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jimcheva
Reviews
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Maybe TOO close to the original? Marred by some curious casting.
I love Bram Stoker's novel which is surprisingly rich from a literary point of view and absolutely a must-read for anyone who loves good literature. Except for the opening and some curious changes in the ending, this is indeed faithful to the book. But Coppola never quite pulls off what Visconti does in "The Leopard", recapturing the spirit of the novel while making the story his own (and re-arranging it in some regards). This almost feels like the Masterpiece Theater version. My main quibbles are with the casting. There are American actors who can pull off English accents in a natural way but Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves really aren't among them. Given the importance of their characters, that was a distraction for me. Gary Oldman did a fine job given the director's choice, but my own view of Dracula in his blood-fed state is more like Sean Connery in his prime. The lean and pretty Count was simply not my idea of the character. Hopkins is always interesting and I enjoyed his work here, but there is lean and capable quality to the character in the book. Tom Waits gets kudos for being completely unrecognizable as Renfield. It's a good film, but I never really settled into it as I would have liked.
The Age of Adaline (2015)
Slight sci-fi as a framework for romance
The premise here allows for all manner of original or striking situations. What we get, and pretty quickly, is a Hollywood romance with a sci-fi set-up. Once that gets in gear, most of what happens is perfectly predictable. Lively is sweet and pleasant as always and it's nice to see Harrison Ford and Ellen Burstyn, but the film overall is beneath them. Of course, if romance is your thing, you might find this one affecting enough, but if you're looking for creative use of a promising premise this isn't really the place to see it. Much of the film is a step away from a Hallmark Movie, with better actors and a fairly flimsy sci-fi wrinkle.
Mr. Church (2016)
Low key but creeps up on you; Murphy is perfect
I'm never surprised when great comics do fine dramatic work. Comedy often requires moving from one character to another, creating a strong reality beneath the laughs. It helps that the character is reserved and restrained (apparently leading some critics to believe Murphy wasn't doing anything here). But personally I found his concern, understated as it is, touching from the start. For me, this was one of those films where the moments I expected to cry went right by me, only to have tears come easily welling as less overtly dramatic scenes progressed. The story has some classic, but I wouldn't say predictable elements, like an old friend whose worldly success is at odds with her obvious unhappiness. And Charlie's expected violation of one simple rule. But none of this distracted me or broke the spell. I found the film moving early on and never stopped from there.
Jeanne du Barry (2023)
Good period drama, missed opportunity to tell the actual story
There are two ways to watch this film, one as a simple costume drama that is a cut above the average, the other is as someone (like myself) who knows much of the underlying story. And necessarily finds some aspects jarring. An American viewer needs to know right off that Maïwenn, the director and star, is a little like Miranda July in being a polymath who has dipped into varied levels of creativity. It was natural then for her to cast herself in the lead, even if, for different reasons, she later considered that a mistake. But in a sense one is watching a Maïwenn vehicle as much as a slice of history. Also, voice-overs rarely work in dramatic films and are something of a distraction here. While the film highlights some fun period details, it often does so self-consciously, wearing its research on its sleeve. For the viewer who comes with no background knowledge of this tale, it is probably about as satisfying as Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette", if less artificial and anachronistic. Now, for someone who knows Du Barry's story, the film is largely a missed opportunity. Historically, Maïwenn is woefully miscast, not least because she from the start has a rather aristocratic bearing and so one never really gets the development of a woman who could have spent her life in upscale bordellos, being seductively sexual and very unsophisticated. Du Barry herself seems to have been an exuberantly sexual woman whose magnetic sexuality drew men to her long before she reached the King. Maïwenn has a certain thoroughbred sensuality, but nothing like the kittenish, boy toy sexuality that might better have been incarnated by Marilyn Monroe or any number of modern actors who radiate a similar politically incorrect desire to please men and be their plaything. (One story has it that Louis, having spent an early night with her, gleefully told a courtier he had never tasted such pleasures; the other man wryly responded, "That is because Your Majesty has never been to a whorehouse." One cannot imagine such an anecdote being told of Maïwenn's Jeanne.) Also, by all accounts, Du Barry really was very sweet, so that the first favor she asked from the King was the pardon of a peasant who had been condemned for killing the child she had by a priest. Sweet enough too to charm the stern nuns who received her after her exile. And naive enough to return to Paris, where she was in immediate danger, when she was already safe in England. In this regard, too, it is annoying to see her last words reported as a kind of life wisdom, when she famously and credibly cried out something like, '"No! Just another minute! You're going to hurt me! Just another minute!" Very much at the end a woman of the people sturdily clinging to Life. There is a great story to be told of her life, with layers and nuance and development of a woman of the people into an honored lady of the court (even after her exile). But this is not it.
