Science of Sleep - I personally regard Eternal Sunhine as one of the best movies of the last decade and its obvious while watching this that Charlie Kaufman was a major contributor to making that what it was.

Michael Gondry indulges in some impressive off the cuff visuals, and he gets a committed and goofy perfromance out of Gael Garcia Bernal but it felt too much like someone knowing what they wanted to but not knowing how to do it.

Frequently hilarious, but as a whole, it didnt quite work.

6.5/10 

One of the things I liked about it, besides the humor and imaginitiveness of it, was the way the "tone" of the movie kept changing. Especially near the end of the movie, it seemed to shift smoothly from moment to moment between a the tone of a comedy about a quirky guy, to the tone of a drama about a mentally unstable guy.

The treatment of dreams were well executed, I thought. It's hard to put something on the screen and not have the clarity of the photographic image work against the goal of presenting a dream world full of symbols instead of objects. But I think this movie succeed in that regard. Also in terms of the constantly shifting narrative of dreams, where elements, locations, and people persist even as the underlying story of the dream reforms itself moment to moment, I thought the movie captured that feeling well.

So in conclusion, I guess the "feel" of the movie worked for me, even if the execution faltered in other ways. 

Normally these type of movies aren't my cup of tea, but this one is pretty charming and funny. Nice to watch while you're sitting at the pc and doing stuff. shake your body!

6/10 

The Haunting (1963) - Decent old fashioned horror movie but some dodgy acting and scripting lets it down somewhat. The impressive cinematography and atmosphere result in some nice eerie moments later on and a couple of the characterisations are very interesting. In the end though, it does feel like a similar but inferior version of The Innocents.

6.5/10



Brute Force (1949) - Jules Dassin is one of the forgotten great directors and this is another quality film from him. A pessimistic and bleak prison drama with Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn as standouts, it�s a very good example of how Dassin turned predictable, cliched material into genuinely involving stuff. Helped along by the excellent cinematography and a good, if overwritten, script by Richard Brooks, Dassin builds to a tight climax that is probably better than the whole season of Prison Break. It's slightly let down by some unnecessary flashbacks, which very much come across as something the studio got involved in, but overall it's on the same level as Dassin's other movies from the same period.

7.5/10 

Walkabout (1971) - Nicolas Roeg's debut has the tagline "Probably the most different movie you will ever see". That's an apt description but it is also probably the best australian movie not made by an Australian. It's not for everyone, a lot of people will most likely find the lack of any plot, narrative or resolution a big hurdle. But if you're open to something different and don�t mind the lack of narrative, it's quite a worthwhile watch.

Its basically about the journey of two british children lost in the outback and their attempts to get back to civilization with the help of a young aborigine boy on his Walkabout (the aboriginal rite of passage that a young boy takes before entering manhood). Roeg uses that to create an interesting portrait of the differences between civilizations, the ability of youth to overcome those differences but not really understand them, and the feeling of being 'lost' no matter where you are. Its mainly a very visual film, with little or no dialogue, Roeg using his trademark editing technique to good effect. Its not on the same level as Don�t Look Now, as that was a lot more focused, but it has the same disctinct style.

7/10 

Good review, yes there is a real sense of being lost in Walkabout, it's all a bit bleak in a way.

But more importantly jenny agutter is a total hottie, go see it. 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236027/

If you like De grønne slagtere (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342492/ ) then you will also like this. I watched it danish with english subtitles, was ok. The actors are so great and the humor really dark. 

...showing my age, but I saw Walkabout during it's original release period (regional). My first real movie experience. Two scenes are still clear in my mind. Of course I didn't realise what a hottie Jenny Agutter was at that stage, that realisation didn't come till Logan's Run :o) Must revisit Walkabout, thanks for reminding me nitin. 

out of interest, which ones ? 

The meeting between Gulpilil and the kids, I thought it was funny but I couldn't say why back then. The final vignette, it made me sad but again I couldn't articulate why back then. 

Talk to Her - its not quite the flat out masterpiece that All about my Mother was, but this is still a very impressive movie from the unpredictable and fresh Pedro Almodovar. He's probably one of the few directors working today that can take a story into territory you don�t see coming.

