Four Parisian women navigate the world of romance and daily life looking
to fulfill their dreams but often find real-life to be inescapable.
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Und Äktschn! (2014)
In a small provincial town in Austria an amateur filmmaker plans to shoot a movie about Adolf Hitler's private life.
Bavaria's best comedian Gerhard Polt can hardly translate his acrid humour to this story; the plot seems funnier than its realization really, which is rather subdued and seems ítself quite amatuerish.
Monday, 28 September 2015
7 Women (1966)
Seven dedicated missionary women in China circa 1935 trying to protect themselves from the advances of a Mongolian barbaric warlord and his cut-throat gang of warriors.
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
An account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang.
Saturday, 26 September 2015
Tides of War (2005)
In the cold, dark waters off North Korea a U.S. Navy fast attack submarine meets with a mysterious disaster - it's attacked and nearly sunk by an ominous stealth submarine resulting in the deaths of the Executive Officer and the Engineering Officer.
OK TV submarine thriller with quite a silly and contrued plot and a msystery that simply isn't resolved.
Trespass (1992)
Two Arkansas firemen get hold of a map that leads to a cache of stolen gold in an abandoned factory in East St. Louis.
Despite the evident expertise in the production the plot is messy and the action and violence hardly exciting.
Halliwell**: "Tense and violent thriller, like a modernized, interior, technological version of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
Maltin***: "Fast, furious, culturally disreputable entertainment filmed in potent cat-and-mouse style by director Hill - his most entertaining movie in years."
Friday, 25 September 2015
5 Fingers (1952)
During WWII the valet to the British Ambassador to Ankara sells British secrets to the Germans while trying to romance a refugee Polish countess.
Thursday, 24 September 2015
Die Halbstarken (1956)
The leader of criminal teenage gang finds himself torn between his own brother and his girlfriend.
Early (and influential) German movie about juvenile delinquents as forlorn rebels, amazingly realistic with a great cast of young actors, shot in original Berlin settings; it sill manages to compel even today.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
On the set: Stanley Kubrick and George C. Scott
Nothing Personal (2009)
A young Dutch woman, who after throwing away all her possessions, becomes a vagabond by choice and finds the solitude she was looking for in an austere landscape of Irish Connemara with an old man who lives a solitary life in a secluded house in Ireland.
Subtle idiosyncratic study of a human relationship between two unequal and eccentric persons, which at times seems like an in vitro experiment.
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Mud (2012)
Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the vigilantes that are on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.
Slow-paced and subtle melodrama of juvenile awakening, all made in good taste with a competent cast, but the two teenage leads are the true stars of the movie.
Maltin***1/2: "Beguiling, fablelike film...Unusual film moves at a leisurely pace, as it should, with sensitive performances from the kids and grown-ups alike."
New acquisition: Werner Herzog
I have been intending to get this book for a long time; Werner Herzog is always a good read.
Reign of Terror (1949)
Robespierrre, a powerful figure in the French revolution, is desperately looking for his black book, a death list of those marked for the guillotine.
Oddly mixing history drama with a (complicated) Noir crime plot the movie actually manages to create atmosphere and suspense.
Halliwell*: "Moderate period melodrama with an attractive though artificial look."
Maltin***: "Vivied costume drama...Moss is particularly good as the elegantly, eloquently evil Foucher. Stunningly photographed by John Alton; every shot is a painting!"
Monday, 21 September 2015
5 Against the House (1955)
Four vets attending college on the GI Bill and a cabaret singer try to rob a Reno Casino and pull off the perfect crime.
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post apocalyptic Australia in search for her homeland with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter named Max.
An amazing action fantasy, professionally made in all departments, creating a mad apocalyptic world with a cast of interesting characters and showcasing some of the best action sequences ever seen on screen; it not only tops all previous attempts in the series, but probably will be the litmus test for future action movies to come.
Detour (1945)
Chance events trap a hitch-hiker Al Roberts into a tightening net of trouble.
Wonderful Film Noir classic that creates a hopeless fate almost too extreme to believe, but that's just as well part of its message.
Halliwell*: "A minor cult movie with as much doomladen dialogue and film noir angles as could be shovelled into a Poverty Row 'B' at the time. On the whole, less than meets the eye."
Maltin***: "Now-legendary B movie, filmed in less than a week, is the qintessence of film noir...(Savage, in an unforgettable performance), Ulmer makes best of his meagre budget."
Saturday, 19 September 2015
La tarantola dal ventre nero (1971)
An inspector investigates serial crimes where victims are paralyzed
while having their bellies ripped open with a sharp knife.
Friday, 18 September 2015
Mémoires pour Simone (1986)
TV documentary as a tribute to Simone Signoret.
Sensitive and insightful homage, more essay than docuemtary, typical for Chris Marker's style of approach.
Les diaboliques (1955)
The wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress conspire to kill him, but after the murder is committed, his body disappears, and strange events begin to plague the two women.
A classic horror mystery melodrama that stills manages to thrill and shock; masterfully executed in all departments.
Halliwell***: "Highly influential, suspenseful and scary thriller with a much-copied twist typical of its authors. Slow to start and shabby-looking as befits its grubby school setting, it gathers momentum with the murder and turns the screw with fine professionalism."
Maltin***1/2: "Classic ciller builds slowly, surely to final quarter hour that will drive you right up the wall. A must."
Thursday, 17 September 2015
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