This series keeps surprising me - whenever I watch the later films, I'm about to write them off, but then it will bounce back, often within the same scene, with something magical and spot on. There is inherent charm of course in seeing Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy age, and Richard Linklater continues to direct beautifully. This has the added attraction of Greek scenery.
Very often this clunked - the early bits involving them and their friends, especially with Hawke getting involved with conversations about what a sexual wild man he is, and talking about the plot of his novel (it felt like an actor who occasionally wrote talking about his novel); and I didn't like the way the character of Hawke's ex wife was slagged off so much (she's a drunk and a bad mother). But whenever it's him and Delpy its on firm ground, especially when they just talk. I loved the unexpected honesty of the attempted sex scene, including her toplessness - and the romanticism of the final chat.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Movie review - "The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1" (2014) *1/2
Terrible movie - only the quality of the cast and production design stopped me giving this one star. Not only is it ruthlessly overlong, a thin story padded out to justify another movie, it's a stupid story. You think the revolution against the ruling class would throw up some interesting conflict and dilemmas but they make the whole movie about Jennifer Lawrence becoming a poster girl for the movement - apparently this is super vital, more so than say logistics or troop strength or weaponry or strategy and even, you know, battles. Has there ever been a military campaign in the history of the world that hinged on someone's media appearances? Sorry, Hollywood, I don't think so.
All these people who could be interesting are not used in interesting ways - Philip Seymour Hoffman's revolutionary officer does nothing; Julieanne Moore's leader looks as though she's about to go demagogue in an interesting way but she never does; Jeffrey Wright fiddles nobs; Woody Harrelson hangs around and watches; Liam Hemsworth just hangs around and gives Jennifer Lawrence the odd shoulder squeeze - how about some romance?
Well it's all Lawrence's concern for Josh Hutcherson - I never thought she liked him that much. She's worried he's been captured so wants revolution put on hold until that's sorted. He's brainwashed to the enemy, but even that situation is treated with simplicity.
Lawrence doesn't even get the chance to kick butt that much - she makes a speech and sings a song. We've got a camera crew following her around.
This film was crap.
All these people who could be interesting are not used in interesting ways - Philip Seymour Hoffman's revolutionary officer does nothing; Julieanne Moore's leader looks as though she's about to go demagogue in an interesting way but she never does; Jeffrey Wright fiddles nobs; Woody Harrelson hangs around and watches; Liam Hemsworth just hangs around and gives Jennifer Lawrence the odd shoulder squeeze - how about some romance?
Well it's all Lawrence's concern for Josh Hutcherson - I never thought she liked him that much. She's worried he's been captured so wants revolution put on hold until that's sorted. He's brainwashed to the enemy, but even that situation is treated with simplicity.
Lawrence doesn't even get the chance to kick butt that much - she makes a speech and sings a song. We've got a camera crew following her around.
This film was crap.
Movie review - "A Woman of Affairs" (1929) **
Decent enough melodrama, a stock-ish sort of plot that was ideal for star vehicle. Apparently the novel on which it was based was a lot more risque - elements of that do survive into the film version: Douglas Fairbanks Jnr seems to have been in romantically in love with Johnny Mack Brown, who appears to have had a drug habit; John Gilbert and Greta Garbo clearly have pre-marital sex which results in her falling pregnant. There are two suicides - something which ironically films might shy away from depicting today because of fear of imitation.
The story centers around "loose woman" Garbo - actually she's not so loose at the beginning, being madly in love with childhood friend Gilbert, but she is from a dissolute family of rich drunkards. Her brother Doug Fairbanks pines after Johnny Mack Brown who loves Garbo. Gilbert's dad won't let him marry Garbo, which means Gilbert's character comes across as weak and not worthy of her. She goes off with Mack Brown, who dies, she sleeps around, it all ends tragically.
The acting is quite good - Fairbanks hams it up but is effective; Garbo looks good, Gilbert is dashing. I enjoyed Lewis Stone as an imposing member of the aristocracy, a friend of Garbo's never seen father - I did feel maybe his character could have been combined with Gilbert's father.
The story centers around "loose woman" Garbo - actually she's not so loose at the beginning, being madly in love with childhood friend Gilbert, but she is from a dissolute family of rich drunkards. Her brother Doug Fairbanks pines after Johnny Mack Brown who loves Garbo. Gilbert's dad won't let him marry Garbo, which means Gilbert's character comes across as weak and not worthy of her. She goes off with Mack Brown, who dies, she sleeps around, it all ends tragically.
The acting is quite good - Fairbanks hams it up but is effective; Garbo looks good, Gilbert is dashing. I enjoyed Lewis Stone as an imposing member of the aristocracy, a friend of Garbo's never seen father - I did feel maybe his character could have been combined with Gilbert's father.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Movie review - "Serpico" (1973) ***
Many excellent things about this famous crime drama - Al Pacino's performance in the title role, a superb array of New York actors playing cops, the whole gritty feel of it, Lumet's brisk direction, Pacino's groovy hairstyles and costumes; it's a movie for grown ups.
Other things aren't as good - the film goes for too long and for much of the time the action felt repetitive; the female roles are negligible (in common with much classic 70s cinema) - naggers or bimbos; the only character we got to know well was Serpico; the music is overblown. Still, much of it holds up well.
Other things aren't as good - the film goes for too long and for much of the time the action felt repetitive; the female roles are negligible (in common with much classic 70s cinema) - naggers or bimbos; the only character we got to know well was Serpico; the music is overblown. Still, much of it holds up well.
Movie review - "Showgirls" (1995) *1/2
Perhaps the campest movie ever made in Hollywood by such straight men. Showgirls is really a movie that defies criticism - Joe Eszterhas and Paul Verhoven followed up Basic Instinct with this dopey Flashdance-style take on Vegas showgirls. It's kind of a homage to old MGM musicals, only a lot more sordid and with a lot less music. Flashdance had plenty of dancing and tunes - this one has surprisingly few, and it would have done a lot better with some.
It does have plenty of costumes plus a top performance from Gina Gershon, who I thought would become a star after this movie - she's vivacious and sexy and perfect for the role. It suffers from an inadequate lead - Elizabeth Berkley is pretty, has a great body and can dance quite well, but isn't up to the role; they needed a modern-day Jennifer Beal, and couldn't get it. There's also some poor support performances from Glenn Plummer (who popped up all the time in 90s movies then fortunately went away) and Glen Ravera. And Kyle MacLachlan's 90's fringe is really annoying.
It's not very well made either, lacking a sense of show biz or eroticism - to me at any rate. For all the time Verhoven and Eszterhas no doubt spent combing strip clubs and casinos, it never felt real - people discussing Paul Adbdul and Janet Jackson to take over from an injured Gershon? A topless dancer really being a big star in Vegas? The swimming pool sex scene wasn't bad.
But like I say, Showgirls is really a creature of itself that defies criticism.
It does have plenty of costumes plus a top performance from Gina Gershon, who I thought would become a star after this movie - she's vivacious and sexy and perfect for the role. It suffers from an inadequate lead - Elizabeth Berkley is pretty, has a great body and can dance quite well, but isn't up to the role; they needed a modern-day Jennifer Beal, and couldn't get it. There's also some poor support performances from Glenn Plummer (who popped up all the time in 90s movies then fortunately went away) and Glen Ravera. And Kyle MacLachlan's 90's fringe is really annoying.
