london777 Reviews

Road Movie (1973)

Not a road movie - classic Film Noir

[8/10 · 15 October 2016]

This is a great little movie and, judging by the lack of comment and sparse reviews here, unjustly neglected.

Apart from the three leads, the main protagonist here is America, the real USA where most people live and work and not the munchkin-land depicted in most Hollywood movies. And what a desolate wasteland it is! So that's where all the Trump supporters come from.

One good aspect of this film is that it does not outstay its welcome. Despite many long sequences of trucks barreling along, and extended views of the landscape from the cab windows, which do not advance the plot at all, the film is done at 88 mins.

One reviewer here criticizes the "unnecessarily" melodramatic ending, which abruptly slams on the handbrake. Perhaps he is right, but having recently watched a string of (mostly French) films with open or ambiguous endings, I am not in the mood to complain.

Although the two male leads are good, the star of the film is Regina Baff as Janice. She is the spiritual successor to Vera, played by Ann Savage, in "Detour" (1945), a similar and even briefer low budget effort now rightly lauded as quintessential Film Noir. She even looks like her, and I am sure Baff must have modeled her performance on that of Savage - cunning, psychotic malice but with streaks of vulnerability.

I bought the DVD hoping to add another gem to my collection of "road movies". In fact, despite more of the action occurring in a moving vehicle that most any film I can recollect, it does not really fall into that genre, in which the journey is a metaphor for spiritual development of the protagonist.

This is pure Film Noir, in which the hero is trapped in a downward spiral by a combination of bad luck and poor choices, the worst of which is usually, as here, getting involved with a Femme Fatale. No hope of spiritual development here, although there are hints that Hank is beginning to see (though too late) what his partner Gil is really like.

In "The Sweet Smell of Success" (1957), Burt Lancaster's character says of Tony Curtis's character "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic." You could not better describe Vera in "Detour", or Janice in this one.

The final shot is ominous, like something from the B-movie SciFi cheapies of the 'fifties. Having wreaked destruction on the truckers, Janice hitches a ride in a private vehicle. It is just like a virus leaving the host it has destroyed to continue its lethal infection within a new one. Which brings us back neatly to "Detour" where the protagonist's downfall is sealed once he picks up the venomous Vera.

Oliver Twist (1985)

Worthy but dull

[6/10 · 14 May 2016]

This version keeps a lot more of the novel than most, but most of this material lacking in other versions covers the Maylie sub-plot, which is mawkish and conventional Victoriana.

Many reviewers have commented that the series does not stint on the squalor of Hanoverian London (the action takes place in pre-Victorian times). I actually disagree and feel that it sanitizes things. Reviewers write of the "cramped" rooms when I thought they were were more spacious than many a million pound flat in today's London.

The direction, camera-work and score were plodding TV quality only, and the actors in some parts unsubtle. Bill Sykes looked the part, and for once you could see why Nancy might have been attracted to him, but his acting skills were one-dimensional. I liked Eric Porter's Fagin. It was based on the Guinness version, but without the anti-semitic element which is embarrassing in the earlier movie.

Too many of the children's roles suggested middle-class kids from drama school.

I give the makers credit for faithfulness and not attempting smart-ass interpolations or anachronistic social comment, and maybe enjoyment would be enhanced by watching in the original 12 half-hour episodes, but viewing it purely as a "movie" it is fairly dull, especially compared to David Lean's masterpiece. Sharper editing would help to speed things along.

They Made Me a Criminal (1939)

awful: for film buffs only

[3/10 · 25 April 2016]

These B movies rolled off a production line and no time was wasted. The dialog is moronic and I imagine few scenes had the benefit of second takes. Most of the supporting actors were wooden. Maybe they were leftovers from silent movies.

It is a remake of "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" from only six years earlier and (for Hays Code reasons) they changed the story so that the hero was not the killer, but (at least initially) is persuaded that he was. This is a classic film noir opening and I settled down to watch a minor opus in my favorite genre.

But once the action moves to Arizona, film noir is forgotten and the film becomes hokey rural and sentimental comedy. It is as though halves of two different movies have been spliced together.

