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A few theses last few weeks.... don't have time right now to write anything about them, so I just mention them quickly:
Inside Out (Pete Doctor, 2015) 9/10
Just all around excellent, from a time when Disney and Pixar turned out successful and creative movies.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Kwan, 2022) 4/10
So this was the "Best Picture" winner? I found the movie confused and loud. I get that this was a mixture of various movies, science-fiction and absurdist comedy, but the problem I had with it is that it didn't really work on any level. It wasn't really engaging and it wasn't very funny (apart from a few scenes, I grant that) and while it was certainly absurd, there was no real entertainment value to it. I will say some positive things about it though: it was an original movie, the acting was top notch, Ke Huy Quan certainly deserved his Oscar, he could switch from one version of his character to the next on the drop of a dime. And the scenes with him really provided some entertainment.
Murder at 1600 (Dwight Little, 1997) 6/10
Competent thriller with a great premise. The first half of the movie was terrific, and hearkened back to the classic conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s... the second half, unfortunately, wasn't quite as good... we are back in the 90s there and it became a conventional (and preposterous) action thriller.
Six Degrees of Separation (Fred Schepisi, 1993) 6/10
Fargo (Jonathan and Ethal Coen, 1996) 7/10
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) 6/10
DC League of Super-Pets (Jared Stern, 2022) 5/10
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Interesting. I liked MIDSOMMAR (for its slow burn creepy atmosphere), and I really enjoyed HEREDITARY, which I considered indeed one of the better horror movies of this century so far.
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2024 - 1:05 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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MEAN GIRLS (2024) – 7/10
Twenty years ago, Tina Fey of “Saturday Night Live” wrote a screenplay called MEAN GIRLS based upon a nonfiction self-help book called Queen Bees and Wannabes, authored by Rosalind Wiseman. The film turned the book into a teen comedy directed by Mark Waters, which starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried. The film follows “Cady Heron” (Lohan), a naïve teenager who transfers to an American high school after years of homeschooling in Africa. Heron quickly befriends two outcasts, with the trio forming a plan to exact revenge on “Regina George” (McAdams), the leader of an envied clique known as the Plastics. The $18 million production became a hit for Paramount, with a worldwide gross of $130 million.
A made-for-TV sequel, MEAN GIRLS 2, premiered on ABC Family in January 2011. That film told a similar story of another girl in the same school dealing with a similar group of “Plastics.” The only cast member retained from the first film was Tim Meadows, reprising his role as the principal “Ron Duvall.”
The original film was turned into a stage musical with a book by Tina Fey, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Jeff Richmond (Fey’s husband). The story was updated from 2004 to take place during the social media age, with the incorporation of social media and mobile technology into the plot. The musical opened on Broadway on 8 April 2018, and ran for 804 performances. The somewhat overstuffed show had 18 original songs, and 7 song reprises. “Mean Girls” was nominated for a dozen Tony Awards, but won none of them. (The big musical winner that year was “The Band’s Visit,” which won 10 Tonys.)
Now we have the filmed version of the stage musical. To hold the film to a reasonable length of 112 minutes (the stage musical ran 2 and half hours), three songs and 5 reprises were dropped. The film stars Angourie Rice as “Cady Heron,” Reneé Rapp as “Regina George,” Auli'i Cravalho as Cady’s friend “Janis 'Imi'ike”, and Christopher Briney as Cady’s love interest “Aaron Samuels.” Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the original film, “Ms. Norbury,” the math teacher and “Mr. Duvall,” the principal, respectively. Lindsay Lohan, who played Cady Heron in the 2004 film, makes a $500,000 cameo appearance as the moderator of a Mathletes competition. Only Rapp had appeared in the Broadway production as one of the replacements for the original “Regina George.”
Like the filmed musical WAITRESS that I saw a few months ago, MEAN GIRLS is acceptable musical entertainment, but hardly the cream of the genre. The songs depend upon tricky rhythms and rhymes, and there’s nothing that approaches a ballad in the film, but I doubt modern audiences would sit still for one. Even your average Disney animated musical has better songs.
The cast of unknowns (at least to me) acquits itself well enough, given the material they have to work with. Neither the nonmusical nor the musical MEAN GIRLS is a laugh riot. Instead, it trades on the angst that most people have in high school caused by the need to fit in, and uses that to illustrate the absurdities of most of our worst fears, to give vent to our desire to give the tormenters their just desserts, and to provide lessons in redemption and forgiveness. If you liked the original film, and tolerate musicals in general, you’re probably going to like this reworking.
MEAN GIRLS was originally set for a streaming-only release on Paramount+, but in September 2023 a decision was made to switch it to a theatrical release, after positive test scores. The decision appears to be a wise one. After 5 weeks in theaters, the $36 million film has grossed $102 million. It has already been released digitally, with physical media releases scheduled for the end of April. A CD with most of the film’s songs has been released by Interscope Records.
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Posted: |
Feb 24, 2024 - 9:08 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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In recent memory -
THE DEVILS (GB 1971) 8
Remarkable.