It's not very well made either, lacking a sense of show biz or eroticism - to me at any rate. For all the time Verhoven and Eszterhas no doubt spent combing strip clubs and casinos, it never felt real - people discussing Paul Adbdul and Janet Jackson to take over from an injured Gershon? A topless dancer really being a big star in Vegas? The swimming pool sex scene wasn't bad.
But like I say, Showgirls is really a creature of itself that defies criticism.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Movie review - "While We're Young" (2014) ***
After watching Noah Baumbach's first film, Kicking and Screaming, I never thought I'd never see him again, but he's stuck at it and is not one of the leading independent filmmakers in American cinema. For the most part this is a fresh, wryly entertaining look at the generation gap between X and Y as Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts befriend Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried.
A lot of this feels so honest and true - the documentary filmmaker unable to resist flattery, the enthusiasm that comes from associating with the younger generation, the pressure caused by fertility issues. It falls down in a couple of places - the film doesnt do anything with Seyfriend's character, she's just sort of "there"; and it gets too plotty at the end when it falls into All About Eve/ Broadcast News territory.
The acting is good and I liked the look of New York - it's a side to the city we don't often see, which had novelty to me, even though to New Yorkers in the film industry it probably seemed agonisingly naval gazing.
A lot of this feels so honest and true - the documentary filmmaker unable to resist flattery, the enthusiasm that comes from associating with the younger generation, the pressure caused by fertility issues. It falls down in a couple of places - the film doesnt do anything with Seyfriend's character, she's just sort of "there"; and it gets too plotty at the end when it falls into All About Eve/ Broadcast News territory.
The acting is good and I liked the look of New York - it's a side to the city we don't often see, which had novelty to me, even though to New Yorkers in the film industry it probably seemed agonisingly naval gazing.
Book review - "Hawks on Hawks" ed Joseph McBride
Do people still care about Howard Hawks any more? Once upon a time he was right up there on the auteur tree, along with John Ford and Hitchcock. He never quite enjoyed the high brow acclaim of either of those but was always respected - his films perhaps enjoyed more for sheer enjoyment's sake.
This is a highly entertaining collection of interviews with the great man where he reminisces about the films and espouses his philosophy. Some of it feels like typical exaggeration - everything was his idea, he takes credit for a lot of the writing, stock Hollywood stuff - but other feels fresh and true: the importance of getting bad scenes over and done with quickly, how to cast someone interesting and different, freshness in writing, the necessary of a good story.
He slags off Rio Lobo and Jennifer O'Neill (says she got too big for her boots), has some interesting things to say about discovering Lauren Bacall, chats a lot about the movie he hoped to make in the 70s with Starsky and Hutch, wonders (as everyone does) why Paul Prentiss didn't become a big star, doesn't mention The Thing, is candid-ish about his less successful pics (The Land of the Pharoahs, Redline 5000), loves Wayne, Grant, Cagney and Bogart. It's a shame Hawks never wrote a memoir but this is great to have anyway - we're lucky to have it.
This is a highly entertaining collection of interviews with the great man where he reminisces about the films and espouses his philosophy. Some of it feels like typical exaggeration - everything was his idea, he takes credit for a lot of the writing, stock Hollywood stuff - but other feels fresh and true: the importance of getting bad scenes over and done with quickly, how to cast someone interesting and different, freshness in writing, the necessary of a good story.
He slags off Rio Lobo and Jennifer O'Neill (says she got too big for her boots), has some interesting things to say about discovering Lauren Bacall, chats a lot about the movie he hoped to make in the 70s with Starsky and Hutch, wonders (as everyone does) why Paul Prentiss didn't become a big star, doesn't mention The Thing, is candid-ish about his less successful pics (The Land of the Pharoahs, Redline 5000), loves Wayne, Grant, Cagney and Bogart. It's a shame Hawks never wrote a memoir but this is great to have anyway - we're lucky to have it.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Movie review - "Sleeping Car to Trieste" (1948) *** (warning: spoilers)
I'm a sucker for a good train movie - The Lady Vanishes, Silver Streak, North by Northwest, The Narrow Margin. The Brits especially seemed to like them, with their cosy sense of thrills and crime and soothing sounds of wheels on tracks, and numerous subplots that usually mixed comedy with sex and espionage.
This is an enjoyable, unpretentious specimen of the breed, with a cast that was unfamiliar to me for the most part, full of actors playing mysterious Europeans and dodgy Britons. The lead is someone called Albert Lieven, a Conrad Veidt type who plays a spy; since he shoots dead a guard in the opening scene you guess that he's not going to make it to the end of the film alive. His co star is the better known and better billed Jean Kent, who doesn't have much of a role, playing another spy.
The nominal hero is another suave actor about whom I know little, Paul Dupuis, as a detective and hero of the French resistance, but his part isn't that big either. More running time is taken up by comic passenger David Tomlinson, comic American soldier Bonar Colleano, adulterous couple Derrick de Marney and Rona Anderson (this more than anything made me recall The Lady Vanishes), pompous writer Finlay Currie and spy Alan Wheatley. There's also a bird watcher, a cooking expert and a chef - a lot going on.
The film makes a mistake in the last third - instead of keeping things on its toes and the characters running from room to room, the action bogs down in the one carriage, with everyone standing around and Dupuis interrogating people like Charlie Chan. Lieven does get a decent death scene.
More could have been done with the Kent-Dupuis romance - actually more should have been done with Kent full stop, I never really got a fix on her character.
This is an enjoyable, unpretentious specimen of the breed, with a cast that was unfamiliar to me for the most part, full of actors playing mysterious Europeans and dodgy Britons. The lead is someone called Albert Lieven, a Conrad Veidt type who plays a spy; since he shoots dead a guard in the opening scene you guess that he's not going to make it to the end of the film alive. His co star is the better known and better billed Jean Kent, who doesn't have much of a role, playing another spy.
The nominal hero is another suave actor about whom I know little, Paul Dupuis, as a detective and hero of the French resistance, but his part isn't that big either. More running time is taken up by comic passenger David Tomlinson, comic American soldier Bonar Colleano, adulterous couple Derrick de Marney and Rona Anderson (this more than anything made me recall The Lady Vanishes), pompous writer Finlay Currie and spy Alan Wheatley. There's also a bird watcher, a cooking expert and a chef - a lot going on.
The film makes a mistake in the last third - instead of keeping things on its toes and the characters running from room to room, the action bogs down in the one carriage, with everyone standing around and Dupuis interrogating people like Charlie Chan. Lieven does get a decent death scene.
More could have been done with the Kent-Dupuis romance - actually more should have been done with Kent full stop, I never really got a fix on her character.
Book review - "John MacNab" by John Buchan (1925)
The 39 Steps remains Buchan's most famous novel but this is probably the most fun - upper class to be sure but less obnoxious than other of his writings, full of energy and with a great central idea: three friends are bored with life, so to liven things up they decide to poach some game in the Scottish highlands, letting the local lairds know what they're up to and daring them to stop them. They are helped by another upper class friend plus various ghillies and allies they collect along the way, including a journalist and spirited, if impoverished, aristocratic girl.
There are really four heroes - John Palliser-Yeates, Charles Lamancha and regular Buchan star Edward Leithen as the three who kick it off, plus Archie Roylance as the man who helps them. Roylance's cheery upper class twittery makes him the most distinctive character followed by determined, less macho Leithen; Lamancha is a brooding born to rule Tory while Palliser-Yeates struggles to make much of an impact. Fortunately the book has Buchan's best female character - spirited Janet Roden, who has a charming romance with Archie, and is allowed to best Palliser-Yeates by guessing where he's going to attack.
