Saturday, August 7, 2021

A day in the life, Jul 28, 2020

A day in the life, Jul 28, 2020, window display

Hi, Mom! (1970)

A Vietnam vet moves into an apartment and views in other people's windows across the street, meets one of the women, and discovers black theater.

Another early De Palma satire this time around has a more focused narrative with Robert De Niro as its main protagonist, better, if not always good humor and some imaginative sequences.

Halliwell*: "Busy comedy of the drop-out life, full of random satirical jabs and homages to other filmmakers."

Friday, August 6, 2021

Cézanne et moi (2016)

The parallel paths of the lives, careers and passionate friendship of post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne and novelist Emile Zola. Both left their hometown to conquer the art scene in Paris.

Well-made biographical drama is focused on the legends' complex and explosive friendship, with fully believable performances by Canet and Gallienne, and enhanced by Jean-Marie Dreujou's remarkable camerawork, but somehow neglects to explore or even explain the protagonists' importance in art and literature history.

Gal Gadot

New Stuff: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Who's That Girl?

Photographer: Jeff Brouws

Bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Brouws

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Veruschka

ph: Irving Penn

A day in the life, Jul 14, 2021, Regensburg by night

A day in the life, Jul 14, 2021, objet trouvé

Paulina Frankowska

Joe Kidd (1972)

An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.

Raucous and rather inconsistent Western obviously tries to cash in on the success and style of the Italian Spaghetti Western genre, even utilizing their Clint Eastwood persona stereotype, all with mixed results, albeit entertaining enough along the way.

Halliwell (no star): "Rough-and-tumble star Western with untenable moral attitudes."

Maltin**: "...ordinary Western; nice photography and a rousing scene where Eastwood drives a train through a barroom."

Liu Wen

ph: Fan Xin

Today's Cat

Kiki Willems

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

A day in the life, Jul 27, 2020

A day in the life, Jul 27, 2020, window display

Amber Witcomb

ph: Emma Summerton

New Stuff: The Godfather Trilogy

Ekaterina Miasnikova

ph: Victor Robertof

Hour of the Gun (1967)

Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton gang in a fight. In revenge, Clanton's thugs kill the Marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.

Serious, contemplative Western is intelligently staged emphasizing the gravity and ambiguity of its revenge topic; chemistry between Garner and Robards is remarkable and, together with some beautiful cinematography, adds to the quality of this film.

Halliwell**: "Vividly set, slowly developed Western which makes an ambiguous but forceful figure of Earp. Generally confident and interesting."

Maltin**: "...begins well, becomes increasingly tedious. Robards has a good time as Doc Holliday; flavorful score by Jerry Goldsmith."

Scarlett Leithold

New Stuff: Fitzcarraldo

Marlene Dietrich

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Ulzana's Raid (1972)

After fierce war chief Ulzana and a small war party jump the reservation bent on murder and terror, an inexperienced young lieutenant is assigned to track him down.

Relentlessly tough and violent Western shows no sympathy for any side of the conflict, which may seem dubious, but rather emanates a quite nihilistic viewpoint.

Halliwell (no star): "Bloodthirsty, reactionary Western with unpleasant shock moments."

Maltin***1/2: "Gritty Western tale...with jarring bursts of violence."