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philipr09
Reviews
Ghost Story (1974)
Withnail And Us!
The small but select compendium of reviews here give an excellent description of the plot of this film; any attempt to add to them in that regard would be redundant. However, I would say that Stephen Weeks has done a fine job here of making a specific 'genre' movie: the good old Traditional English Ghost Story. His cast is well-chosen, Murray Melvin in particular is brilliant as McFadyen, a character for whom the term 'effete' could have been invented -his every gesture conveys exactly the aristocratic ennui and fragility that you would expect. The exception is Marianne Faithful, who (as in 'Girl On A Motorcycle') just about manages to be Marianne Faithful. She has a decent musical career behind her but, already rather matronly for the part in 1974, was never going to win any Oscars. It hardly matters though, because the characters are all stereotypes, as is pretty much required in this kind of tale. Critically, the atmosphere is perfectly managed throughout the movie. I did find the music (Ron Geesin) a bit much at times; stylistically it fit well but...less would have been more. Larry Dann is a little over-the-top as the 'living proof of university entry by scholarship' Talbot, the member of the three-man shooting party who is 'chosen' to receive visions of a past tragedy played out in the old house in which they are staying, and powerless to change past or present. Vivian MacKerrel is the third guy, Duller: a crack shot with a foppish interest in the paranormal. It was MacKerrel, whose otherwise undistinguished acting career, heroic indulgence in booze and early demise, was the inspiration for the titular Withnail in 'Withnail & I'. Worth seeing for this if nothing else!
Knowing (2009)
'I Robot' guy needs oil-change...
Utter tripe. The kind of movie 'Signs' could have been if Night Shyamalan had a death-wish (instead of merely wanting to sink his own career). Nicholas Cage's miserable, bereaved astrophysicist is handed a page full of numbers retrieved from a school's time capsule buried 50 years previously. Somehow, he works out that these numbers are a code that reveals when and where (but, unfortunately not HOW) certain disasters will occur, and the accurate death toll therein. Will this enable him to find some 'meaning' in everything, instead of just the random nastiness he suspects? This mildly amusing notion is rapidly flushed away in a toilet of dizzying, technically swish but ultimately pointless special effects (read 'body count orgies') and predictable 'apparitions' heralding much worse to come. Much worse for the world, and the movie... Alex Proyas gleefully has the planet torched as the finale (thanks Alex, that was...special) but the Cage character's young son and the daughter of his New Best Friend are spirited away by some seriously unconvincing aliens (duuhhhh!) to a delightful, sunny, pastoral new planet to 'start everything again'. Oh well, that's OK then...! Cage's performance (and indeed everyone else's) is, fittingly, by the numbers. Mr. Proyas, if tired of film making as this burnt offering would suggest, may do well to study astrophysics himself: more work needed on the effects of solar flares! ***0*** Two Glasses Later: actually, this piffle looks a whole lot better if you can view it as a bile-laden swipe at the movie 'system'. It would sort of make sense if it was a warning about everything in the industry being down to brutal (commercial) numbers that leave production possibilities on rails to a specific destiny -making expensive, effects-bound nonsense like this very movie! Because however awful they are, they will pay out ('Pearl Harbour', for example). It will all end with the inferno that engulfs good and bad, creative and dull alike. Just a thought...
Hidden City (1987)
A conspiracy...and they'd have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky actors!
OK, I saw this movie only once and it was ages ago.
It is one of those that, while I didn't particularly like it, left a lasting impression.
First and foremost, it is a London movie -every bit as much as 'The Long Good Friday' (1980), 'Pool Of London' (1951) and so many more, where the city is really the star. I am a sucker for London films!
Secondly, it belongs to a loose-knit family (genre?) of films that seem to have their origins in that time (late 1980s). The principal characteristic of them is that they take the standard 'noir' elements and run them 'all the way up to 11' , until they become saturated with a nightmare sense of impending evil and conspiracy. EVERYTHING takes on a threatening aspect; each word, action, step and object becomes laden with menace. 'Defence Of The Realm'(1986) pulled off a very similar trick, as did the contemporary TV series 'Edge Of Darkness'. Into the 1990s and Noughties this kind of 'X-Files Paranoia' thing became more prolific, for example 'The Forgotten'(2004).
However, that vibe is something that Poliakoff was trading in long before then: his TV play 'Caught On A Train' (1980) nicely exemplifies it. Maybe he started it all!