Leithen's successful poaching of salmon is cleverly handled - it involves him having to don a disguise as a tramp - and there's some clever writing: the abduction of an upper class lady's dog for the purposes of the plot, Lamancha's final duel to shoot the stag, Leithen getting out of trouble when he's discovered with an Eton badge while dressing as a tramp by claiming he is a former public school boy laid low by drink.
It's a good spirited book too: yes the heroes are all tories, the lower classes tug their forelocks and/or are comic - but the point is made several times that position has to be earned and defended, and is not given by right; the government is criticised for not looking after its World War One veterans.
No one is really nasty - the most villainous person is new money who won't help out a servant, but even he feels bad about it towards the end. It also has a wonderful feeling of camaraderie and fun amongst the leads, plus some expert descriptive writing of the highlands. I only wish that more had been done with the subplot of the Viking Tomb excavation and there probably could have been another romance in there.
There are really four heroes - John Palliser-Yeates, Charles Lamancha and regular Buchan star Edward Leithen as the three who kick it off, plus Archie Roylance as the man who helps them. Roylance's cheery upper class twittery makes him the most distinctive character followed by determined, less macho Leithen; Lamancha is a brooding born to rule Tory while Palliser-Yeates struggles to make much of an impact. Fortunately the book has Buchan's best female character - spirited Janet Roden, who has a charming romance with Archie, and is allowed to best Palliser-Yeates by guessing where he's going to attack.
Leithen's successful poaching of salmon is cleverly handled - it involves him having to don a disguise as a tramp - and there's some clever writing: the abduction of an upper class lady's dog for the purposes of the plot, Lamancha's final duel to shoot the stag, Leithen getting out of trouble when he's discovered with an Eton badge while dressing as a tramp by claiming he is a former public school boy laid low by drink.
It's a good spirited book too: yes the heroes are all tories, the lower classes tug their forelocks and/or are comic - but the point is made several times that position has to be earned and defended, and is not given by right; the government is criticised for not looking after its World War One veterans.
No one is really nasty - the most villainous person is new money who won't help out a servant, but even he feels bad about it towards the end. It also has a wonderful feeling of camaraderie and fun amongst the leads, plus some expert descriptive writing of the highlands. I only wish that more had been done with the subplot of the Viking Tomb excavation and there probably could have been another romance in there.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Movie review - "The Lost World" (1960) ** (warning: spoilers)
20th Century Fox's attempt to repeat the success of Journey to the Center of the Earth with another respected English character actor and occasional star in the lead (Claude Rains) plus some handsome lunks under contract to the studio in support (David Hedison, Jill St John, Michael Rennie), in addition to character actors, a comic animal and special effects.
Claude Rains has a lot of fun with dyed red hair and beard - I think he could have gone even more hammier. Jill St John later grew into an okay actor but she's dreadful here - she copped it for wearing tight pink pants but that's not the problem, it's her acting. Michael Rennie is the big game hunter who is along on the ride for back story; there's also journalist David Hedison, St John's brother Ray Stricklyn (who basically has "surplus to requirements character ready to die" tattooed on his head... only he lives!), Fernando Lamas as a suave (surprise!) pilot; Richard Haydn as a rival professor; Jay Novello as a comic relief scaredy-cat. Throw in a beautiful native girl, a long lost previous explorer who's discovered (wasn't this in The Land That Time Forgot?) and you've got an awfully big cast. Too big really.
I guess they wanted Rennie and Hedison to fighr over St John and Haydn and Rains to fight with each other and Stricklyn to romance a native girl, and Lamas to turn traitor... but honestly some of these roles could have been doubled up.
I didn't mind the back story about the previous expedition although the connection of the survivors felt tenuous - I wish Rennie had had more a personal link than "I was going to be their guide". The romance between Stricklyn and the native girl is really under-developed; ditto that between St John and Hedison.
It lacks a sense of wonder and adventure - I think setting it in the present day was a mistake, these things always feel more "real" set in the past. The special effects aren't that great either - we never really get decent dinosaur action - and instead of stop motion action they use enlarged lizards. The movie feels like it was made for a million dollars too little or something.
Irwin Allen fans will enjoy the scene of the cast creeping along a narrow passage way avoiding fire - which would pop up in The Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out. Kids will probably like it. Its in colour and is harmless.
Claude Rains has a lot of fun with dyed red hair and beard - I think he could have gone even more hammier. Jill St John later grew into an okay actor but she's dreadful here - she copped it for wearing tight pink pants but that's not the problem, it's her acting. Michael Rennie is the big game hunter who is along on the ride for back story; there's also journalist David Hedison, St John's brother Ray Stricklyn (who basically has "surplus to requirements character ready to die" tattooed on his head... only he lives!), Fernando Lamas as a suave (surprise!) pilot; Richard Haydn as a rival professor; Jay Novello as a comic relief scaredy-cat. Throw in a beautiful native girl, a long lost previous explorer who's discovered (wasn't this in The Land That Time Forgot?) and you've got an awfully big cast. Too big really.
I guess they wanted Rennie and Hedison to fighr over St John and Haydn and Rains to fight with each other and Stricklyn to romance a native girl, and Lamas to turn traitor... but honestly some of these roles could have been doubled up.
I didn't mind the back story about the previous expedition although the connection of the survivors felt tenuous - I wish Rennie had had more a personal link than "I was going to be their guide". The romance between Stricklyn and the native girl is really under-developed; ditto that between St John and Hedison.
It lacks a sense of wonder and adventure - I think setting it in the present day was a mistake, these things always feel more "real" set in the past. The special effects aren't that great either - we never really get decent dinosaur action - and instead of stop motion action they use enlarged lizards. The movie feels like it was made for a million dollars too little or something.
Irwin Allen fans will enjoy the scene of the cast creeping along a narrow passage way avoiding fire - which would pop up in The Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out. Kids will probably like it. Its in colour and is harmless.
Book review - "Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice" by David Skal and Jessica Rains (2008)
Claude Rains was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, character actor from the Golden Years of Hollywood. Best known for villains, particularly in the films of Errol Flynn, he could play all sorts of parts - heroic monsters (Phantom of the Opera), dodgy Vichy policemen (Casablanca), sympathetic Nazis (Notorious), kindly shrinks (Now Voyager), kindly shrinks with a very dark side (Kings Row). The number of classic films in which he appeared, and helped make classic, is remarkable. It's hard to imagine him giving a bad performance.
It's surprising in a way that it took someone so long to write a biography of Rains. He had an interesting life - mother wound up in a mental asylum, father was a shonky actor; he saw genuine active service in World War One and was gassed and wounded; worked as for Sir Herbert Tree; became a teacher of, among others, John Gielgud and Charles Laughton; was a surprisingly successful ladies man, being married six times (once to his stalker); he was also an alcoholic, yet the managed to live until his seventies.
