, but still too full of himself.

New York Minute (2004): I expected this to be fairly feeble having viewed other Olsen Twins efforts over the years (they have been making TV movies since they were toddlers).  This is probably their first "proper" movie and I really didn't hate it -- it was viewable pap in which they played twins of staggeringly different personalities and their misadventures on a day trip to New York with truant officer (Eugene Levy) in pursuit.

Ong-Bak (2003): I had heard such good things about this film that maybe I was expecting far too much.  The star, Tony Jaa, does indeed do some remarkable kick-boxing feats without wires or CGI, but apart from the fights (which fortunately were pretty frequent after the first bits of broing exposition), there was not much else to keep me entertained in this tale of trying to retrieve a stolen Buddha's head, and some of the supporting characters were hyper-annoying to say the least.

More to follow soon...

Azumi (2003)

Having tried twice to write this on site, I will try posting my review of this exhilarating Japanese fantasy as an instant message and hope for the best.

Azumi is the only female among ten youngsters raised in seclusion by a martial arts master who has vowed to rid Japan of evil warlords.  When he decides that they should go out into the world to fulfill their "Mission" (not that this is ever spelled out), he tells them to pair up with their best friend and try to kill him. This is meant to make them more ruthless assassins, but struck me as stupid, since he was then left with five killers rather than ten.
Anyhow they go and slay dozens of baddies with amazing swordwork and lashings of blood, until only she is left to face the biggest killer of them all (a wonderfully camp performance by a giant dressed in white and carrying a rose). It did tend to go on a bit and I thought the film had ended three times before it did. However the set-up for a sequel is apparent and I would watch one if it were as stylish as this.

Frustration City (not a film title)

Does this produce an entry into my journal? Somehow I doubt it.
How long will it be before the technical problems are fixed and I am able to edit this on site and add new entries?

Killing me Softly (2002)

When a mainland Chinese director (Chen Kaige) known for his arthouse hits like "Farewell My Concubine" has the opportunity to direct his first English-language film, what does he choose?  Well, if he had any sense, it wouldn't be a farrago like this one -- I'm still trying to fathom why he involved himself with this movie.  Heather Graham, not much of an actress at the best of times, plays an American working in London and living with a good, but unexciting, bloke who loves her.  After a chance meeting with Joseph Fiennes she leaves her boyfriend -- because the sex with Fiennes is so great -- and on the wave of her passion marries the latter.  She then starts to have doubts since she knows little of his past and what she discovers is on the scary side.  Fiennes, like his brother, is a pretty good actor, but he comes across as so shifty and feral here that it was a little hard to suppress the occasional giggle.  Better luck next time Mr. Chen.

The Intruder (1962)

When Roger Corman wrote his autobiography which was entitled "How I made hundreds of films in Hollywood and never lost a penny" (or something like that), he wasn't telling a truth since the above movie which he produced and directed lost a packet.  It is his only "message" film and has the young William Shatner ex StarTrek (before he became a fat bloated ham) playing a racist agitator moving from town to town in the South trying to stir up hatred during the early years of integration.  A black preacher is killed and a high school student is accused of rape and nearly lynched before the locals see him for what he is.  Corman obviously felt strongly about the subject matter, but he never again made a proselytising movie; however it still packs a wallop. 

The Stepford Wives (2004)

Why do they bother?  Remaking films that is.  Back in 1974 when the original movie was released, one didn't necessarily have a classic, but the viewer was presented with an unusual and suspenseful tale.  The trouble is that the story is now too familiar to have any shock value and the premise is clear from square one, so the actors are reduced to playing it as high camp.  Which doesn't work!  A strong cast which includes Nicole Kidman (not very good and looking like a stick insect), Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, and Christopher Walken try their best with what is basically an uphill battle; even changing the ending from the original adds absolutely nothing to this pot-boiler. 

Scarface (1932)

No, not the Al Pacino cursefest set in Florida, but the original Howard Hawks version presented as if it were a public service (the movie was subtitled The Shame of the Nation) urging the authorities to deal with crime.  This film has much to recommend it; in particular there is Paul Muni's powerful, bestial and grotesque performance.  For an actor from the Yiddish theatre, he portrayed some of the most memorable characters in American films of the '30's.  There is also George Raft doing his toss-the-coin gimmick for the first time and one Boris Karloff before he became Frankenstein's monster.  There's the suggestion of lust between Muni's character and his young sister played by Ann Dvorak.  And there's some pretty realistic gunplay for an early movie.  Finally one notices the not too subtle symbolism of the cross -- from the scar on Muni's face to the repetitive cross motif  in the sets and shadows.

