What was the last film you watched?

[Willie Oleson]

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)



Triumph? Courage? To me it looks like the story of an incredibly stupid person with a "pretty serial killer" face.
The political troubles of that time that played a big part in his disproportionately heavy sentence is only touched upon, therefore I'm not sure what they were trying to convey from a dramatic point of view. And that final scene wasn't as satisfying as I remembered it.

With the focus on life in a foreign prison, and stripped of his precious constitutional rights, it is possible that this film was meant to be dark and depressing but I found it very enjoyable, mostly because of the fearless performances and the many colourful characters.


Even though I think it was made with great artistic values, they didn't exactly shy away from some comical stereotyping, and I'm not saying that with a 21st century sensibility.

And then I also wonder, was MIDNIGHT EXPRESS the inspiration for Nick Toscanni's revenge story because Denver-Carrington's international errand boy Matthew "Tex" Blaisdel failed to save Nick's brother?

 

[Seaviewer]

Vamps (2012)
Described as comedy horror but it turned out to be a little different than I expected. Sweet, part female buddy movie, part romcom, with supernatural overtones. There's some parodying going on of the Dracula legend, but not enough to get in the way. And as a bonus, Richard Lewis, who I liked in the TV series Anything But Love - older here but with his endearing mannerisms intact.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)



How much you're going to like this Sherlock version depends on how much you expect from the film's title.
The "private life" - which suggests something scandalous and juicy - only features in the first act. After that it becomes the mystery one would expect from a Sherlock Holmes story.
Personally I'm glad that's the way it played out because I'm not sure if it would be interesting to watch 2 hours of Sherlock doing drugs and being suggestive about his suppressed homosexuality. I can get that in any other film.
Not that the theme is abandoned altogether after that first part, it just doesn't seem very relevant anymore.

The odd slapstick moment notwithstanding I think it always stays on the right side of comedy, and most of it is in the snappy and (what appears to me) very British dialogue.
It's not a CASINO ROYALE kind of parody (thank goodness).
The way the plot thickens and thickens and thickens almost made me wonder if Sherlock could solve the mystery before the film ended, but perhaps that's how it happens in all Sherlock stories.
It's a bit frustrating but in a very entertaining way.

I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely as the Holmes/Watson duo, and the sets and locations make it look pleasantly old-fashioned.

 

[Willie Oleson]

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)



Oh bah, what a stinker.
Overall, the visual special effects are fine and the sound effects maybe even better - but still not nearly as good as the 1939 tornado in THE WIZARD OF OZ.
The flashy green colours can carry only so much of the film, but the real problem is that TWOTW is completely and utterly devoid of drama and suspense.

Regardless of what would crash into planet earth, the American army would be all over it from the very beginning. In this story they had to be informed.
Even after some of the Californian citizens - and complete towns elsewhere in the world (so there was communication after all) - have been vaporized by the aggressive Martians, the strongest emotion we get is curiosity.
It's only at the end of the film, when half of planet earth has gone up in smoke, that people start to panic and run for the hills.

The acting is very wooden, but "non-existent" would be a closer approximation to what is - well, isn't - going on in TWOTW.
They all look very bored, sometimes a little amused and every now and then we get an hysterical scream from Sylvia van Buren played by Ann Robinson.
She provides the coffee and doughnuts, you know, being a woman and all that.

Are these characters in the movie or watching the movie? It's hard to tell.
It seems that the expert in this story, played by Gene Barry, has read the novel since he knows all the ins and outs of Martian technology. It isn't even questioned if they are indeed Martians or not.

Now I understand that Sci-Fi B-movies from the 1950s are an easy target for the ridicule, but TWOTW actually is genuinely ambitious in some parts, but it's those parts that are unintentionally hilarious.


Besides, the idea that films of that era (not to mention the ones that preceded it) are all excusably bad simply isn't true, and as I said before the technical Sci-Fi effects are (for the most part) watchable enough. Although the use of real war footage is lazy and in poor taste imo.

This film needs to removed from the US National Film Registry a.s.a.p. It's rubbish.