Part of the reason must have been the fact that Rains shyed away from publicity for most of his career, and during his most famous years would retreat to his East Coast farm when not working. He was involved in scandals but rarely with someone that well known - some theatre actresses usually; Bette Davis always regretted not having an affair with him (and sexually harassed him on set); an ex wife tried to charge him with bigamy. He was also very reticent and discrete - as per many actors of his time (eg Herbert Marshall, Basil Rathbone)
Skal is best known (to me at any rate) for his books on Tod Browning and horror - maybe he got involved in part because of Rains' connection to Universal horror movies. He was technically a star from his first film - providing the voice of The Invisible Man. Before then it had been a long apprenticeship though - starting in theatre at age 11, working his way up as a stage manager before turning to acting, earning more as a teacher than a performer for a long time, chalking up many stage credits but never really getting a big hit. When his wife at the time went to New York Rains went with her and gradually made his reputation. He never became a star technically but seems to have been highly regarded from the first; he found the perfect studio in Warner Bros, who used him brilliantly (though, as was common with every actor under contract there, he would fight with Jack Warner).
I get the impression that despite his fame and achievements, Rains was never that happy - too much turbulence in his private life, too much longing for the stage (as if he didn't get better roles on film), too much alcohol. But it was a marvellous career and it's been well captured here by Skal, who had the benefit of co operation from Rains' only daughter Jessica.
I did wish he'd gone into more detail on some of the films, particularly the Errol Flynn ones, and that there was more discussion of Rains the actor - the way say Simon Callow writes about his subjects in his books. But this is a decent book.
It's surprising in a way that it took someone so long to write a biography of Rains. He had an interesting life - mother wound up in a mental asylum, father was a shonky actor; he saw genuine active service in World War One and was gassed and wounded; worked as for Sir Herbert Tree; became a teacher of, among others, John Gielgud and Charles Laughton; was a surprisingly successful ladies man, being married six times (once to his stalker); he was also an alcoholic, yet the managed to live until his seventies.
Part of the reason must have been the fact that Rains shyed away from publicity for most of his career, and during his most famous years would retreat to his East Coast farm when not working. He was involved in scandals but rarely with someone that well known - some theatre actresses usually; Bette Davis always regretted not having an affair with him (and sexually harassed him on set); an ex wife tried to charge him with bigamy. He was also very reticent and discrete - as per many actors of his time (eg Herbert Marshall, Basil Rathbone)
Skal is best known (to me at any rate) for his books on Tod Browning and horror - maybe he got involved in part because of Rains' connection to Universal horror movies. He was technically a star from his first film - providing the voice of The Invisible Man. Before then it had been a long apprenticeship though - starting in theatre at age 11, working his way up as a stage manager before turning to acting, earning more as a teacher than a performer for a long time, chalking up many stage credits but never really getting a big hit. When his wife at the time went to New York Rains went with her and gradually made his reputation. He never became a star technically but seems to have been highly regarded from the first; he found the perfect studio in Warner Bros, who used him brilliantly (though, as was common with every actor under contract there, he would fight with Jack Warner).
I get the impression that despite his fame and achievements, Rains was never that happy - too much turbulence in his private life, too much longing for the stage (as if he didn't get better roles on film), too much alcohol. But it was a marvellous career and it's been well captured here by Skal, who had the benefit of co operation from Rains' only daughter Jessica.
I did wish he'd gone into more detail on some of the films, particularly the Errol Flynn ones, and that there was more discussion of Rains the actor - the way say Simon Callow writes about his subjects in his books. But this is a decent book.
Book review - "The Heroes of Rimau: Unravelling the Mystery of One of World War II's Most Daring Raids" by Lynette Silver (1991)
If you want a book on Operation Rimau, this is the one to read - an exhaustively researched, brilliantly gripping account of one of the great epics of the war. If just one person had gotten back from Rimau alive, it would have been made into a blockbuster film, surely, for the material is so magnificent - even more so than Operation Jaywick which, while an amazing success, was a relatively drama free mission with not one shoot out.
Rimau was non stop action - 23 desperate men on a mission to blow up shipping in Singapore, hijacking a junk and dressing as natives, the mission goes pear shaped but they manage to succeed in sinking some ships then flee for their lives: shoot outs on islands, drownings, suicides, heroic last stands, pirating junks, overlooked by rendezvous subs, betrayed and/or helped by locals, being experimented on by Japanese army doctors, going mad with malaria, getting agonizingly close to safety but having dashed at the last minute...
It's page turning stuff - with the underlying sadness that not one made it back. Ten managed to be captured by they were all executed after a sham trial - again, agonisingly close to Japan's surrender. This makes it a truly tragic epic and very moving.
This book isn't just limited to Rimau - there is a recap of Australia's campaign in Malaya, the flight to freedom by Ivan Lyons (a mini epic in itself involving the hijacking of a vessel and sailing it to Ceylon), a recount of Jaywick, plus a recap of some disastrous operations by Australian special forces in Timor (more mini epics which should be better known... Z force men being captured and forced to broadcast messages luring more special forces to the island).
It really is enthralling stuff, full of heroism, brutality, and all-to-easy-to-believe stupidity. The research is ground breaking, the narrative highly involving. A modern classic.
Rimau was non stop action - 23 desperate men on a mission to blow up shipping in Singapore, hijacking a junk and dressing as natives, the mission goes pear shaped but they manage to succeed in sinking some ships then flee for their lives: shoot outs on islands, drownings, suicides, heroic last stands, pirating junks, overlooked by rendezvous subs, betrayed and/or helped by locals, being experimented on by Japanese army doctors, going mad with malaria, getting agonizingly close to safety but having dashed at the last minute...
It's page turning stuff - with the underlying sadness that not one made it back. Ten managed to be captured by they were all executed after a sham trial - again, agonisingly close to Japan's surrender. This makes it a truly tragic epic and very moving.
This book isn't just limited to Rimau - there is a recap of Australia's campaign in Malaya, the flight to freedom by Ivan Lyons (a mini epic in itself involving the hijacking of a vessel and sailing it to Ceylon), a recount of Jaywick, plus a recap of some disastrous operations by Australian special forces in Timor (more mini epics which should be better known... Z force men being captured and forced to broadcast messages luring more special forces to the island).
It really is enthralling stuff, full of heroism, brutality, and all-to-easy-to-believe stupidity. The research is ground breaking, the narrative highly involving. A modern classic.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Movie review - "The Cockleshell Heroes" (1955) ** (re-watching)
Operation Frankton is one of the great British raid stories of World War Two - some commandoes canoed up a French harbour and put mines on several ships; they succeeded in sinking a lot of shipping but most of them were captured and executed. It's such a fantastic story that any half-decent treatment of the story was bound to be successful; this is maybe a quarter decent.
It's good some good things going for it: CinemaScope photography, Trevor Howard in the cast, location shooting in Portugal which helps the last act. But it's an odd fish. The uncharismatic Jose Ferrer, during his brief reign as a box office star in the 1950s (he'd won the Oscar and been in a few hits), is bland in the lead as the guiding force behind the mission. Ferrer's got a great speaking voice but the role could have really done with an old fashioned movie star.
More problematic is his direction which feels sloppy. In his defence the movie may have been cut about - the final raid in particular feels all over the shop continuity wise, with Brits canoeing, then getting spotted and escaping, but no security being brought in at port, then some are captured, but others keep going.
There's also massive slabs of comic relief in the first two thirds of the movie - wacky training antics, involving Royal Marines running around in their underwear plus drinking sequences, and Anthony Newley (who would become a staple for Warwick Films, who made this). Plus we get forced conflict between Howard and Ferrer, with Howard barking at Ferrer that he doesn't like the plan (something Howard would constantly do in war films in the 50s and 60s). And there's too much music playing on the soundtrack.
But like I said it's a tremendous story and I was moved at the end, with Howard and his colleagues being lined up against a wall and shot as the explosions go off. And I never met a guys on a mission film I didn't like.
