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buddylove447
Reviews
O necem jiném (1963)
Even bad Godard is better than this
The plot summary for this is tripe. Suppressed women, male dominated society blah de blah.
One woman (the gymnast) is coached by a man AND a woman and ends up a coach herself. The other woman, after no doubt leading the man into marriage and kids, then decides this isn't for her and finds it frustrating. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Isn't the man as much of a victim of societal pressures and expectations? I enjoyed some of the shots and editing, and at times felt I could watch the wonderful Eva Bosáková all day, but there isn't any story here, very little characterisation, and not a great deal of talent on show from Chytilova, who made her reputation with the wildly experimental but overrated DAISIES. Some of these directors just thought a storyline was disposable if they filmed with jaunty angles in black and white.
The Accused (1949)
Ridiculous
I love a good noir - but this isn't one. The plotting and dialogue (especially the voice over going on on in Loretta Young's head) is so poor that at times it is utterly laughable. In fact this film gave me more laughs than the entire Abbott and Costello box set my estranged ex gave me for Xmas. For me this made the film impossible to take seriously, and very difficult to get involved in as a serious thriller or drama. The leads flounder a bit, but Corey and Jaffe stand out and are rather decent. The romance doesn't work, and neither does the ending.though I was glad it came.
Due cuori fra le belve (1943)
OKi Toti. 5/10. (ignore the 4/10 above)
Five out of ten. Toto is in excellent form as the bumbling dance teacher in love with the daughter (Carmi) of a famous anthropologist. For almost the first half of the film, as he follows her aboard the steamship bound for Africa, the film is lively and often funny. However the second half of the film as Toto fights lions, snakes and natives, just isn't as good, and feels over familiar and a little forced. However, we do, at least, see a bit more of the beautiful Vera Carmi, and the native costumes (I loved the rhino shields) are great. There is also a lovely moment when Toto does that thing with his neck and does a native dance that is one of the films highlights. Not one of the better Toto's, but quite watchable.
Lo scapolo (1955)
Pleasing
Firstly I've got a strange way of doing scores out of ten - I won't bore you with the details except to say that I never give 10's so really I kind of mark out of 9.....so my 4/10 here is more like a normal person's 5.5 out of 10. What I'm trying to say is that The Bachelor is not bad at all. It is only occasionally funny, and it goes over stuff we have seen on countless other movies. It is also very predictable. But I enjoyed Sordi's performance and watching the flawed but likeable mamma's boy character he embodied stumble through the story.
I particularly enjoyed his performance in the sequence towards the end with him dancing awkwardly. I also enjoyed the film's insight into 50's Rome and culture. This is one of those films that takes you off to another time and place and you can lose yourself for a while.
Killer Crocodile 2 (1990)
Just as bad as the prequel
I have to disagree with many of the reviewers of this film and its prequel in that the animatronic Croc actually looks pretty good and it moves really well..... If only they had got the eyed and gums right and given it some murky lighting then it would have been quite impressive. Unfortunately director De Angelis makes, the mistake of showing off the Croc in full light at every opportunity.....and right from the very start of the film..... A bad mistake as any monster film lover will tell you.... Hold back the monster, keep the audience waiting. The story, acting, dialogue are really naff and the only plus is the monster and it would have been better to show us a bit of ankle here and there and make us wait right til the end til we see the beastie
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Not a noir and certainly no Hitchcock
If you are a knowledgeable film watcher who gets irrationally irritated by people calling films like this film noirs just because they are in black and white then please do not read the idiotic reviews on here. And don't read the reviews that liken it to a Hitchcock movie either, as they will annoy you too..... Hitch wouldn't have made this film even if he had a lobotomy. Julia Ross has a plot so full of holes you could drain your spaghetti in it and the heroine does such ridiculous things that you will find it maddening and very irritating. So daft is she that any sympathy that you have for her given her predicament quickly dissipates. It is impossible to believe her reaction to the vicar and friends arriving at the house or finding her at the back of the car. In fact it is impossible to buy into Foch's performance or the director's view of her performance. The ending is proposterous and the sudden shift in tone at the very very end doesnt work. Indeed, after a good opening twenty mins, much of the film doesn't work and it left me feeling very aggrieved, just like many of the reviews here.
Loving (2016)
Disappointing
Sorry, but I want to have a rant here. A number of top critics have used almost identical sentences in their reviews of this film, namely - " It shows how far America has come in its views of race and equality - and how far is left to go" This is of course complete rubbish, but sounds good. This film does show how far we have come, but how can the film show how far (as most will agree) we still have to go ? What disappointed me here was that a key civil rights case and the bigger picture are almost ignored for a love story that focuses on the couple themselves as the story. Hence, for example, the fact that Mildred Loving claimed on a number of occasions to be of Indian heritage and denied her black heritage, and that her marriage certificate identifies her as Indian is not mentioned in the film, and so the reasons behind this have been forgotten about. Instead of focusing on the bigger picture the film has to resort to creating drama when possibly there was none.......ie it is imagined that Richard Loving is pursued or followed by a car which he thinks contains unidentified persons wishing to do him harm (cue dramatic music, car chase etc)......all very exciting,
for a minute (but hardly Bullitt)..... but is it true -----well there is a much evidence for that as there is him finding a brick in his car, again this creates tension and a sense of persecution. Ten minutes of the film is given over to showing Life photographer Grey Villet in their home - is that really key to this story ? Nope, but it creates a cameo role for Shannon and shows yet more scenes of the Lovings in love, as if the film needed more of them. If Nichols wanted to create a love story, and feels that is more important than the bigger picture then I would have liked to know how they met, what the attitudes of both Richard's and Mildred's families were to their romance, what barriers they encountered, but instead this is a film about an important civil rights issue masquerading as a romance. I found it disappointing and a bit dull. Performances are very good, especially from Ruth Negga.
Tristana (1970)
puzzling
Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating. Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating. Very good performances and somehow quite entrancing, i still cant fathom out what on earth this film is about. I think I've seen 5 or 6 films by bunuel and the same goes for all of them....surreal, puzzling...but fascinating.