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Black Books is classic, if somewhat variable (as you say). The episode with Bailey as a cop is actual genius.
If you like that tho I'd suggest checking out Dylan Moran - Monster for some of his stand up (I'm unsure if he's released any other stand up, I've seen him on stuff doing routines but not another complete set) And HLF&AP's plot was mainly a dodgy romcom. That and a metatextual plot line about Pegg's character selling out... Oh, also, Big Train. Sketch show featuring a lot of the better British comedians of that generation... featuring the sketch where I actually thought I might die of laughter...
I refer ofc to the scene where the dads son learning to ride his 1st bike bursts into flames for absolutely no reason, complete and utter hilarity! here's comments on some of those :
Quantum of Solace (2008) - the latest Bourned film is pretty much one big chase film edited into oblivion. It zips along at breakneck pace but with such clumsily edited action scenes that you would be hard pressed to know what's going on a lot of the time. The opening car chase is a pretty good example, you see explosions, you hear metal scraping, but all you remember is one big motion blur. And apart from all the average handled action, there's not a whole lot going on. Daniel Craig is wasted as is pretty much the rest of the cast. 5.5/10 Vicki Cristina Barcelona (2008) - this is supposed to be a return to form for Woody Allen but I personally found it to be a far cry from his great 70's/80's films. There's a couple of decent scenes between Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz but overall this is very averagely written and has that same annoying and noticeable trait that was evident in Cassandra's Dream with the actors performing as if they were in a stage rehearsal. The unnecessary voiceover is also a distraction, especially when it is spelling the obvious in a monotonous voice. 5.5/10 Pushing Daisies Season 1 - The production design in this series is pretty impressive and creative (think Tim Burton in Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory mode) but I didn't like the actual show all that much. Most of that has to do with the irritatingly glib and 'hip' dialogue that all the characters use which I found quite forced and distracting. The premise itself, a piemaker who assists a private detective in solving murders by using his gift to bring the dead back to life, is interesting but is never explored with much depth. Instead the show seems to be content with just defining every character with distinct quirks as a way of characterisation. 6/10 Ali : Fear Eats the Soul (1974) - Fassbinder's loose adaptation of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows in a modern day german setting (well 70's germany anyway) details the vicious response from family and community to the marriage of a lonely, upper class white widow to a much younger black Moroccan immigrant worker. The themes from the american original are expanded to include racism and class differences and Fassbinder directs with a less melodramatic and more intense approach than Sirk. The result is a stunning film which has a brooding, angry atmosphere and very strong performances which leave quite a mark. The title comes from a quote from the main character, where he tries to explain himself in broken german. On a side note, Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven was a mix of this and All that Heaven Allows. 8/10 Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) - solid if predictable 30's gangster film by Michael Curtiz with James Cagney once again supreme and running away with the honors. He gets some memorable scenes and lines and makes the most of them. 7/10 Away from Her (2006) - Interesting if flawed piece of work from actor turned director Sarah Polley. The movie revolves around an elderly couple's relationship when the wife starts developing and suffering from alzheimer's disease. The scripting is not always right in tone but, when it works, there are some devastating scenes which are aided in their power by some remarkable acting from Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Fascinating if you are at all interested in the concept of memory (which I am). 7/10 The Awful Truth (1937) - fairly average screwball comedy that's not quite zany or funny enough. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne make a good pairing but don't really have the best material to work with. The supporting characters are also uninteresting. 5.5/10 I think you hit the nail on the head with Pushing Daisies. I loved the first episode or two, but beyond that, the quirkiness is just too much. It all gets a little forced, and there isn't much depth. Shame really, because as you say the production design is fantastic, and there's a lot to like.
it was almost as if they came up with idea, thought it was cool, but never quite knew how to make a full season of tv out of it. So it was like watching episode 1 over and over again with different production design.
is great, thanks a lot for the recommendation. I also grabbed a Dylan Morgan DVD and remembered I wanted to get the Asylum rips. Upcoming British humour overkill.
