Print Story Frailty, thy name is woman!
Films
By Dr H0ffm4n (Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 06:56:16 AM EST) (all tags)
It would appear I have not reviewed any movies since August? Right, I'd better do something about that. Instead of doing some work.

Inside: 16 DVD's.



I saw some of these over 4 months ago so synopses rather than reviews.

Hamlet [1948]
Olivier does Shakespeare. Good camera-work for the 40's.

Spirited Away [Disc 1 - Movie] [2003]
Beautiful, imaginative and downright weird. Cartoon that is actually ok for adults.

Return To Oz [1985]
Looks like an 80's Lloyd Webber musical, like Starlight Express. But without the music. Kid's film.

Paris, Texas [1984]
Wim Wenders stretches this out to good effect with Harry Dean Stanton searching for Nastassja Kinski in a bleak Texas.

Yojimbo [VFB 33381] [1961]
Kurosawa's samurai flick plays slower than the western remake. More emoting, but less action. Heresy, I know, but I think A Fistful of Dollars is the better movie. Never seen Last Man Standing.

Monkey Business [1952]
On this Monroe collection, actually a Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers screwball comedy about a scientist who discovers an 'elixir of youth' with consequences a la Jerry Lewis' 1961 remake, The Nutty Professor. Monroe thankfully only plays a minor part as a seductive secretary.

Chinatown [1974]
Jack Nicholson plays a gumshoe in this Polanski directed classic with Faye Dunaway playing the femme fatale. Slow starter, but well worth sticking with.

Orlando [1992]
Tilda Swinton plays the eponymous immortal in this adaptation of the Virginia Woolf's exploration of sexuality and literary convention.

The Truth About Cats And Dogs [1996]
Fairly predictable chick flick version of Cyrano de Bergerac. The moral is that beauty is found on the inside. The 'ugly' chick played by Janeane Garofalo needs to be uglier to really get the point across.

The Big Sleep [1977]
Robert Mitchum plays Raymond Chandler's shamus, Philip Marlowe. But this is not enough to save a classic story completely ruined by Michael Winner's direction. Sara Miles is dreadful too as the femme fatale. See Dick Richard's 1975 Farewell My Lovely to witness how fantastic a Mitchum-as-Marlowe flick can be.

The Long Goodbye [1973]
This time Elliot Gould plays Marlowe, directed by Robert Altman. Set in the funky 70's. Played with absolutely first class cool and dark humour.

Jean De Florette [1986]
Excellent if ponderous story of betrayal in rural 20's France.

Kingdom of Heaven [2005]
Ridley Scott gives the Hollywood treatment to the Crusades. Orlando Bloom single handedly saves the Christians from the Arabs. There are goodies and baddies on both sides and some of the acting (especially on the Arab side) is excellent but apart from that this is a ham-fisted 'epic'.

The Boondock Saints [1999]
Hmm. Vigilantes on a holy mission or a pair of hoodlums that enjoy a murder spree? Sympathy is played towards the former but the film seems deliberately designed to foster debate. Worthwhile anyway.

Manon Des Sources [Jean De Florette Part 2] [1986]
This film is really necessary to complete Jean de Florette. Like the kill Bill films, these were made as a pair and make more sense when viewed as such, although both stand up in their own right. MDS unfolds slowly too but uncomfortable closure is gained at the end.

Spaced: Series 1 [VFC18749]
TV series where flatmates Simon Pegg and  Jessica Stevenson of Shaun of the Dead do daft stuff. Much slower and less funny than SotD. But good that TV like this can be made.

< It's about time I did one of these | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >
Frailty, thy name is woman! | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
old movies by martingale (2.00 / 0) #1 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 07:01:43 AM EST
Since you seem to be into older stuff ;-) you might like Don Camillo, that other diary reminded me of it.
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$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$


Looks hard to come by by Dr H0ffm4n (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 07:55:47 AM EST


[ Parent ]

Spaced by Evil Cloaked User (2.00 / 0) #3 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 08:08:13 AM EST
Why is the ad in the side bar telling me that Spaced Series 1 costs £0.00?


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Still, I think most of the problem is just a mental hurdle to overcome, - Cloaked User


I really should check for that. by hulver (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 08:27:00 AM EST
But I don't.

Amazon say that it's £0.00 when it's not available, apparently.
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smart, pretty, sane. pick two - georgeha
[ Parent ]

16 DVD's *what*? by Rogerborg (2.00 / 0) #5 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 10:38:31 AM EST
Janeane Garofalo was way hotter than Uma Thurman in TTAC&D.  I'd totally nail her, if I could get her to shut her yammering liberal I-hate-everything gob for ten seconds.

Not that I'm saying it would take ten seconds, mind.  I'd skip the foreplay.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.


KILL THIS MEME NOW by ammoniacal (4.00 / 1) #7 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 12:56:29 AM EST
Tell me you're trolling G with this one.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

What can I say? by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #8 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 04:00:40 AM EST
You can take the self hatred out of the Calvinist, but you can't ta- no, wait, you can't take the self hatred out of the Calvinist.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.
[ Parent ]

DVDs by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu Jan 05, 2006 at 11:39:22 AM EST
Hamlet: Saw it. Loved it.
Sprited Away: Added
Yojimbo: In queue
Orlando: Saw it. Don't remember it.

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UPDATE bodies SET status = 'DEAD'


Long Goodbye is probably my favourite by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 1) #11 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 07:29:02 AM EST
From those I list above.

Orlando has Tilda Swinton starting as a bloke in Elizabethan England, and living through the next four centuries. At one point he wakes up to find he's changed into a woman. Has that English period costume drama feel.

[ Parent ]

Return to Oz by Gully Foyle (2.00 / 0) #9 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 05:50:43 AM EST
Good movie. Successfully scared the shit out of any small child unfortunate enough to see Princess Mombi stealing heads. There were some very pissed off parents storming out of cinemas with screaming toddlers expecting munchkins.



I didn't rate it myself by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 1) #10 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 07:19:55 AM EST
It has aged badly.

[ Parent ]

Fair enough by Gully Foyle (2.00 / 0) #12 Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 09:15:31 AM EST
I was about 7 when I saw it the first time.

[ Parent ]

Frailty, thy name is woman! | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback