Malcolm1980's 2023 Film Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

1/1

The Living Daylights (John Glen) *** - This is my very first new film of 2023. I thought I would just put on one of the very few James Bond films I have yet to see. This happens to be Timothy Dalton's first outing as 007. In this one, he helps a Russian general defect to the West during the Cold War only things are not what they seem. I have to say, Timothy Dalton is a really good James Bond but unfortunately, he's kind of saddled with a clunky script. But the film is overall quite entertaining with quite a few action scenes. It's lower mid-tier Bond at best but it's not a bad time killer.

Ask a Policeman (Marcel Varnel) *** - A police sergeant and his two constables are in charge of a crime-free town. For fear of losing their jobs, they manufacture a "crimes" until they stumble upon a real one. This is my second film featuring Will Hay and his two sidekicks Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. I can't believe they are not more well-known in the mainstream culture because they are quite funny. Kind like of a slightly more sophisticated Three Stooges. This film isn't quite a masterpiece but it is genuinely quite funny and holds up well until now. It's up on YouTube.

[malcolm1980]

1/2

Hellbound Train (James Gist/Eloyce Gist) *** - This film is a series of vignettes about the various sins that will get you a ticket to the train bound for hell and the Devil is conductor. This was made by African-American husband and wife preachers James and Eloyce Gist for use in their sermons. It was made in the 1930's so a lot of the "sins" here come off as very parochial and old-fashioned. I mean, it includes "dancing" and "jazz" for God's sakes. But it is an interesting film to watch, at least from a historical perspective because there weren't a whole lot of African American filmmakers back then. This film is quite literally preachy from an explicitly old-fashion Christian perspective but watching this you can tell they knew how to make an actual film and they managed to make their Devil creepy.

There's Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk) ***1/2 - A toy manufacturer feeling neglected and taken for granted by his wife and children reconnect with an old flame then slowly falls in love with her. Barbara Stanwyck is reunited with Fred MacMurray in this film in slightly different circumstances. This is from director Douglas Sirk and although it does not quite reach the heights of, say, All That Heaven Allows, the drama still resonates and makes an impact. The heartfelt and sincere performances of the cast contribute to this. Although the plot could have gone into full melodrama soap opera mode, the film just stops short of that and actually made it a bit more emotional. This is top-tier Sirk.

Take Out (Shih-Ching Tsou/Sean Baker) ***1/2 - This film follows a Chinese take out delivery man in New York City who needs to pay back a lot of money to smugglers. So he doubles up his deliveries for the day to earn enough. That one premise given in the first few minutes of the film was enough to keep me totally invested and immersed in this film which is really mostly the lead character delivering food to various customers. And as it goes along, it is fascinating to see the tapestry of humanity in this little corner of the world depicts through this deceptively simple story. This is an early work from director Sean Baker (who co-directs with Shih-Ching Tsou) and his style is already apparent in this one. A superb piece of work.

What's Love Got to With It? (Brian Gibson) *** - This is the biopic of Tina Turner, from her humbled beginning through the rise of her stardom and her troubled professional and personal relationship with Ike Turner. This film pretty much hits every music biopic trope that has been deconstructed, satirized and talked about online for years now. So it's not a filmmaking masterpiece. What it is, is an acting showcase. Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne both deliver outstanding performances. Bassett looks almost nothing like Tina but she's very believable and embodies her fully that I still felt watching Tina Turner. Fishburne humanizes what could have been a one-dimensional abusive husband role. They make this well worth watching even if you're tired of music biopics.

[malcolm1980]

1/3

Three Wishes for Cinderella (Václav Vorlíček) **1/2 - This is the Czech version of the familiar fairy tale of Cinderella where instead of a fairy godmother, she encounters three acorns and a magical owl who will grant her three wishes in order for her to escape her wicked stepmother. I have been watching quite a bit of Czech fantasy films from the 1960's and 1970's. They're a bit hit and miss for my taste. Sometimes its charms work, sometimes they don't. For this one, I wasn't feeling it too much (I wasn't a fan of the prince character). It's an interesting curiosity to be sure and it's interesting to compare and contrast the different cinematic versions of Cinderella in different cultural contexts. But personally, this version's not for me.

