Xmen 3 - this didnt turn out nearly as bad as I thought it would. It's unfulfilled potential, but I feel the same about the first two films. Thankfully this one doesnt get bogged down in the half baked seriousness that permeated the first two films, and moves with bullet like speed throughout its 99 min.

It is, however, perhaps the one with most unfulfilled potential given that the phoenix storyline was one of the best. Then again, with brett ratner at the helm, it could have turned out much worse.

6/10 

I deeply enjoyed The Maltese Falcon. And now I want more.
Reading through the posts nearby the mention of The Maltese Falcon I spotted Belle de Jour, Out of the Past - Double Indemnity , Petrified Forest, The Triplets Of Bellevue. Anything else I should watch? Thanks! 

recommendations if you liked The Maltese Falcon (ignore the ones you found, not all of them are similar genres at all) :

Chinatown
The Big Sleep
Out of the Past
Double Indemnity
The Killers
Night and the City
The Third Man
Touch of Evil
LA Confidential
In a Lonely Place
Le Samourai

although the last four are probably the least similar out of this list. 

Cheers! I knew you would have some goodies for me .:) 

Fallen Angels - rewatch, and I still dont like it. Perhaps the most schizophrenic of Wong Kar Wai's work, it's an interesting watch but ultimately not all that successful. A loosely structured, arty gangster film mixed with an existential love story, I found it to be an uncomfortable meld of the two. It is, however, an incredibly moody film thanks to a well selected soundtrack and Christopher Doyle's atmoshperic cinematography.

4.5/10


The Sting (1973) - another rewatch, and this one I change my mind on. I didnt like this on initial viewing, cant quite remember why, but this time around I found it to be quite a smooth, suave and entertaining film. It's still not as good as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Newman and Redford were much more terrific in that one, but as far as sheer entertainment goes it's very effective.

The air of lightness does detract from certain parts of the film and there's a couple of major plot holes, but overall very impressive.

7.5/10


Mission Impossible 3 - Every review I read of this was not actually a review of the film but about Tom Cruise. So I wasnt quite sure of what to expect.

It turned out to be an absolutely terrible movie, with some of the most poorly shot action scenes in recent memory. There
is a bridge assault that's not badly staged but everything else is ruined by shoddy camerawork and editing.

And since the movie is basically a string of action scenes stuck together, the failing of its main attraction doesnt leave much else to focus on. Tom Cruise actually acquits himself fairly well, but more screen time needed to be given to other people, espcially Phillip Seymour Hoffman's much more interesting villain.

3/10


The Searchers (1956) - John Ford is one director whose reputation I just do not understand. This is regarded as his masterpiece and is revered by many filmakers, being in Martin Scorsese's top 5 films of all time and its final scene basically imitated by Francis Ford Coppola in the final scene of The Godfather.

There is definitely some undeniably great moments, the cinematography is brilliant and John Wayne is excellent as Ethan Edwards, a lonesome, embittered and racist character who embarks on a 5 year search for his niece who has been kidnapped by a tribe of red indians.

The themes, such as the reason why Ethan keeps on searching for his niece, are dark and work well to an extent, but unfortunately the rest of the cast isnt upto Wayne' standard and John Ford ruins the material by injecting a couple of unnecessary subplots and moments of inane humour that severely detract from the main themes.

4.5/10 

I feel like i should respond to that one. I like this movie a lot, but I have mixed feelings about the segments where he has returned home to the ranch. The tone and quality of those scenes does not seem to be suited to the rest of the movie, true. However, I think the existence and juxtopisition of a "family life" to Ethan's endless wanderings is one of the central themes. You could argue that racism drives his choices throughout most of the movie, but I think also his restless nature prevents him from enjoying the comforts of home, and drives him towards things like the civil war, and the hunt for Debbie, which are a means rather than an end. 

I agree with pretty much all of that, for me it was scenes like the wedding scene towards the end that was representative of both the unnecessary subplots and silly humour that I talked about above.

I take the point that Ethan's wandering nature was meant to be contrasted with family life, but I think the execution was not very good and severely detracted from the rest of it.