 

[Willie Oleson]

ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976)

​

Even though I don't consider myself a Robin Hood aficionado, I have probably seen more versions than I can remember.
This one from 1976 is sort of a sequel (perhaps with a whiff of fanfic) that mostly deals with the relationship between the titular characters against the backdrop of a story that is similar to the original one. Or at least the one we know from mainstream cinema.
Richard the Lionheart, King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham are all present and doing the things they are known for.
Sir Guy of Gisborne is now Sir Ranulf, played by Kenneth "Man At The Top" Haigh.

But there are some noteable differences. They are older, obviously, but it turns out that King Richard really wasn't such an awesome ruler. In fact he was a brutal conqueror - although I'm not sure if there's ever been an un-brutal conqueror - and when Robin describes those events from a partaker's point of view it almost sounds disproportionately gruesome for a romantic story like this.
Richard Harris makes the most of his short appearance.
Marian, now living as a nun, also reveals some shocking information from her past.

Then there's the always very watchable Robert Shaw as the famous antagonist Sheriff of Nottingham, albeit a more relaxed version thereof.
With a little bit of imagination I could picture him as a closeted admirer of his lifelong nemesis.
Speaking of which, Robin and Marian are not just a sweet old couple, and their story is definitely not devoid of sensuality.
The main characters being 40-going-50 (and this was long before "50 is the new 30") have aged beautifully and Sean Connery looks much better than his tired "Las Vegas" version of James Bond in DIAMONDS.
Apart from showing lots of leg, the eagled-eyed viewer can even spot his bare bum. It's not relevant to the scene, it's just one of those things that often happened in 1970s cinema.

The film has attention for detail and I think it looks gorgeous. Not as glamorously technicolor as the Errol Flynn classic, but more European, robust and sweaty.
There's some humour in it too but not so much that it becomes a full-on romcom. I think it mostly serves to make the characters, and especially this flawed version of Robin Hood, more likeable.
The man versus woman subject which gets most of those humorous parts is also the main dramatic narrative, culminating in a tragic but also very beautiful climax.

I suspect that the relatively low IMDB score of 6.5 is the result of viewers who had expected to watch a standard good vs. evil epic.
I think ROBIN AND MARIAN is a very entertaining romance, perfectly balanced and mature without being pretentious. A gritty ROMAN HOLIDAY for the 1970s.

 

[Angela Channing]

Tár (2022)​

It's wonderful when your great expectations are totally fulfilled by the movie and that's the case with this one. This is how you deal with the current themes of wokeness, cancel culture, social media etc. Is there anyone out there, better than Cate Blanchett? She is the actress of this generation, always brilliant and always choosing the right role. To say she was robbed of an Oscar is and understatement. The whole movie was robbed, by the worst, most overhyped movie ever (Everything,everywhere whatever....).

Do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece.

Completely agree. Cate Blanchett's performance in this film is one of the best I have seen this millennium., if not ever. It is astonishing. She's also in every single scene in this film. I had to watch this film twice within a few weeks of each other so I could fully appreciate how good she was in it.

 

[Angela Channing]

It's not about the acting. It's about producers refusing to cast more Asians, Africans or other ethnical actors except caucasians. Painting a white actor yellow is as bad as painting a white actor black. Then do a silly caricature of the stereotype to add on the insult.

I'm not raging against it like many people are, but I don't like it. I know how annoyed I get when a Swedish production cast an actor who speaks another dialect to play a character from northern Sweden, and said actor tries to speak a northern accent but end up overexaggerating on purpose to make the character sound like a village idiot. Completely off-putting.

Completely agree. Can you imagine the outrage if Sidney Poitier put on white make up to play a caricature of a white man in a film, especially if he used every negative stereotype of white people that he could think of?

 

[Emelee]

Completely agree. Can you imagine the outrage if Sidney Poitier put on white make up to play a caricature of a white man in a film, especially if he used every negative stereotype of white people that he could think of?

Not so sure if I'd be very offended by that. Afterall, whities have a higher status in the world, still. Kicking upwards doesn't feel as bad as kicking downwards.

 

[Angela Channing]

Not so sure if I'd be very offended by that. Afterall, whities have a higher status in the world, still. Kicking upwards doesn't feel as bad as kicking downwards.