Anyway, this one is about 2 men who share a friendship whilst their lovers are in a coma at a hospital and although I don�t quite like where it ended up at the finish, it's well acted, excellently written and extremely well made. It has the usual Almodovar blend of quirky and humorus but awkward and uncomfortable situations with eccentric but connectable characters.

And the film within a film is pure gold.

7.5/10 

The Dreamers (2003) - Bernardo Bertolucci is undoubtedly a very talented filmmaker, but this is a pretty good example that talent alone doesnt result in a good movie.

Bertolucci's tale of a young american film buff in france who makes friends with a local brother and sister that share his love for classic films, all set against the backdrop of the student riots of 1968, is beautifully shot, skilfully made and is conceptually very interesting.

But while the first 30 mins or so is a great nostalgic look at the period, intercut fabulously with scenes from classic french new wave films, the rest of it dissolves into a frank, uninhibited, but more importantly, dull dissection of sex and politics.

Each charcater represents a type rather than an individual and whilst that allow bertolucci to be very self-reflexive, it also makes the whole thing quite heavy handed.

Pity, because done correctly, this could have been a great film.

On the plus side, the extremely good looking Eva Green spends plenty of time naked.

5/10


The Naked City (1948) - Jules Dassin's police procedural/noir might seem old hat given how many times it has been imitated but the tight direction and extremely well done location photography still raise it far above most other attempts in the genre. An inconsistent voiceover is the only real misfire as everything else clicks together like clockwork.

7.5/10 

On the plus side, the extremely good looking Eva Green spends plenty of time naked.

She is the beaut. I wonder if you noticed in Casino Royale when she smiled sometimes her face would get convoluted and her upper mouth would become long, thin and even lizard like. Not exactly attractive in those instances.
I'm willing to bet as a first rate actress she has practiced this expression to perfection in order to show a vulnerable side her good looks would otherwise hide. 

Underworld : Evolution - better than the first, but that wasnt exactly hard. 1 maybe 2 decent action scenes and the rest was dull and uninteresting exposition.

5/10 

Ugh. I knew nothing about it before watching. I felt Eve rather unconvincing (not badly played but badly written/characterized/introduced). She seemed to be supposed "one of the mass" in the beginning and hard to break to see the "truth" if I understood it correctly. Well, the movie totally fails on that. Maybe because it is too easy to see-through, dunno.
I also really disliked the cheap "flashbacks" and "omg important memory, turn the music loud and fade in/out to black". Some parts were really cool for sure.

5/10 from me. Left me highly unsatisfied and disappointed. It could have been so much better I think. 

AFAIR, the author of the original comic was not pleased with how the makers of the movie trivialized the motives of V. In the comics, he's got revenge on his mind but also the ideal of anarchy -- in the movie he's more of this cold-blooded killer, who also has a heart, and isn't that so touching? 

Stray Dog (1949) - not as well remembered as some of Akira Kurosawa's other movies, this is still a very very good watch.

Toshiro Mifune plays a policeman in post war Japan who is disgraced and ashamed after he loses his gun and spends the rest of the movie looking for it (the basic outline of this plot is used by Paul Thomas Anderson as one of his Magnolia segments).

This simple plot is used as a starting point for Kurosawa to take an in depth look at post war Tokyo, but never to the extent that it overshadows the main story.

Its occasionally poorly paced and for once Mifune seems out of place playing a timid character, but overall this is well written, full of many interesting characters and made with a very assured hand.

7.5/10


The Ninth Gate (1999) - Roman Polanski is well past his 70's heyday and this is never in the same league as either Rosemary's Baby or The Tenant, but his command of atmosphere is not lost and this on its own lifts this silly but fun occult thriller into above average territory.

Johnny Depp is ok as a book detective who authenticates old, rare books for a fee, and gets involved with a book that was supposedly written by the devil himself. From there on, it becomes a well made gothic mystery, but one which never quite pays off in a satisfactory manner with an ending that is clever and makes sense, but is also predictable and disappointing.

6/10 

Sunshine - the only film of note I've watched recently. I tend to agree with the above comments.

Nice style, decent characters, good tension initially, very stylish outside of the ship.

Weak story, degenerating plot, profoundly unconvincing technology.