I came away from it thinking it was a movie with some great scenes rather than a great movie. 

The Silence (1963) - An interesting one from Bergman, about two sisters (who hate each other) and a child stopping at an unnamed European city on their way to home (presumably in Sweden).

It lives up to its title in a brilliant first half in which there's probably about 50 lines of dialogue in 50 min. But the terrific cinematography from Sven Nyvkist and the great acting tell you all you need to know.

The second half isnt as successful, with much more dialogue that isnt as half as interesting as the gestures and mood present in the first half.

Still, worth a watch for that great first half.

7/10


The Da Vinci Code - never read the book, so wasnt really sure what to expect. It's decidedly average, as are most of Ron Howard's movies, but it's not terrible.

Howard directs flatly as usual but this has more problems with its script than direction. The whole thing is ceaseless exposition, so much so that there isnt time to do anything else. It tries to build suspense, but hasnt got any time to spare to achieve that.

And I'm not sure how the plot came across in the book, but here I saw the main reveal(s) that come towards the end of the movie about a third of the way in.

Very average.

5/10


Persona (1966) - Another interesting one from Bergman that reminded me a lot of Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Fight Club thematically. But in between all that, it is a very talky, typically Bergmanesque movie which again highlights his limited approach, despite different subject matter than usual.

What makes it interesting is 2 fantastic acting perforamnces by Liv Ulmann and Bibi Anderson and more great cinematography from Sven Nyvkist.

7/10


Quai Des Orfevres (1947) - Another good movie from Clouzot, an atmospheric drama/thriller set in post war France. Main plot concerns a murder mystery, but thankfully that is not the main emphasis as it is a bit straightforward in that aspect. Instead, it conecentrates on making interesting characters and detailing the world those characters live in. Also has a couple of great performances to help in that regrd.

7/10


The Magnificent Seven (1960) - It's no Seven Samurai, but even as a standalone film, I found it to be above average at best. Some of the cast lets it down, as does a lack of spark in the script.

5.5/10 

...Da Vinci Code, tried to watch it the other night, I fell asleep sometime after what I guess was half way :) 

Tootsie - Above Average. The look and soundtrack date it pretty badly but its sharply written for the most part and giving free reign to Dustin Hoffman was a good idea. He doesnt always succeed, but hits most times, as do Bill Murray and Teri Garr in their supporting roles. However, its not nearly as successful in the drama elements, which there is a fair bit of. I did like the ending though, that was ingeniously done.

6/10



Renaissance (2006) - french made futuristic noir film with its main selling point being a unique blend of animation and live action. Actors have acted out the roles in real locations but then the whole thing's been manipulated digitally to give every object and character a flat 2d shaded look. Of course, being noir, it's all black and white with lots of shadows and stark contrast areas. Basically, think Sin City but even more comic book like in its visuals, literally looking like a 3d rendered comic book.

The style definitely lends to some impressive imagery, and although its never utilised to its fullest, its reasonably arresting. The movie itself is very pedestrian, and despite a name voice cast (including Daniel Craig and Ian Holm), the voice acting is a bit mediocre. The voices also don�t really match the chracters and that further detracts from an already redundant plotline.

But worth a watch for style.

5/10



Fanny and Alexander (1982) - probably Ingmar Bergman's most accessible movie, despite its length and bizarre supernatural tones. In fact, at times its very un-Bergman like in its examination of an upper class swedish family in the early 19th century, mainly through the eyes of two children (the title characters). Its incredibly disjointed, probably because 2 hrs were cut for the theatrical release but I don think that's an excuse in this case since there was plenty of time to cover the material anyway (the theatrical cut is 3 hrs). There are some brilliant scenes, but due to the way its been cut, some parts feel way too rushed while others seem to go on for too long. I'm tempted to check out the full version, but I think releasing it theatrically in its current form was unacceptable.

And despite the oscar for Sven Nyvkist, I think he's done much better in other bergman films.