I recall the furore when black actor Hallie Bailey was cast as Ariel in the live action version of The Little Mermaid as fans of the cartoon version thought she should be played by a white actor even though both films were set in the Caribbean region. She didn't wear "whiteface" but some people were genuinely angry.

 

[Willie Oleson]

A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)



A story that has some interesting angles to explore but unfortunately they decided to do a fairly standard and sanitized melodrama that plods to its inevitable end.

I think the biggest problem is the weak depiction of the character played by Montgomery Clift, despite the actor's efforts to breathe some life into his role.
On the one hand I get the impression that George Eastman is ambitious in pursuing his Place In The American Sun, but on the other hand he's not trying too hard to get away from his uncle's factory's assembly line.
The story does nothing with his proposal to increase or streamline the assembly process and there's barely any interaction with his snooty cousin Earl.

Naturally it doesn't take much to be impressed by Liz Taylor as glamorous socialite Angela Vickers, but most of the enthusiasm in that "one of the greatest love stories in the history of American cinema" comes from Angela, not George.
I could imagine that a girl like Angela would use him as plaything for the season, amused by his "blue and dramatic" antics. But then they declared their profound love for each other and the viewer just has to go along with it.

The story also falls short in expressing George's darker side when his pregnant former girlfriend from the factory (Shelley Winters) gives a speech about "let's settle for nothing and be happily miserable for the rest of our insignificant little lives".
I mean, who wouldn't want to kill her right there and then? And then he also doesn't do that.
As the proverbial millstone around his neck who was fighting a losing battle it would be much more interesting if she had commited suicide - and there actually was something in Shelley Winters' voice that suggested that her speech about eternal misery was meant to provoke him.

No efforts are made to cover up the incident - witnesses all over the place - and a rushed courtroom trial leads to the expected outcome.
There's very little judgment coming from the Eastmans and the Vickers and the beautiful PEYTON PLACE has taught us that the drama is not in the crime itself but in the perception and judgment thereof.
Not even an "I told you so!" from cousin Earl or George's bitch aunt Sable Louise Eastman.
This lukewarm last act undermines the irony of "guilty by desire", a theme discussed by George and his mother who is totally irrelevant to the story.

All things considered, I think this story would have been more effective if it had been told from Angela Vickers' point of view.
The film is OK for a Sunday afternoon if you're feeling a bit undecided, or something to play in the background. But one of the great classics? Definitely not.

 

[Willie Oleson]

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002)



This is, essentially, a romcom, but the "rom" and the "com" get a very unique and unpredictable make-over in this film by P. T. Anderson.
I've always kinda liked Adam Sandler and he doesn't have to make a lot of effort to make me laugh.
I don't think he's very different in this film but it's the filmmaker's view of it that makes it so wonderfully strange, like a bizarrely edited film with the wrong score in the wrong scenes.
I like all the humorous stuff but it almost never makes me laugh. Oddly enough, that is the strength of the film, not its shortcoming.
Speaking of short, I was surprised to see that it ended so soon. An additional 30 or 40 minutes would have been very welcome.

 

[Willie Oleson]

A PASSAGE TO INDIA (1984)



Or, in willie oleson language, JEWEL IN THE CROWN meets PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK.
The (roughly) first half of the film seduces and intrigues the viewer with the various characters and extraordinary lush scenery, the second part has the mystery followed by the trial followed by the aftermath.
In order to rate this film I feel I need to ask myself how I would experience the two and three quarter hours running time within the constraint of a cinema.
But then again, I also paused the previously watched 90 minutes film for the occasional trip to the kitchen or bathroom so I guess it doesn't matter.
And of course, everything looks and sounds even more impressive on the big cinema screen.

Because I interpreted the "passage" in Passage To India too literally, I was initially a bit disappointed that they didn't show the journey on the ship, and even the journey by train was over before it started.
Once they got there I was glad it happened this way because there are so many more interesting things to show.

I'm a sucker for colonial stories. All that glamour, misguided optimisim and superiority with its perfectly cultivated Ruling Class utopias built on top of extreme poverty, inequality and national turmoil.
Perhaps that idea of a "ticking timebomb" climaxed in the mysterious incident inside the cave. An exaggerated realisation of "not belonging". But it can also be watched as an experience that applies exclusively to the character of Adela Quested - indecisive about her feelings for fiancé magistrate Heaslop combined with a more than casual interest in Dr. Aziz.