EVIL DEAD II (US 1987) 6
Quite enjoyable but sadly overboard on the comedy.
THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (US 1945) 6
Modest, well done obscurity in the mold of Val Lewton.
VAMPYR (Germany 1932) 7
Dreyer's weird and wonderful vamp film. Hypnotic.
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (France 1928) 5
The Epstein one (no, not him). Interesting to say the least.
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (US 1928) 5
A short. Expressionistic and very minor.
THE TELL-TALE HEART (US 1928) 5
Another interesting Poe short.
THE TELL-TALE HEART (US 1941) 6
Jules Dassin directs yet another short Poe, or Poe short. Sol Kaplan scores.
THE TELL-TALE HEART (US 1953) 6
Impressive animated short, voiced by the (in)imitable James Mason.
THE BORDERLANDS (UK 2013) 5
I'd read good things about this, so I was disappointed. It is kind of "just another" tired found footage film, but being set in Britain it kept my attention up to a point, if only to get nostalgic about how petrifying the schools still are.
IL CASO VALDEMAR (Italy 1936) 7
Another Poe short, and a surprisingly gory one. Watch Valdemar putrify more explicitly than Vincent Price did several decades later!
THE PENALTY (US 1920) 6
Impressive Lon Chaney film. Horror-crime hybrid.
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW (2023... What's the nationality of this?) 6
Left me cold. Ha!
FAHRENHEIT 451 (US 2018) 3
Pretty dreadful interpretation of the classic story. No poetry to it at all.
LE CORBEAU (France 1943) 7
Clouzot classic! Great psychological thriller. I really only watched it because a lot of it was filmed in the small town of Montfort-L'Aumary, a place I know well because I visit pals there. The streets have hardly changed. Oh, good film too.
THE CABINET OF CALIGARI (US 1962) 5
Unfairly maligned, I found this pretty interesting visually at least. Glynis Johns is dreadful in it however, Dan O' Herlihy plays two parts (you can tell it's him doing the two roles after about one second) and it's all quite watchable. Good Gerald Fried score. Hey you nutmegs crying out for more Bond CDs before you've received the latest ones - Have you all got this on the FSM label? It only came out 25 years ago.
(HORROR OF) DRACULA (UK 1957) 7
I've seen it 100 times and I'd give it a 10 then. This time round I only saw how thin it all is, and the plot holes. I'm crushed, I really am. What happened? I mean, I LOVE this film!
LA MAIN DU DIABLE (France 1943) 7
Faustian tale, very impressive. Maurice Tourneur directs.
SVENGALI (US 1931) 8
Hugely entertaining version, thanks largely to John Barrymore's OTT - and often very funny - performance.
THE EIGER SANCTION (US 1975) 6
Watchable for the scenery in the second half and for the outlandish spy shenanigans in the first half. I only really watched this to hear John Williams score in context. Buy dis double CD, nutmegs!
THE WILD ONE (US 1953) 5
Horribly dated but now thankfully amusing portrait of aimless layabouts. All that posturing really got up my nose. Some of those bikers looked like they were auditioning for GREASE, right down to their swooning in front of da girls. I'd have had them all shot.
THE VAMPIRE BAT (US 1932) 7
Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray! Rather splendid old quickie.
THE OLD DARK HOUSE (US 1932) 9
An absolute hoot! Wonderfully scripted and performed, this may be my favourite James Whale film. Either this or THE INVISIBLE MAN.
MIDSOMMAR (US 2019) 8
Really engrossing Wicker Man stuff. A lot of it looks like THE SOUND OF MUSIC, or a butter advert. And so much the better for that! What I love about this (and HEREDITARY) is that they are actually about things! I mean, real issues! Love it!
HEREDITARY (US 2018) 8
I'm lovin' this Ari Aster guy! It's more than just a scary movie! It's about stuff! Excellent!
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The old dark house . Is that the one with Karloff and Ernest ( have a potato) Thesiger?
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Yep good fun. Haven't watched it in a while.
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Posted: |
Feb 24, 2024 - 11:09 PM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Finders Keepers (1966) ... 4-/10
I recall seeing this on release (perhaps a re-run) but I'm not sure if I've seen it since. This was my type of pop music, as opposed to the contemporaneous boy-bands, and even today the light, easy-listening tunes aren't objectionable ... to me.
Being mid-sixties, the story has to involve spies and Robert Morley, Peggy Mount and particularly Graham Stark make the film enjoyable: a good number of laughs. There are a couple of tedious scenes where Cliff Richard and The Shadows make fun of the inept US military and the many back projection shots reveal the film's limited budget.
The opening titles have the leads riding atop a goods train, performing the title song - awful back projection - electric guitars accompaniment: shame it was a steam train ... how did they power these instruments? 
The Book of Eli (2010) ... no score
I usually enjoy watching Denzel Washington hence thought I'd give this a try, despite the post-apocalyptical story-line not being my usual fare. After about 20 minutes or so, fed up of the boring imagery and the repetitive killing sequences, enough was enough. I wonder if Denzel was as bored making the film as I was watching ...
