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Red Dawn (2012)
Was this second-rate propaganda movie funded by the CIA?
Just about the worst piece of US propaganda I've watched -- tried to watch -- in a long time. Obviously aimed at the very average 12-year old American boy. Tiny budget does not excuse such a bad film -- it was obviously all shot on the town square and two street corners in some American hick town. For a moment I thought it might have been shot on the cheap in the Cape Town movie precinct down the road from me, but it's too amateurish for that. Which shouldn't matter. Unfortunately it shows. Why export this drivel to the rest of the world? The CIA can surely do better when they invest through dummy companies in propaganda movies. Were the 'Koreans' recruited from Mexico or the Philippines, with voice-overs?
Suing the Devil (2011)
Amateurish and dreary. Attempts at a humorous touch not convincing.
I tried very hard to enjoy this movie at any level, or at least to be fair to it as something in its own right, but had to give up. There is nothing much that could be called a plot. At least not enough to grip my attention once I saw the way things were going. This is the closest I get to a spoiler -- for there is in fact very little to spoil. The characterisation is clumsy and is not redeemed by the feeblish humorous cameos. The script is amateurish and the acting even more so. Much of this movie could quite easily have been a passable production by not entirely untalented high-school kids working under the direction of an amiable but unimaginative religious instruction teacher, and given some instruction on movie-making and lent movie-making equipment for a few weeks. If this was intended as a riposte or companion piece to 'The man who sued God', it has not succeeded. The concept lent itself to some interesting debates about good and evil, but where this is attempted, it is simply too banal to be taken seriously. I must admit that I did not initially realise that the movie was made specifically as a 'Christian' and 'family' movie -- which would place it in some category of its own -- other than that of a movie in the usual sense. If I had realised this, I would probably have given it a miss. I wish I had -- it's no fun raining on anyone's parade. The best that can be said of this movie is that it does no harm. For that it gets one Hippocratic star.
Dead Man (1995)
Interesting idea, refreshing black-and-white rendering, but spoiled by awful music
Interesting idea but unfortunately not fully realized. Refreshing black-and-white photography. Nice sardonic touches. Has its moments -- but not all moments equally good. Unfortunately, its undeniable small virtues were completely spoiled (for me) by the random, ear-splitting, badly improvised twanging and banging on some over-loud stringed device from hell. The movie could easily stand on its own feet without any music, and it certainly was not helped by this pointless racket.
I somehow expected a more surreal and other-worldly ascent into sheer imagination at the end -- something that black-and-white would lend itself to, but found the ending a little bathetic.
Smultronstället (1957)
The very best . Remarkable evocation of the atmosphere of dreams and memories
I saw this film in the early sixties, and still have vivid memories of it. What struck me then was how close Bergman came to evoking the atmosphere of those dreams that linger with us for years or decades. And the atmosphere in which our oldest and most cherished memories are wrapped. Probably the most 'atmospheric' movie I've ever seen. I concur with the reviewer who called it the very, very best. This was my impression as an adolescent -- I look forward to seeing it again when my copy arrives, and re-evaluating it as an old man (like old Isaak).
There will, of course always be those who prefer their Quentin Tarantinos, just as there are those who prefer to open their nuts with ten-pound hammers.
Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)
Brilliant characters by Dickens, brilliant script by Dickens/David Lodge, almost perfect acting!
One of the best, nay the very best, adaptations of Dickens I've seen (well, with a screen writer like David Lodge, what would one expect?) Every single role is done to perfection; was there ever such a Pecksniffe, such a Montague Tigue (Rest in peace, Pete; you will be long missed), such a Chuzzlewit (either of the elder brothers)? Mrs Gamp (portrayed by an actress more often seen as an aristocratic lady!) is a triumph. But, Oh G*d, the sniveling younger Chuzzlewit and his shweeeet sweetheart are almost more than flesh and blood can bear (although Dickens had to do it for the audience of his time I guess). But young Martin bursting into tears when told "This is Eden" is a treat! But what a work of art -- even to the perfection of detail of the ever-loving and ever absent Mrs 'Arris! Sheer joy. (The one point denied out of ten is for one blubber too many by young Martin.)