As with PICNIC it is not revealed what happened in the cave, and I think that was the only way to make sense of Adela withdrawing the accusation. She lied, but perhaps that was easier than facing the reality of what really happened, imaginary or not.

The acting isn't always on a par with the film's technical brilliance, and especially the part written for the character played by Art Malik is way over-the-top. But that's a minor nuisance considering everything else that has been achieved. The scene with the monkeys in the abandoned temple is genuinely frightening.

One day I'm going to force myself to watch Doctor Zhivago. Not that I've never had the opportunity to do so, but its epic running time has always discouraged me.
I may as well add Lawrence Of Arabia to the list.
To quote Krystle Carrington from Dynasty's third cliffhanger: Oh my god!

 

[Willie Oleson]

FIVE EASY PIECES (1970)



The story of a man (Jack Nicholson, of course) who on the one hand considers himself a failure in the privileged life he was born in, but on the other hand superior to everybody else in the blue-collar life he's living.
I guess it's sort of a destructive kind of narcissism - "if I can't be the best then I'm going to be a nobody". As if that would fix anything.
Not surprisingly, he wants everybody else to feel as miserable as he does.

Karen Black is Rayette, Jack Nicholson's hick-waitress girlfriend, and I think she plays it too affected but since I know she can do better I'm sure there was a reason for it.
There are supporting characters who help to make the bleak story a little bit more colourful, and I really like the tongue in cheek social commentary.
Like the lesbian hitchhiker who thinks that moving to Alaska will help her to escape the filth of consumerism created by "man".
She hates the filth so much she doesn't even want to talk about it, and yet nobody can shut her up.

There's also an ex-sailor who works as the caretaker of Jack Nicholson's film father, Mr. Dupea. I'm probably reading too much into it but I think it's funny that a character who reminds me of Popeye is taking care of a person with "pea" in his name. Dupea. Du Pea. Van Der Pea.
Actually, most of the names are wonderfully weird. Elton, Stoney, Twinky, Partita, Palm Apodaca, Catherine Van Oost. I seriously wonder if it all refers to notes in a certain piano play.

The film ends with some redemption for Bobby Dupea, and the last bad thing he does is probably the best for everyone. It looks like he's moving to a very cold place, could it be Alaska?
I think Five Easy Pieces is sort of a satirical American arthouse film, and there's a lot in it that could have served as a template for Knots Landing.
I like it very much.

 

[Seaviewer]

Mosley (2019)
Animated film about sentient animals being used as beasts of burden.
Begins as a fairly heavy-handed allegory on slavery before veering into a Disneyesque quest adventure and ultimately a quasi-religious salvation story.

 

[Willie Oleson]

ON THE BEACH (1959)



Already knowing that this story was going to be a worst-case scenario, the end of human life, I was a little worried that the drama would be a) too on the nose and b) a massive downer to watch.
I was very surprised to see how enjoyable it was, despite or because the story's overpowering gloom.

But is it really about the Apocalypse?

Ava Gardner: If things were different, if she were alive, I'd do anything. Any mean trick I know to get him.

It sounds like the soap opera that couldn't be because it was cancelled before it began, but they filmed it anyway.
To me, it looks like a human drama that just happens to happen in apocalyptic times. The story could have been about different characters played by the other actors but that's not the case.
This is about them, wonderfully played by Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins, and that's why the film is also its own raison d'être.
How often do you see Ava Gardner offering herself as a make-believe substitute for Gregory Peck's deceased story-wife? It happens here.

The story is a bit vague about the fallout (the novel isn't, apparently) which adds to the kooky soap opera vibe, like the vague goings-on in a faraway country that enable the Ewings and the Carringtons to do whatever the storyline requires, and to hell with the faraway country in question. After all, The Family is the only thing that matters.
To be fair, ON THE BEACH does make a lot of effort to paint the picture, and perhaps it is that bit of vagueness that allows the story to tackle some issues in a broader context, without coming across as a message or warning or accusation.
There is almost something forgiving in the way Fred Astaire describes mankind's never-ending quest for better technology even if that technology is a monster that's going to destroy us.
And I guess it is against our nature to not wanting to learn, to not wanting to do better. If we can create the perfect weapon then it's simply impossible not to do it.
"How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb", or something like that.
There are no aliens coming, we ourselves will become the aliens. But Doctor Who already knew that.

