Wednesday 28 September 2011

Becket
(1964)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.thefilmyap.com)

Scenery-Chewing Good

Rather good film enlivened by sparkling performances from two of the best actors the British Isles ever produced: Richard BURTON & Peter O’TOOLE. Their characters' antagonism informs the whole spectacle and keeps it simmering along nicely until the inevitably-tragic ending. The characterization is striking and vivid; illuminating the theme of honor-among-men with a good deal of humor and subtlety. The irreconcilable differences between the two will defeat one or the other as Thomas à Becket fights successfully with his conscience.

Psychologically, we have here a king without a mother’s affection; the vapid substitute of an insipid wife; and, decidedly-undisciplined children. Becket becomes the only love of Henry II’s life, yet the film wisely eschews overdoing any suggestions of homosexuality on the latter’s part since this is not the main thrust of this particular story.

(http://ratocine.blogspot.com)

Becket is shown as less emotionally-distraught than the king, because he has the inner strength his faith provides, and so becomes the conscience of the drama - as Henry becomes its catalyst. The latter’s grip on power is wholly dependent upon the subservience of those around him; including Becket – not upon any love or even respect for “their” king.

The ethnic conflict (between Norman & Saxon) became the class war of today. Yet, this film is somewhat historically inaccurate; while remaining a good story of two friends who eventually turn against each other in the ongoing battle between church and state. Nevertheless, these two characters represent these two not fully-reconcilable interests with great aplomb.

The single basic problem this movie possesses is its length. This does not spring naturally from the writing, but from the shooting style of using long, uninterrupted takes. Each individual scene is exquisite and would be spoiled by any attempts at reduction, but they each take a little too long to get to the point; making the film - as a whole - too long.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Zulu
(1964)

Rating: 100%

(www.avsforum.com)

Also Known As:: Unknown
Year:: 1964
Country:
Predominant Genre:: War
Director:
Outstanding Performances:
Premiss:: Outnumbered British soldiers battle Zulu warriors.
Themes:: Christianity | Courage | Destiny | Empathy | Ethnicity | Friendship | Humanity | Identity | Loyalty | Mankind | Materialism | Narcissism | Personal change | Self-expression | Sexism | Social class | Snobbery | Solipsism | White culture | White supremacy
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Review Format:: DVD

English Social Hierarchy

Summary: Jolly-good fun.

Unusually, this Boy’s Own adventure treats its natives as genetic equals and suggests the British Empire was essentially a mistake.

The story is also very much a part of so-called Black History as well as White – a tacit assumption rare in White movies. (Ironic, given that the film was shot in apartheid South Africa.) The Zulu here never experience the White supremacist stereotyping found in, for example, most Hollywood Westerns regarding Native-Americans. There is not only drama between the Whites, but also between the Blacks and the Whites; effectively doubling the dramatic possibilities.

(www.avsforum.com)

A subtle exploration of the whys and wherefores of British imperial failure in being not only anti-war but also in being as non-White supremacist as it is pro-Welsh.

(www.imfdb.org)

This superb war movie mixes violent action with subtle comments on the English class system in the initially-nitpicking relationship between Stanley BAKER and Michael CAINE. This is all beautifully played-out through the high quality of the acting and the solid writing of the fully-realised characters.

Ultimately, the film suggests that the mutual respect of equals in battle can finally trump the need for conflict at all. Hopelessly idealistic, of course, but jolly good fun.

Monday 26 September 2011

Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki
[Violent Cop]
(1989)

RATING:	80%
TECHNICAL QUALITY:	DVD

(Image: http://www.alohacriticon.com/)

Impressive movie about masculinity in crisis that features a villain and a cop who resemble each other in their methods, so much so that each ends up serving the needs of the other until the inevitable violent showdown at the film's climax. The politics of the criminal fraternity are shown to be little different from those of the police service as each uses violence to get what it wants regardless of the rules - even disregarding what would be best in the circumstances.

A great modern tragedy. The characterization is vivid and compares favorably with Cop albeit that Takeshi KITANO is nowhere near as good an actor as James WOODS.

(Image: http://www.alohacriticon.com/)

Copyright © 2011 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Soldier of God
(2005)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.themoviedb.org)

Reminiscent of Hell in the Pacific and Enemy Mine, this is a parable about the Christian Crusades of the medieval period in Europe. It exemplifies the White Christian need to combine faith with force because – despite the teachings of The Christ – in the pragmatic world of global politics, faith is not enough to move mountains. That these mountains do not need moving, since they belong to someone else, does not occur to these Christian soldiers and is the main theme of this clever movie.

The film takes allegorical form in which characters stand in for their religions as a whole – like the old jokes about the Englishman, the Irishman and the Scotsman. Here we have a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew – along with a beautiful woman (Mapi GALAN), who somehow manages to keep them from killing each other.