[malcolm1980]

1/4


The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad) *** - An introverted nine-year-old girl, neglected by her impoverished and large family, is sent to live with a middle-aged couple who are distant relatives while her mother gives birth. About a twenty minutes into this slow burn drama, I actually knew exactly where the story is going (yes, I know it's based on a book but I haven't read the said book). That said, when that ending comes, it really packs a punch. The performances of the actors are also quite lovely. Even though this drama doesn't really break new ground, it's still a very heartfelt, very well-made piece of work that will get you fighting back tears in the end (which I did). This is Ireland's entry to the International Feature Oscar race this year.

Salt for Svanetia (Mikhail Kalatozov) ***1/2 - This is a silent ethnographic documentary about the lives of the Savan people who live in the isolated mountain village of Ushguli. There is obvious Soviet propaganda mixed in here and I'm pretty sure a few of the scenes are staged but there's no denying there are some shocking, powerful, beautiful and unforgettable imagery here. This is one of those films where I go, "How did they get that shot?" (especially with their available technology at the time). All in all, the film is a very fascinating document on that specific culture in that specific time and place. You can see this on YouTube.

[malcolm1980]

1/6

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Alex Gibney) ***1/2 - This documentary chronicles the rise and the fall of Enron, a multi-billion dollar company that went bankrupt almost overnight. I remember this story from the early 2000's so it's been a while so I may have forgotten a few details so the film should be fresh for me but a lot of the things being tackled are things that unfortunately still going on right now! And this documentary was made just a few years after the fact, in 2005! So this film will still make you angry even though it happened more than a couple of decades ago (Jeez, the 2000's are 20 years ago, we getting old, people!) This documentary is still unfortunately timeless and worth checking out.

[malcolm1980]

1/7

Nanahimik ang Gabi (Shugo Praico) ***1/2 - A young mistress of a corrupt police officer goes to a remote and isolated vacation house in order to have a romantic getaway weekend with him but it turns out something rotten is going on. I saw this on the last day of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) and it turns out to be the best film of the festival (at least from the ones I've seen). It is a taut thriller that goes into twists and turns where your allegiances shift. Though the script isn't perfect, it does a good job of handling the potentially dicey narrative. It helps that the performances of the three principals are good especially Mon Confiado (whose role is a spoiler). It's too bad this may go away the next day because it wasn't at the top of the box-office but this was the MMFF entry worth seeing.

Conan The Barbarian (John Milius) **1/2 - When a young boy's family and entire village are massacred by an ancient wizard/cult leader, he is sold to slavery then grows up to be a big, muscular gladiator hellbent on revenge of course. I've been going through a phase when I'm making an effort on trying to catch up on the so-called "bad" movies or at least movies that I don't think I'm gonna like but with a significant fan base to see if I could be one of them. This film which I believe made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star is pretty entertaining for the most part. But a lot of it is silly and sometimes not in a good way and it's also a bit too long. But overall, as far as fantasy epics of the 1980's of this type goes, it isn't too bad.

[malcolm1980]

1/8


M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone) *** - After taking in her orphaned niece, a toy developer gives her an A.I. operated android called M3GAN. Predictably, things go wrong. This is a January horror release and that usually means this should be terrible since January is traditionally a studios' dumping ground. But this is surprisingly not! It is no masterpiece. Not even for its genre. It is not even the best killer doll movie I've ever seen. The film is frankly silly. But it knows it and embraces its silliness and it makes it pretty damn entertaining. Normally, such things can be annoying but somehow this works. It was able to thread that needle. Again, don't expect anything particularly great. This is just fun, trashy entertainment as a break from Oscar contenders.