A Man of No Importance (1994)
Quietly sweet, mildly predictable
There's a great deal of simple magic in this film, a loving, humorous community, a man with his mind on a project, mainly setting aside his own deepest desires - "Me arms are innocent of affection" - to try and bring joy to those around him, a handful of varied but mainly endearing characters (one of the few villains is actually pretty low-key). Tara Fitzgerald has the touching sweetness of an Emily Mortimer, even as her own simmering impulses are brought to light. Some of the incidents, given the overall theme of closeted homosexuality, are a tad predictable and overall the film often has the genial small town feeling of a modern BBC series like "Father Brown". But it is gently and warmly engaging.
Spread (2024)
Fun, flimsy, sweet, forgettable
This moves along in a good-natured way, with mainly predictable steps. Once we get to the offices of a porn site/magazine, there are some easy jokes off sex toys, etc. And a few stock characters - a malevolent loser, a slightly creepy if sweet nerd, a decent potential love interest. Elizabeth Gilles looks a little like she wandered out of "Two Broke Girls" and has a similar mix of conventional and adventurous sexuality. Her surprise mission is vaguely reminiscent of "Ugly Betty" or "The Devil Wore Prada", with her out to save a world she initially doesn't sympathize with at all; at moments it feels a little like "Emily in Paris" if Emily had ended up in a completely unfamiliar industry rather than a new city. The ultimate outcome isn't particularly surprising, but the journey to get there is painless enough if you're not watching too closely.
Anatomie d'une chute (2023)
Slow courtroom psychodrama
This is somewhere between a Bergman film, mainly set in a courtroom, and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? To the degree that there's a mystery here, you probably won't care what the truth is well before what passes for a dénouement. One of the most compelling characters mainly disappears for most of the film; the main ones are predictable enough in a vaguely intellectual bourgeois way. Most of the action such as it is takes place in a courtroom, but this is not exactly "Perry Mason". Even the prosecutor seems a little like a shrink, just as the one shrink comes dangerously close to being a prosecutor. Lots of talk, lots of thinking, not really in th end much drama.
American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)
Amusing enough Kunis vehicle, taken on its own terms
First of all, discard any thought of the first American Psycho film, beyond a rather off-handed set up referencing Bateman. This is more like a "Talented Miss Ripley", suggesting Highsmith's cheerfully amoral portrayal of an engaging if completely murderous protagonist. Kunis gleefully embodies the role, with none of the soul-searching or secondary concerns of Patrick Bateman. Her complete lack of conscience and single-minded pursuit of a goal is quietly comic, helped by Kunis' warm air of innocence. This film is FAR more gory than the first one and reminiscent of Tarantino in that regard, with a touch of the Coen brothers in its comic observation of a small community. It is a distant cousin to the novel "Perfume" (and, if you must, the awful movie made from that novel) in showing a character whose focus on one goal simply makes morality irrelevant. She has no ill-feeling towards her victims, they're simply in the way. All this made disturbingly entertaining by Kunis' easy charm. Not a great film by any means, but entertaining enough on its own terms.
The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Flimsy material, but a fun look at Seventies actors in various lights
Honestly, a pretty terrible picture. The suspense is much diluted by distracting inconsistencies in the script and a general lack of focus. On the other hand, it's an intriguing opportunity to see some memorable actors in unexpected ways. Burt Lancaster incarnates a conflicted villain well. Sophia Loren does a perfectibly creditable job in a role any number of American women could have played. Seeing the often admirable Martin Sheen as a sleazy creep is piquant. Distasteful as it is to see O. J. Simpson at all, his role here is a distinct period piece. Trained actors will treasure the rather moving turn by monumental acting teacher Lee Strasberg. One hippy couple allows for a bit of light sexual humor. Otherwise, lots of shooting and a fairly predictable, if not always clear, story line. Overall then, potentially a diversion, if not a great cinematic experience.