Garfield is right for the part but is still learning his trade here. Claude Rains is hopelessly miscast and it is painful to watch this suave and authoritative actor in his small part as a washed up detective who is the departmental butt monkey. The only "modern" actors here are Ward Bond, Louis Jean Heydt, and Ann Sheridan, all in cameo parts. Sheridan shaped up as the female lead but disappears from the movie halfway through the first act and the actual female lead has the charisma of a suet pudding. The Dead End Kids were more embarrassing than usual with Leo Gorcey playing a muted role.

Just before the end, detective Rains offers a clue that our hero is innocent. I thought that some clever detective work would ensue, but they obviously needed the set for the next movie as things are brought to a swift close instead

What another reviewer here perceptively notes as a psychologically believable change of heart by Rains, which could have been a big deal in a serious film noir, is handled so abruptly as to be absurd.

Exposed (III) (2016)

So bad that it is ... intriguing

[4/10 · 20 February 2016]

Knifings, shootings, rape, incest, homosexual violations, drug- dealing, paedophilia, child kidnapping, superstition, police corruption, just a day in the life of a typical Dominican family.

Throw in Keanu Reeves, who has the acting ability of an Easter Island statue (though he looks somewhat older), let him pursue a totally other plot as if two movies from different genres had been spliced together, with a cameo from Mira Sorvino (who, unlike her co-star, the passing years have treated well), and you have this train-wreck. What on earth were Lionsgate thinking?

Yet it was strangely watchable, more so than many a competently made cookie-cutter movie. I think there is enough evidence among the shards to suggest the movie as originally conceived, before Lionsgate butchered it, would have been something fresh. I would be interested to watch the "Director's Cut" of "Hija de Dios" but I doubt I will ever get the chance.

Let us hope Gee Malik Linton gets another chance and "Declan Dale" leaves the profession in shame.

Silver City (2004)

My God, it's full of stars!

[7/10 · 19 February 2016]

Danny Huston plays the central character, Richard Dreyfuss and Chris Cooper have substantial roles, but then we have Maria Bello, Tim Roth, Thora Birch, Kris Kristofferson, Miguel Ferrer, Billy Zane, Ralph Waite and Darryl Hannah in minor supporting roles. I suppose they all respect John Sayles as a director and support his environmental viewpoint. It all works as top-class ensemble playing.

The let down is Huston. I ought to like him. He articulates well and never chews the scenery but is somehow too bland for a leading role. I think the evidence is that I had seen him in several movies before I noted his name, or became aware he was a member of the famous family.

He was the weak link in "The Proposition", an otherwise very good film, in which he was supposed to be an intimidating, almost mythic figure like Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now". In "Fade to Black" he played Orson Welles so uninterestingly as to torpedo the movie.

A less demanding role here, and I see the point that he is supposed to be a well-meaning and naive loser, but he seems too shallow as well, and that is never interesting. It takes a Sean Penn or a Robert Deniro to make a loser into compelling viewing, and harder still when outshone by top-drawer actors in supporting roles as here.

This was my first Sayles film. I will next watch "Matawan", which most people think his best. While I totally identify with his ideology, and think that the subsequent years, and especially the race for GOP and Dem presidential nominations for 2016 (currently in progress as I write), show that the delineation of political corruption and buffoonery in the USA is not at all exaggerated, I do think his propaganda would be more effective if a little more subtle.

Or is the US electorate so naive and ignorant that you have etch your message on an anvil and drop it on their heads to get your point across? To take just one example, the final scene. A few dead fish would have sufficed. The final frames were almost comic. And the rendering of "America the Beautiful" was just an embarrassment. Compare the end of "In the Valley of Elah", also by a notoriously "preachy" director. Haggis delivers the same message of "The USA is in trouble" far more effectively.

Morvern Callar (2002)

Squalid, pointless, and totally unrealistic

[27 December 2015]

This is a mystery movie. Morvern Callar's boyfriend has just committed suicide at the start of the film. No reason is initially given as to why a handsome and talented young writer should do this, and the remainder of the movie is dedicated to explaining why he has done so, using the "show, not tell" method.

