Film Diary: 2022
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- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnBrenda MarshallClaude RainsGeoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for an attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills with the sword.Finished watching this wonderful romp in the wee hours of this year.
- DirectorWilliam MarshallRobert FloreyStarsErrol FlynnMicheline PresleVincent PriceA sea captain becomes involved with a servant girl in early New Orleans. She sees him as a way to gain access into wealthy households.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsKeith CarradinePowers BootheFred WardDuring a routine exercise, a team of National Guardsmen are threatened by angry and violent locals.As of January 21 I have seen this film twice this year (Think I'm up to four times now, in October). Likely to watch it again later on. Upped it from 7 to 8 based on my enjoyment of it.
It's often compared to "Deliverance", for good reason, but I think there is a fundamental difference in how the natives are portrayed. In Deliverance they seem genuinely evil at times, even if the main characters are hardly likable, at least they don't deserve to be raped and murdered just for being there. In this the military team are clearly in the wrong from the very beginning, and there's no wonder the Cajun hunters first react the way they do. After that everything gradually escalates, and to great effect.
Here the problem first springs from one unstable, unreliable asshole who decides to joke around with loose amunition. He should probably already have been disciplined, but these exercises are taken quite lightly. So the military steal a couple of canoes, they shoot at the hunters, they take someone captive and tortures him, and then they blow his house up... Except for the shooting, it's always in response to a situation some of them believe to be something it isn't yet, which in itself makes it so.
In my own genre-terms, this is a brilliant example of "Travelling in bad weather", where the guys stomp around in a swamp for days on end. It's great. There's a bit where they decide to retreat - cut to them running as best they can while knee-deep in water. It sounds about as stealthy as the pirates of Penzance.
Then there are of course the characters and the group dynamic, constantly shifting and building as one by one go down. The whole group is a perfect boiling-pot for tension-stew. But ultimately the movie belongs to Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe, as the lone/joint survivors and as brilliant representatives of two differing worldviews. Carradine as the easy-going, smooth talking charmer who takes everything as it comes, never stumped or surprised by anything. Pragmatic to the chore. And Boothe as a distanced cynic, competent enough to face anything but too much of a realist to accept the extraordinary situation he finds himself in. It's just too dumb to believe.
There's also an element of "Dog Soldiers", well, the other way around... - StarsPowers BootheBilly KearnsKathryn Leigh ScottPrivate detective Philip Marlowe solves many crimes in Los Angeles during the 1930s.Excellent Marlowe, despite the stories not even being ones with Marlowe originally. The tone and atmosphere is just right, in that strange '80s/'90s way. It also has a few really nice ugly-fights... The last episode is my favourite, purely for atmosphere - that weird, almost otherworldly feeling you sometimes get when the weather is too hot, on the verge of a great big thunderstorm. Something's in the air.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsNick NoltePowers BootheMichael IronsideA Texas Ranger and a ruthless narcotics kingpin - they were childhood friends, now they are adversaries...Mostly worth watching for an incredibly hammy Powers Boothe-performance.
- DirectorAllan EdwallStarsStefan EkmanClaire WikholmAnna GodeniusDet närmaste i filmversion jag har sett av "Le Train de Venise". Ensam man åker tåg mitt i varma sommarn, råkar få med sig väska hem eftersom mannen som ägde den mystiskt försvann under resan, väskan visar sig innehålla pengar, mannen vill behålla pengarna men driver sig själv till vansinne av att försöka rättfärdiga det faktum att han har dem. I den här filmen blandas också polisen in och flera andra personer i mannens omgivning får reda på att han har pengarna, vilket ju ställer till det hela ytterligare.
En särskilt efterhängsen figur spelas av en lysande Lars-Erik Berenett, som senare blir påkörd i en något blodigare vändning än jag hade väntat av en typisk gammal SVT-kriminalkomedi - och allt för stålarnas skull.
Stefan Ekman är en utmärkt underdog-hjälte som gör alla tänkbara fel. Varför är han inte i fler filmer? - DirectorJohn BoormanStarsPowers BootheMeg FosterYara VaneauAfter the son of engineer Bill Markham is abducted by an aboriginal tribe on the edge of the rain forest, the engineer spends the next 10 years searching for him.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsJessica LangeTommy Lee JonesPowers BootheCarly moves with her military husband and their two daughters to an isolated army base, only to quickly become part of a cover-up involving nuclear bomb tests.Surprisingly good. All central performances especially so. Lange and Jones reminded me a lot of Davies and Falk in "A Woman Under the Influence". Boothe does a great smarmy guy and the kids are really likable, despite being kids!
The scene where Lange and the kids finally get to visit Jones at the hospital, and he turns out to be a drivelling vegetable, is not unpredictable, but heart-wrenching. - DirectorStanley KramerStarsVivien LeighSimone SignoretJosé FerrerA varied group of passengers boarding a ship bound for pre-WWII Germany represents a microcosm of early 1930s society.