6.5/10



Hidden (2006) - Michael Haneke's latest film is extremely pretentious and self consciously arty, but its also very intriguing and very well made. Fuelled by another great performance from Daniel Auteiul, it is slow moving but very effective in its build up of suspense as a family starts receiving strange videotapes of them being under surveillance by someone. That it then ends in such a bizarre, left field and ultimately inconclusive manner might be off putting to some, but its definitely a well orchestrated experience. The almost too clever style employed is a nice touch, depsite being a bit too cute, and the script it is well written for the most part, cleverly diverting you one way when the movie is clearly about something else alltogether.

7.5/10 

Nitin, just wanted to point out the characters in Renaissance were not live actors, it's 100% rendered 3D (with probably a fair ammount of motion capture of course).
The original voice acting (in french) was also really horrible, was hoping they would fix that up when making an english version...
I agree with your review otherwise, mostly worth it for checking out the style. 

really? pretty good mo-cap then. I thought the movement looked quite fluid. Although the complete digital nature does explain how they pulled off certain shots which I assumed were CG, but wasnt sure. 

The Brothers Grimm - nicely shot, but otherwise it's a trainwreck from start to finish. Quite possibly the worst directed film I've come across. Absolutely terrible.

1.5/10 

Flatmate rented the video, I watched from 15 minutes or so on, wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I think the director still had an overall sense on what was happening, the action scenes were mostly believable etc.. I like some small details every now and then. The policemen talked french. The gunshots were not that sound library muffled sound... Some things were ??? like what happened to the main character's wound?
Ian McKellen rocked too, even though he was written as a bit cliche at times but anyway.

Yeah, the main turnpoint was indeed obvious and was even hinted at with stupid HINT HERE dialogue... And some other turn points too were to be seen somewhat before... But I guess those are ok.

All in all, above average. Mostly because the script actually contained a plot and different characters and had some historic cool stuff, and also the direction was fluid. 

I would be willing to believe it is more carefully factual than the book; I read it to see what all the firestorm was about and I am amazed by what people are willing to believe. The history in the book is polemical, not actual.

A few things that come to mind, in the book an obelisk structure that is now part of a cathedral is described as proof of the existence of a mystery religion inside the early Church because it represents a penis (penises and vaginas are mystically significant in this supposed cult). The actual function of this structure is a sundial used to calculate the return of Passover.

Other things are just illogical. The first century Biblical scriptures are presented as being completely refuted in substance because Gnostic text written centuries later contradict them. Brown's hero is presented as an Empiricist but that just flies out the window with this evidence. It never occurs to him that this text could be invalid or both text are invalid. Don't let a little logic get in the way. That would just take all the fun out of saying, 'Fuck your God!'

Of course you can argue that it is just fiction, but Brown claims everything is accurate in fact in the first page where most authors normally put a disclaimer.
There are people (including in a post here written a few years back) who believe the Da Vinci Code to be nothing less than a revelation.

But enough of that. The movie may be much better. A few are, like The Godfather, for instance. 

After the travesty of Die Another Day it was inevitable that the franchise would have to be taken in a new direction, but I would never have expected it could be done as well as Casino Royale. The story nolonger plays second fiddle to the gadgets, Bond is nolonger a pantomime action hero and the product placement nolonger dictates the action.

Daniel Craig may not have a jet black mane of hair on his chest, but he looks perfectly comfortable in a dinner jacket AND looks as if he's seriously considering killing you [a licence to kill would be pretty useless otherwise, right?]. Everything from his cold, emotionless blue eyes to the thuggish swagger suggest that an incredibly painful death will become you if you get in his way. Gadgets are a last resort for this Bond.

My only complaint would be that the next film probably won't arrive for at least two years. 

actually had a trailer that made me wanting to watch it, very unusual for a trailer these days.

Also, spiderman 3's latest trailer and The Prestige also look impressive. 

High Sierra (1941) - pre-Maltese Falcon Humphrey Bogart film made by Raoul Walsh and its a bit too corny and melodramatic to be effective. Ida Lupino and Bogart stand tall no matter what comes heir way, but the script is a bit too silly at times.

6/10


Huff Season 1 - overall decent show with Hank Azaria playing Craig Huffstodt, a psychiatrist whose life changes after one of his patients kills themselves during a session. Part drama, part comedy and it doesnt quite know which it wants to be and ends up hedging bets each way.

