Change Your Image
davidg2e
Reviews
The Final Frame (1990)
Film Noir
An odd film with an odd story line. The acting is good with all of the charm of English films. The sound track was good and appropriately ominous. It is the resolution that I found a bit difficult to reconcile with what had occurred during the progress of the plot. Worth watching, though.
Gravity (2013)
Typical George Clooney movie.
Actually, quite a disappointment. It would be wonderful, I suspect, in 3D, and it may well win an Oscar for special effects. Otherwise, the film is cliché. It is a movie with two characters, and the performances of both are routine and expected. There is some highfalutin' intent on the producer's part about the meaning of the whole episode, but that is well hidden by the dialog. The Clooney portion of the script is very breezy. In the opening sequence, he flits, mechanically, around the outside of the space craft in an effort to break a Russian's record for untethered floating around in space. It adds nothing to the dramatic tension (if ever there was any). Stone's portion of the script is an endless series of pants. She never seems to catch her breath, which becomes annoying. This film is for someone else to enjoy!
La piel que habito (2011)
Less Than Meets The Eye
The film starts very slowly, almost slow-motion. The line is not the easiest to divine. I guess I am not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate the nuances of the plot but it seemed calculated to astound, or to horrify, rather than to entertain. The plot, such as it is, is more worthy of an old Boris Karloff movie. There are some titillating scenes but they lead nowhere. When it is finished, one wonders what one saw. There is no "there" there.
We tend to light candles to famous names, or producers, or directors, without admitting that turkeys can fly their way, too. This is a gobbler!
Ne le dis à personne (2006)
Coulda Been a Contender
The acting was good and the camera work was good and the story could have been good, but the plot made sense only after the denouement and there was nothing during the course of the film that gave any hints, as a good mystery should, in my view.
Unlike Ellery Queen's "Challenge to the Reader" series, in which salient points were explained in the only logical way, the explanation in the movie was just that, an explanation. None of the movie up to that point was necessary except to show the incidents that occurred. Not a single hint was dropped. Several scenes were contrived, perhaps to give some length to the film. Essentially, the viewer is in the dark throughout. This is not my style of thriller/mystery. This effort suffered from mediocrity.
'Breaker' Morant (1980)
Watching Edward Woodward is like taking an acting lesson
This is a remarkable film that remains as fresh as when it was produced. Edward Woodward has always been a favorite of mine and he was masterful as the title character. He seems incapable of giving any less than a strong performance in a variety of roles. "The Wicker Man" comes to mind, as well as the many episodes of "The Equalizer."
It is easy to imagine the conflicts that inevitably occur between military superiors and the men on the front, and this film clearly shows that, in those days, command personnel were much more likely to be obeyed without question, even as the enlisted men suffered for their mistakes, errors of judgment or even criminality.
For me, the frosting on the cake was using Woodward to sing "Soldiers of the Queen" during the roll of the credits. His clear and fine singing voice seemed to taunt the military brass. It is a crackerjack movie and NOT a tear-jerker, despite the story line.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
A visual tour de force
Rarely does a movie come along that is flawlessly photographed. Even more rare is one that is both that sensitively directed. "Girl" does just that. Every frame is reminiscent of a Vermeer. They are luminous, even when "dark" scenes. I didn't want the picture to proceed because I didn't want to lose the image before my eyes!
I have not read the book so I cannot comment on how faithful the movie was to the text but I did have the nagging suspicion that something was missing and so am not interested in the book. In fact, my friends and I marveled that the story could be so well told with such a spare script.
Casting was another triumph. Colin Firth projects gloom in a superbly sexual way and Scarlet Johanneson a vulnerable ingenuousness. Even the secondary characters were perfect.
The best recommendation I can give is that I am looking forward to watching it again...and again.
Un tè con Mussolini (1999)
Couple of slow spots, but overall very entertaining
Had heard about the movie and just now got a chance to view it. Very taken with the performances of all the principal female roles. Cher's, however flattened out a bit when she essayed her more dramatic lines. Her "Mame" scenes, however, were a knockout! War IS hell, and this is a wonderful limning of the shattering change that it brings, and of the English "stiff upper lip." Cinematography was fine, and the scenes well directed to emphasize the societal antagonisms that come to a head in war. It was a "sweet" movie, in the very best sense of the word.
Touch of Evil (1958)
Highly regarded production
It is a remarkably constructed film, with air-tight direction and great economy of both words and action. The characters are wonderfully drawn and played masterfully. I think one of Dietrich's and Welles' best efforts. Welles' genius certainly permeates every aspect of the film. It is filmed darkly, and the dark, itself, is relentless in its effect. "The Magnificent Ambersons" is often referred to as a flawless translation of the Tarkington novel to the screen by Welles. This is no less masterful a production. I don't understand how it can be only #76 on the list of 250 best films.