August Sun (2003)

I was obliged to watch this film on principle since I don't think I've previously seen any pictures from Sri Lanka--and anything once!  Actually it was pretty good and was really a three-parter telling of how different people have been affected by the long running civil war -- a woman whose pilot husband was possibly being held by the rebels being helped by a London-based journalist, a war hero searching for his sister in the brothels, and a whole Muslim community forced to leave their homes.  Rather than tell each story in turn in a linear fashion, the director cleverly interwove the action focusing on first one and then the next with no loss of continuity.  By the end all three strands arrive in the same location but are totally unaware of the other characters.  My only criticism is that none of the tales were resolved -- but perhaps that's what life is really like.

The Card (1952)

Perhaps not as well-known as his Ealing comedies of the period, this Alec Guinness charmer (known as "The Promoter" Stateside) is based on an Arnold Bennett story with a script written by Eric Ambler.  With three terrific leading ladies -- Valerie Hobson, Glynis Johns, and the very young Petula Clark, this film hits all the right buttons.  It's a period story set in the Potteries of a poor, but ambitious, young man and how he uses his wits to achieve both wealth and position.  His mobility is nearly undermined by Johns' gold-digger, but it is never in doubt that Guinness' basic cunning and goodness will not prevail.  I think he's a chameleon of an actor who has never given a bad performance, and there are not many of whom one can say this.  The movie is good, clean fun for all.

 

Here Come the Waves (1944)

Just to prove that not all old films are worth remembering comes this flag-waver from the World War II years, although bits of it are cherishable.  Betty Hutton plays twins -- one sensible one and one flighty one -- who enlist in the Waves; she's an actress that one can only take in small doses since she is so frenetic -- and there's a little too much of her here.  The film's saving grace is Bing Crosby playing a Sinatra-like crooner who has joined the Navy.  His rendition of "That Old Black Magic" is still miraculous and his duet with Sonny Tufts (in blackface would you believe -- no way that would fly nowadays) of "Accentuate the Positive" is such fun that it makes the movie more than bearable.  I have over the years extracted the good bits from bad films onto my "movie clips" tapes and the latter is one of them.

The Blob (1958)

In his first leading role, the 28-year old Steve McQueen plays a 17-year old out for a drive with his girl when they hear a meteor or something crash.  This unearths the nominal growing mass that absorbs all life forms before Steve-baby works out how to vanquish it.  I thought it might be fun to view this idiocy again, but it was hardly worth the time.  There was a re-make some years back with rather more gory effects, but no more wonderful.  For McQueen completists only.

Nosferatu in Venice (1988)

Back in 1979, Klaus Kinski made a memorable and grotesque Nosferatu for Werner Herzog; he reprises the role here in this Italian-made riff on the old theme.  However he is a funny sort of vampire raised after 200 years -- he goes about in daylight, no crucifix can faze him, and he even casts a mirror reflection.  His antagonists are Christopher Plummer's vampire hunter and ineffectual priest, Donald Pleasance, and neither of them can cope.  If anything, Kinski plays this version as a unstoppable romantic lead -- and for an ugly man, he nearly looks attractive.  The Venetian atmosphere is thick enough to cut and there's a dreamy quality throughout; however if truth be told , it's all a bit muddled and adds little to the genre -- a curiosity at best.

The Grass is Greener (1960)

I ask you -- a film with only four main characters: Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons -- what could be bad?  And where nowadays would you find a film with four equally charming and watchable actors carrying the action?  If I think of recent attempts with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, I just give up thinking.  While this movie could be dismissed as a stagy bit of fluff, it remains fresh because of the actors' presence.  The slightly naughty story of impoverished aristocrats being tempted morally by a brash American visitor to their struggling stately home is less important than the verve which these four bring to the table.  Will we ever see their likes again?

Thieves Like Us (1974)

A strange film to come from director Robert Altman who is best known for ensemble pieces (and briefly in the '80's for filmed plays), as this is a remake of the 1949 "They Live by Night" and a fairly linear storyline.  The original film was based on a novel with the above title, and tells of three jail-breakers -- two hard cases played by John Schuck and Bert Remsen -- and a young naive criminal played here by Keith Carradine (Farley Granger in the original).  It is the '30's and they rob banks (like Bonnie and Clyde) and the two older ones rope in Carradine as their getaway driver.  While on the run he meets Shelley Duval (a strange, strange actress, but an Altman favourite of this period) who is equally gormless.  Their love story is the centre of this movie and is gently told, but is undermined by the basic nastiness of the other characters; Schuck in particular, whom I always associate with comedy goofiness, is a right mean piece of work.  Altman evokes the feel of the period through soft-focus photography and a clever use of recreated radio soundtracks, and some critics think the film poetic -- I wouldn't go quite that far, but it certainly is an anomaly amongst his movies.

