Month: August 2022

Posted on 2022-08-17 | No Comments |

The French Way (1945)

Parisian neighbors Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal have fallen in love but their parents’ long standing feud sits in the way of their long-term bliss. Enter cabaret star Josephine Baker and World War II with its necessary bomb shelter drills to bring the families together. A short and fluffy Romeo and Juliet tale, I really checked it out to see Baker in one of her film roles. She really lights up a screen, making everyone else, who are more than competent in their roles, dull in comparison.

Posted on 2022-08-17 | No Comments |

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

A decade after British glam rocker Jonathan Rhys Meyers withdrew from the spotlight, journalist Christian Bale accepts an assignment to write about the singer’s career and disappearance. Offering some gorgeous visuals, the non-linear, meandering story did little to hold my attention. Beyond the music and costumes that give an authentic 1970s glam rock feel, the most interesting parts involved the interactions of the three leads, which includes Ewan McGregor as an American musician, as their lives intertwine directly and indirectly over the years.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

Posted on 2022-08-17 | No Comments |

Pitfall (1948)

Bored and frustrated insurance investigator Dick Powell is tasked with recovering gifts given to Lizabeth Scott, the girlfriend of an embezzler serving time in jail. Discovering an attraction to Scott that brightens up his conventional life, he must contend with private investigator Raymond Burr who also has eyes for her. A fairly dull story with the actors mostly going through the motions with their performances, it gives a decent exploration of the middle class monotony in the post World War II years. The ending does not speak well of the treatment of the crimes depending on gender.

Posted on 2022-08-16 | No Comments |

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Impoverished painter Joseph Cotten struggles to find heartfelt inspiration for his work until meeting young Jennifer Jones in Central Park. He’s fascinated by the mysterious girl who seems to come from another era and ages years in the short periods between their meetings. I hadn’t gone into this with too much expectation, but was delighted by the simple, time-bending love story. The romantic hints early in the relationship are somewhat off-putting but they at least remain chaste until the age difference is no longer pronounced. There’s a beauty in the artistic inspiration that the mysteries of Jennie provide for Cotten the artist.

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Posted on 2022-08-16 | No Comments |

The Resident (2011)

Seeking a divorce from her philandering husband Lee Pace, doctor Hilary Swank struggles to find a new place until she falls upon the perfect apartment. At least it was the perfect apartment until she discovers her find was orchestrated by creepy stalker Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I assume this is supposed to be a scary premise, but it doesn’t deliver in any regard. It does offer plenty of disturbing actions committed by Morgan which he carries off with aplomb. I sincerely hope that Swank’s character is more competent toward her patients, because every action she makes on screen is one of stupidity and listlessness. Pace is criminally underused as is Christopher Lee in what is sadly his last performance for a role that existed for no reason apparent to the plot.

Posted on 2022-08-16 | No Comments |

Wind River (2017)

Inexperienced FBI agent Elizabeth Olsen is called in to investigate the death of a Native American woman on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation. When the cause of death is not ruled a homicide, she entreaties local Fish and Wildlife Agent Jeremy Renner to help with the investigation. I don’t know how many people are still unaware of the endemic violence surrounding Native women both in North America, but it’s remains a crisis that is still underexplored. This movie at least gives voice to that plight even if that voice is shrouded in the experiences of white outsiders. I enjoy all I’ve seen from Olsen and her performance works as an out of her depths experience, but it bewilders me that her partner in the endeavor is another white person who is on the margins of the community. It unfortunately dilutes some of the message an otherwise impressive film has to offer.

Posted on 2022-08-16 | No Comments |

Let It Be (1970)

It is not surprising that after watching Get Back I finally get around to watching this concert film which was the original result from all that footage. A commercial release of this unfortunately hasn’t existed since the 1980s so it’s unfair to compare the two on technical merits as the copy I was able to procure was so much darker and less clear than the recent miniseries. Regardless, it’s sad to think that for the longest time with all that footage available all that was available to the public was this hour and a half shoddily edited movie. There is little context given to anything that comes before the concert on the roof. The concert on the roof is the strongest piece of this film, but I’m still not sure which of the two renditions I prefer. This is more focused on showing the performance while the miniseries again gives context with the setup, more views and reactions of the audience, and even more footage of the police action. Regardless, they both end on such a melancholic note to know that’s more or less the end.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song Score

Posted on 2022-08-16 | No Comments |

Knights of the Round Table (1953)

In this telling of the legend of King Arthur, Mel Ferrer stars as Arthur while Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner fill in the roles of Lancelot and Guinevere respectively. As mentioned when reviewing Camelot, I don’t have any affinity for Arthurian tales. This film follows essentially the same points in the story as the previous film, but there are no songs and the performances aren’t as entertaining. I’d actually watched this a month or so ago, but thought I had missed too much and should check it out again. Turns out I was wrong, I hadn’t missed much of anything. The film does at least have colorful costumes and sets which are overserved by the beauty of Cinemascope.

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Sound, Recording

Posted on 2022-08-15 | No Comments |

The Perils of Pauline (1914)

After watching the biographical film about Pearl White, I was curious in exploring the series that made her famous. What I managed to find was an hour long film combining the first chapter in the series where Pauline first embarks on her adventurous lifestyle with boyfriend and nefarious guardian in tow and the last where Pauline is rescued by her brave puppy and decides to finally settle down. While I can see how they certainly offered an exciting series for early movie viewers to get behind, the parts I saw unfortunately did not have nearly enough examples of Pauline showing off her spunky spirit and Pearl’s impressive stunt work. Included on the DVD was a short called Katchem Kate about a young woman who decides to become a detective. Kate, like Pauline, is a plucky heroine which makes me wonder if roles for women might have been better in very early films compared to many of the decades that followed.

Posted on 2022-08-15 | No Comments |

La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

Upon meeting painter David Bursztein and his girlfriend Emmanuelle Béart, blocked fellow artist Michel Piccoli finds his creative spark renewed with a desire to use Béart as the model for a painting he was unable to finish long ago. A thorough reflection on the artistic process, it is four hours long and tedious. Full minutes go by where the only sound that is heard are scratches made on a sketch pad. In the end both the artist and his subject are broken and reborn in ways, but every grueling moment of that is felt by the viewer.