Tim ABELL plays the Christian as a moral blank undergoing a crisis of conscience over his celibacy – GALAN is an inevitably direct challenge to this – and his inevitably violent religion (Christianity); springing from the hate-fueled nature of a religion claiming to be the creation of a god of love. Here, dramatic characterization plays a secondary role to ideas; the prime one being that Christians are presented as armed assassins of the faith - and nothing more. That the crusader begins the movie lost in the desert is a perfect analogy for a religion lost in its own bloodlust, death worship and pleasure denial - and of how far it has strayed from Jesus' teachings with its self destructive White supremacism and its failure to make the world a more pacific place.

This is a superior treatment of its theme than evidenced by Kingdom of Heaven. Nevertheless, the central character - as the female representative of the feminine principle - is underwritten and not as powerful a presence as she should be. Needless to say, the relationship of this film to the current (2003) White crusades in Iraq and Afghanistan is patently obvious.

All That Jazz
(1979)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://florencio.wordpress.com/)

Incredibly-honest and self-recycling autobiography that is funny about major and universal themes. A musical-comedy about death, dying & sex is unusual, as is its take on what we make of our own lives.

Despite the essential awfulness of the central character, he is very talented indeed and women do really, really like him - despite themselves. A much more personal film than his earlier Cabaret, but none the worse for that. The style is highly reminiscent of the later BBC tv series The Singing Detective - only better, because more believable.

(Image: http://florencio.wordpress.com/)

The dance numbers are impeccable and imaginatively-staged throughout - as one would expect from director and choreographer Bob FOSSE; while the performances and the cynical humor always ring true. It is a little too long and the pace sometimes sluggish, but these are relatively minor complaints amid all the technical brilliance on show.

(Image: http://florencio.wordpress.com/)

Inception
(2010)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(http://littlebism.blogspot.com)

Still Spitting on Dreams

Interesting movie whose reach exceeds its grasp. Yet the reach is formidable.

Hopefully, intellectually- and emotionally-challenging films will become a new Hollywood norm since here we have an expensive cinematic spectacle that goes some way to achieving just that.

The perfunctory gunfights are weakly-staged and reveal a filmmaker (Christopher Nolan) uninterested in such sights. Instead, he revels - somewhat self-indulgently - in a complex plot that envisions the common plight of those attempting to escape the strictures of reality - through their dreams being made more real than their waking lives.

Yet the film's dream sequences are at once hyper-realistic while - like a (Salvador Dali painting - spit on the very dreams depicted. Painting dreams as if they were real nullifies the dream state; making it hard to distinguish between it and reality. The film itself falls into this trap by never clarifying whether the characters are awake or asleep; making it hard to understand why the characters would take such risks with their sanity. The SFX thus fail to impress in their monumentalism (ie, a paradoxical lack of creative imagination used to represent the imagination) because they look nothing like real dreams and do not serve the same purpose - an analysis of reality in symbolic terms.

The overly-large cast creates too many characters for an audience to follow; explaining the film's over-length. In particular, Ariadne does not fulfill the role suggested by her name and so distracts from the more impressive Marion COTILLARD. Ariadne's expository function is played by a mediocrity while COTILLARD actually understands her role and acts accordingly; while the star (the ever-feeble Leonardo DICAPRIO) is lost in a love story that is quite beyond his acting abilities. Clearly, bankable stars are still needed to front expensive films despite their being quite wrong for their parts.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Caligula
(1979)

Rating: 20%

WEBSITE: Caligula [Imperial Edition] (1979)...

(www.moviemuser.co.uk)

Also Known As:
Year:: 1979
Countries:
Predominant Genre:: Pornography
Director:
Outstanding Performances:: None
Premiss:: Details the tragic story of Rome’s most infamous ruler, Caligula.
Themes:: Alienation | Destiny | Loneliness | Materialism | Narcissism | Pornography | Republicanism | Solipsism | White culture | White supremacy
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Review Format:: DVD

Joy of Porn

Summary: Self-indulgent pornography disguised as a serious look at a famous historical despot.

Even removing the often-gratuitous hard-core inserts would not improve the situation for some of the world’s greatest actors trapped in an exploitation (rather than an exploration) of depravity - despite a good screenplay by Gore Vidal.

Trying hard to look like a Fellini movie, this one proves high porn and high art can make unhappy bed-fellows.

Shot in master scenes, it is obvious that the point of the exercise is just sex-and-violence - not the telling of an important and interesting story. By focusing on a mass of details, we paradoxically lose focus on what should have been the essentials of the drama. And adding classical music to images almost entirely content-free will never make up for this failing.

So far, no-one has made a better story of ancient Rome than the BBC’s I, Claudius. And the only good thing about this interminable catalog of human degradation - that is, the disgusting without the edifying - is that at least it did not adversely affect the careers of the high-profile and quality actors appearing in it.