It's good some good things going for it: CinemaScope photography, Trevor Howard in the cast, location shooting in Portugal which helps the last act. But it's an odd fish. The uncharismatic Jose Ferrer, during his brief reign as a box office star in the 1950s (he'd won the Oscar and been in a few hits), is bland in the lead as the guiding force behind the mission. Ferrer's got a great speaking voice but the role could have really done with an old fashioned movie star.
More problematic is his direction which feels sloppy. In his defence the movie may have been cut about - the final raid in particular feels all over the shop continuity wise, with Brits canoeing, then getting spotted and escaping, but no security being brought in at port, then some are captured, but others keep going.
There's also massive slabs of comic relief in the first two thirds of the movie - wacky training antics, involving Royal Marines running around in their underwear plus drinking sequences, and Anthony Newley (who would become a staple for Warwick Films, who made this). Plus we get forced conflict between Howard and Ferrer, with Howard barking at Ferrer that he doesn't like the plan (something Howard would constantly do in war films in the 50s and 60s). And there's too much music playing on the soundtrack.
But like I said it's a tremendous story and I was moved at the end, with Howard and his colleagues being lined up against a wall and shot as the explosions go off. And I never met a guys on a mission film I didn't like.
Movie review - "Entourage" (2015) **
The not-eagerly-awaited film version of the TV show plays out a lot like an episode from the later dud seasons: one or two moments but basically underwhelming, with seemingly little understanding about why the series was a success, despite being under the stewardship of creator Doug Ellin.... which leads one to surmise that the behind the scenes X factor must have been Rob Weiss. It was Weiss who was heavily involved with the strong first couple of seasons before heading off for other pastures, after which the show went downhill - he's credited with helping on the story for this film, but the blame has to lie with Ellin.
Like the later seasons, unlike the first, it's very easy being a movie star in Entourage - money just gets thrown at Vinnie Chase and he never lacks adoring women or fans. The "challenge" here is him turning director, but so there's no stress the film skips over that, and deals with post production - he needs another $30 million or so to finish it, and head of studio Ari Gold needs to get it from financier Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton sends his idiotic son Hayley Joel Osmet to Hollywood to supervise - this plot is the best thing about the film, but even that's undercooked.
Under-developed subplots abound - E's character has totally changed: instead of being the monogamous old fashioned guy who was devoted to Sloan, he's separated from her even though she's pregnant with his baby and is having random sex with hot women who can't act; there's a terrible scene where two of them meet up and turn out to have known each other that has no impact on the plot. Turtle is now so rich he doesn't have to work (they invoke the terrible tequila story several times); he has an OK romance with a fighting champ girl but it doesn't have any interesting developments/complications. Lloyd is getting married though we never really get to know his fiancee; there's a nice moment where he asks Ari to give him away but nothing much is done with that. Mrs Ari whinges a lot yet again despite their happy ending at the end of the series. Drama is always fun though again I wish more could have been done about his storyline. Vinnie just sort of glides through the film never seeming to care that much about his movie - he's never convincing for five seconds as a director; we get no sense of the passion that say drove Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson to make their films.
Entourage had a tentative relationship with reality which this throws out the window - Vinnie wanting to direct; not wanting to show anyone his film. Even small things ring false like the two hookers in Osmet's room when Ari storms in - there was opportunity for comedy/poignancy there, or at least some sort of reality (they could complain, ask Ari to join, offer up a head shot to Ari) but they just keep doing their thing.
Many cameos including lots from American sports I didnt recognise. Some of the funnier ones included Liam Neeson at the traffic lights, Kelsey Grammar walking out of therapy. A lot of other ones seem random and kind of pointless like Arnie Hammer.
The actors are mostly lethargic except for Jeremy Piven, who is always good. A lot of the male leads seem to have had plastic surgery and/or hair transplants. There's lots of product placement, few good gags, some impressive photography and groupings of extras and I liked the credit sequence. There's no decent drama or character work.
Like the later seasons, unlike the first, it's very easy being a movie star in Entourage - money just gets thrown at Vinnie Chase and he never lacks adoring women or fans. The "challenge" here is him turning director, but so there's no stress the film skips over that, and deals with post production - he needs another $30 million or so to finish it, and head of studio Ari Gold needs to get it from financier Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton sends his idiotic son Hayley Joel Osmet to Hollywood to supervise - this plot is the best thing about the film, but even that's undercooked.
Under-developed subplots abound - E's character has totally changed: instead of being the monogamous old fashioned guy who was devoted to Sloan, he's separated from her even though she's pregnant with his baby and is having random sex with hot women who can't act; there's a terrible scene where two of them meet up and turn out to have known each other that has no impact on the plot. Turtle is now so rich he doesn't have to work (they invoke the terrible tequila story several times); he has an OK romance with a fighting champ girl but it doesn't have any interesting developments/complications. Lloyd is getting married though we never really get to know his fiancee; there's a nice moment where he asks Ari to give him away but nothing much is done with that. Mrs Ari whinges a lot yet again despite their happy ending at the end of the series. Drama is always fun though again I wish more could have been done about his storyline. Vinnie just sort of glides through the film never seeming to care that much about his movie - he's never convincing for five seconds as a director; we get no sense of the passion that say drove Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson to make their films.
Entourage had a tentative relationship with reality which this throws out the window - Vinnie wanting to direct; not wanting to show anyone his film. Even small things ring false like the two hookers in Osmet's room when Ari storms in - there was opportunity for comedy/poignancy there, or at least some sort of reality (they could complain, ask Ari to join, offer up a head shot to Ari) but they just keep doing their thing.
Many cameos including lots from American sports I didnt recognise. Some of the funnier ones included Liam Neeson at the traffic lights, Kelsey Grammar walking out of therapy. A lot of other ones seem random and kind of pointless like Arnie Hammer.
The actors are mostly lethargic except for Jeremy Piven, who is always good. A lot of the male leads seem to have had plastic surgery and/or hair transplants. There's lots of product placement, few good gags, some impressive photography and groupings of extras and I liked the credit sequence. There's no decent drama or character work.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Movie review - "The Circus" (1928) ***
Charlie joins the circus, falls in love with a trapeze artist (Madge Kennedy), works as a props master and becomes a clown, defends the girl against her abusive father but loses her to a tight-rope walker.
There's lots of acrobatics and funny moments: Charlie pinching a hot dog off a kid, Charlie's battle with a pick pocket which winds up in the hall of mirrors, Charlie on the high wire. There's plenty of pathos with Kennedy being smacked around and Charlie losing her - his romantic rival is a nice guy, and Charlie is noble, although I wish her abusive dad had gotten more of a come-uppance and sometimes I was going "alright already you've got our sympathy, Charlie, now just be funny".
Not bad - I didn't think it was an amazing classic or anything. The fellow clowns and circus people remind me of what I think Chaplin's old vaudeville/Mack Sennett colleagues must have been like.
There's lots of acrobatics and funny moments: Charlie pinching a hot dog off a kid, Charlie's battle with a pick pocket which winds up in the hall of mirrors, Charlie on the high wire. There's plenty of pathos with Kennedy being smacked around and Charlie losing her - his romantic rival is a nice guy, and Charlie is noble, although I wish her abusive dad had gotten more of a come-uppance and sometimes I was going "alright already you've got our sympathy, Charlie, now just be funny".
Not bad - I didn't think it was an amazing classic or anything. The fellow clowns and circus people remind me of what I think Chaplin's old vaudeville/Mack Sennett colleagues must have been like.
