Movie review - "I Walked with a Zombie" (1943) **** (re-watching)

 Val Lewton whinged about his pulpy titles that RKO management assigned him - they are of course part of these film' charm. Some thoughts:

- so wonderfully creepy with gorgeous low budged cinematography and use of wind, cane fields, mute woman

- Jane Eyre is a great basis for a horror movie

- acting competent except Tom Conway who is superb - he brought so nuch to these films

- progressive in many ways for its time: sensible female doctor, black maid who is not an idiot

- great shocks like the appearance of the black guy.

A very classy movie.

Movie review - "Old Dads" (2023) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Wanted to like this - I had a kid later in life, raised her in LA. Some of it is spot on but the film never seems to get its rhythm right. Sorry it's not nice to call a headmistress a c*nt even if she turns out to be a money grabbing crook. I get that people can be appalling these days but also some things didn't ring true - having to apologise to all the parents.

Other bits more effective - the awful milennial who sacks everyone, the whiny parents, the annoying people on scooters, the scene where BIll Burr gets assistance in an argument from a random lady only for her to go on a racist rant... this gives an indication of maybe what the film should be... because while there's plenty of over the top political correctness there's entire media networks devoted to mocking political correctness - it's not hard to find an outlet against what he's railing against (unless... which would have been interesting... he's appalled by those people). 

The humour is meant to be based in reality but is played broadly, absurdly - it would play better on stage maybe. But all the way through I kept thinking "Judd Apatow makes this stuff look easy and it's not it's very hard."

Bill Burr does have star factor. Bobby Canavale tries to be funny too much.

Musical soundtrack - "Golden Rainbows"

 Listened to this because of the discussion about this in Wiliam Goldman's The Season. The songs are quite good, very well sung. The opening track is a banger and there's catch ballads. You can see this being fun. I'm sure Goldman's comments on the book were accurate.

Movie review - "Cat People" (1942) **** (re-viewing)

 Listening to a podcast about Val Lewton so thought I'd watch this again. Thoughts:

- lovely intelligent, treats audience smart, literate

- quite sexy: Simone Simon shows a bare back in a bath, Jane Rudolph is in a swimsuit, the whole plot is about sex

- some excellent performances: Simon is very good (lonely, little, scary, plucky) and Tom Conway is great fun as a lecherous shrink - Kent Smith and Jane Rudolph are dull but they have to be

- it's low budget yes but it's also a studio film so the photography is terrific, the sets, technical qualities

- very well done, stylish and well made.

Charles Bronson Top Ten

 For fun

1) Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) - no one missed Eastwood

2) The Great Escape (1963) - touching, sad, likeable, complex

3) The Magnificent Seven (1960) - as above

4) Machine Gun Kelly (1958) - Corman gave many people his break - here was Bronson

5) The Dirty Dozen (1967) - I think he was getting sick of being a second lead by now but he was so good at it

6) The Mechanic (1972) - made with such skill it's a jolt to realise Michael Winner did this

7) Hard Times (1975) - brilliantly used by Walter Hill - if only they'd teamed again...

8) Death Wish (1974) - he became a caricature but this is a juicy role and he handles it well

9) Four For Texas (1962) - he gets bested too often but he's fun in a fun film

10) From Noon Til Three (1976) - a love letter to Jill Ireland, very sweet

TV review - "Better Things Season 1" (2016) ****

 Acutely observed, warm, funny, unexpected. The coolest single mum on TV? Louis CK did so much great stuff. Pamela Adlon has a cult of guys into her. Deservedly.

Movie review - "Who's that Knocking at My Door" (1968) ***

 Full of energy, talent and verve. There's Harvey Keitel as the first in a long line of toxic male protagonists in Scorsese films, with his sex and religious hang ups, hanging out with dead beat mates, tormented by Catholicism, creepy with women whom he treats as Madonnas/whores. 

Zita Bethune is the woman (called "The Girl"). She's lovely. All the acting is good. Funny riffs on John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers. There's long scenes with boorish friends crapping on.