Lucía y el sexo (2001)
Beautiful, sexy, confused and boring
If you like meta films like "Mulholland Drive" or "Last Year at Marienbad". This is probably just the film for you. If you want anything like conventional narrative, you're out of luck. The shifts in tone don't help. A good part of it is about a new couple involved in all kinds of (ultimately rather mild, even silly) sexual exploration before things get confused and vaguely ominous and new characters come in and more sex happens (the nudity is so constant here it loses any erotic effect early on) and then at least one REALLY horrible thing happens (or does it?) and hints of crime appear - though it's really never sure if any has occurred and then... well, what constitutes a spoiler for a film this confused? And is all this in the end a comment on the struggles of a writer? Sure, why not. At some point, you can pretty much project anything you want on this beautifully shot and often well-acted mess.
The Soloist (2009)
Hard to watch because honest
As a Los Angeleno who has spent years stepping around tents and sleeping bags, I found the portrayals of homelessness here almost documentary-like in their accuracy. And it is to the film's credit that it makes no attempt to create a Cinderella story out of the ever-tragic (real) tale of a man with schizophrenia. Downey and Foxx are predictably excellent (either one is pretty much a recommendation for a film all by himself). It's also good that the film portrays, almost in filigree, the decline of print media and the difficulties very familiar to many of us locally faced by journalists in our newspapers. This said, the very honesty of the film makes it hard to watch and in fact much like a documentary. There are many reasons to watch, and even admire, it. But only select viewers will want to spend their time in this world.
Funny Face (1957)
Paris, Givenchy, Avedon and the creator of Eloise
I'm a sucker for films about Paris. This is almost up there with "Gigi" for its exuberant explorations of the Fifties incarnation of the city. The pure beauty of the design from the start is pretty breathtaking as it is. The view of the fashion world, with Thompson satirizing (supposedly) Vreeland, has many echoes of "The Devil Wore Prada" and seems remarkably prescient in Hepburn's character's critiques of its superficiality. All this is nicely offset first against the bookstore where "Joe" works, very nicely reminiscent of many now gone, and then the Bohemian (more particularly, "Apache") world she slips off to while supposedly modeling. With all the Astaire style dance numbers (not as rewarding as with Rogers, even if Hepburn had been a dancer in earlier life), one of the great treats of the film is her doing an "Apache" dance in a Parisian dive. Right up there with the hippy dance sequence from "It's a Mad, Mad World". The withering satire of pretentious French intellectuals is a tad predictable, but amusing (with a faint echo of "Crossing Delancey"). And I'd LOVE to see my French women friends' reaction to a French woman berating her boyfriend only to coo over him after he slaps her hard (boys, do not try this in Paris!). Astaire and Thompson doing Fifties folkies is nicely done as well, and on-point as satire. Personally I loved all the now classic songs, even if they've been done far better in succeeding years. The hint of "Pygmalion" is obvious but not overdone. For a film with "no plot", the film manages to reference a number of other classics. But really it's as much about portraying different milieux and attitudes as it is about story. A delightful film with the one hitch that it takes a GREAT deal of suspension of belief to imagine the exquisite, and still young, Hepburn falling head over heels for the aging Astaire. Adds a "beauty and the beast" touch the filmmakers probably didn't intend.
A Month in the Country (1987)
Nope, don't get it.
Certainly it's lovely to see early work here not only by Firth and Branagh, but several other now familiar faces. And the general set-up is engaging enough, with the old church and the small community. But it's not in the least clear how this is resolving what are presumably underlying issues from the war (and which themselves rarely come out beyond some predictable PTSD reactions). The hint of a romance between Richardson's character and Firth's is as faint as it is predictable. The more open conflict that appears early on and again later doesn't really go anywhere. Very intriguing elements, especially towards the end, are never really given their full value. And I don't get the significance of one character introduced at the last minute. In the end, even having read some summaries of the film itself and the underlying novel, I simply don't know what happened, beyond the outward and ultimately not very edifying facts.
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Remarkably static and dull for a film about the sex trade
OK, so it opens with beautiful women flaunting themselves. OK, so we learn early on how the protagonist is to maker her way and we have some entertaining vignettes of how a woman is trained to do that particular thing. And yes, there are some vivid views of period Venice. Also the verse contests are entertaining. But at heart this is a slow, somewhat predictable romantic piece about two lovers divided by circumstance slowly coming together. Certainly not, for the most part, very sexy and only predictably romantic. Everybody's very good-looking (well, except for Oliver Platt), if that's your jam. But it's simply not that engaging in the end.
