Hard Eight (Sydney) - The first film from Paul Thomas Anderson, before he did Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love.

Featuring outstanding direction, a script that ranges from quite good to mediocre, strong supporting performances from Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L Jackson, an unconvincing performance from John C Reilly, and an absolute knockout turn by Phillip Baker Hall.

It may not be as polished or as sprawling as his later work but Hall's acting and excellent direction make it quite a worthwhile watch.

7/10 

This is a movie I've wanted to see for a long time and have just kept forgetting about it. Thanks for reminding me :) 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Incoherently scripted, dull, probably the worst of the lot. I cant say I'm a huge fan of the movies, the first one was decent and the only other one that was worth a watch was the third because of its style (its script was another story).

This is a step backwards in the style department and the scripting is as poor as the last two films (the first had a marginally better script than the rest). As for the spectacle, barring one or two sequences, I thought it was fairly pedestrian. Some of the special effects were actually quite poor.

4.5/10


Being There - 1979 film by Hal Ashby about a man who has gardened all his life and never left the house of "the old man". When the old man dies, he is forced to leave the house by the attroneys.

The overall plot is fairly preposterous and would usually result in the kind of film that milks cheap laughs. However, although the script is failry contrived in parts, this is a far superior effort with moments of brilliantly understated humour and seriousness at the same time. Overall, it's definitely more a drama film rather than a comedy, but the tone is somewhere in between.

What really lifts it is an amazing turn by Peter Sellers. Sellers never once resorts to any slapstick or big mannerisms or raising his voice to deliver a line. Its a remarkably restrained performance that fits the character like a glove and produces some excrutiatingly funny moments every now and then.

In the end though, it's a bit too long and the contrived scripting mentioned before does drag it down a little bit.

7.5/10 

The Narrow Margin (1952) - fairly good film noir with some nice dialogue and atmosphere as usual. Some plot holes and unlikely character actions stop it from being great but a quality film nevertheless.

7.5/10


Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring - Korean film about the cycle of rebirth and its excellently shot throughout. The first 20 min is brilliantly executed but the rest varies from mediocre to good as it turns into a "coming of age" story, albeit one with buddhist allegories and symbolism.

7/10


Read My Lips - 2002 French drama-thriller about an ex con and a woman who is deaf, and their dangerous relationship. Its very well written, when a script can bring out a character's past without having to resort to exposition or a flashback, it has to be good.

Of course, it's helped by some fantastic acting. Vincent Cassel puts is a brooding, restrained performance (once again demonstrating that when he actually puts his mind to it, he can actually act) and Emanuelle Devos is brilliant with her character's every nuance and action. Deservedly won the Best actress at the french equivalent of the Oscars.

If anything, the last 20 min comes across as a bit rushed and there's one unnecessary subplot, but this is not enough to really distract from an otherwise quality movie.

7.5/10


Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - one of the best courtroom dramas I've seen, not because the plot is complex or because the legalities are debated properly but because the characters are so well defined and because it's not interested in the specific details of the trial, but rather lets the viewer be as much of a judge of what happened as the jury.

It does unrealistically overplay the theatrics in some scenes (which is a given in any courtroom drama really), but I think some of that was needed due to the length (160 min or so).

James Stewart is very very good and George C scott is great once again.

8/10


Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - one of the best courtroom dramas I've seen, not because the plot is complex or because the legalities are debated properly but because the characters are so well defined and because it's not interested in the specific details of the trial, but rather lets the viewer be as much of a judge of what happened as the jury.

It does unrealistically overplay the theatrics in some scenes (which is a given in any courtroom drama really), but I think some of that was needed due to the length (160 min or so).

James Stewart is very very good and George C scott is great once again.

8/10


Sabrina (1954) - its not bad, but it's a far cry from Billy Wilder's best work. To me, he's at his best when he dealt with acerbic, dark/black material.

This was a fairly straightforward formula romance fantasy, with the occasional good line for Bogart to chew on. I dont know, I guess if you can buy the fantasy aspect of it, you might like it better.

5.5/10 

A Love Song for Bobby Long - falters a bit in its last quarter, where it plays out very much as a self conscious indie film, but till then it's quite good. The characters are interesting and scarlett johansson puts in another strong performance. But, it's John Travolta as the cynical and bitter Bobby Long, that steals every scene.