That sketch about wanking in the office I saw somewhen before, haha. And that boy was hilarious indeed, Bal. :D Heroes Season 2 - hmm, I'd heard the biggest problem with this season was a sense of incompleteness due to the writer's strike. That was not my main concern, I think it wrapped up reasonably okay despite definitely feeling a bit rushed. The main problem for me was the alarming number of logic gaps that kept popping up and getting bigger as the season progressed. There's definitely some good points and the show isnt afraid to take a few risks by trying out some interesting ideas, but for every good idea, there's either an appalling plot hole or a conveniently contrived solution. As for all the new characters, it did feel like an unnecessarily desperate attempt to freshen up the show even though some of them were interesting.
6/10 The Big Clock (1948) - one of the best of all film noirs which combines great suspense with humour. Ray Milland and Charles Laughton star as employee and employer at a crime magazine with Milland ending up in charge of an investigation on himself for a murder he did not commit. John Farrow has the blessing of a cracker of a script which is meticulous in its detailing and characterisation. Elsa Lanchester has a hilarious supporting role as a prominent painter, providing most of the film's best lines. 8-8.5/10 Boomerang (1947) - early Elia Kazan film noir which is fairly straightforward and simplistic but ends up being above average thanks to Kazan's direction. 6.5/10 Born to Kill (1947) - none of the characters in Robert Wise's completely amoral film noir are likeable, and this hurts the film overall, but almost all are interesting due to their jovial corruptibility. And the character of murdered party girl Laury Palmer was surely an inspiration for Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer, sharing more than just a similarity in name. Well made overall, and with some choice dialogue, but you can only like a movie so much where all the characters are unlikeable. 6.5/10 Casque D'or (1952) - Jacques Becker's belle epoque period romance is definitely a very elegant film, full of charisma and memorable scenes even if the plotting and characterisations are fairly predictable. Becker's graceful treatment of the material makes it a joy to watch though, even if you know exactly how it's all going to turn out. 7.5/10 Closely Watched Trains (1966) - Jiri Menzel's coming of age story about a boy working at a train station in german occupied czechoslovakia during WWII is a strange deadpan comedy that never quite manages the frequent shifts in tone from comedy to drama. Most of the humour is observational and ironic with the boy oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him and instead more interested in having as much sex as possible. Certain scenes work brilliantly individually but as a whole I found it to be a bit of a narrative mess, especially the abrupt and left field ending. 6/10 The Color of Money (1986) - Martin Scorsese's sequel to the great Paul Newman film, The Hustler, is not in the same league as the characters and their relationships are nowhere near as interesting, but it's still an enjoyable and entertaining film. Newman is fantastic again in his reprisal of the role of Fast Eddie Felson, who is now retired and considered to be past his prime. He contrasts well with Tom Cruise's cocky, talented and young character whom he attempts to take under his wing. Scorsese directs in a restrained fashion except when he wants you to get caught up in the giddiness of the action, at which point his swirling camera works beautifully to capture the excitement his characters are feeling. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/
Absolutely stunning. Brilliant story, wonderfully acting, heart warmingly passionate against the stark depiction of 1980s East Germany. Highly recommend watching. Haven't seen that one. Just IMDB'd it and looks good. One for movie night next week I think, will let you know what I think (not that I only watch movies once a week, it's just I watch bleak social commentary once a week with set friends ;)
some of my friends found Lives of Others on another level, I found both to be pretty damn impressive.
Day of Wrath (1943) - absolutely brilliant film set in a Danish village in 1625 where an old woman is accused of being a witch and condemned to be burnt at the stake. She seeks help from Anne, a young woman married to a much older pastor, whose mother she aided when she was accused of being the same. What follows is an ambiguously fascinating movie that deals with everything from societal, religious and familial oppression to self delusion without resorting to cheap melodrama or convenient explanations. Shot in a stunningly expressionistic manner by Carl Theodor Dreyer, it is also one of the most strikingly looking movies you'll come across.
