Malcolm1980's 2016 Movie Review Thread

[malcolm1980]

1/11

The Mother and The Whore (Jean Eustache) *** - A womanizing young man who's in an open relationship with his girlfriend falls for a nurse and brings her into a three-way relationship causing some complications. This is my first foray into the cinema of Jean Eustache. I can certainly see why it's such a groundbreaking and influential film with its frank, no nonsense tackling of sexuality and relationships. At almost three and a half hours long, it is quite a long sit for such a film. There are huge chunks in this film that I thought are quite brilliant but I have to say between its length and the fact that the characters are largely unlikable (though excellent performances by the three principal actors), there are areas where your patience will be tested. It is a film that I admire its artistry and respect what it's trying to do more than a film that I actually love. But who knows? My feelings about it could change with a revisit or after thinking about it.

[malcolm1980]

1/12

Caught (Max Ophuls) ***1/2 - A struggling model marries a rich man but gradually she finds out he has trust issues (to say the least) then she meets and falls in love with a doctor. Oh, I kind of loved this one. It is another one of Max Ophuls' work in Hollywood. I have to say I found it quite similar to his subsequent masterwork, The Earrings of Madame De... in terms of the materialism of the female protagonist. It's not quite as great as that or his most celebrated Hollywood work, Letter from an Unknown Woman but it's close. Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan and James Mason are all terrific. It is a real compelling entry in the film noir genre. Personally, I can't believe it's not more famous. This is a definite enthusiastic recommendation.

Fruits of Paradise (Vera Chytilova) *** - What starts out as a trippy, experimental retelling of the Adam and Eve story, it progresses into a sort of strange, surrealistic , dream-like version of sorts of Jules and Jim. This is my second foray into the cinema of Very Chytilova. I really loved her film Daisies, a similarly styled film. This one didn't quite work as well for me. But still, it's a beautiful film. The score and the cinematography are both outstanding. Again, it's a film that I admire and respect a lot rather than actually love or even like. I do still would like to explore more of this director's filmography. She's a fascinating filmmaker, a bit like a feminine Jodorowsky.

[malcolm1980]

1/13

Victoria (Sebastian Schipper) **1/2 - After a night of clubbing, a young woman finds herself hanging out with a group of young men and gets sucked into an armed robbery plot. This film is notable for being shot entirely in one single take. I give it a lot of points for that, to conceive this complex story and to shoot it in one take and somehow pulling it off? Bravo. But beyond that gimmick, the film is really just another crime drama. Without the gimmick, it wouldn't be getting this much attention. Plus I thought it's just A LITTLE unbelievable that such a thing would happen in a span of a little over two hours. It is still worth checking out solely to see how it somehow managed to pull it off.

[malcolm1980]

1/14

The Hunting Ground (Kirby Dick) *** - This is another one of those documentaries that can get you angry. This is Kirby Dick's documentary on sexual assaults on college campuses and how universities choose to ignore them in order to minimize any negative publicity and/or to protect certain privileged students like college athletes. It's an eye-opening and important documentary which cover a lot from fraternities to star athletes and even male sexual assault victims (I think there's an entire documentary to be made just for that). It packs a lot into 100 minutes that some things get a bit shortchanged and just only touched upon. But it's still a solid must-see documentary especially if you have a child about to go to college.

Orpheus (Jean Cocteau) **** - This film is a masterpiece. Jean Cocteau's re-telling of the mythology of Orpheus making him a present-day (for its time) poet who becomes the object of desire of Death (who is in the form of a beautiful woman) is a thing of real beauty. Jean Marais and Maria Cesares are both superb as Orpheus and Death respectively. It's a fantasy film with a lot of strange, surreal and quite hypnotic imagery but it never loses its strong emotional arc between its characters. In my book, it rivals Beauty and the Beast as Cocteau's greatest works. This is definitely in my all-time favorites list.

Outpost in Morocco (Robert Florey) **1/2 - A captain in the French Foreign Legion in Morocco uncovers a plot by an emir to overthrow the French occupants but things get complicated when he falls in love with this emir's daughter. The politically incorrect elements aside, this is a pleasant enough if not particularly outstanding action-adventure film that really comes alive in the third act that features a pretty darn good action sequence that would almost rival Lawrence of Arabia. It's okay enough but far from the best.

[malcolm1980]

11/15

Colorado Territory (Raoul Walsh) ***1/2 - I was surprised by how much I like this considering it kind of has a bad title (though after seeing it, the title totally makes sense). It's about an outlaw broken out of jail and plans another train heist along the way, he falls in love with a rancher's daughter who resembles his dead sweetheart. It's another happy discovery, I must say. Joel McCrea is pretty great as the sympathetic outlaw but the person that ran away with this movie is Virginia Mayo, who portrays quite probably the best woman character in a Western at this point in film history so far. This is definitely a Western more people should check out.

Labyrinth (Jim Henson) *** - David Bowie recently passed away and he has also made a significant mark in the world of film. This is one of those examples. He plays the Goblin King in Jim Henson's imaginative fantasy film about a teenage girl who made a careless wish that caused her baby brother to be kidnapped by the aforementioned Goblin King and she must journey into the titular place in order to rescue him. You know, this would be the type of film I'd probably be watching a lot if I was a kid. I don't know why I've never gotten around to seeing this in full until now. I didn't love it as much as its fans did but it did make me wish they'd do more of these original fantasy movies more often. A lot of Jim Henson's puppets and animatronics hold up quite well I must say against the age of CGI.