Little Women (George Cukor) *** - This is the 1933 film adaptation of the Louise Mae Alcott novel about the trials and tribulations of the March sisters. I've seen and very much liked the 1994 version. I've seen and LOVED the 2019 version. This one is at least in my opinion the weakest of the three major versions. But there's still some things to admire here. Katharine Hepburn is actually a good Jo, which is no surprise. The rest of the cast is good too but Paul Lukas and Edna May Oliver are the standouts as Bhaer and Aunt March respectively. Even though I liked the two subsequent versions better, I thought this film still managed to give me that warm feeling that the other film adaptations gave so I would say this is a solid one.

There It Is! (H.L. Muller) ***1/2 - A rich family's mansion is haunted by a mischievous "phantom" so they call for an investigator all the way from Scotland Yard to investigate and get rid of it. This is an 18 minute silent comedy from 1928 starring Charley Bowers. I usually do not review films this short but this impressed me so much that I felt I needed to because I'd love for more people to see it (You can find it on YouTube). It is quite funny, yes. But not only that, it also has some great special effects and inventively uses stop-motion animation. It is also absolutely crazy. You gotta see it to believe it. Highly recommended.

[malcolm1980]

1/10

The Green Years (Paulo Rocha) ***1/2 - A young man comes to work in the city for his uncle and then shortly afterwards, he starts a romance with a young woman. But outside forces eventually lead the couple to tragedy. This is the first film from Portuguese director Paulo Rocha and it's a strong debut and is considered a classic in Portuguese cinema. It is technically a love story but the film almost doesn't play it like one. Basically, it's love story almost devoid of romance. That's the best way to describe it. But as it goes along, you slowly but surely understand why it's in this style. This film is relatively unknown and more people should discover it. It's a great piece of work.

[malcolm1980]

1/11

Attica (Cinda Firestone) ***1/2 - This is a documentary about the time prisoners took over Attica State Prison to try and call attention to the inhumane conditions leading to tragic consequences. I have actually seen another documentary with the same title made just very recently about the same subject matter. This film was made in 1974 just three years after the fact so the interviews here are all from the actual people involved, fresh from their memory. It gives this documentary a different feel from the other one. It feels more immediate yet it still can make you feel angry and frustrated just the same. One isn't necessarily "better" than the other but it would be interesting to look at both to get the entire picture.

Waking Sleeping Beauty (Don Hahn) *** - This is a documentary which chronicles that period of time in Disney Animation during the mid-80's to the mid-90's which is known as the second Disney renaissance period in which they produced one big hit after another after a rather long drought of barely releasing any animated features. Despite being produced by Disney and made by a Disney person, this is surprisingly not a complete happy puff piece. This film is honest about the sad things that happened as well as the corporate in-fighting and the like. As someone who follows this stuff a lot, I know a lot about the story but it's still an interesting documentary nevertheless.

[malcolm1980]

1/13

Open Your Eyes (Alejandro Amenabar) ***1/2 - A handsome rich playboy gets into a car crash with a psychotic ex-lover and gets horribly disfigured. After undergoing an experimental procedure, he becomes unhinged. This is the original film Vanilla Sky, a film I haven't seen yet, is based on. I actually managed to not spoil myself despite this being 25 years old on its various twists and turns. The pay-off and its reveals may come off as silly for some people but personally, I thought it worked. It's a pretty nifty cool little Spanish thriller that's best seen not knowing anything about it. Solid flick.

Serpent (Orochi) (Buntaro Futagawa) *** - A samurai who tries his best to stick to his principles gets banished by his masters and then goes on a journey that will lead to heartbreak and tragedy. This is a silent Japanese film and the version I saw on YouTube had Russian narration, on top of a Japanese narration with English subtitles so it was an unusual viewing experience. But I powered through it and I was able to get into the narrative. The film isn't quite a masterpiece but the fight scenes are quite impressive even for a silent film from the 1920's. It's worth seeing just for that. But it's still an intriguing, fascinating entry in the samurai genre.