Hits and misses in both areas quite frequently, with the hits being very effective but the misses also missing by quite a margin.

What it does have going for it is layered characters. Most the main characters, even if they first appear to be one dimensional, are well rounded by the end of the season. There are some great performances to help this with Blythe Danner being a standout as Huff's mother and Paget Brewster also doing well as his wife.

Olive Platt makes the most of his role as Huff's best friend/lawyer, his character providing the show with most its highlights and also its lowlights. Azaria is serviceable in the main role.

Scripting varies form very good to mediocre, with the variation occuring too frequently for my liking.


7/10 

Maria Full of Grace (2004) - pretty good movie about the harsh economics of the drug trade, and the economy in general, in Colombia with the title character accepting a job as a drug mule to America. The movie does well to avoid overt moralising or launching an anti drug tirade and simply focuses on its chracters and their plight.

The acting is very good and there are some truly horrible scenes, but the script suffers from underwritten supporting chracters. The focus on the title character leaves a lot of the rest of the cast underdeveloped, and themovie would have benefited if they were fleshed out a bit more rather than just be there to help the story along.

7/10


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - hmm, it definitely gets the look right. Unlike the overglossy look that most modern horror films have, Tobe Hooper really captures the ugliness that is needed to tell a story like this. The visuals have a raw, nihilistic and bleak feel which is just not there in current horror films.

However, apart from that aspect, I found it to have most of the same problems that most of today's horror films have. The only time it almost works is in the last 10 min, but that's too far in.

4/10 

If you didn't enjoy the book, you probably won't enjoy the movie. However, I'd recommend you read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, on which Da Vinci Code is based. Much more in-depth, and more entertaining, even if the writing style is excruciatingly boring. 

hidden history/conspiracy works both fiction and non fiction. Ecco's Focault's Pendulum and Philip Dick's last trilogy of novels explored some of the same areas as the Da Vinci Code and they are among my favorite novels. I even liked Angels & Demons as a thriller though the culprit is pretty easy to guess within the first paragraph he is introduced.

I thought with DC, Dan Brown was being deceptive; it is too new age-y and feminist for my blood.

I'll give HB,HG a look next time I'm at the local Barnes&Nobels. I go at least once a month to read Computer Arts from cover to cover('cause I'm cheap ;)). 

...I recommend that everyone push their way through Foucault's Pendulum at some stage. Hard work in places, but well worth it. 

and comparing him to dan brown is like comparing grahame greene to john grisham.

anyway, two more :

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2006) - Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in this surrealy bizarre western that is suposedly inspired by Sam Peckinpah's surrealy bizarre movie Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. He plays Pete Prker, best riend to an illegan mexican immigrant who gets killed by a border patrolman, played very well by Barry Pepper. Taking the matter into his own hands, Pete takes Pepper's character and the body of Melquiades Estrada on a strange little journey back to Estrada's hometown in Mexico, with the aim of burying him in his home.

There's a few too many conicidences in the script, but otherwise it's pretty well written and goes in really unexpected directions. Tommy Lee Jones is nice and understated behind the camera, everyhting is thee to see, but its not always highlighted which is a good thing.

7.5/10


The Prestige - If you're going to go down the style over substance path this is the way to do it.

Christopher Nolan's classy tale of two rival magicians almost revels in its own structure and is backed up by some very good acting, even if it only scratches the surface in terms of its themes. The main twist is a bit too easy to spot too early into the movie, but its so well made and the writing is so exceptional in its attention to the little details, that it doesnt really matter.

Whilst is very good as is, I think a greater film could have been made if it wasnt so concerned with having twists but instead increased the focus on the nature of its main characters and its overriding theme of duality. Still, for the way he's chosen to gowith, Nolan does extremely well in the direction department and its highly recommended.

7.5/10 

and I thought my caveats like 'as a thriller' , and the criticism I gave of The Da Vinci Code were enough to make it clear, I was in no way stating Dan Brown is in Umberto Ecco's league. 

so Nitin doesn't have to sift through the index to find the thread later this week end