Copyright © 2014 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this posting in any format; provided mention of the author’s Weblog (Esthetics) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

All of Me
(1984)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://shadowsitcave.blogspot.co.uk)

One of Steve MARTIN’s best movies and precisely what Ghost should have been - if it had tried harder to be a good, romantic comedy.

Despite its absurd and oft-used body-swap premise, this is a fresh look at the idea that flatters the intelligence of grownups while still retaining the inevitable references to sex and other bodily functions implied by the very idea of entering someone else’s body - even spiritually.

The film uses a stereotype of an Indian swami that reduces its comic potential, but given that Peter Sellers was dead by the time of its making this is perhaps unavoidable. Otherwise, the characterization is excellent and the mixture of slapstick, smart dialogue and sheer silliness is well-handled because the theme of living life to the full is fully-integrated with the plot.

Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.cinema.ucla.edu)

[Adventures of Prince Achmed]

Clever animation using cardboard silhouettes to tell stories from the Arabian Nights.

Although a limited cartoon form for wide shots and action, it works brilliantly for close-ups and the many love scenes here.

The intimist, cameo-brooch nature of the style is well-rendered by Lotte Reiniger’s team, who took three years to complete the work - especially in the more romantic scenes.

Saturday 10 September 2011

Todo Sobre Mi Madre
(1999)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.dailyinfo.co.uk)

[All About My Mother]

Explicitly derived from All About Eve and Streetcar Named Desire that cannot rise about its derivations.

The absurdity of contemporary Western sex roles and particularly the transsexual desire to be what you cannot is unknowingly parodied. The sexual humor is spot-on and very funny; presenting women as the willing tools of men’s childish sexual-cravings: The kind of gags women tell each other when men are not around.

As usual with director, Pedro Almodóvar, the plotting is surreal and coincidental, in the extreme, to enable him to more clearly attack his favourite targets: Roman Catholics, machista men and female complicity in their own oppression. Yet, the women here bond well because they possess instinctive understanding - especially about the relationship between mothers and sons.

All in all, the issues are not fully dealt with and the title is redundant since all Almodóvar’s films are about his mother.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Boob Science
(2009)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(twitter.com)

Cock-Stiffening

Contains two skinny-arse White guys who are as bland as they come. It is difficult to relate to them because they are such nerds and cannot act to save their lives.

However, the girls are as hot as fuck and their tits bounce all over the screen as the two aforementioned jerks pound their pussies and their agitated and lustful flesh into grateful submission.

Stiff-cocked men with more staying power - Black guys, preferably - would have hammered the meat of these girls far more enjoyably for the viewer - but one cannot have everything.

Daphne ROSEN and Contessa ROSE are particularly firm-but-fleshy and they should have your cock standing to attention immediately. A treat for lovers of Rubenesque fillees with huge, attention-grabbing knockers.

Sunday 4 September 2011

Bishop’s Wife
(1947)

RATING:	60%
TECHNICAL QUALITY:	DVD

(Image: http://classicmoviesdigest.blogspot.com/)

Pleasing and amusing romantic comedy that only addresses its theme obliquely. The story of a man so caught up in his work that he has effectively forgotten not only to love his wife but that love is an ongoing process - never a fully-achieved state. Taking your wife for granted can be fatal and yet is so easy to do given the plethora of other concerns that can so easily distract us from what is really most important.

The problem here is that the actors are somewhat cast against type; undermining the spiritual aspect of the story and replacing it with the merely emotional. Unlike the far better It's a Wonderful Life, there is not enough humor for the usually-comic performers to get their teeth into, so the characters remain a little flat.

(Image: http://classicmoviesdigest.blogspot.com/)

Badmaash Company
(2010)

RATING:	40%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://musiqzone.blogspot.co.uk)

Nobody would be Fooled

Amusing fraud-caper comedy that does not really work - despite the cleverness of the flim-flam.

The characters are flat and the ethics of the situation are never explored in any real depth - especially the dishonor-among-thieves theme.

The actors are fine and possess an engaging and natural chemistry that is just right for the comic aspect of the story. But the plot just is not that credible and the overriding theme of family values being more important than materialistic ones is too tritely presented. Worst of all, the romance is nowhere near as emotionally engaging as it should be.

Führerprinzip:

One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.

(1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)

Pages:

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Scenery-Chewing Good

Tuesday 27 September 2011

English Social Hierarchy

Monday 26 September 2011

Saturday 24 September 2011

Still Spitting on Dreams

Thursday 15 September 2011

Joy of Porn

Tuesday 13 September 2011

[Adventures of Prince Achmed]

Saturday 10 September 2011

[All About My Mother]

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Cock-Stiffening

Sunday 4 September 2011

Nobody would be Fooled

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