- DirectorJames GrayStarsBrad PittTommy Lee JonesRuth NeggaAstronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.Another surprisingly good movie. I thought it was going to be something like "Moon", which I half liked but wasn't that invested in. This has a darker tone, but not the kind that comes from taking itself too seriously. I came to think of it as a Xavier Dorrison-type story and pacing (having just read several of his comic book-series). There are bits that should be dull because nothing is happening, but I instead found myself intrigued. There is a sense of going deeper and deeper into an abyss where every step could be the point of no return (not unlike "Sanctum", for instance). It is both a physical abyss and an emotional one, where the hero is set up to be shut off and you know that his one weak spot is the relationsship to his father. The journey explores that further in a way that you're constantly on edge, waiting for the hero to finally crack.
It's a sombre, slowly paced russian doll of a movie, where you peel off layer after layer to get to the truth, and when you get there it maybe isn't so nice after all.
There are also elements of "Space Cowboys" crossed with "Event Horizon", which shouldn't go together, but they do. - StarsMatt BerryDoon MackichanFred ArmisenSteven Toast is determined to win the recognition he mistakenly believes he deserves.All of it (6 episodes).
Toast keeps in style. That Rug Fruit fella knows what he's doing. - DirectorAlan TaylorStarsAlessandro NivolaLeslie Odom Jr.Jon BernthalWitness the making of Tony Soprano. The story that reveals the humanity behind Tony's struggles and the influence his family - especially his uncle, Dickie Moltisanti - had over him becoming the most iconic mob boss of all time.
- DirectorArne MattssonStarsSickan CarlssonGunnar BjörnstrandKarl-Arne HolmstenThe spoiled son of a weapons manufacturer falls in love with a manicurist, to the horror of his parents. Class limits may not be exceeded.Tråkig story men fantastiskt bildspråk, kameraarbete och ljussättning! Uppfinningsrika åkningar, bilder genom andra objekt, symmetriska former, otroligt snygg blocking, m.m. Slå av ljudet och kolla på bilderna!
- DirectorWilliam A. GrahamStarsPowers BootheNed BeattyIrene CaraThe real-life story of the Peoples Temple cult led by Reverend Jim Jones and the events involving its move to Guyana and its eventual mass suicide.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsSusan BlakelyPowers BootheCharles SiebertDivorcee Susan Blakely, with no alimony and two kids to support, begins turning to amphetamines. While at her lowest ebb, she meets an alcoholic and three-time loser in marriage--who, incredibly, turns out to be the ideal man!Cute and raw at the same time. Great acting.
- DirectorJack SholderStarsPowers BootheRebecca De MornayJames Earl JonesA non-NATO nuclear missile is fired from Turkey at USSR, where it detonates. Soviet response is automatic as it's seen as a NATO missile. Can continued escalation be avoided? We follow the US president and a bomber crew.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceLee MarvinEddie AlbertIn 1944, an American Infantry company sets up an artillery observation post, but tensions between Captain Cooney and Lieutenant Costa run high.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsLee MarvinMark HamillRobert CarradineA hardened sergeant and the four core members of his infantry unit try to survive World War II as they move from battle to battle throughout Europe.Interesting, but a little too disjointed for my taste. The story takes place over such a long time that it becomes hard to really latch on to anything or experience anything as horrible, even though it undeniably is. I kind of got battle fatigue along with the characters. Lee Marvin is great, obviously. But I never felt any true emotional connection to any one of them, like in, say "The Story of G.I. Joe" (which also follows a company and takes place over a longer period of time).
- DirectorLyndon ChubbuckStarsKiefer SutherlandRebecca De MornayDana DelanyA detective falls for the man she's supposed to be investigating; dire complications follow.Hardly original or unpredictable, but a lot of fun! Much like "Mean Season" this feels like a classic noir in a 90s' suit. I love the atmosphere in these types of neo noirs. On a triple-bill, I'd also add "Gotham" even though it was made 1988. VR5 has a similar style too, despite being a sci-fi-noir. It's a wonderfully atmospheric world somewhere between reality and booze-improved tall-tale, often with some supernatural elements that could possibly be explained as brain-ghosts rather than actual ones, but you're never quite sure. The Marlowe-episode "Red Wind" has this in spades too. I don't care if it makes sense or if I can predict the ending - I just want to live in that world. There is something oddly comforting about it.
- DirectorEd ByeStarsHarry EnfieldKevin EldonPaul WhitehouseAs part of the BBC2 50th-anniversary celebrations, comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were commissioned to produce this spoof history of the channel. It parodies the channel, its content, and the history documentary.I think I've seen this before, but I hadn't marked it, so here goes. Very funny. I especially appreciate the willingness to take the piss out of themselves.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsCharlotte KirkSean PertweeSteven WaddingtonGrace, a young widow haunted by the recent suicide of her husband Joseph, is falsely accused of being a witch by her Landlord after she rejects his advances.12/1 01:54
What to say about this oddity? I never thought I'd accuse Neil Marshall of restraint, but there it is. I was surprised by how little of the gore was really shown, given the subject matter. The closest I can think of to what it looked like he was trying to do, is Costa-Gavras's "The Confession"; just one dreaded day after another of excrutiating torture. I liked the idea of putting the viewer on trial alongside the main character, and exploring what it takes to survive and stay relatively sane through a hopeless situation. But then it was an adventure film all of a sudden...