That said, 'Hidden City' doesn't come off all that well. I think the problem is chiefly with the casting, and the rather soft drawing of the central characters. I can't really believe Charles Dance as academic turned-action hero (Islington Jones?), capable actor though he is it seems a daft way to go, and at odds with the rest of the thing. The gimmick of weighing him down with the stereotypical 'feisty single mum and infant' combo in tow adds another surreal touch to the melodrama, one that could have sprung from the iBook of Doris Lessing on an average day (and I can't help thinking that she may have done a better job here).
The plot is an absolute mess. Set in the (1980s) present, It concerns Dance's character being led a merry erm, dance piecing together the story of some obscure government conspiracy that occurred just after WWII. The only evidence of this exists in perplexing bits of 'extra' footage at the end of various ancient Public Information Film reels. No sweat, then!
Time-worn hazards and difficulties are then laid on with a trowel: sinister spook-types, obstructive officials, characters whose sole purpose seems to be as unnecessarily cryptic as possible: all the usual suspects.
After much too long, he produces a worrying jig-saw of a top-secret (presumably nuclear) project going badly pear-shaped, and the bizarre extent to which the powers that be (or were) resorted to in burying the truth along with the casualties. And anyone who had anything to do with them. And anyone who had anything to do with anyone...you see where this is going.
You could file this under 'deservedly overlooked', but there are some very fine scenes: Bill Paterson (always good value), having a superbly unreal conversation with Dance while a disturbing shadow-show plays out on the opaque room-divider behind him, is delightful ("...I think that's so-and-so...") so by all means have a look.
Best not dwell on any underlying diatribe about the nature and corrupting power of secrets, the celluloid image, or the sad fact that history is whatever 'they' want it to be. That is all plastered over as effectively as the remains of 'Project Magnificat', and just as ill- fated.
Finally, there is what I assume to be a little twist-ette right at the very end, where the ancient footage Dance has been analysing briefly reveals the face of the cameraman: Jumpin' Crickets, he look just like Adolf Hitler! Go figure...
Ikarie XB 1 (1963)
Very cool 60s Sci-Fi movie!
It is unusual to watch a science fiction movie from the early 1960s without wanting to laugh yourself silly, but this little number not only looks the part (albeit in a 60s style -think original Star Trek series production values), it also bridges two distinct styles within the genre. On the one hand, there is the earlier, declamatory style of traditional alien-busting 'Golden Age' sci-fi; on the other the later, more confessional storytelling characterised by '2001: A Space Odyssey' or 'Solaris' through to 'Alien' and 'District 9'. In the latter sort, there is a much darker, dubious foundation; man is usually more a part of the problem than the solution. Arguably, this linking of styles was also achieved quite nicely in 'Forbidden Planet', but excellent as it was, that movie still had us rooting for the 'Cowboys' versus the 'Indians' (despite the 'Indians' being a product of one man's insecure ego), and fell back on that already tired old staple of the misunderstood scientist with a glamorous daughter! For me, the stunning thing about 'Ikarie XB 1' is the astonishingly precocious direction and editing. It is sharp, dynamic and typical of very much later offerings. At a trim 1 hour 23 minutes, it manages to do a great deal. It is true that much of the 'exterior' work is pretty clunky, but that doesn't detract too much from the whole. Also, I'm afraid I did find one thing to laugh myself silly at: the trashing of poor old Patrick, the ageing robot, would have fit right into an episode of 'The Simpsons'! ("Patrick -RETREAT!!"...CLUNK! CRASH! Oh dear, too late!) All this and the discovery of a diabolical weapon called 'Tigger Fun' - what's not to like?
This movie can be viewed in entirety, with English subs, on YouTube.
Finally, whilst writing this, I have learned (belatedly) of the death in January this year of Anne Francis, who played Altaira in 'Forbidden Planet'. I am sure my sadness at her passing will be shared by many.
The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)
Daft, yet oddly haunting...
Outwardly straightforward stuff: Ms Faithful simpers inanely and tries to look like Suzi Quatro (in the roadside bar scene, anyhow) while she holds a tedious deliberation on the relative merits of her lukewarm, downtrodden schoolteacher husband (Mutton -literally!) vs her rather friskier, piped- up college lecturer lover (Delon, looking strangely like a young Ewan McGregor). All this during a dawn bike ride on a Harley that probably once belonged to Noah. Jack Cardiff pulls this off with aplomb, and stretches the thin material over a flashback/fantasy-forward laden narrative until it becomes transparent, allowing a glimpse through to the dreamlike nature of desire, longing and the futility of trying to control them. Of its time, but by no means the worst of its time, and it sort of stays with you longer than it should. Love the cheesy opening credits!