Saturday 29 June 2019
The Girl King (2015)
Brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.
Effortlessly accomplished and even entertaining historical drama with a very excellent ensemble.
The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957)
A group of lonely Viking women build a ship and set off across the sea to locate their missing menfolk, only to fall into the clutches of the barbarians that also hold their men captive.
Pretty bad and fairly sexist nonsense with a boring story, bad acting and a laughable creature.
Halliwell (no star): "This claims to be'The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent' Viking Women, it turns out, are all leggy, slim blondes who wear skin-tight leather and plenty of eye-liner, and look incapable of even fixing their own make-up."
Maltin BOMB: "By any name, it stinks."
Land and Freedom (1995)
David is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers.
Fervent, realistic and distressing depiction of revolutionary idealism and its disillusionment in the face of conflicting factions and realpolitik.
Halliwell***: "An engrossing and passionate account of the Spanish Civil War, as experienced on an individual level, which is framed by a death in present-day Liverpool in an attempt to point up the contemporary relevance of its story of a revolution betrayed."
Maltin***: "Perceptive, passionate account...Rich human drama of political idealism and reality, if a bit too moralistic at times."
A Day at the Races (1937)
A veterinarian posing as a doctor and a race-horse owner and his friends struggle to help keep a sanitarium open with the help of a misfit race-horse.
From memory: A perfect Marx Brothers vessel: embedded in a silly romance and interspersed with mediocre musical asides, the trio finds enough room to wreak havoc with their anarchic humor.
Halliwell****: "Fashions in Marxism change, but this top quality production, though lacking their zaniest inspirations, does contain several of their funniest routines and a spectacularly well integrated racehorse climax. The musical and romantic asides are a matter of taste but delightfully typical of their time."
Maltin***1/2: "...often uproarious comedy features some of the trio's funniest set pieces...A perfunctory storyline and unmemorable songs keep it from tooping its immediate predecessor, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA...but the comedy is sensational."
Gloria (1980)
When a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.
From memory: Unusual for a Cassavetes movie, this is almost a straightforward gangster thriller, fast moving and full of twists; beyond that, Gena Rowland steals the show as the tough woman who can take it up against anybody.
Halliwell*: "Overlong but lively and oddly entertaining; however, one is never quite sure what if anything it is getting at."
Maltin**: "Good-looking but way overlong melodrama, which Cassavetes may or may not be playing for laughs."
Friday 28 June 2019
The Last Waltz (1978)
A film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band.
Excellent, nearly exemplary documentation of a musical event involving some of the top artists of the time; it helps that all musicians present themselves in best form on stage.
Halliwell***: "Perhaps the best movie so far of a rock concert, one that also features many of the most influential performers of the era, together with some brief but revealing interviews with the band members."
Maltin***: "Truly wonderful documentary...the whole film is beautifully done."
Rubber (2010)
A homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power, sets its sights on a desert town once a mysterious woman becomes its obsession.
Capricious and slyly made meta-film entertains as spoof with a anything-goes approach.
Maltin**1/2: "Clever, one-of-a-kind English-language parody of monsters movies...is consistently watchable and wryly amusing, but the sheer weirdness of it all is its main attraction. A cult film aborning?"
Thursday 27 June 2019
The Stepford Wives (1975)
A new wife in a commuter village finds all her female friends too good to be true...because their husbands have had them replaced by computerized models.
From memory: A fascinating, often copied premise is well staged with some faults in pacing, but is quite effective and keeps its audience on guard to the end.
Halliwell*: "An attractive idea which needs a much lighter and pacier touch but entertains in patches and shows agreeable sophistication."
Maltin***: "Effective chiller..."
Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)
When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.
From memory: The title is a misnomer, but this TV movie presents a more complex and sympathetic version of the creation, production value is extraordinary and delivers some shocks, the star cast is excellent.
L'avventura (1960)
A woman disappears during a Mediterranean boating trip. During the search, her lover and her best friend become attracted to each other.
Allegorical and mildly surreal mystery drama with complex, mostly disagreeable characters is captured in meticulously beautifully staged scenes and leaves its audience in limbo throughout.
Halliwell**: "Aimless, overlong parable with lots of vague significance; rather less entertaining than the later Picnic at Hanging Rock, it made its director a hero of the highbrows."
Maltin***1/2: "Subtle, incisive allegory of spiritual and moral decay makes for demanding viewing."
Wednesday 26 June 2019
Night of the Blood Beast (1958)
An astronaut is killed on reentry to Earth, but his body is seeded with rapidly gestating aliens.
Absurd low-budget sci-fi tale hardly is worth watching, even for the occasional laugh.
Maltin*1/2: "Well directed but too low budget to succeed."
Tuesday 25 June 2019
Inferno (1980)
An American college student in Rome and his sister in New York investigate a series of killings in both locations where their resident addresses are the domain of two covens of witches.
From memory: The plot is barely comprehensible, but seen as an intense, horrifying and mesmerizing dream, made with a keen eye for style, it is a quite fascinating work of art.
Halliwell (no star): "Absurdly overplotted and mainly incomprehensible shocker with some small pretensions to style."
Maltin**1/2: "Surreal, hypnotic shocker...is short on sense, but long on style."
Fame (1980)
A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
From memory: professionally made with some good scenes and music, but has a messy and rather puzzling set of storylines.
Halliwell*: "Cleverly shot and edited slice of life which unfortunately features people whose language and personalities are fairly repellent. The result is like A Chorus Line without the music."
Maltin**1/2: "...should have made a great film, but this one just misses the mark, despite good ingredients and Oscar-winning music...Moments of insight, , excitement, and creativity eventually get lost in abrupt, disjointed continuity, which leaves a bushel of loose ends and unresolved ideas."
Poveri milionari (1959)
A young man has an accident that makes him lose his memory and becomes director of the department store where his brother-in-law works.
Fairly amusing, old-fashioned Italian screwball comedy, lively, but not quite memorable.
Event Horizon (1997)
A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.
Although this sci-fi shocker has quite a messy plot, it is indeed fairly effective and has some quite natsy scenes; the star cast helps, too, a bit.
Halliwell (no star): "Creepy horror movie in outer space that delivers the requisite shocks; a little predictability would have been welcome, though."
Maltin**: "Well-acted movie begins promisingly but becomes increasingly unlikely; offers no explanation for the strange events. Some intense horror scenes."
Rock All Night (1957)
Cloud Nine, the local teen hangout, has been taken over by a pair of escaped killers, who hold the local teens hostage. The bartender realizes it's up to him to save the kids.
Not-so-bad closed-room drama with lots of jive mumbo jumbo, and the music performances take up almost half of the running time.
Halliwell (no star): "Talky, cheap rock movie, with some occasionally bright dialogue, and a single set in which heavy drinkers philosophise and listen to a few indifferent numbers; at least, it doesn't take itself too seriously."
Maltin**: "OK Corman potboiler with better-than-average performances, and dig this - Johnson's one of the bad guys and Miller's the hero!"
Sunday 23 June 2019
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