This film does not know what to be - is it a horror film? Is it an action adventure? A psychological thriller? A drama about the inner workings of religious fanatics? A survival story? A revenge narrative?
And if it is horror - what kind of horror is it trying to achieve? Is the implication that the Devil is stalking these people, perhaps the Witchfinder more so than the accused? There is certainly something interesting there. Especially between the Witchfinder and his "redeemed" accomplice, the half-burned former "witch" who assists him and actually executes the torture that he is to squeemish to do himself. These characters and their convictions are fascinating in that they truly believe in what they do. If people just confessed and repented, they would be genuinely relieved. But people don't. They choice to make them both human rather than clichéd monsters is, I think, largely successful. I found myself intrigued by them and their relationship, wishing that the focus lay on them and make it something more akin to Ken Russell's "The Devils" instead.
Then we have the main character, Grace Haverstock. The main problem for me, viewing it as a survival-horror film, is the fact that this woman was pretty sure to survive the entire time, which takes away a lot of potential tension. Had there been an ensemble cast like in several other Marshall movies, I'd at least be biting my nails to see who made it out of the ordeal alive - if anyone. I found Grace to be quite bland, but not as annoying as I feared. To be really invested in her struggle and her vendetta with the Witchfinder though, she would have had to have more of a well-defined personality. All of her backstory (which keeps popping up) is "sad, betrayed lady". Her mother is killed as a witch by the same general who sentences her, her (very wonderful and sweet and lovely and particularly amazing) husband gets plague and then hangs himself, and then her baby is taken away from her as she is betrayed by a close friend and imprisoned as a witch too. None of these things have anything to do with her as a person. They just happen to her. I'd like to see some more personality than "strong woman".
As Grace is tortured she retreats into memories of her (wonderful, incredibly brilliant and lovely) husband. This is an intriguing possibility for storytelling that isn't utilized fully. With this technique, the film could prime the audience to feel a shudder every time we see something nice, because we know what's happening in reality is so terrifying and painful not even the main character can stand it without drifting away. Much like the camera sliding down the stairs in "Frenzy" or the violinist who cries while he plays because he knows that it's just a way to cover up the noice while Tuco is beaten to a pulp by Angel Eyes...
Last point: The look of the whole thing. I don't know if this was down to budget constraints or what, but it looks like it was made for tv sometime in the early 2000's, by someone who didn't know the difference between 1600 and the early 2000's. Grace has potted flowers in the window. There is no mud or soot or general dirtyness. Not only did the peasants own an ironingboard, but they also went to the hairdresser and had their personal stylists, seemingly. The editing feels very tv-movie-like in its erratic fashion, as does the floaty camerawork, the colour choices, the lighting, the droning creepy-music that hovers over the entire film until it finally converts itself into an upbeat avenging-ditty for the ending. The opening in black and white is actually more in style with the story it seems to want to tell. Or the story i wanted it to tell.
Watching it as a made for tv-movie from 2003 made on a mini-budget in a week, it's pretty good. But I wish it was re-written, shot on film in 70s' Hammer-style, possibly with several women sharing the lead, with more focus on manipulation, temptation, fanatic lunacy, and surviving through the ordeal, as well as the dynamic between the Witchfinder and the burned woman. That, I think, would make for a complex classic. This, however, is not.
Oh, and they can keep the laughable (possibly unintentional) reference to "The Court Jester" during the climax, but it would play out more along the lines of "Hateful 8"... - DirectorByron HaskinStarsLizabeth ScottDon DeForeDan DuryeaThrough a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.(Med pappa). I did not expect that lady to be quite as ruthless as she was. I was very happily surprised by her final killing-spree.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsRichard BooneStuart WhitmanAnthony FranciosaA former Confederate officer and a Mexican try to prevent a former Confederate colonel from selling stolen rifles to renegade Apaches in Mexico.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsRichard WidmarkConstance SmithJeffrey HunterDrama dealing with the hazardous work of the U. S. Forest Service's paratroop fire-fighters in Montana.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsRobert BlakeLloyd BochnerRichard BooneAssistant State's Attorney Chris Dale (Boone) heads to a small town to get a statement from murder suspect Ellen Dudley (Leslie), who has been captured there and is accused of killing her husband. Dale's arrogant attitude is revealed by his treatment of his assistant (Rainey), the town sheriff (Stevens), and particularly his own wife (Nolan). While interrogating Ellen, Dale comes to see parallels between the way her husband treated her and the way he treats his wife.