Past Lives (2023)
Slow, over-subtle, inconclusive
Oh, to see what others see in this movie... Right off the bat, it's important to know it is mainly a Korean movie with subtitles, even if there are stretches in English. This would already be something of an obstacle for me in a more active film, but this one is VERY slow. Lots of long, self-consciously romantic (but static) moments. Whatever passion exists between the two leads is very much below the surface (where I expect a certain kind of viewer will just see it). The huge temporal gaps between several different sequences don't help. It's hard to feel an enduring thread across these various separations and if anything it's tempting to get a little irritated at two characters who let such inconclusive strainings go on for this long. The two leads are both attractive and engaging and even communicate a certain measure of emotion. But emotion that so far as I could tell goes nowhere. Over a very long time.
Mafia Mamma (2023)
Fun enough to watch, faithful to its genre, yet sometimes surprising.
This movie is fun, if dangerously close to slapstick at times, and astonishingly violent at moments (not that the opening doesn't warn you). There's some wonderful quiet satire, as when a woman caught with another's husband insists on making it clear she's a feminist and that she only helped him cheat because... well, after that start, does it matter? It is a bit cringe-making to see Colette's character over-whelmed with rather raw lust, and the forays into feminism and female-empowerment seem more formulaic than inspiring. But overall one tends to go along for the ride and not question too much, and to cheer the right people on. Not a great film but it will probably make you smile more often than not.
Night Moves (2013)
Indie predictable
The movie, as numerous posters have pointed out, is VERY slow. But finally we get the basic set-up. We see the inevitable set in place and put in motion and then - no surprise - something goes horribly wrong. Prompting different reactions from the three main characters. After that, the likely outcome is only too clear, and familiar from far more conventional fare. The follow-up is indie-obscure and just underlines the fact that really nothing much happened in the film, beyond the few telegraphed bits, and what we're supposed to get from the whole journey - except perhaps for the not very original point that activists of various sorts can be arrogant and oblivious to the consequences of their careless idealism - is not in the least clear.
Surprised by Oxford (2023)
Faith meets romantic comedy, but neither ever land
This film keeps touching on some fairly powerful possibilities but then presents them in such an allusive way that the sudden bursts of emotion or reference to strong feelings and dilemmas come a bit out of nowhere. The protagonist is a pretty unique person and has a strong back story, but her interactions with her love interest hover between predictable and unmotivated and what is apparently meant to be a spiritual crisis seems like dilettantism more than profound exploration. Never mind that her main crisis here makes no particular sense given the unanchored quality of both her romantic and her spiritual questings. Really, the best part of the film is glimpses of Oxford and the excellent older British character actors playing the dons.
You're Not You (2014)
A graceful and powerful pas de deux
It's not surprising that this film brings you to tears and quite often; what is more striking is it does it at very still moments, largely through Rossum's wonderfully felt and understated responses, even as she's still coming across as a bit of a hedonistic brat. The basic set-up is not unfamiliar: a slightly out of control rebel who comes into the life of someone far more disciplined, often with some difficult condition (in this case, ALS, the progress of which Swank renders expertly and exquisitely.). The off-screen grandmother who inspires the young student is not an unfamiliar character either (think Sheldon Cooper's "Meemaw"), nor the exuberant sufferer of the same condition who refuses to abandon joy, nor for that matter the overbearing mothers (yes, there are two) who feel they know what's best even as they're late to the party. But above all what carries this film is the deeply felt interaction between the two leads, which is compelling and touching even when it hits some of the standard marks. The core of the experience is their mutual tour de force. The very end is on a par with the central performance, moving gracefully into the credits in a last blossoming of exuberance.
Mother! (2017)
For a certain kind of viewer....
I get something of a chuckle when I see people straining not to give a "spoiler" for a near-incomprehensible film. I THINK I get the larger metaphor here, but if so, it's not terribly original, hidden as it is under something like avant-garde filmmaking. It's probably simplest to say that if you liked "Eyes Wide Shut" and "Birdman", you'll probably really sink your teeth into this one; if you're looking for anything like overt plot, you'll be out of luck, though I suppose one could draw a rather simplistic line to Dionysian rituals and to other links between violence, sacrifice and fertility. The leads are strong of course and Wiig and Pfeiffer commit admirably to unfamiliar roles. So you might want to watch it just for the acting. But really there are other ways I would have preferred to spend my time.