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 4:39 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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MIDSOMMAR (US 2019) 8
Really engrossing Wicker Man stuff. A lot of it looks like THE SOUND OF MUSIC, or a butter advert. And so much the better for that! What I love about this (and HEREDITARY) is that they are actually about things! I mean, real issues! Love it!
Hey, Graham: aggregate our scores for this and we get a perfect 10/10 ! Tell me, when you watched: had you been consuming some of the produce this group of non-entities tried when they first meet the locals?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Ha, yes Mitch, I had in mind your 2/10 when I gave it an 8! But I wasn't merely rebelling against the Guild of Chartered Accountants, I really did think that this film was a solid 8/10. Maybe if I do procure some of those infusions consumed by the group of non-entities the next time I watch it (and there will be a next time), I might give it a 10!
From what I gather, it's a film that polarizes opinion. We're in two camps, Mitch. Polar opposites. I must admit that I have this "plot dyslexia", which means I get bored trying to follow conventional storylines. It's an advantage in that I don't really mind if a film doesn't make sense narratively. I prefer the atmosphere a film creates, and if the themes addressed come through in some form - even garbled - that's another plus. I think that all the cast did very well in MIDSOMMAR. Apart from the really great Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor did particularly well at portraying his lack of commitment to her. All of this was well-scripted and carried off brilliantly. I also think that the humour was just right. I probably laughed in the "right" places (who couldn't smirk when the... older naked lady gets down to push Jack Reynor's butt cheeks... in order to... help his momentum).
So, the two Ari Aster films I've seen get a resounding 16/20 aggregate! By the way, Mitch (and everyone else on this topic) - Have you ever given a film a 10? I know I haven't. Not yet, but I have in mind some titles. Maybe if I watch them again I'll be forced to score them lower, which is always a pity.
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 4:58 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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MIDSOMMAR (US 2019) 8...
Ha, yes Mitch, I had in mind your 2/10 when I gave it an 8!
Thanks for the explanation, Graham ... and yes, polar opposites. May be if I watched again (very unlikely) I would see some of the qualities you mention but, for me, plot is so important if the story is meant to be dramatic, as opposed to -say- comedic. Your first listed film The Devils (1971) ... now, whilst I might not go as high as '8' I'd certainly rate it closer (I've not seen it for 20+ years) as I found it compelling with an outstanding performance from Oliver Reed, telling a strong, dramatic story.
Oh, and Guild of Chartered Accountants? No such thing ... and, now in my advanced years, I'm no longer a member of that revered Institute ... 
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 5:42 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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By the way, Mitch (and everyone else on this topic) - Have you ever given a film a 10? I know I haven't. Not yet, but I have in mind some titles. Maybe if I watch them again I'll be forced to score them lower, which is always a pity.
No, not since I started this gig (Jun17) ... though there have been a few '9's, with the highest being the ever wonderful Charade (1963): 9+
Other films I know I enjoy greatly but haven't seen for some years and might push that elusive '10' include Dances with Wolves (1990), Open Range (2003), Thunderball (1965), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), The Apartment (1960), It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and High Society (1956) ... all solid '9's and - on the right day - perhaps a '10'.
Strangely, each and all tell a story, are well-acted and leave you feeling you've been entertained. Then again, perhaps not strange ...
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Posted: |
Feb 25, 2024 - 3:02 PM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Murder on the Orient Express (1974) ... 5-/10
How time changes one's opinions; is the water hot or is it cold? That depends on the circumstances and what your prior knowledge/experience is. For me, when this film was released, the hey-day of my cinema-going life, I had no interest in seeing it. Even my interest in Sean (James Bond) Connery wasn't enough for me to spend my limited funds ...
I can't recall why but I read the novel (only one of a few Agatha Christie mysteries I've encountered) a few years later and after a few more years finally watched the film (a TV broadcast). I wasn't impressed.
Given the good comments I'd received (e.g. from my niece) I watched the Kenneth Branagh 2017 remake (first TV broadcast) and was shocked at how appallingly bad it is, hence a need to revisit this glossy star-studded feature. Is it any good? It's okay but far from great and yet compared with the remake it's a masterpiece.
The cast of known actors (to my generation) helps guide the viewer through Poirot's denouement and it's fun seeking to identify who each character is in the tedious scenes which precede this. The claustrophobia of the train setting is well-handled as is the opulence of the surroundings with excellent scenery to support the characters' predicament. But all of this is ruined, for me, by the OTT performance of lead Albert Finney which means I lost interest in the story. Just as Marlon Brando's starring role in The Godfather was more about the actor than the role, so here AF appears more interested in showing how he can play a weird foreign detective ... In this respect, Kenneth Branagh's portrayal is far superior.
The score by Richard Rodney Bennett has mixed reviews. For me, it works well adding to the glamour of the settings but it's not an album I want to listen to often.
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