The nude scene, put in at the recommendation of buyers, does perk things up. Scorses learned his lesson - for Mean Streets, which this has a lot in common with (bars, deadbeat mates, madonna/Whores) he added gangters and nudity.

It's very interesting, made by someone with talent, doesn't quite hang together as a feature. I gave it three stars considering the low budget.

Movie review - "Bringing Out the Dead" (1999) ****

 Spiritual sequel to Taxi Driver about another figure dealing with nutters at night - in this case a paramedic. Sunken eyed, restrained Nicolas Cage is perfect in the lead, as a Scorsese/Schrader hero par excellance, a man tormented with guilt.

Patricia Arquette is typically excellent in an understated way. Ving Rhames heaps of fun as a religious driver, Tom Sizemore electric as a manic driver, John Goodman and Marc Antony a great. (The film's stucture is basically Cage and three different partners over three nights, with some other plots threaded through).

It lacks the primeval aspect of Taxi Driver - the "rescue" of Jodie Foster, building up to a big shoot out. This builds to Cage stopping Sizmore beating someone up, and then allowing someone to die. (Immaculate acting on Cage's face then by the way.)

It's warm and heart affirming despite the dodgy world. Scorsese had a kid around this time, maybe that was it.

Movie review - "The Color of Money" (1986) **

 Does anyone talk about this film any more? It was a big deal at the time. Newman finally getting an Oscar. Scorsese doing something commercial. Tom Cruise doing something classy. Eric Clapton. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio winning the reviews. You couldn't go near a pool table for a few years there without people flipping around the pool cues like Cruiser.

I was getting sick of Scorcese's needle drops but this has dumb 80s soundtrack-itis. It was dull. So dull.

Good actors. Newman was fine - no one begrudged him an Oscar, though he'd been better in lots of other movies. Mastrantonio is excellent. So too is Cruise.

I guess the characters are interesting. But they just sort of hang around. The one memorable scene is when Newman realises he's been hustled by Forest Whitaker. That was effective.

There's some Scorsese flourishes like zooms and Italian Americans yelling (Cruise, Mastranotonio) - when Newman joins in it's not as fun.

I remember watching this at the cinema when I was a kid and feeling guilty I didn't like it because the reviews told me to like it. I was wrong to feel guilty this simply isn't very good. And they spent so much time on preparing it, too.

Movie review - "Legend" (1985) **

 I get the cult. It looks terrific. No one went to see it. Lots of imagination. Tom Cruise before having his teeth fixed. Mia Sara. Goblins.

It's simple and also confusing. Cruise is fine but anyone could've played the role. Mia Sara is pretty but again generic. 

Maybe I should see it again. I don't really want to. This isn't a useful review is it? But it's an honest one.

Movie review - "King of Comedy" (1982) ****1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Gosh this is a good film. I was turned off Scorsese with all his violence and redemption but presented with an excellent script by him he rises to the occasion. No whip pans, needle drops, people smashing up people in bars, nagging wives.

It's a slow burn cringe comedy about an obssessed stalker who winds up kidnapping a late night talk show. Jerry Lewis has a terrific role as the host, emotionally dead, wound up, stressed, abused by strangers in the streets. Robert de Niro is excellent as a pestering all too believable type. Sandra Bernhard is X factor as de Niro's deranged accomplice - she has so much danger and excitement.

It's a superb script from Paul D. Zimmerman. I love who it plays with time and reality. I get why it wasn't a hit. But it's great. I actually love that de Niro's character makes it in the end (although it could be fantasy, I love that too). It's a movie that was very ahead of the curve.

The Joker really copied this didn't it, right down to the black girlfriend.

I love the cameo from Tony Randall as the host who takes over and Scorsese as the director. Gore Vildal and Shlley Winters are guests on the show - shame they couldn't have been on it too!

Oh, Shelley Hack is in this and she's geat.