After the first hour in Morvern's company, I was already losing the will to live. I perked up a bit when there was the hope that she might be gored to death during the running of the bulls, but this came to nothing. If I felt that way after an hour or so, no wonder her boyfriend topped himself. He had to put up with the retarded sociopath 24/7.

Morton is a competent actress, but she has appeared in some real dross. This one takes the cake.

To be fair, the musical soundtrack is not at the same level of competence as the rest of the film. It is worse.

War Pigs (2015)

Awful, though Goss took it seriously

[13 August 2015]

An hour of "training for the mission" consisting of lame buddy banter, then some action about as menacing as paint-balling, and a mercifully abrupt ending.

Photography and sound-track were acceptable. I could actually see and hear what was going on, unlike so many "straight-to-DVD" cheapies. And no pretentious gimmicks like flashbacks or twists, nothing "arty" at all. But the script and plot were like something a thirteen-year-old could come up with.

Normally in these "group of misfits thrown together" movies, whether war or disaster efforts, you get the same bunch of stereotypes, the Jew, the Black, the coward, the racist bully, the traitor, the alcoholic, the naive farm-boy, etc. This film was so half-hearted that none of the group even got depicted at that superficial level, remaining totally anonymous.

Honourable mention for Luke Goss, who gave a passable Clint Eastwood imitation. Should be considered if they ever make a Clint biopic.

The Girl Is in Trouble (2015)

Looked like a student exercise - I see here that it was

[4/10 · 24 May 2015]

The other night I caught up with "Cadillac Records". I was impressed with Columbus Short, a new name to me, and I decided to look out for his subsequent movies. After watching this mess I will stop looking.

Alicja Bachleda made her movie debut at 16 in a masterpiece. Sad she has sunk to this.

Mike Starr, who has appeared in an enormous number of movies as a heavy, either played straight or for humor, does his usual reliable job here.

I love Film Noir, and there is a good story hiding somewhere within all the confusion. Mr Onah should have handed over the direction to someone with a clue. They are not shy about promoting Spike Lee's name as one of the 17 (!) producers, executive producers and assistant producers. You would think that Lee or one of his colleagues would have had the common-sense to steer the director away from some of his more egregious errors, such as:

--- The incessant narration, on topics related and unrelated to the story in progress.

--- Awful camera-work, replete with shakes and glare.

--- The pointless flashbacks (a common feature of such low-budget would-be neo-noirs).

--- The horrible soundtrack, which made it almost impossible to follow the plot. So often these days the music (if that is what it is meant to be) drowns out the dialogue, made worse when, as here, many of the cast seem to suffer speech impediments.

I was discussing with a friend only today why so many Brit actors are now popping up in US movies, even in supporting roles as "All-American" characters. My friend thought it was because they were cheaper, but I think the main reason is because they can articulate. Method acting is great when used by a Newman or a Steiger, but downright confusing when attempted by knuckle-dragging illiterates who think it is a way to by- pass real training as actors.

I give it 4 for the sense of location and the promise in the plot. Not the lead actors' fault, they did their best. I don't suppose anyone involved will go near Onah as a director again. Maybe he can make a career as a screen-writer.

It looked like something made by a student. I see here that it was. I think a good rule-of-thumb for novice directors is to keep it simple, then add special effects and gimmicks as their skills increase with experience.

Badge of Honor (2015)

Worth watching (once only)

[19 May 2015]

I am British, so rarely watch US TV crime series. Maybe for that reason there were some angles in this "dirty cop" drama which were new to me, and kept me watching to the end.

But they were not developed as they could have been, and the screenplay was to blame. The direction, too, is mediocre with the same tired style of flashbacks to patch holes in the exposition that we see in so many direct-to-DVD movies.

I think the intended ironic statement about "truth" and "honor" is indeed there, but gets muffled in the obligatory Hollywood ending.

