ph: Ryan Michael Kelly
Saturday, October 13, 2012
First Lines: Dashiell Hammett - The Dain Curse
It was a diamond all right, shining in the grass half a dozen feet from the blue brick wall.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Slice-of-life character study that still manages to hold one's interest thanks to strong performances.
Halliwell **: "Echoes of Easy Rider, The Graduate and Charlie Bubbles abound in this generally likeable but insubstantial modern anti-drama which at least takes place in pleasant surroundings and is firmly directed."
Maltin ****: "Brilliant character study...Nicholson's performance is superb, but...all contribute heavily...this is the film with Jack's famous "chicken salad sandwich" speech."
Kandidaten (2008)
A defense attorney is a man of the system until the day he himself is accused of murder.
Complex and well staged murder mystery.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The Punisher (2004)
After his wife and family are killed a G-Man takes it upon
himself to distribute punishment to those responsible for the vendetta.
A no-holds-barred revenge thriller without any moral pretense.
Maltin BOMB: "Excruciating adaptation of the Marvel comic book...Formulaic idea is powered by repeated scenes of sadism and torture, with ham-handed performances as icing on the cake. Unbelievable, in every sense of the word."
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
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First Lines: J.M. Coetzee - Disgrace
For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well.
Nick of Time (1995)
An unimpressive, every-day man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.
Fairly enjoyable, if you have no reasonable doubts about the outrageous plot.
Halliwell (no stars): "A thriller in which real time and the film's time are the same, but it still drags at times, failing to create the necessary suspense, owing mainly to the spiralling absurdity of its narrative."
Maltin **1/2: "Watchable suspense yarn drwas you in, but hurls credibility roadblocks in your path at every turn. A game cast gives it 100 percent. Attempt to create heightened suspense by playing out the story in "real time" (with endless closeups of clocks) doesn't pay off at all."
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
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Cleopatra hasn't been on the throne of the Pharoahs of Egypt very long when Julius Caesar pays a visit.
Splendid, but stage-bound production, Vivien Leigh steals the whole show.
Halliwell **: "Britain's most expensive film is an absurd extravaganza for which the producer actually took sand to Egypt to get the right colour. It has compensations however in the sets, the colour, the performances and the witty lines, though all its virtues are theatrical rather than cinematic and the play is certainly not a major work."
Maltin **: "Two fine stars suffer through static, boring rendition of George Bernard Shaw's play, which seems to go on forever. Occasional wit and intrigue can't keep this afloat."