8.5-9/10 Death and the Maiden (1994) - excellent film from Polanski that is an adaptation of a play by a Chilean exile who escaped the regime of Augusto Pinochet. The movie is set in Chile over the course of one night and centres on only three characters, rivetingly performed by Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley and Stuart Wilson. It would be unfair to reveal plot details save to say that the subject matter is dark and grim but expertly handled by Polanski and the actors who relish the stylized dialogue that is retained from the play. Kingsley and Weaver in particular are remarkable, with Kingsley unforgettable in his final monologue in the penultimate scene of the movie. 7.5/10 Dishonored (1931) - fairly average collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich that is not at the same level as some of their other films. Sternberg seems to be directing on autopilot with none of his audacious and elaborate set pieces present and Dietrcih does her best but cannot rescue what is a pretty mundane script. 5.5/10 The Duellists (1977) - out of his early career work Alien and Blade Runner seem to get most of the recognition, and deservedly so, but Ridley Scott's debut film is also quite a little gem. Based on Joseph Conrad's short story about two french army lieutenants during the Napoleonic Wars whose quarrel over an initially minor incident turns into a bitter, long-drawn out duelling struggle over the following fifteen years, Scott's film is one of the best looking movies you will come across with perfect framing and lighting in pretty much every scene. Despite the episodic structure and lack of any real plot or characterisation, the minimalist style and exposition work really well and actually add a tense feel to all the duels as its hard to know where the movie is going next. 7.5/10 House of Strangers (1949) - solid noirish family drama by Joseph L Mankiewicz with Edward G Robinson playing a stereotypical italian patriarch who is oblivious to the burgeoning rifts developing between his sons. The ending is weak but Robinson is terrific and makes it a worthwhile watch until then. 7/10 How Green was my Valley (1941) - John Ford's soppy but effective film is too long by about 20 min but otherwise a solidly made and beautifully shot movie that manipulates the audience well enough with its melodramatic story of an irish family's struggles in a small mining town. 7/10 The Ice Storm (1997) - Ang Lee's movie is set before and after thanksgiving in 70's Connecticut, leading up to a threatening ice storm, and revolving around two neighbouring families having issues with either the political, social or sexual climate of the time. It�s a fairly cold film (no joke intended) with fairly impenetrable characters and with a cathartic ending that just didn�t quite work for me. But the acting is top notch and some of it is quite funny. 6.5-7/10 on the Duelist. A very well made movie that tends to get lost in the shuffle of Scott's other work. I would have rated it a bit higher though.
(1/(7.5 / 10))*4 = 5.333333
P.S. Cheers guys for the heads up about Children Of Men, sounds worthwhile. 7.5 is just 1.5 above 6 which fits neatly into Garrison Keillor's famous joke about mediocrity so I was being a bit quibbly I guess.
M Hulot's Holiday (1953) - apart from Playtime, I cant seem to get into Jacques Tati's movies. It basically comes down to me not really caring for slapstick humour, no matter how cleverly staged it is.
4/10 The Man from Laramie (1955) - quite liking these Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns. This one's not quite at the same level as Winchester 73 but it continues Mann's clever and interesting inversion of Stewart's established Hollywood image. Great use of landscape to reflect characters' feelings and although it follows a familiar pattern, its always involving. 7-7.5/10 Millennium Mambo (2001) - slow, initially interesting but ultimately uninvolving portrait of a young girl's life in modern day Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's movie seems to repeat itself ad nauseum after the first 30-40 min. The acting is good, Shu Qi carries the movie pretty comfortably, but the whole thing becomes rather mundane for most of the second half. 5/10 Missing (1982) - Excellent film by Costa-Gavras based on the disappearance of US journalist Charles Horman who disappeared in the violent aftermath of the US backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende. Ironically, the name of the country is never once mentioned in the film nor is the US' culpability explicitly stated as Costa-Gavra merely uses the political undercurrents to focus on the personal side of the story, the search in vain for Horman by his father and wife. In those two roles, Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek are absolutely superb in a masterclass of restrained acting. The minimalism extends to the depiction by Costa-Gavras of the siege, which is generally shown only in the background of most shots and never really taking centre stage or overtaking the plight of the characters. 