7/10 

Anatomy of a Murder is so good you had to mention it twice? :D 

I still obviously havent worked out how to cut and paste :) 

This was on TV the other day. Talk about weird. It also might have been "modern" and "scifi" during it's day but it's outdated more than anything I've seen (even Batman the movie). All the props are horrible plastic and bright colors. I bet the whole camp style must be done on purpose. Poor Jane Fonda is humiliated somewhat in the lead role.

I recommend as a curiosity but I couldn't bother watching it focused all through. 

for Eternal sunshine of the spotloess mind that I hadn't seen until today and Mindgame that I saw last night! 

Dead Man - 1996 movie by Jim Jarmusch with Johnny Depp and a number of cameos. Depp plays William Blake, an accountant who moves to a far west town for a new job, gets involved in trouble, and goes on the run with a mixed indian who thinks he's a reincarnation of the poet William Blake.

It's overly long, 20 to 30 min too long, weird for the sake of being weird, employs an irritating fade out technique, but it also has a mood that fascinated me. The improvised score by Neil Young is also intriguing, but the way its used gets annoying after a while.

6/10, most of it for the mood/atmosphere and for some quite funny black humour.


Alice doesnt live here anymore - early Scorsese film which has dated a fair bit, but the acting and directing remain strong. The characterisations are interesting and the script is nicely written.

7/10


Almost Famous - it was better this second viewing, but I still dont really understand what all the fuss was about. Sure, it has a very good soundtrack and Kate Hudson, Jason Lee and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are perfect in their roles, but the script has a number of flow and pacing issues. Also, the whole thing has an air of self conscious preciousness about it, that tends to dominate. An above average movie, but I realise I'm in the minority with that opinion.

6.5/10


Nightmare Alley (1947) - first rate film noir, with the usually wooden Tyrone Power in a terrificly performed role, he really is quite good here.

The atmosphere is as dark and murky as you want a noir to be and the story is very interesting and moves along at a nice clip.

7.5/10


The Ice Harvest - Quite a decent little quirky, black comedy thriller with john cusack, billy bob thronton and connie nielsen. Nothing too fancy, but it moves briskly through it's 80 min runtime and is fairly entertaining. The last 15 min or so are in the wrong tone compared to the rest of the film. Dont know if changing the tone in that period would have made a huge difference, but the change in tone was certainy jarring.

Oliver platt's cameo is hilarious.

7/10


The Life and Death of Peter Sellers - poorly directed but well acted sort of biopic. Doesnt really cover a timespan, or a particular event or series of events, but is just an all over te place attempt at looking at Peter Sellers, the person.

Fails miserably in that regard because the script never really bothers looking beyond the actions of Sellers and is just really a series of vignettes. Hopkins tries his best to cover this up, using numerous tricks, changing film stocks regularly, but all to no avail in the end.

The one saving grace is Geoffrey Rush, who does remarkable imitations in numerous Sellers roles (predominantly Inspector Closeau, Dr Strangelove and Chancy Gardener). But unfortunately, due to the thin script, that's all he does, imitations. He is never allowed to make it more than that, which is a bit of a pity.

5/10


Amarcord (1973) - considered the last of Fellini's great films, but i just couldnt get into it.

It's shot beautifully and Nino Rota provides another brilliant score, but all the characters are caricatures and every situation and personality is exaggerated to cartoon strip level. Everyone deliberately yells and acts in a manic fashion, I just found it very distracting and annoying.

4/10


Where the Truth Lies - supposedly Atom Egoyan's most mainstream movie, which may well be the case, but this is hardly mainstream cinema.

Featuring a fabulous plot, that although is fairly convoluted, is smartly linked together. Unfortunately, Egoyan's script suffers in key moments where he doesnt quite know how to bring out the revelations (and that's not a spoiler, the movie's a mystery from the start). So, some of the punch is taken out, as characters need to go through some fairly heavy exposition.

Also, a lot of how much you like this movie will depend on Alison Lohman. I found her to be fairly reasonable, although admittedly it's obvious she's in way over her head. There's also some fairly gratituous nudity which wasn't all that necessary, the seedy atmosphere was already established and it ended up lessening rather than adding to the movie's tone.


6.5/10 

on Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Lester Bangs, and Jason Lee as a Ronnie Van Zandt type were enjoyable rolls to watch and excellent casting in Almost Famous.