The Punisher (2004)

Based on a Marvel comic, a version was made as recently as 1989 starring the uncharismatic Dolph Lundgren, so I wonder whose idea it was to remake it with the equally unstarry Thomas Jane.  He plays a FBI-man who wants to retire, but on his last "sting" the son of Mr. Big Gangster, played by John Travolta, was killed; Travolta and his wife decide that the only suitable revenge is to kill Jane and his whole family -- not just wife and child, but parents, nieces, nephews, and just about anyone else at the family reunion.  Well of course in the first half hour they manage to kill everyone except Jane, and we then have a ninety-minute bloodbath to follow.  As mindless violence goes there wasn't too much to differentiate the movie from similar ones, but it was watchable enough; I did like one bit where "The Russian" was sent to deal with Jane (he was probably twice his size) and managed to duff him up good and proper before he too was vanquished.  The biggest worry is that the last scene sets this up a franchise to spawn innumerable sequels; one can but hope for the best and that good sense will prevail.

Dogfight (1991)

Sometimes after viewing some newly-released rubbish, I need to re-charge my batteries by revisiting a small masterpiece.  Set in 1963, on the eve of being sent to Vietnam, four young marine buddies on leave decide to hold one of their regular dogfights -- this involves each of them turning up with the ugliest date they can find in order to win a prize.  The one whose fortunes concern us is played by the much-missed River Phoenix; he hones in on the socially inexperienced Lili Taylor who was a fine actress even then (of course she may be on the plain side, but one could never call her ugly as her personality always shines through).  Anyhow when she discovers why he has asked her out, she is not only hurt but lets him know it.  He can't quite get her out of his mind and tries to find her; his apologies are genuine and they end up spending the evening and night together -- just two sweet youngsters.  He doesn't write as promised when sent overseas, but after he is wounded in battle and released, he makes his way back to San Francisco -- the scene of that poignant date.

EuroTrip (2004)

I do say on the sidebar to the right that I will attempt to view any movie I've not seen previously, which can be the only excuse for sitting through the above garbage.  Perhaps I am too old to even consider this sort of rubbish a guilty pleasure, and if I were the powers behind Dreamworks, I would have been ashamed to put my name to it, but apparently a lot of people thought it was very, very funny; how this can be true of a movie which even includes vomiting in the cartoon front credits is beyond me.  Anyhow, what we have are some high school graduates who have gone to Europe to try to find an e-mail penpal, having eventually decided that Mieke wasn't a fellow, but a hot babe,  We thereafter have to put up with every European cliche the authors can throw at us -- as long as it has a sexual punchline.  Some of the "antics" are right off the radar, including one of our heroes being accidentally declared the new Pope!  We are also lumbered with one Vinnie Jones (how that man ever developed a movie career is one of life's great mysteries) as the leader of a bunch of football hooligans.  I don't really want to be young and foolish again. 

Things Change (1988)

This film was co-written and directed by David Mamet which immediately guarantees that one will find a literate script.  It stars Don Ameche as a fallguy for the mob (he's a poor shoeshineman who's told he will get a wad of money if he confesses to a murder) and Mamet-regular Joe Mantegna (on probation with the mob) as his weekend baby-sitter.  Mantegna decides to waft off to Lake Tahoe where by insinuation he passes Ameche off as a big-time hood.  The complications follow from there.  Ameche's old-world dignity plays off well with Mantegna's modern craftiness and the affection that develops between the two is palpable and by the end heart-warming .  There are also some early roles for J.T. Walsh and William H. Macy, both way down the cast list.

The Emperor's New Clothes (2001)

A nice conceit here, but rather leisurely pursued.  When Napoleon is in exile, his attending couriers locate a "ringer" to take his place while he escapes in an attempt to regain his empire.  The doltish sailor and the imperious leader are both played by Ian Holm who appears to be enjoying himself hugely.  However things do not go to plan: the returned Napoleon can not locate any one to help him, while his replacement grows to enjoy his new-found luxury.  When the latter dies, everyone assumes that Napoleon is gone, but the real one is not having this.  However his attempts to persuade them just lead others, including the wife he has taken, to assume that he is mad (like all the other Napoleons crowding the mental hospitals).  The doctor who knows the truth was a love rival, so he won't help out of spite. Napoleon accepts his fate and lives to a ripe old age in domestic bliss.  I don't feel that I have spoiled this movie by outlining the plot, since it is clear from early on that it can only go one way.  But all in all, pleasant viewing. 