Movie review - "Magic in the Moonlight" (2014) **1/2
Sweet, dopey Woody Allen romantic comedy which has a flimsy central idea that really should have been turned into an episode of an anthology picture but benefits from its 1920s setting in the South of France, and the usual strong cast. Colin Firth is professional in the lead, which would have been better with a young Woody or Owen Wilson - he's okay I just think it would have been more fun with a neurotic lead. Also it doesn't feel right the a skeptic would also be a magician - it felt as though he should have been an academic or a morose stand up comic or journalist or something. There was a disconnect for me.
Allen is clearly biologically incapable of making a movie where the male lead doesn't fall in love with a woman young enough to be his daughter, but at least Woody isn't playing the part, and the heroine is lovely Emma Stone, who suits the cadences of Woody land perfectly.
Hamish Linklater is fun as the ukele-playing wet drip of an American - as is Jackie Weaver. I wish Allen had found more to do with Marcia Gay Harden (Stone's mum) and the other rich Americans - the movie could have done with a few more subplots. Compared with the depth and tightness of say Hannah and Her Sisters there film reflects poorly - it doesn't have the energy or depth. But it does have a charm, and is pleasing to watch.
Allen is clearly biologically incapable of making a movie where the male lead doesn't fall in love with a woman young enough to be his daughter, but at least Woody isn't playing the part, and the heroine is lovely Emma Stone, who suits the cadences of Woody land perfectly.
Hamish Linklater is fun as the ukele-playing wet drip of an American - as is Jackie Weaver. I wish Allen had found more to do with Marcia Gay Harden (Stone's mum) and the other rich Americans - the movie could have done with a few more subplots. Compared with the depth and tightness of say Hannah and Her Sisters there film reflects poorly - it doesn't have the energy or depth. But it does have a charm, and is pleasing to watch.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Movie review - "The Duff" (2014) **
A fantastic idea and some genuinely funny lines are sunk by miscasting and poor story decisions. Mae Whitman is alright in what is a gift lead role but Robie Arnell is terrible as the neighbour football player who is meant to be so stupid he needs help but is also great on fashion and is meant to be a "man whore". The role is written like it's meant to be a gay best friend trope and played by a male model. The actors who play Whitman's two besties have completely dead eyes and everyone plays it much too broadly. It's a dumb movie.
Movie review - "The Last Impresario" (2013) ***
I consider myself a bit of a film and theatre buff but had never heard of Michael White until this movie. It's rather odd too because he doesn't seem to have been a shy and retiring violet, and he had a remarkable career. Born to a well off family, he went into theatre in the early 60s and was fortunate to hook up with the emerging talent of the time, notably John Cleese, Yoko Ono, and Richard O'Brien. He was the original producer of Oh! Calcutta! and The Rocky Horror Show, so he should be rolling in it but he doesn't seem to have been particularly good with money - he sold his interests in the film rights to Rocky to Lou Adler, and had a gambling problem which, combined with a career down turn in the 90s, saw him wind up pretty much stint, and having to sell his collection of memorabilia. To make things worse he had a stroke so the White we see in the film can barely talk (not that it seems to have dimmed his powers of party going).
This was a surprisingly engrossing documentary - White is a complex character, loved and talented but highly flawed. There's some superb photos and home movies. We hear a lot about his charm though its not the apparent here. There are a few things I would like to have seen more of eg about his children.
This was a surprisingly engrossing documentary - White is a complex character, loved and talented but highly flawed. There's some superb photos and home movies. We hear a lot about his charm though its not the apparent here. There are a few things I would like to have seen more of eg about his children.
Script review - "Jobs" by Aaron Sorkin
Sorkin shows he's still got it in spades with a bravura take on the life of Steve Jobs. It's heavily theatrical, being three key product launches in the life of Jobs, with heavy focus on his poor relationships with people, including his own family. The draft I read was very very long but easily editable - a lot of discussion about the press could be removed especially, and there were many repetitive beats. It was enjoyable - Sorkin does intense IT moguls very well, and he likes Jobs more than Mark Zuckerberg.
Movie review - "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006) ****
Directors seem to get more conservative as they get older - Clint Eastwood takes more risks (although he still seems unable to edit his films down). This is a remarkable story, a look at the Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese point of view. A companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, it's actually a better movie because the story is more focused - it deals with the Japanese defence, and thus flows to its inevitable tragic conclusion.
The lead characters are very sympathetic - the smart, kind commander (superbly played by Ken Watanabe) who has spent time in America, the former Olympic Gold medallist who has spent time in America, the former baker who is drafter, the former member of the secret police (whose backstory is revealed too late).
I'm surprised there wasn't more cross over with Flags of Our Fathers - I kept expecting Jamie Bell to turn up to be tortured here. There's some brilliantly effective sequences such as the Japanese suicides; Iwo Jima itself of course is a battle field like no one, with his lunar style landscapes. It does drag on at times, but was very moving.
The lead characters are very sympathetic - the smart, kind commander (superbly played by Ken Watanabe) who has spent time in America, the former Olympic Gold medallist who has spent time in America, the former baker who is drafter, the former member of the secret police (whose backstory is revealed too late).
I'm surprised there wasn't more cross over with Flags of Our Fathers - I kept expecting Jamie Bell to turn up to be tortured here. There's some brilliantly effective sequences such as the Japanese suicides; Iwo Jima itself of course is a battle field like no one, with his lunar style landscapes. It does drag on at times, but was very moving.
Movie review - "Definitely Maybe" (2008) **1/2
The Working Title rom com done in America, though it still feels very English - so much of the humour comes from embarassment and awkwardness (Ryan Reynolds being busted with toilet rolls and talking to his young daughter about sex, sexually confident female leads), and there are some scenes that feel so English (a love poem to smoking).
I like Reynolds as an actor and as a star when he's doing his sarcastic thing. But he seems uncomfortable playing a shy Everyman - it's a role that needed Hugh Grant or someone more boffin-y. He's kind of a nothing. Kevin Kline is fine in his colourful support cast but you know someone like Bill Nighy or Rhys Ilfans would have knocked it out of the park.
As the trio of girls, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher are fun and beautiful and Abigail Breslin does what's required as the girl. I enjoyed the passage of time stuff, hated that Reynolds took so long to give the book to Fisher, the support casts and Bill Clinton stuff always felt like it was going to do more than it did; it's good (if that's the right word) to have a movie acknowledge the pain of divorce. This wasn't perfect, but it has charm and it lingered in the mind.
I like Reynolds as an actor and as a star when he's doing his sarcastic thing. But he seems uncomfortable playing a shy Everyman - it's a role that needed Hugh Grant or someone more boffin-y. He's kind of a nothing. Kevin Kline is fine in his colourful support cast but you know someone like Bill Nighy or Rhys Ilfans would have knocked it out of the park.
As the trio of girls, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher are fun and beautiful and Abigail Breslin does what's required as the girl. I enjoyed the passage of time stuff, hated that Reynolds took so long to give the book to Fisher, the support casts and Bill Clinton stuff always felt like it was going to do more than it did; it's good (if that's the right word) to have a movie acknowledge the pain of divorce. This wasn't perfect, but it has charm and it lingered in the mind.