[malcolm1980]

11/16

Macbeth (Justin Kurzel) ** - Macbeth has always been my favorite Shakespeare work so I'm always excited and interested in seeing different takes and adaptations of it. This is no exception. The trailers looked good and the cast is great. Now that I've seen it, I will say this is the fourth best cinematic adaptation of the play behind Throne of Blood, the Polanski version and the Orson Welles version that I've seen.....but I've seen only four of them so that's not really a compliment. Though slickly made, and features faultless performances from Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, this particular adaptation feels a bit tired, dragging and tries too hard at times to appeal to the Game of Thrones crowd. If you've never seen a performance or a film adaptation of Macbeth, this is fine but for someone like me who has seen a lot, it doesn't feel particularly fresh or new.

The Reckless Moment (Max Ophuls) ***1/2 - As it turns out, Max Ophuls made another Hollywood movie in the same year and it's also pretty darn good. It's about a mother who finds the body of her daughter's far older alleged boyfriend, assuming her daughter was involved, decides to dispose of the body secretly, resulting in bad consequences involving blackmail. If the plot sounds familiar, that's because the story was also made in 2001 with The Deep End starring Tilda Swinton (with a gay son instead of a daughter). This is probably my favorite Joan Bennett performance that I've seen so far. She's terrific as the protective mother who goes through lengths for her family. This is recommended even if you've seen the Tilda Swinton film.

[malcolm1980]

11/18

Shockproof (Douglas Sirk) ***1/2 - This is an early Douglas Sirk film with a screenplay co-written by none other than Samuel Fuller! It's a strange combination but it works. It's about a parole officer who falls in love with a female parolee. This is unlike any other Douglas Sirk film I've seen so far but surprisingly enough, the themes he would tackle in his subsequent melodramas are still evident in this film, all coated within the film noir genre. Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight are both terrific in their roles. The latter in particular manages to retain your sympathy despite being frustrating. This might turn me into a Douglas Sirk completist.

World of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeld) **** - I don't usually review short films but this film is extraordinary, I will make an exception. I'm a huge fan of Don Hertzfeld's It's Such a Beautiful Day so I was really excited to see this one which just got nominated for an Oscar. It's a film at only 16 minutes manages to introduce us to a very rich world and manages to be filled with contradictions: It looks crude but beautiful, it's bleak yet also life-affirming, it's sad yet also wickedly funny and absurd. It's about a clone from the future visiting her original form as a little girl to tell her about the future. It sounds crazy yet manages to make sense, be relatable and even moving. He managed to pack all that in 16 minutes. Unbelievable.

[malcolm1980]

11/19

What Happened, Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus) *** - My taking advantage of my one-month free Netflix trial period continues with this Oscar-nominated documentary on the life of jazz great Nina Simone. I didn't know much about Nina Simone so most of it was pretty new to me. I found it a fascinating look into her life, her artistry and her music as well as her struggles with domestic violence and anger issues. The film doesn't reinvent the wheel but it is very well-made and it did hold my attention. It's a perfectly fine music documentary, no more, no less.

The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman) ***1/2 - This film is about the early days of the United States space program and its quest to one-up Russia in the space race, focusing primarily on the Mercury 7, seven pilots tasked to be the first astronauts. This film is under my list of "Why Haven't Seen That Before" movies. I have to say that at even at over three hours long, the film doesn't at all feel that long, oddly enough. Despite my vague familiarity with the story, the film manages to still be fascinating and even suspenseful at times. The fantastic ensemble of actors make every character feel like flesh and blood humans and not cardboard historical figures. Standouts include Ed Harris and Fred Ward. It won't be an all-time favorite film but it's still a fine piece of work.

[malcolm1980]

11/20

Salon Mexico (Emilio Fernandez) *** - A woman dances at a cabaret bar (and prostitutes herself on the side, apparently) in order to support her little sister who's studying in a fancy boarding school in order for her to get a better future. Some parts feel like a Mexican telenovela mixed in with elements of film noir. It takes a while to get going but it wins you over (a little) in the end. This is one of the earliest examples of Mexican cinema I've seen. It's no groundbreaking masterpiece but it's an interesting, fine little film.

Boy & The World (Ale Abreu) ***1/2 - This is one of the surprise nominees for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. I can definitely see why they nominated it. It's a beautifully, animated charming film. With barely any dialogue, this animated feature film is about a boy going on a quest to search for his father. It takes him to places that are alternately beautiful, surreal and even frightening. The film's very unique style of animation is hypnotic and though it gets weird and strange in parts, it never forgets the emotional arc of the character. I definitely highly recommend people to seek this one out.

[malcolm1980]

11/21

Battleground (William A. Wellman) *** - This is a war picture based on the Battle of Bastogne during World War II. It's standard World War II fare but very well-made and very well-acted. Though it's not even the best World War II movie of its era, one thing that I do appreciate and what is notable about this movie was that the characters here are at least very well-rounded human beings. The terrific ensemble of actors (James Whitmore and Van Johnson both standout as the best) who infuse lots of humor and humanity into their respective roles.