A Perfect Day (2015)
Finding humor in horror and stupidity
This is NOT a comedy, even if it includes wry observations on a chaotic world and certainly shows the kind of resigned humor one finds in many doomed to suffering of various sorts. The theme that emerges is how hopeless it can be to try to do good in a bad place, exemplified at one moment by of all things possession of a basketball. Yet, "Waiting for Godot"-style, "I can't go on, I must go on". The fact that so much will come to naught, largely because of infuriating bureaucracies, is not reason enough to give up. And so the protagonists here persist despite having the rug pulled out from them within sight of success; it's what they do. Much of the violence here is beautifully understated: a line of men watched by soldiers awaiting an unknown but unpromising fate (we don't see what we understand is very likely to happen); an abandoned car packed and ready to go, the key in the ignition. We only really get a close-up of one victim and by the end of the film he doesn't yet know how much of a victim he is. Meanwhile, one of the central problems of the film is resolved in an unexpected and humorous way that could come out of one of the more ironic Eastern European films of the Sixties. A strong and graceful film, but certainly not for everyone.
The Artifice Girl (2022)
Smart, engaging movie despite relatively little actual action
It's hard to say why this movie keeps you engaged since it is largely talk and despite its sci-fi premise not the least technology-centric. As one person said, it IS like a movie-length "Black Mirror" episode. Which in part means its strength comes from human issues and interactions, not the sci-fi elements. What is interesting from another perspective is that, like "Sex, Lies and Videotape", it is a textbook example of how to make a compelling feature using a few fairly ordinary spaces and a tiny cast. All budding filmmakers wondering how to make that first feature with almost no funding should watch and study it.
Baby Boom (1987)
Flimsy story, Keaton at her worst, wasted Shepherd
Here's the thing about Diane Keaton: she can be one of the best actors out there, but she also has a comic tic she falls into of getting into a tizzy and acting borderline ditzy. She does a lot of that here and it doesn't help that the story is virtually telegraphed from the start - only it takes FAR longer to get where it's going than such a flims set-up warrants. Sam Shepherd is beyond wasted here, just a ROM-COM style good-looking stud, but really the worst thing is Keaton continuing, with various nuances, to do her confused sophisticate comic shtick. Maybe the most interesting aspect of this film is to see a very young James Spader, barely recognizable. Otherwise, you've basically seen this film in various forms before, only without actors of this caliber wasting their talent.
Jolene (2008)
In an uneven piece, early Chastain does not disappoint
The main reason for watching this is simply that it is the first film by an actor who has proved to be one of the top in the field. And she shows from the start that she has always been one to watch. The character goes through a variety of changes, largely, but not only, of maturation and Chastain virtually plays different characters across the film, exuberantly traversing a range of incarnations, beginning as a plain, abused yet naive country teen and going through more than one form of sophistication, largely fortuitously. The story itself is somewhere between the Perils of Pauline and Candide; structure is not a big concern here, just that the protagonist go through many trials. The then unknown Chastain plays these changes like a musical prodigy given successive pieces by very different composers and playing through each flawlessly. One physical note might seem to focus more on her appearance than her talent, but in fact is slightly uncanny. Early on, she shows her breasts, which are small, uninviting, those of a naive, half-formed young woman. Yet later, in an erotic sequence, she shows those very same breasts - physically unchanged, in no way augmented - and they are suddenly entrancing, womanly. The only change is internal, in the character's sense of her self at each moment. Not all of the story makes sense or is gracefully developed; Chastain is, in a word, better than her material here. But she is already the major talent now known to all.
Pride (2007)
Does its job, with some good acting
This is a step away from a Movie of the Week, with little claim to be High Art. But it does what you would expect, and then some. It helps that Howard is one of those actors who suggests integrity, even when his character crosses a line. You're kind of willing to find his character on his journey. Bernie Mac's character is something of a cliché, but Mac himself does an excellent job. Tom Arnold gamely embodies the squeaky clean, basically corporate racist who is one of the main adversaries here; you really WANT this guy to lose. The orchestration of obstacles both external (racism, short-sighted municipal planning) and internal (the players' own attitudes) is no revelation but credible enough. The scene where a woman who has read the protagonist the riot act realizes how real his contribution is beautifully played out. A nice touch is the inclusion of a young woman, showing that not all the prejudices in play are racial. Is it formula? Sure. But well-played and with heart.