Movie review - "Sudden Impact" (1983) **1/2
The fourth in the Dirty Harry series is a little odd - it had its origins as a non Dirty Harry story, really being about a rape victim who turns vigilante to get revenge. But it's been cleverly reworked so Harry has plenty to do - shooting random criminals who attack his diner, have a comic bulldog, get scolded by his superiors who has to deal with slimy crooks and defence attorneys, take over a bus of elderly in order to apprehend a criminal, have a new catch phrase ("go ahead make my day"... pretty impressive that the fourth movie in the series introduces that).
Sondra Locke is the vigilante - unlike the vigilantes in Magnum Force, Harry falls in love with her and covers up her crimes. It's silly and simplistic with nasty undercurrents - Harry smacks around a lesbian - but it'll give fans what they want.
Sondra Locke is the vigilante - unlike the vigilantes in Magnum Force, Harry falls in love with her and covers up her crimes. It's silly and simplistic with nasty undercurrents - Harry smacks around a lesbian - but it'll give fans what they want.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Movie review - "Nashville" (1975) ***
People adore this movie - Pauline Kael, Richard Curtis, among many, many others. When you talk about Robert Altman masterpieces it gets ranked with MASH, McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Long Goodbye, The Player and Gosford Park.
I've got to be honest - I don't like it. I don't hate it - I just feel overwhelming indifference. It goes for so long, isn't that funny or moving; I found The Player and MASH insightful, but not this movie. Geraldine Chaplin's reporter got on my nerves after a while, the political stuff was a drag (was it meant to be satirical? was it meant to have a point?), the strip club scene just made me feel awkward (which I guess was the point - still didn't like watching it). There's too many bits where you go "oh that's random" but it doesn't feel as though it has a point.
I enjoyed Henry Gibson's pompous but basically decent country and western man, found Ronee Blakely touching and Keith Carradine was superb in what should have been a starmaking part as a womanising singer. Actually the whole cast were pretty good - there's some wonderful actors. Plenty of music, though not of a high quality, and the movie does have an engaging atmosphere. I just feel it's been incredibly over-rated.
I've got to be honest - I don't like it. I don't hate it - I just feel overwhelming indifference. It goes for so long, isn't that funny or moving; I found The Player and MASH insightful, but not this movie. Geraldine Chaplin's reporter got on my nerves after a while, the political stuff was a drag (was it meant to be satirical? was it meant to have a point?), the strip club scene just made me feel awkward (which I guess was the point - still didn't like watching it). There's too many bits where you go "oh that's random" but it doesn't feel as though it has a point.
I enjoyed Henry Gibson's pompous but basically decent country and western man, found Ronee Blakely touching and Keith Carradine was superb in what should have been a starmaking part as a womanising singer. Actually the whole cast were pretty good - there's some wonderful actors. Plenty of music, though not of a high quality, and the movie does have an engaging atmosphere. I just feel it's been incredibly over-rated.
Movie review - "Caprice" (1967) **
Silly, over the top Bond spoof with Doris Day not entirely well cast in the lead - ditto Richard Harris as her love interest. I enjoy both actors and Frank Tashlin if in the mood - I'm not sure all three work together.
But it has the charm of a period piece. It's very groovy, with skirts and boots and spies trying to kill each other while skiing, and script has plenty of twists and turns with characters being one thing and then another - it's a lot like Charade. There's Edward Mulhaire and Jack Kruschen as tycoons, Ray Walston as a mad scientist, lots of bright colours and heavy handed satire of the fashion industry. It is fun to see Day in something so different.
The movie was clearly an influence on Duplicity, with its two stars constantly turning on each other, working for two tycoons and industrial espionage background - indeed, at times I began to wonder if the latter film was a remake.
But it has the charm of a period piece. It's very groovy, with skirts and boots and spies trying to kill each other while skiing, and script has plenty of twists and turns with characters being one thing and then another - it's a lot like Charade. There's Edward Mulhaire and Jack Kruschen as tycoons, Ray Walston as a mad scientist, lots of bright colours and heavy handed satire of the fashion industry. It is fun to see Day in something so different.
The movie was clearly an influence on Duplicity, with its two stars constantly turning on each other, working for two tycoons and industrial espionage background - indeed, at times I began to wonder if the latter film was a remake.
TV review - "Silicon Valley - Series 2" (2015) *****
The funniest show on TV? Make that funniest new show. Season 2 keeps the standard high, recovers from the loss of the tycoon by bringing in another tycoon, adds a girl character and makes more magic.
Movie review - "Annie Hall" (1977) ***** (watching it again)
It still holds up so well - it's so amazingly good, energetic and funny and fresh. His later works are so lethargic in comparison. I think this is where it all came together for him - developing his technique, then working on something really personal. Classic line upon classic line - my grandmother was too busy being raped by Cossacks, you look like the wife of an astronaut, I'm into leather. It's moving and lovely and superb. Allen repeated it lots of times in later films - he was forever making movies about him educating a younger woman who left him - but here it's a treat.
Movie review - "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1985) *****
If Annie Hall was Woody Allen's autobiographical masterpiece inspired by his relationship with Diane Keaton, then this was his one inspired by his relationship with Mia Farrow and her family. How much it's fascinating to guess - which of Mia Farrow's sisters was the role model for Barbara Hershey? For Diane Wiest? Her real life mother plays her on screen mother - John Farrow died before Woody met Mia, but I'm sure there were plenty of Lloyd Nolan types around.
He can poo-poo it all he wants but the similarities to real life are so clear: Mia Farrow is the brilliant star of the family, the nurturer and mother of many children (some played by her real life kids - Soo-Yi pops up in some scenes), center of family activities, financially well off, married to a spectacle-wearing adulterer (Michael Caine), a successful actress, a bit of a whiner. There are the crazy sisters - sexy, recovering alcoholic Hershey and flightly Wiest, neither of whom are capable of holding down a job and seem reliant on their men and Farrow/Hannah to pay the rent.
There are three versions of the Woody persona - one played by Woody himself, the hypochondriac looking for the meaning of life; Michael Caine, who lusts after his wife's sister; and Max Von Sydow, the tormented artist determined to educate his lover, and a bad tempered person.
There's also a galaxy of supporting people, many of whom are types familiar from other Allen movies (he was already starting to repeat himself): the old friend played by Tony Roberts who became successful in Los Angeles; the pretentious arty types; the bit players.
It's just got so many wonderful moments and is so brilliant: Daniel Stern's cameo as a rock star who likes "big" art; Von Sydow's genuinely touching moment of despair when he's lost Hershey; the quality of the voice over (several characters do it); the fat jogger running past Allen; Allen/Mickey's story how he came to enjoy life; Allen and Wiest's disastrous date; O'Sullivan and Nolan's bitter argument; spotting people like J T Walsh and John Turturro in the cast; Sam Waterson's womanising architect talking about going to the opera and crying. I did feel sorry for the black maid who popped in and out of scenes, it was so demeaning.
It's such a heartwarming life affirming movie too - not many Allen films have a big heart but this one does. I love the ending. It's great.
He can poo-poo it all he wants but the similarities to real life are so clear: Mia Farrow is the brilliant star of the family, the nurturer and mother of many children (some played by her real life kids - Soo-Yi pops up in some scenes), center of family activities, financially well off, married to a spectacle-wearing adulterer (Michael Caine), a successful actress, a bit of a whiner. There are the crazy sisters - sexy, recovering alcoholic Hershey and flightly Wiest, neither of whom are capable of holding down a job and seem reliant on their men and Farrow/Hannah to pay the rent.