I was not crazy about Kate Hudson's role. It may not realy be her acting that was off putting to me as how her roll was framed as some kind of Queen of the Groupies. How her part was presented and used in the film was silly and for me that is where much of the distracting preciousness of the film comes in.

But, overall, I would give the movie a better rating than 6.5 just for the good vibe it generates. 

Wow. That was worse than I thought it would be. 

firm and reflective 

firm and reflective 

what 

sounds like boobies where you can see the silicon sacks through the skin.

Happens sometimes with strip club black lighting. 

Looks like a spambot feeler. 

Match Point - Hmm, it's very un-Allen like, except for the chanelling of Bergman's moral dilemmas that was also present in Crimes and Misdemeanors. But unlike that film, this is all very serious.

It's a fairly standard melodrama given almost A grade treatment. I say almost because it's bit uneven. The dialogue ranges from pretty good to downright emabrassing, the acting by the prinicpals doing the same.

Still, in the end it turns out to be a decent film, despite a clumsily handlex climax.

7/10


Flightplan - has been compared to Panic Room, and content wise, it's an understandable comparison.

But whereas that was an above-average film with at least a well made 2/3, this is an almost serviceable thriller from the start and never really rises above that at any stage. It's all competently done but the script has quite a few holes and given that there is only real one possible outcome right from the beginning, there is zero suspense apart from some procedural mechanics.

5/10


Brokeback Mountain - After seeing Good Night and Good Luck, I thougt Clooney was robbed.

I change my mind. Faultless. Not perfect, but faultless. I know it's been criticised for pacing, but I found it to be spot on.

And the controversy it stirred up is mind boggling, but I wont get into that. The most unpretentious and nonjudgmental film (towards its characters) I've seen in quite a while.

9/10


The Hidden Fortress - fairly decent film from Kurosawa about a samurai general who has to escort a princess of a rebel alliance through enemy terrirtory.

Well written and expertly directed (excellent use of the frame once again by kurosawa), but it falters at the end IMHO and the two slapstick sidekicks vary in their irritability.

7/10


The Hidden Fortress - fairly decent film from Kurosawa about a samurai general who has to escort a princess of a rebel alliance through enemy terrirtory.

Well written and expertly directed (excellent use of the frame once again by kurosawa), but it falters at the end IMHO and the two slapstick sidekicks vary in their irritability.

7/10


The Hidden Fortress - fairly decent film from Kurosawa about a samurai general who has to escort a princess of a rebel alliance through enemy terrirtory.

Well written and expertly directed (excellent use of the frame once again by kurosawa), but it falters at the end IMHO and the two slapstick sidekicks vary in their irritability.

7/10


McCabe and Mrs Miller - Robert Altman's 1971 film is one of the top 5 westerns of all time IMHO, and unlike any other western ever made. The best comparison I can make is to the tv show Deadwood, but even that is an inaccurate desciption.

It features all the trademark Altman touches, overlapping dialogue with multiple conversations going on at once and a strong sense of mood and atmosphere. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie are very good as the title characters and it's very well shot, although it is perhaps a bit too detriorated looking (apparently they flashed the film negative by exposing it to light to give it more of a deteriorated look).

If anything, it goes a bit too long but this is clearly the work of someone in control of their material.

8.5/10


Dr No - only the third Bond film I've liked (apart from Goldeneye and Goldfinger), and it's probably because he actually goes about his business like a spy, not just go from setpiece to setpiece like some superhero.

Plus here they werent consicious of the whole James Bond image, and could actually attach a decent film to the character.

7/10


The Spy Who Loved Me - Apart from some nice on location shooting in Egypt, this was fairly bad. Roger Moore was just too smarmy in his portrayal of Bond, Connery and Brosnan were much better.

4/10


Day for Night - quite possibly the greatest movie about making movies (havent seen 8 1/2 yet), Francois Truffaut's exceptional 1973 film is extremely well written and directed.

What could have been an absolute mess is instead a fabulously crafted movie with a cast that understands what the director is trying to do, and some nice moments of good humour.

8.5/10 

instead of Hidden Fortress being repeated thrice, here's what should have been there :

Memoirs of a Geisha - a complete guide on how to make an entire film in the wrong tone. Much has been made of Dion Beebe's cinematography, which is nice, but the only reason this is even remotely watchable is becuase of John Williams' excellent score.

