I watch a lot of movies.
Thursday, July 3rd 2008
Grade: A+
Synopsis: While the Civil War rages, an outlaw (Eli Wallach), a mercenary (Lee Van Cleef), and a man with no name (Clint Eastwood) vie for a hidden stash of Confederate gold.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo) is an electric, surreal western that stands out as one of the best ever made.
Though it’s set during the Civil War, the film doesn’t feel like a historical epic, largely because it doesn’t look like one. Rather, watching the The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is like stepping into an alternate world; a nightmarish, apocalyptic vision of the American west transplanted to the deserts of Europe that mixes authenticity with fantasy to create something wholly original. MORE »
Posted at 5:59 PM in Movie Reviews.
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Tuesday, July 1st 2008
Grade: C+
Synopsis: On a deserted Pacific island during World War II, a crusty hermit (Cary Grant) paid in booze to spot enemy planes, finds himself stranded with a French schoolteacher (Leslie Caron) and a slew of little girls.
Father Goose starts well enough, with Grant playing against type as a somewhat cantankerous beachcomber roped into service in the Pacific. His interactions with Trevor Howard are great fun, and Grant clearly seems to enjoy the role, which he claimed was the closest to his true personality of all his performances.
Unfortunately, Leslie Caron and the brat army soon show up and the film stumbles. Lacking Grant’s innate charisma, Caron and the children fail to generate any sympathy and nearly sink the picture. Caron’s failure highlights just how impressive Grant’s performance is, since on paper, his is a much more unlikable character, yet, on screen, it’s quite the opposite. Interestingly, Grant wanted Audrey Hepburn for Caron’s role, but she had already committed to My Fair Lady (1964), a film Grant had already turned down. Considering their chemistry in the previous year’s Charade (1963), it’s clear she would have been a better choice. MORE »
Posted at 9:24 AM in Movie Reviews and Cary Grant.
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Monday, June 30th 2008
Grade: B+
Synopsis: Unable to find acceptance, a lonely, awkward young woman (Angela Bettis) assembles her perfect mate from the corpses of others.
May is a great horror/black comedy that works largely due to Angela Bettis’ nuanced portrayal of the titular character. The film plays like an over the top version of Roman Polanksi’s Repulsion (1965), albeit with a more sympathetic (and sociopathic) protagonist.
While Bettis’ deadpan delivery complements the script’s dry humor, it’s her ability to seem frightening and sympathetic at the same time that makes May something special. It’s a fine-line performance that could easily veer too far into either parody or monstrosity at any given moment, but Bettis pulls it off, creating a truly memorable character. MORE »
Posted at 1:54 PM in Movie Reviews.
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Saturday, June 28th 2008
Grade: C
Synopsis: After a dying man provides them with mysterious information, a vacationing British couple (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) discovers their daughter has been kidnapped.
The Man Who Knew Too Much works because of Peter Lorre. Any thriller is really only as good as it’s chief antagonist and Lorre is riveting here. Though he reportedly spoke so little English at the time of filming that he resorted to learning his line phonetically, Lorre nonetheless manages to infuse every word with a subtle menace that belies his limited understanding of the semantics.
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast leaves something to be desired. Nova Pilbeam is a whiney, unsympathetic mess as the kidnapped daughter, and Leslie Banks and Edna Best are a dull and lifeless pair of protagonists who, even combined, fail to muster so much as a fraction of Lorre’s screen presence, and, given the script’s paper-thin characterizations, presence is everything. MORE »
Posted at 5:08 PM in Movie Reviews and Alfred Hitchcock.
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Friday, June 20th 2008
Grade: C-
Synopsis: A married anthropologist (Grace Kelly) and a chorus girl (Ava Gardner) fight over a white hunter (Clark Gable) in Africa.
Time has not been kind to Mogambo. The overwrought melodrama, grainy jungle footage, and 1950’s sensibilities are all glaringly obvious fifty some years later, and, were it not for the combined star power of Clark Gable, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner, Mogambo would be entirely forgettable.
Director John Ford seems unsure just how best to combine the script’s two stories, one an adventure showcasing the wilds of Africa, and another involving a man torn between good-girl Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner. Perhaps he should have taken a cue from John Huston and just made two separate movies, as Huston’s two films, The African Queen (1951) and The Night of the Iguana (1964), combined tell a similar story and manage to age amazingly well. MORE »
Posted at 12:55 PM in Movie Reviews and John Ford.
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