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spenycjo
Reviews
A Month by the Lake (1995)
Tedium squared
Honestly, what a disappointment. Every. Single. Sentence. Spoken. Like. This. S-l-o-w-l-y. It made me just about jump out of my skin (and I can watch a four-hour silent movie without losing interest for a minute).
I haven't written a review here in ages, but this movie needs a warning label.
I've seen all three of the stars give fabulous performances so it must have been the director. Here, Redgrave's performance is so weird I couldn't figure out what she thought she was doing. Fox and Thurman could not have known what they were entrusting to the film stock-- performances in an acting style from the distant past...only slower.
And the story is so clichéd - out-of-date clichés, not even current ones! - that it was painful to watch. There *can't* be any spoilers, the only element of surprise being that you can't believe the filmmakers would actually dare do anything so obvious.
Watch "Enchanted April" for what this might have been.
Coco Chanel (2008)
Moi, moi, moi, moi, moi!
Apparently Coco Chanel was an unbridled egotist who gave no credit where credit was due and whose sympathy was reserved for herself.
Since this was a production of Lifetime, a network not known for its steely-eyed looks at real life, I must assume that was not the impression viewers were meant to carry away with them. Presumably, had there been more sympathetic moments to be portrayed, they would have been included.
On the other hand, this production passed over some rather interesting material, such as her cohabitation with a Nazi while Paris was occupied during WWII. I guess there was no way to give *that* the Lifetime treatment.
There are other interesting myth-busters in the NY Times review (link under the external reviews)...but I had watched and disliked this movie before I read it. I found the woman who played the young Chanel rather bland, and not even Shirley MacLaine's performance was any fun. Watching Chanel bully her employees and ignore their loyalty isn't my idea of entertainment.
The Last Legion (2007)
worth watching for several reasons and one performance
This movie may not be perfect, but it's fun if only because it touches so many cinematic bases: sword-and-sandal, mysterious Eastern ways, soldier buddies, heroic trek (and at least one "surprise" that might count as a spoiler if described, here but you'd have to have seen very few movies not to see it coming from miles away).
What makes the movie extraordinary, however, is its most remarkable performance, that of Thomas Sangster, who displays intelligence and an astonishing gravitas as the child ruler of the Roman Empire. There he is, up against Sir Ben Kingsley and Colin "Darcy" Firth, and in my humble opinion quietly blasts them off the screen...while playing a 12-year-old! (He was actually 17 during filming.) Though of a different ilk, it's as mesmerizing a performance as Haley Joel Osment's in "The Sixth Sense."
I'll watch anything he's in.
Blind Dating (2006)
A wonderful movie made by people who know what they're doing
This movie is a humorous, moving little jewel. There's not a sentimental or maudlin moment in it, the cast is terrific, the performances and direction nuanced...and the script is *archetypal*, not "clichéd". It's a hero's journey in miniature. With jokes!
What it is not is a pandering teen flick, any more than Chris Pine is a teen idol.
I'm agog at some of the reviews here. I rented this movie because Chris Pine is so fabulous as Kirk that I wanted to see him in other performances.
I saw some very subtle echoes of Wm Shatner in Pine's Star Trek performance that apparently others didn't, so I wanted to see him in other roles to gauge what he was doing on purpose and what might simply be aspects of himself that coincidentally resembled Shatner.
Well, the man's an actor; there's no Kirk in this movie. I am so delighted and cannot wait to see the next Star Trek flick, and anything else Chris Pine does.
Something the Lord Made (2004)
Beware of spoilers in these reviews! (this is not a spoiler)
Because this is a biopic, I suppose saying how it ends might not be considered a spoiler, but unless you like knowing where a story is going to end up I would advise you to just look at the ratings (tens!), see it, and THEN read these comments. I loved this movie, and part of it was the nearly unbearable suspense about how things would turn out for one of the main characters.
I rented this movie because Alan Rickman was in it, and for all I knew it was going to be a turkey. It sounded as if it could be a disease-of-the-week flick (that title!), but with Rickman in it, I knew there would always be something interesting to watch. That held true, AND, Mos Def, of whom I had never heard (he was a rapper, I learned here), delivers an amazing performance. The production is extremely faithful to the times and the facts, and all in all it's a superior piece of film-making.
The Lady's Not for Burning (1974)
Perfect production of a perfect play, & Found on DVD
My 2006 review is below, but for the small band of us crying out for this to be on DVD, I found it! Only I can't include the info here--it's against IMDb rules--so Google the title + Chamberlain and look among the results. Yippee!
The review:
This broadcast positively transported me when I saw it on PBS, and I would buy it in a minute if someone had the good sense to issue it on DVD.
There's a version starring Kenneth Branaugh (much of whose work I love) that's very watchable, but it doesn't reach the heights this one does.
If you've never seen or read anything by Chrisopher Fry, as I hadn't, you'll be astonished that it was written for 20th century audiences. It's a serious look at life disguised as a romantic comedy set in medieval England. The cast is uniformly excellent, and Chamberlain and Atkins are magical. (After playing Dr Kildare on American television for several seasons, Chamberlain went to Britain to study and work; he ended up playing Hamlet in a major production. This performance shows what he can do when allowed to.)
They say life's a comedy to those who think..."The Lady's Not for Burning" is a comedy *for* those who think.