2/10


The Lost Weekend - A well written, well acted film, despite being overly theatrical in its depiction of alcholism.

But Billy Wilder's trademark dialogue and Ray Milland's effective performance keep it going. Unfortunately, the ending is a big letdown, smelling a lot of studio influence/interference.

There also a handful of scenes that date it a fair bit, but all in all a decnt film.

7/10 

A mention about The Hidden Fortress -- George Lucas has said that Star Wars is not based on The Hidden Fortress, but it was fun watching to see how many parallels there are.

Dr. No was one of my favorite connery bond movies, and the connery movies were generally my favorite of the series. The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker were pretty much the height of the silly, over-the-top Roger Moore era, so while they were entertaining they were not his best. I think The Man With The Golden Gun or For Your Eyes Only were probably my favorite Moore bond films, becuase TMWTGG was the least formulaic of the plotlines (for example, it's the only bond movie that ends with a small, 1-on-1 battle instead of a huge spectacle with an army of good guys fighting an army of bad guys.) FYEO got back to the espionage roots of Dr. No and From Russia With Love and was a lot less silly becuase of it.

I also agree with your score for McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Just as in MASH, Altman seemed to prefer to set up scenes with everyone talking/mumbling over each others. Also interesting about McCabe, I believe he shot the entire thing with ambient light (which contributes to the murky look of the interiors.)

As for brokeback mountain, I admired the craftmanship of the movie and the impartiality of the storytelling, but found that I just didn't care about the characters, and didn't see much depth or complexity to them. 

yeah I knew the Star wars link, and for once it's definitely a case of inspired by rather than derivative of. And the parallels extend all the way through the first 3 eps, rather than just the first film.

About Dr No, see I thought this one did a lot better what people liked about From Russia With Love.

McCabe was indeed shot with ambient light alone, which is why I didnt understand the need to further deteriorate the look by flashing the film.

Yeah, I've heard a few people say that about Brokeback, I can understand the "not caring for the characters" thing, that will vary from person to person but I did think the characters definitely had depth. 

That Obscure Object of Desire - Luis Bunuel's last movie I believe, and this time the surrealism comes from having two actresses play the same role throughout the movie, almost randomly.

It takes a a little while to get used to, but it does work well, especially when you see what the movie's trying to do. It's still very abstract, but as with most of Bunuel's work, even if you dont get most of it, it's still easy to watch and like.

This one, amongst other things, tinkers with the idea of whether a loving relationship can be had without having sex.

7.5/10 

Aeon Flux - I was expecting something awful, this was just bad not awful. In fact, buried under the terrible screenplay were the makings of a fairly decent film. The action scenes were from the Generic Action Factory, all quick cutting to hide the bad choreography. Even Charlize didnt look as hot as she should in a skintight outfit.

3.5/10


Gosford Park - Robert Altman's bloated 2001 film is decent overall but really nosedives in the second half.

It starts out extremely well, and once again you couldnt mistake it for being a film by anyone else other than Altman, but the further it goes along, the more schizophrenic it becomes in terms of tone. And I found the different tones quite jarring in the second half. It also goes on far to long for what it is.

As for the good stuff, the writing is generally good, the acting excellent and the mood amazing.

7/10 

Swimming with Sharks - Kevin Spacey in mid-career decides to do a B-grade drama. Probably so for personal rather than professional reasons. Film content could make for great lunch conversation for Spacey possibly.

The flick is portrayed as a comedy via its boxart/marketing, but its anything but a comedy... It doesn't even sum up as a dark comedy at that. It is drama. Drama in a poor Tarentino knock-off kind of way. Writing is ok, but its is also where the movie fails. The dialogue is nice, but the story doesn't work. Spacey plays his character as best as it can be played, but his performance is undermined by poor event sequencing. Productions values are b-grade throughout, but that usually doesn't matter if there is a good story to fall on (but in this case there isn't). I think this movie might portray a cynical, nihilistic view of Hollywood that is not based on reality.

Nothing really to see here, move along. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279688/

Anyone seen this? I don't think I'm in for much, but seeing Lovecraft's name on a 2006 movie caught my eye and I rented it. I'm about to watch it, I'll let you know how it is.

I'm not a Lovecraft reader so I won't be able to compare...