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Wetherby (1985)
Excellent actors, excellent author, but lacking
A lot of middlebrow 80s movies have this tone. Especially when you factor in the British playwright angle. This is a very thoughtful and very nuanced and very textured story about some very complicated people whose characters are not really fleshed out. And there is an event in it that is inexplicable on the one hand, but on the other hand it's meaningless and requires no explanation. There's something gross and sadistic and cruel in committing suicide in front of a stranger. There's something sociopathic about it. The core of sociopathy is to enjoy getting one over on others or scoring a point while preventing one's opponents from scoring a point, figuratively speaking. This young man is a sociopath, and who cares why he's dead.
Redgrave is excellent, everyone is excellent, to the extent that the script allows them. Judith Dench plays a character who is essentially a person with hair who consumes food and may have a relationship. That's the extent of her characterization.
Playwrights have an automatic air of respectability, but would it hurt for people making films to put a little bit more effort into the script? I like this movie and there is a lot in it to admire, but it is pretentious AF and it really doesn't mean much.
There are also a lot of moments where I find myself angry at the cinematographer. A lot of this stuff is filmed poorly. Yes, the cinemagraphic look with its blurriness and poor lighting, yeah, we get it, but you can also get the proper exposures while you're filming. I mean, you're already there and you have a camera, you may as well use your light metering and figure out what the exposure settings should have been. The clunkiness of the filming gets in the way of the story several times.
Weekend of Terror (1970)
I'm loving this film but that first scene
It is an interesting film. It is beautiful to look at and I'm marveling at the desert location photography. Every actor on screen is at the height of their skill. Everyone is beautiful and this is a really exciting film and I recommend it.
However, how are we not talking about the fact that in the opening scene, Robert Conrad kills a kidnap victim that he is about to sexually violate? Seriously, these '70s movies do not flinch from brutality and horror and violence. Robert Conrad is such a guild actor, and it's really uncomfortable to watch. I really admire Lee Majors in Robert Conrad for the risks that they take in this film.
This isn't really a spoiler but I just wanted to call attention to that horrifying opening scene in a television movie that was broadcast into people's living rooms.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2005)
It works for many viewers, not all
I will call attention to the extremely divided reactions. And I think that this is because a lot of people reasonably and rightfully can't get into this talking version. The characters speak like video game characters. There's also an erratic and unpredictable tone in the conversations, with a lot of what seem like full notes and irrational responses.
I like the way the shots are set up. Different focal lengths, random changes in the height of the camera, lots of extreme close-ups. I also like the way that the scenes kind of drag on. It's very theatrical.
My advice would be to click off if you find yourself hating it. It's working for me.
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Lots of flaws, lots of success
I enjoyed the movie even though there were a lot of times where I hated the way that the shots were set up and I hated with the cameraman was doing. Amazing moments of tension and emotion, and then some full notes and some missed opportunities.
The main actor has a tremendous amount of charisma and that keeps the movie going. Criminals are so broken and ad in this film. The criminal mastermind is just pointlessly evil, and I'm not going to go into the details, but yikes.
The female lead is another example of how this movie is great and terrible at the same time. She does an excellent job with her role, but I don't know what the director wanted from her. I 100% believe that she is following notes from the director, but there are some really odd moments in her performance.
Nonetheless, I gave it an aid because it really was a good film and I do recommend it. I'm just nitpicking here. The central situation of the plot is really intriguing and the idea of a perfect crime... Who can avoid being interested in that?
Identikit (1974)
Beautiful cinematography, questionable script
I feel like this story deserved a better script. Elizabeth Taylor manages to carry her scenes in spite of their ridiculousness. There are some really uncomfortable moments, and she does some physical acting that I wasn't expecting. The scenes without her are horrible. The interrogations are ridiculous and feel like improv.
I would have tried opening the film with a murder scene. And then an abrupt transition to the brightly lit and cold modernist brutalist locations. I think that holding out the murder is not helping the story. The novel may have been structured that way but that's because books and films have different storytelling structures. Everyone going into this film knows what it's about. There was a book. It's not a secret. There's no point in trying to keep it secret on screen.
But the photography is amazing. We are basically looking at the world through the eyes of the main character, and it is a cold and friendless and loveless world. The public scenes are not pleasant. The interiors are impersonal and alienating. Close-ups are handled well and the conversations often feel claustrophobic because of the tight close-ups.
I enjoyed this movie a lot because of the cinematography and the oddity, so much that I almost feel bad piling on these complaints. But I didn't like how the script had her just saying these odd philosophical statements hinting at something when, as I pointed out earlier, everybody saying this film pretty much knows what it's about and where it's going. And the philosophical points are sometimes really dumb. The thing about how colors in their natural state should not be stain-free? Getting so mad about that? Bringing it up later? Oh my heck, I almost stopped watching the movie during that scene.