That's all. 

Where do you get all these old movies? Are they all just right there on netflix dvd or are you regularly breaking into a secret cinemavault? 

yeah, most of them are available via netflix (around 80%). Some of the foreign stuff might occasionally not be there, but there's a video store near my house that offers foreign dvds for rent. 

Twin Peaks Season 2 - hmm, the first 10 epsiodes or so are of the same quality as season 1 and although I had worked out the killer in advance, the episode in which he is revealed (to us) is still great.

It definitely degenerates after that, almost not knowing where to go after the solving of laura palmer's murder and the side stories which were interesting as side stories become boring main stories. I've read that david lynch said that he never intended to reveal the killer and the show was meant to be more about the town. Don�t know if that approach would have avoided the problems present in the second season anyway, because after a while that would still mean the side stories would have eventually become the main stories anyway.

It sort of gets back on track in the last 4-5 episodes, although still below the level of the first half of this and the prior season. The finale, however, is great stuff. From the moment agent cooper steps into the black lodge, it is brilliant. Talk about being able to put your subconscious on the screen, you could literally feel that place and that's not something that is easy to do.

6.5/10


Marie Antoinette - it's been criticised a lot for being blatantly historically inaccurate and for not being serious enough, but it's pretty obvious after the first five minutes that that was never the point. But what exactly was the point of Sofia Coppola's new film is something that is unanswered even after the credits roll. For a two hour movie, there's not a whole lot going on here, both plot wise and substance wise. It meanders along for most of its running time and then rushes its last half hour as it goes into biography mode.

It is, however, possibly the best shot film of the last five years. Every scene is impeccably lit and composed and some of them could be framed and hung from a wall. So even when it doesn�t offer much content wise, it is never boring to look at.

5.5/10 

Purple Rose of cairo (1984) - just what was woody allen on in the 70's/80's and can he please get back on it? I think it falls slightly short of his very best, it's not quite sharp enough for that, but its still an exteremely clever and fresh piece of writing that is well performed by Jeff Daniels and the very talented Mia Farrow.

This one's about an unhappy woman in depression era new jersey who goes to the cinema to escape her real life. She becomes particularly enamoured with one movie, the purple rose of cairo, and starts to watch it repeatedly. During a screening one of the characters, who notices her repeated presence, comes out of the screen and into the real world to spend some time with her.

What follows is borderline genius as the remainder of the movie cast get stuck and become unable to progress the movie's plot with a character missing, the real actor who portrays the missing character is held responsible for his creation, and the escaped character struggles to overcome his pre-written characteristics and celluloid experiences when interacting with the real world.

7.5/10 

The Page Turner (2006) - nice little french pschological drama that, although predictable in its outcome, is well made and acted.

Deborah Francois plays a cold, disenchanted woman who in her youth was an aspiring pianist whose aspirations were cut short inadvertently by a famous pianist who judged one of her performances. The majority of the film is about how Francois' character works her way into the judge's life a decade or so later, intent on ruining it.

Like I said, its been done before and the outcome is fairly predictable, but its facinating to see how she goes about it in a calm and calcualted fashion, but always with a creepy sense of being unhinged. Also, the other thing going for it is that Denis Dercourt avoids the hollywood path in outlining every bit of detail and leaves quite a bit of the (irrrelevant) mechanics upto the viewer to determine.

Not for everyone, as the sheer unlikeability of the main character will distance some people, but it�s a decent movie that's worth a watch.

7/10


Little Miss Sunshine - its not terrible, but I find it absolutely staggering that this was a best picture contender. Poorly written, poorly executed and the shooting style is virtually identical to your run of the mill reguar hollywood movie.

The "drama" has so little weight that it may as well be non-existent, the "comedy" ranges from ok to just plain awful. And the ending had me laughing for the wrong reasons. That's up there with Clerks 2 as some of the stupidest last 20 min in a film.

On the plus side, some of the acting is pretty good, Greg Kinnear and the little girl doing much more than their one dimensional roles would have otherwise allowed.

5.5/10 

I find I agree with you quite a lot on many movies I've seen. (eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, little miss sunshine for late examples that spring to mind.)

Maybe I should pick up that B&W french stuff if you like it so much.