7.5/10 Orpheus (1949) - Jean Cocteau's superb transplantation of the ancient greek myth to post-war Paris is a dreamy, surreal film with great use of rather simple special effects to portray the world of Death. Maria Casares also makes for a tortured, enigmatic version of Death and Cocteau's additional subplot involving Death and Orpheus adds another layer of intrigue to the original story. Jean Marais as Orpheus is a bit of a weak link in the ensemble but apart from that, this is classy stuff all round. 7.5/10 Our Man in Havana (1959) - While I found The Tailor of Panama to be a decent film, the Carol Reed movie of effectively the same story is far more entertaining, mainly thanks to a wittier and funnier script from Graham Greene. Alex Guinness chimes in with a suitably deadpan performance as a british national selling vacuum cleaners in Havana and recruited by MI6 to provide inside information in exchange for lots of money, which he then proceeds to fabricate in amusing fashion. Carol Reed utilises the same camera moves as in The Third Man and although they don�t work quite as well this time around, the quality of the script and performances more than make up for it. 7-7.5/10 People Will Talk (1951) - should be awkward but isnt mix of socio-drama and comedy with Cary Grant playing a doctor with non-conventional methods. Little bit heavy handed at times and the dialogue by Mankiewicz is over literate at times, but its interesting enough and Cary Grant demonstrates that he is quite possibly the smoothest man ever. 7-7.5/10 Foreign movie posters :
http://www.cracked.com/article_16990_lost-in-translation-20-baffling-foreign-movie-posters.html The Pledge (2001) - wasn�t too keen on seeing anything by Sean Penn after really disliking Into the Wild but gave this a go simply on the strength of the cast (Nicholson, Eckhart, Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave, Patricia Clarkson).
And the acting does really save what is otherwise an interesting but flawed film, too weighed down by its own self importance in places (Penn really needs to stop thinking he is Terence Malick and leave out all the nature shots) but doing a fair job of charting a retired detective's spiral into mental illness when he becomes too involved with the disappearance of a young girl and pledges to find what happened to her mother. The plotting also has a number of questionable gaps but when it sticks to characterisation, its pretty involving stuff. 6.5/10 Police (1985) - fairly gripping police procedural by Maurice Pialat and starring Gerard Depardieu before he starred in every french film ever released. Most of the movie's success comes from the scripting by Catherine Breillat which spends an awful lot of time on small details and interactions, and with great effect, than plotting. Depardieu and Sophie Marceau also share good chemistry together, with Pialat just content on filming their awkward relationship in an objective, loose style. 7/10 La Ronde (1950) - graceful and elegant would be the best words to describe this and simply because of Max Ophuls' swirling camerawork that is just a pleasure to watch. In a definite case of style over substance, but also one where it doesn�t really matter, Ophuls creates a beautiful looking film as his cast go through connected vignettes about relationships in different social classes in 1800's Vienna. 7/10 Samurai Spy (1965) - Masashiri Shinoda's extremely confusing samurai film has more plot twists than are possible in a whole season of tv, let alone a 100 min film. Things seem to change so rapidly that its very hard to keep track of what's going on for most of the film and to whom. On top of all that, Shinoda seems intent on filming in an overly distracting arty style that just adds to the confusion. And the fight scenes are poorly shot, obscuring the characters and choreography in most shots (although when this happens in the climactic duel, it does work). 5/10 Shanghai Triad (1995) - Probably the worst Zhang Yimou film I've come across, which is saying a lot considering how disappointing House of Flying Daggers ultimately was. Essentially, it's a seven day tale told through the eyes of a young child who moves from the country to 40's Shanghai and starts working for the Shanghai underworld, his job consisting of being an assistant to the boss' mistress. Yimou never feels comfortable with the material, especially with the presentation of the story through the child protagonists' view. There are a handful of good scenes, mainly involving the great Gong Li but this is definitely the least of all their collaborations. Even the visuals, which are normally a guarantee in Yimou's hands, are not all that impressive. 4/10 Sword of the Beast (1965) - This is more like it, Hideo Gosha strips the samurai film to its bare essentials with a moody, blistering movie full of great characters and tremendous fight scenes. Well worth a watch. 7-7.5/10 The Talk of the Town (1942) - not quite right blend of socio-drama and comedy from George Stevens that nevertheless works due to the rapport of Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. When it gets into message mode, its nowhere near as successful as when it stays in comedy mode, getting overly heavy handed and preachy. Still, a reasonable film overall for the lighter moments. 6.5/10
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