Hollywood Hong Kong (2001)

For those who think that Hong Kong movies are all about gangsters, lightning-fast kung-fu, or hopping vampires, think again.  The director here, the oddly-named Fruit Chan, makes art-house films that appear at festivals.  This one is, I suppose, meant as a black comedy, although it is more black than comedic.  We have a family of three obese males -- father, teenaged son and young son -- who are pig butchers; the mother has run away, but they do have a huge sow called Mama.  Next we have an internet junkie who lusts after a female he has seen on a porn site; when he meets her, he thinks she is the real thing, but turns out that she is in cahoots with a shady lawyer to extort money from him and others on the grounds that she is under-age.  She also seduces the older brother, but befriends the younger one.  We then meet a female mainland doctor who wants Mama to carry a human infant in the name of science and who has a side-line of sewing back chopped-off hands, even if they are not the correct ones.  All very strange.

The Hollywood of the title refers to some huge apartment towers which overlook the shantytown where the main characters dwell (and which will soon be torn down).  Hollywood taking over the world?

 

Citizen Dog (2004)

Anyone who has seen the Thai film "Tears of the Black Tiger" (2000) will sort of know what to expect from the director's second film: brilliantly-bright pastel colours, clever use of local pop music, and a sweet and naive storyline.  You would be right but still fall short of anticipating the strange visuals and weird magic realism of the tale.  A gormless country boy goes to the big city where he takes a variety of jobs and tries to woo an obsessed cleaning lady; but he loses her when she becomes an eco-warrior amassing a mountain of plastic bottles.  It ends happily because he hasn't grown a tail -- see the film and you'll know what I mean.  And those are only two of the strange characters we meet.  It all leaves the viewer with a big fat smile and you don't get many of those to the pound.

Elling (2001)

For reasons that I would not care to explain, this Norwegian movie was apparently its home country's biggest box-office hit.  It is a sweet and gentle film, but nothing to sock you between the eyes.  It tells of a mama's boy who is institutionalised when his mother dies (he is by now in his forties).  There he rooms with a Neanderthal who is even more lacking in social skills.  Eventually they are released to a council flat under the beady eye of  a social worker and gradually learn to cope with society, albeit in very limited ways.  Elling develops an alternate persona as the "sauerkraut poet", attaching his output to packets which he places in supermarkets, and his roommate finds his first girlfriend, even if she is heavily pregnant with someone else's child.  I'm probably making it sound droller than it really was.

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

I am always prepared to cut Terry Gilliam a bit of slack since he perseveres in trying to get his singular visions onto the big screen, often against formidable obstacles.  However, this picture (on general release tomorrow) is more of a parson's egg than an outright success.  His take on the fabled brothers presents them as conmen tricking the locals out of their shekels by ridding them of non-existant spooks; Heath Ledger whom I have never much taken to previously does a good job of the more studious sibling who writes down the tales, while Matt Damon is the carefree amoral one.  So far, one doesn't mind Gilliam playing with the facts.  However when he introduces the villains played by Jonathan Pryce (doing a Peter Sellers Clouseau accent) and his idiotic Italian sidekick played by Peter Stormare, one quickly loses patience.  The story continues with our heroes being forced to solve the mystery of a wicked forest that has swallowed up a number of children as fodder for the 500-year-old Monica Bellucci to retain her youth.  It is here that Gilliam's rampant imagination is given full swing but at times to an over-the-top effect -- and if anything is guaranteed to put me off, it is close-ups of hundreds of creepy-crawlies to evoke fear.  An obvious fortune was spent on the special effects and I can't help but compare this to what "MirrorMask" accomplished at a fraction of the budget.

MirrorMask (2005)

At last a British movie to rave about and there are no cheeky Cockney gangsters, no inpenetrable Northern accents, and no heritage corsets.  Instead we have a miraculous and imaginative rites-of-passage film, produced by the Henson Company, directed by comic-book artist Dave McKean, and co-written with the well known graphic novelist, Neil Gaiman.  The teenaged heroine played by an amazing Stephanie Leonidas (who bares the weight of the film on her slender shoulders) enters a dreamworld not unlike Alice's, but far more fantastical and  frightening.  The visuals, which I understand were created on a remarkably small budget, are beautiful and at times mind-boggling, as she searches for the mask of the title which will restore balance in both worlds.  I am sure it will be released soon, if only in a limited way, so do make a point of trying to see it in a cinema; a DVD would be great and I would certainly add one to my collection, but one would miss the majesty of the big screen.

The Grudge (2004)

Having seen the original Japanese film (Ju-on) which in fact was a condensation of four video films, I expected to hate this U.S. remake starring the somewhat bland Sarah Michelle Geller.  However since it was put together by the director of the original films, it wasn't at all bad -- although the first half was very much a scene for scene remake of the Japanese release.  The premise is that a house can harbour the unhappy spirits of those who died there and that this unquiet atmosphere will infect anyone who so much as sets foot in the house. While not 100% logical and ensuring that the Hollywood heroine would survive (sort of), it did have a good number of "boo" shots and managed to retain the singular creepiness of Japanese horror movies.  So not a total loss at all.