I'm thinking about reading the book because I totally believe that this would be handled better in the novel.
But I recommend watching this. It was quite interesting, and even if you hate it, you need to see this cinematography. This is a bleak and disturbing film about the meaninglessness of a violent and irrational world, and I think the cinematographer understood the assignment.
Torn Curtain (1966)
Some beautiful photography, some odd moments
I recommend this film but as everyone has noted there are some significant failures. I think part of it is that Paul Newman is a dynamic initially attractive actor and his acting in this film is not really interesting. I was a little baffled by the whole engagement drama, and I was also not enjoying the scene where he did a press conference. He was trying to radiate sheepishness and uncertainty, and it was just the wrong note. The direction obviously was to look like he was saying something without meeting it, and it was just so clunky and wrong for that moment.
I feel the actors did a really good job of filming what they were asked to do, but I don't really feel any heart or energy in this production. There is an astonishing lack of suspense. From the moment that you see him pretend to defect, you know that he's going to succeed in whatever he's doing. None of it feels high stakes. There's no real tension in this story.
However, I recommend watching it because it is a gorgeous piece of '60s realism or naturalism. I also think that history is a big part of why this film doesn't work. People in the 1960s saw Russia and East Germany as technologically advanced and superior cultures, and people in the Western world were constantly afraid that the communists were centuries ahead of us in science, technology, and medicine. None of that was true, but conservatives are always afraid that everybody else is better.
The Night Visitor (1971)
Beautiful cinematography, wonderful soundtrack, fantastic acting
I recommend this movie, but be warned, this is a film that could have been made by a Soviet filmmaker in a bad mood. It is absolutely worth watching, and I want to give all of the actors kudos for their performances. They acted the hell out of this material.
Liv Ullman in particular tries to make the most out of this character, and there isn't much in that character. I don't know if it was Ebert or the New York times who said that there is no character development because the characters are absolutely finished by the time they show up. That was so mean! But so true.
The cinematography is fantastic. Stationary camera, deep focus so that every single Pebble and leaf is up there on the screen, it's beautiful to look at and absolutely gorgeous. Cinematography often uses blur and all kinds of goofy things to create interest or to direct your attention, so it's interesting to have long shots from a stationary camera with everything in focus. Some of my favorite Russian movies use this effect. You feel like you're actually sitting on the shore watching a guy in his underwear escaping from a lunatic asylum, and the beauty of this kind of cinematography is that the subject is able to speak. The starkness of the landscape. A man in his underwear prancing through the snow. All of those tricks that cinematographers use to direct our attention are not needed.
Soundtrack is fascinating and I really enjoyed listening to this movie. So much talent and so much hard work went into this film, and it's not all lost. I'm giving it 8 out of 10 because it is a beautiful and compelling film. I'm also giving it a relatively high score because even though there are deep and profound and unfixable story problems, I was intrigued and I kept looking for the deeper meaning or the solution to it. It got me into a mystery novel frame of mind.
I am a Scandinavian American, so the cultural atmosphere of this film was endearing to me. The pissy bourgeois doctor who thinks he's too good to farm? Yes. I literally think I'm related to this man.
So, to sum it up, I highly recommend this for it's beautiful cinematography and soundtrack and for the immense hard work that went into this film. The actors all work very hard and I believe that they succeeded in bringing life to this material.
Finally, with regard to the story, it blows my mind that somebody typed up a treatment like this and sold it. It feels more like they came up with a gimmick (how could somebody commit a crime while having an ironclad alibi elsewhere?) but it fell apart when it was handed to a screenwriter. I also wonder if the studio leaned on them and tried to turn this into something that the original script wasn't.
And that final moment, hilariously, it redeemed so much of the story for me. I think check off would agree that if there is a parrot in a movie, that parrot will have to go off before the end. And that parrot goes off, lol. I'm almost thinking of raising my score for this film on the basis of that last scene. The actors are able to underact this scene to great effect.
The Idea of You (2024)
It made me cry, which surprised me
Obviously this film could have been better if it had been broken into parts or if some of the elements of the story had been developed further. But the two main actors turn in remarkable performances for this material. Anne Hathaway turns on all of her quirkiness, and the lead actor was able to keep up with her.
I wonder how this material would have looked if it had been 4 hours long. The backstory possibly could have been told a little better. The actress playing the young mistress/wife deserved more screen time, and that one super awkward conversation between her and Anne Hathaway was quite good.
I recommend this film, but go in with an expectation that there're going to be some story problems. Turn off your logic and just go along with it. I got ridiculed enormously by everyone watching the film with me because I cried near the end. Maybe I was just overwhelmed, I don't know, but this movie worked for me.
Death and Other Details (2024)
Slogging through it still
I feel like I've been watching for months.
I can't remember anyone's name.