The heroine and the "redeemed" cop were too lightweight, while Martin Sheen popping up in a supporting role, and still-beautiful Natasha Hensbridge in a dispensable one, only served to undermine the intended grittiness and remind us we are watching a Hollywood movie.

I am posting because I think this movie deserves better than the current 4.7 score. I give it 6, and most of that is for the storyline rather than the way it is realised on screen.

K-9 Adventures: Legend of the Lost Gold (2014)

Inoffensive movie for youngsters

[2 May 2015]

My six-year-old liked it, but I suspect children over eight will find it rather slow and tame compared with stuff like "Home Alone" (which I find rather offensive).

Nothing to offend prudish parents here, no violence, bad language or supernatural events. Competent direction and camera-work so it did not look desperately low budget, though there were several sequences of kids walking or bicycling, or of moving cars or trains, which padded out the length to 90 mins without adding content.

The young female lead was fresh and uncloying, but her cohorts were the usual stereotypes (fat boy, boffin, racial minority, etc).

Lame plot, and maybe I dozed off and missed something, but the solution of the "mystery" seemed rather fortuitous.

I give it 5 for children from 6 to 8, or for "old-fashioned" children a little older.

Roa (2013)

Fresh, but no great depth

[7/10 · 16 November 2013]

Some might find parallels with the Kennedy assassination as the actual perpetrators of the important historical event which climaxes this film are still disputed. There are many possible culprits and this film gives just one possible scenario. It does not go into politics but is a sombre psychological portrait, though with many touches of dry humour.

Excellent photography and recreation of Bogota in the 1940s. The acting styles are also redolent of that period. I am not sure if that was intentional, but it works well.

One slight puzzle. Although by the time of the events shown Roa is an obvious loser, there are many suggestions that he has (or at one time had) the ability to charm people. He has a beautiful and kindly young wife and other loyal and long-suffering friends. but only the weak, naïve, delusional and surly aspects of his character are ever shown (apart from his love for his daughter).

Stand Off (2011)

Unfairly rated here

[6/10 · 5 April 2013]

I tend to mark more grudgingly than the IMDb average. Personally I would rate this film no higher than a 6, but it is as good as many 7s on IMDb so I was moved to write my first ever review here and give it 7.

It is a black comedy, but more comic than black. The tone lies somewhere between "Lock Stock" and the old Ealing comedies.

Lots of different characters and comic themes are introduced but not made the most of. I guess the problem was lack of time rather than lack of budget, a large slice of which presumably went on Brendan Fraser's salary. I suppose the sad reality is that every movie needs at least one name well known to US audiences to get funded but he is certainly not needed in this film.

****SPOILER***

In fact the whole back-story of his US mafia links was an unwanted intrusion.

****END OF SPOILER***

Terry George has a solid reputation as a writer (two Oscar nominations) and as a Director (he won an Oscar for best short "The Shore" and directed "Hotel Rwanda"). His talent is obvious here, but it all seems to need a rework and final polish. Some themes needed to be either further developed or excised (Fraser's new girlfriend, Meaney's son, the SAS, etc). As things stand, they are just distractions.

Those who struggle with the Irish accents might appreciate subtitles, as the score sometimes intrudes, blurring the dialogue. The latter alternates between dryly humorous and banal, as if George had let someone else complete the screenplay.

Well worth a watch, but narrowly misses being a much better film.

Domestic Disturbance (2001)

Where did all the money go?

[5/10 · 5 April 2013]

For me, this was a trite movie with boring performances from Vaughn, Polo and the boy actor, and predictable dialogue and plot. Though it was professionally competent (no shaking sets or major continuity errors), I would like to know where US$53 million went. Why on earth do you need US$53 million for a "suburban domestic" drama with a small cast and no special effects? Such cookie-cutter tales and "phoned in" acting were typical of the old black-and-white B-movies of the '40s and '50s made for maybe US$2 million (allowing for inflation).

Hollywood needs to get a grip. Many a far superior film is made outside the US (and a even a few inside the US) for a tenth of that budget.

For half hour this was quite watchable. Then Steve Buscemi left us and the movie went into a coma. I award an extra point for his short contribution, otherwise a 4.