Movie review - "Silence" (2016) ***1/2

 It's got a fascinating world - Japanese Christians being persecuted in the 17th century - and a terrific set up two priests (Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, both ideally cast) set out to find their mentor (Liam Neeson) who has gone missing. (Sidebar: I'm surprised WW2 Allied propaganda didn't use stories of persuctions of Christians in Japan. Maybe they did.)

There's also an intriguing Japanese character,a. former Christian who repented who is their guide. But once that's set up in the first ten minutes the film doesn't really have any more ideas. Japanese Christians are glad to meet them, but also scared. They are persecuted and killed. Martin Scorsese gets to do lots of violent scenes that he likes of Christians being crucified, burned, tortured, decapitated, in amognst the long running time and minimal female presence.

I really liked the ambiable Japanese politician who does great evil, an all too recognisable type from history. It's well acted, looks terrific, with lovely photography, sets, costumes, etc.

It just suffers from lack of structure and character development.  The last third is strong. I really liked it. It was dramatic conflict not just repetitive torture. It's just that middle section.

Garfield and Driver go full actor. Both seem like priests, Garfield goes believably nutty. I wonder if the film would've done better had they just thrown rocks at him for half an hour. (How long did Driver go without sex for?) I think it was a mistake to allow them to have Portugese accents. Also the piece could've done with some humour - it comes in the end, I guess.

I wonder if Mel Gibson ever considered filming this novel it feels right up his alley with its suffering and violence. He might've ensured a better structure too

Movie review - "Mean Streets" (1973) ***1/2

 Not my cup of tea though I appreciate the talent, the authenticity, the pace.

Maybe I've seen too many imitators - slice of life coming of age dramas with wanna be toughs yelling at each other. Film critics/buffs loved all the references - the autobiographical bits, the film references (going to see a Western, Harvey Keitel liking John Wayne).

So much of it feels familiar I think now because Scorsese did so many scenes of Italian Americans yelling at each other in bars with tracks playing in the background and bursts of violence. And the depiction of women is so, as he tends do to (madonna/whore).

I respect this film, I really do. I just don't like it that much. I generally don't when Scorsese wrote the script. I think it's mostly because de Niro's character is such a boor I don't care about him, Keitel has every right to get angry. Why support him? If people accept that relationship and feel for de Niro they'll enjoy this movie more.

Oh shout out to the fact a Roger Corman film is in this. Scorsece picked up enough Corman exploitation to make sure there's female nudity from Amy Robinson in the Breathless sequence (also I gather he had to include it in Who's That Knocking on My Door to sell it.)

Movie review - "Casino" (1995) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Many thoughts.

- Bits I liked. The milieu. The research.

- Too much smoking in lieu of acting.

- Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci aren't bad. But they are clearly bored. De Niro never seems into Sharon Stone. He never likes Pesci. Or his daughter. Or anyone. Anything. He gets fired up when he can't work in the casino I guess. Was this why he and Scorsese didn't work together for so long? Pesci goes through the motions too. He never seems to like de Niro or Stone. He has a moment at the end crying when his brother is killed.

- Sharon Stone is magnificent. Warm, compelling, sexy, touching, emphathetic. Steals the film. I wish she'd had better roles at her peak. Even here she's stuck in endless Scorsese yelling domestic scenes.

- I also liked the guy who plays Pesci's mate who kills him. He was putting in good work and had a fantastic worm turns moment at the end.

- Could have been trimmed. The journalism stuff. The yelling scenes.

- Always interesting direction - camera angles, colours, sounds.

 - Don Rickles terrific. Aparet from de Niro and Pesci the acting is very strong. And those two aren't bad just bored.

TV review - "The Only Murders in the Building" Season 3 (2023) ***

 Still fun, and Meryl Streep is always entertaining, though haven't we seen Paul Rudd play a mock version of himself before? Or just too many other actors do it? Selena Gomez seems bored. The mystery is fine. I love the Broadway stuff.