There are three versions of the Woody persona - one played by Woody himself, the hypochondriac looking for the meaning of life; Michael Caine, who lusts after his wife's sister; and Max Von Sydow, the tormented artist determined to educate his lover, and a bad tempered person.
There's also a galaxy of supporting people, many of whom are types familiar from other Allen movies (he was already starting to repeat himself): the old friend played by Tony Roberts who became successful in Los Angeles; the pretentious arty types; the bit players.
It's just got so many wonderful moments and is so brilliant: Daniel Stern's cameo as a rock star who likes "big" art; Von Sydow's genuinely touching moment of despair when he's lost Hershey; the quality of the voice over (several characters do it); the fat jogger running past Allen; Allen/Mickey's story how he came to enjoy life; Allen and Wiest's disastrous date; O'Sullivan and Nolan's bitter argument; spotting people like J T Walsh and John Turturro in the cast; Sam Waterson's womanising architect talking about going to the opera and crying. I did feel sorry for the black maid who popped in and out of scenes, it was so demeaning.
It's such a heartwarming life affirming movie too - not many Allen films have a big heart but this one does. I love the ending. It's great.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
Book review - "Sick Heart River" by John Buchan (1941)
John Buchan's penultimate novel and last classic, in part because it was published after he died and is about a man - Sir Edward Leithen - who is terminally ill and seeks one final adventure. Unsure what to do with himself, he accepts a challenge to find a French Canadian financier who has had a nervous breakdown and headed into the deep Canadian north. This results in some typical Buchan posturing about what's wrong with civilisation and the world, but there's not a lot of it - soon Leithen is headed north and we get some of Buchan's finest descriptive writing, evocatively conveying the dangerous and beautiful Canadian wilds. It's not a real page turner or thriller like the better known Buchan books - there's no baddies, its man against nature and himself really. There are some interesting support characters in the form of the trappers who help him (two brothers, one with Leithen the other with the financier).
I'm not sure this is a tale of redemption - because Leithen has lead a decent and productive life - but it is more about finding some purpose in your last days. Maybe it's redemption for Galliard. But it is surprisingly moving - the fact it's about a dying man helps.
It is as imperialist as anything else Buchan wrote - the last act involves Leithen whipping some slovenly disease ridden Indians into shape and by jove to they come to respect and even worship him. The white man's burden to the very end.
I'm not sure this is a tale of redemption - because Leithen has lead a decent and productive life - but it is more about finding some purpose in your last days. Maybe it's redemption for Galliard. But it is surprisingly moving - the fact it's about a dying man helps.
It is as imperialist as anything else Buchan wrote - the last act involves Leithen whipping some slovenly disease ridden Indians into shape and by jove to they come to respect and even worship him. The white man's burden to the very end.
Thursday, September 03, 2015
TV review - "True Detective Season 2" (2015) **
This was a slog to get through. So many scenes of Vince Vaughan sitting in a club talking to his wife, or talking in a bar to Colin Farrell while a singer sang, or Colin Farrell slouching around, or of people talking on their phones. So much happened off screen, or was done via reportage, instead of being dramatised on screen.
There's more female roles than the first series but really none are that great - Rachel McAdams runs around in underpants being sexually voracious and hard bitten and goes undercover as an escort and winds up a girlfriend (I don't think I've cared for a couple less than Farrell and McAdams in this series). Vaughan's wife listens to him whinge about work and money and wants to have a baby. The rest of the women are whores or nagging bitches.
And too much of this was reminiscent of other, better noirs - such as Chinatown (property developers, corruption in California), The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy (closeted cop, scroungy cop hero)
Some effective moments - Farrell's relationship with his son, a fight at an airport, Vaughan in the desert. But not nearly enough.
There's more female roles than the first series but really none are that great - Rachel McAdams runs around in underpants being sexually voracious and hard bitten and goes undercover as an escort and winds up a girlfriend (I don't think I've cared for a couple less than Farrell and McAdams in this series). Vaughan's wife listens to him whinge about work and money and wants to have a baby. The rest of the women are whores or nagging bitches.
And too much of this was reminiscent of other, better noirs - such as Chinatown (property developers, corruption in California), The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy (closeted cop, scroungy cop hero)
Some effective moments - Farrell's relationship with his son, a fight at an airport, Vaughan in the desert. But not nearly enough.
Movie review - "The Fault in Our Stars" (2014) ****
Beautifully realised version of the best selling book which was a deserved smash at the box office. Like all monster teen hits (Twilight, The Hunger Games) the casting of the leads is impeccable - Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are superb as the star crossed lovers. The world of cancer among teens is wonderfully depicted - tragic, humourous, matter of fact. These kids go to lots of funerals, deal with daggy therapy leaders and anxious parents and lots of doctors; the fall in love, bicker and banter, have favourite authors and are often scared to dream.
The first rate script is full of romantic, witty lines, and its expertly produced, with a top soundtrack. I had a few gripes - it is too long (at 133 minutes), the characters of the parents are so sketchy they may as well have been cut even more (Woodley has a scene with her dad at the end and it's like "who are you?"), there's a random writers assistant who accompanies them to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.
The first rate script is full of romantic, witty lines, and its expertly produced, with a top soundtrack. I had a few gripes - it is too long (at 133 minutes), the characters of the parents are so sketchy they may as well have been cut even more (Woodley has a scene with her dad at the end and it's like "who are you?"), there's a random writers assistant who accompanies them to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Movie review - "Von Ryan's Express" (1965) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)
Frank Sinatra is not remembered as one of the top action heroes but he was rarely better cast than in this tough war film which is also the quintessential Mark Robson picture. It's part Bridge on the River Kwai and part The Great Escape as pilot Sinatra crashes in Italy and winds up in an Italian-run POW camp where Trevor Howard is doing his best to impersonate Alec Guinness in Kwai. Howard and Sinatra scowl and shout at each other and Sinatra pulls rank but the prisoners have disdain for him - come to think of it, Howard spent a lot of the 60s shouting at an American co star with better billing (Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Rod Taylor). This goes on for half an hour then they all escape and the movie gets going - in fact, it seems like an entirely separate film.
This is different from many POW escape movies in that the number of escapees is so large and we see how many there are - there's always these extras. They are captured, put on a train, but capture the train, and the action is fast paced and well done.
There's a strong support cast including Edward Mulhare (effective as a reverend), a young James Brolin, Sinatra crony Brad Dexter, Sergio Fantoni (eye patch wearing "good Italian), former Bondi villains Adolfo Celi, and Raffaella Carra as the girl - whose death would be more effective if her part had been bigger and her relationship with Sinatra stronger. A death that does work incredibly well though is Sinatra's - extremely well shot and moving, and helps elevate this movie to a high pantheon. (And compensate for all those scenes where Sinatra easily mows down Germans beforehand.)
This is different from many POW escape movies in that the number of escapees is so large and we see how many there are - there's always these extras. They are captured, put on a train, but capture the train, and the action is fast paced and well done.
There's a strong support cast including Edward Mulhare (effective as a reverend), a young James Brolin, Sinatra crony Brad Dexter, Sergio Fantoni (eye patch wearing "good Italian), former Bondi villains Adolfo Celi, and Raffaella Carra as the girl - whose death would be more effective if her part had been bigger and her relationship with Sinatra stronger. A death that does work incredibly well though is Sinatra's - extremely well shot and moving, and helps elevate this movie to a high pantheon. (And compensate for all those scenes where Sinatra easily mows down Germans beforehand.)
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