Instead of the histrionics one would expect from a drama like this, the film seems to make a point about our perception of loss.
Most of us are familiar with grief, but in order to lose it you have to have it first. The pain one feels in those periods of grief only informs how good it used to be, and that's something to be very grateful for. The biggest loss in life is to never lose anything.

Every scene matters, there's never a dull of stilted moment in it and the film is not without humour either.
The main reason I watched this film is because I want to see more of Anthony Perkins' earlier films (he's such a natural scene-stealer), and considering the rest of the cast I expected ON THE BEACH to be a good one. It also turned out to be a brilliantly low-key and talkative disaster movie. I think I'll add it to The Collection.

 

[Billy Nolan]

"The Headsman" (2005)

The story of time-tested loyalty of two friends during Europe's 16th-century Inquisition. Orphans Martin and Georg bond as children, but walk very different paths as adults. Georg follows his calling to join the church, while Martin becomes an army captain. When fate places Martin in the role of executioner, he must choose between friendship and fundamentalist doctrine.

 

[James from London]

I've watched two whole films so far this week: Killers of the Flower Moon, which is absolutely stunning, and The Driver's Seat, which is absolutely mental.

 

[Willie Oleson]

ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)



I think I just watched not only Kirk Douglas' best film. not only Billy Wilder's best film. not only the best film-noir but also the best film of the 1950s.
Well, maybe after The Incredible Shrinking Man because that's the best American film ever made. And maybe after Roman Holiday because that was also really very good.
I knew the premise before I started watching the film and I expected some kind of satire in the style of Network - but only better timed, and I'm sure the story is making a point about the tam-tam shenanigans of the press - but what I got instead was an almost nauseatingly dark drama with Kirk Douglas as a tragic villain.

Also interesting to see what a "story goes viral" looked like in those days.
In addition to the ruthless newspaper man we have a crooked sheriff and also a cold-blooded blonde wife who makes the best of a horrific situation. An understated femme fatale, as it were.
The other reporters who don't get the scoop behave like jealous vultures.
Meanwhile, the victim and his old parents suffer in silence while pinning all their hopes on the dastardly reporter.
There are lots of interesting characters in small roles, it's a very vibrant film that perfectly captures the buzz and the consumerism derived from it.

Interestingly, the nicest characters are the people in the audience who are genuinely rooting for the man trapped in the cave, unaware of the theatre that's playing out in front of their very noses.

The Driver's Seat, which is absolutely mental

I must know what that means. The other one is already in my watch list but I'm waiting for the price to come down.

 

[James from London]

ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)

This is from an interview Michelle Phillips did with Art Swift, formerly of this parish, a long long time ago:

MP: (Laughs loudly) One line that I absolutely loved was one that I wrote and it was at my father’s funeral. I was wearing this Thierry Mugler suit, very tight at the waist, very Anne, and Paige says, “Mother, the least you can do is cry” and I said, “I don’t cry, it ruins my makeup.” (Laughs heartily) And I got that from a Kirk Douglas movie called Ace in the Hole. There was a great actress in that whose name I don’t remember who said at one point, “I don’t pray; it runs my stockings.” Do you remember who that was?

AS: (Laughing) I don’t, but I’ll look it up.

MP: I remember I was at dinner sitting next to Kirk Douglas and he had just converted to Judaism and everyone was talking about religion. They were talking about Catholicism and “I was raised a Baptist” and then they asked me what I was. I replied, (in Southern accent) “I don’t pray; it runs my stockings.” And Kirk remembered it! Here is this obscure line and he knew it.

Knots Landing Online - The Michelle Phillips Interview, Part One

I must know what that means.

The trailer gives a good indication of what's in store:

 

[Seaviewer]

, wonderfully played by Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins,

On the Beach was filmed in my hometown of Melbourne. There's a wonderful albeit apocryphal quote attributed to Ava Gardner which is alternately derided and lauded that Melbourne was a good place to make a film about the end of the world.