The business deal is odd. People at this level should have a better ability to evaluate investment.
What episode am I on. Am I supposed to care about the death of that lady's mother. Why are there so many scenes going nowhere.
The photography is perfect. Composition and montage and lighting is all done away.
The characters are opaque. It's hard to care about them.
Rahul and Hugo make the most of their scenes.
Mandy's accent needed more work.
Violett's hair makes this feel like an SNL skit.
How am I still watching this.
The Pyx (1973)
I love this film
I love this film. There are flaws in it for sure, but I think a lot of people have watched the poor re-editing of it called the hooker murders.
It's a pretty simple story. There might be elements that seem confusing, but I defy anyone to watch it to the end and not see how all of the parts fit together.
Karen Black is unbelievably beautiful and strange in this film. She is a cipher. We are looking at her from the outside, we are seeing her exterior, we are listening to the stories and accounts from other people. We never actually get into her mind or see reality from her perspective.
I commend the script for that.
This is also a masterpiece of 1970s on-location cinematography. The city atmosphere, with unique Quebecois touches, is perfect.
For what it's worth, the story jumps back and forth between present time and past time. I think it does this more than most films of the '70s, and I can see how it was confusing to people. But in 2024, we are inundated with television and film that uses this technique. Most viewers are going to be able to figure out when there is a transition from present to past or vice versa.
As for the thematic elements, I would like to testify that in the 1970s everybody believed that there was a guy called Satan and that he was going to be reborn or something like that. The culture was a lot different back then. This stuff hit harder because most people would just be shocked at the idea of a black mass. I don't think most people today even know what a black mass is. And I'm not going to tell you. Because then I would have to click the thing that says does this review contain spoilers, and I don't want to do that.
Go into the film with an open mind. Be aware that Elizabeth looks different to different people, and the unevenness of her behavior from scene to scene starts to make sense.
The Happiness Cage (1972)
Too scattered but worth watching
I wish they had cut a lot more of this dialogue. I've been imagining this on a stage in a theater and it would be wonderful. With all of this talking, they would create a world and it would have ups and downs and it would work.
That doesn't translate to film. You don't have to create a world or an atmosphere. The camera can photograph a huge empty room in a mental hospital and you don't have to tell us what it feels like. The starkness of the setting is already pretty overwhelming. They are trapped. This is horrifying.
I grew up in the 70s so I'm familiar with this weird weak neurotic snarky tone that everyone has. It was a pretty awful time to live. People were not nice. Negativity was coolness, and everybody just wanted to drop out and let go of everything.
I was really not liking Christopher Walken in the first few minutes but I relaxed and decided to go with it. And here he is an absolutely wonderful actor doing the best with this material. And a lot of his works that we all know about now as an actor show up here. It might be worth watching just to see Christopher walken.
The She Beast (1966)
Major flaws but also many strengths
The camera work is really good and all of the shots are composed beautifully. A ton of work went into the technical side of this film. The actors dubbed their lines so that the conversations are perfectly recorded. And I am a huge fan of Italian and hammerhouse horror and this film plays with that aesthetic but also has some naturalistic passages.
The story is dumb af. There is no nice way to put it. It plays like a comedy half of the time. The comedy almost overpowers the horror. In fact, there is no horror in this horror film.
Nonetheless, I highly recommend. There is a high definition version on YouTube now that is completely worth watching.
The Peripheral (2022)
I like this, but it's horrible in many ways
I like the look, it's obvious they put a lot of energy and time into this, the visuals are stunning and amazing, Chloe is a goddess, the other actors are turning in fantastic performances, but the story lags. It lags.
The characters are not flashed out at all. Everyone in the future seems is just an outfit and a hairstyle, and it's pretty much all of the snotty people from the Hunger Games redux.
The motivations for everyone's behavior remain obscure no matter how long you watch. Even when you fully understand the explanation that the show gives you for why people are doing what they're doing, it doesn't make sense. Enormous amounts of energy are being wasted for nothing by all of the futuristic characters.
The rural Southern characters are caricatures and one dimensional.
I would suggest that if people are going to work with William Gibson in the future, y'all might want to remember that he writes novels and not screenplays. His texts are interesting because he spends tons of time obsessing over details of physical objects, like a tweaker, but when you translate this to action on the screen, it's very empty. Just get someone to work with him on the screenplay and try to identify what the dramatic moments are and also try to create some kind of framework in which all of these things make sense.
I recommend this, and I like it, and at times I love it, but I shake my head and roll my eyes every single episode.
Tell Me Lies (2022)
Horrible but you should watch it
Horrible but you should watch it. The characters are barely even one to mentional. They are 0.5 dimensional. Every character enters every scene with motivation to be unpleasant and to say vague unpleasant things to the other characters. Even the drama is weak. Somebody drove around a corner fast and another car swerved to miss them, so that first driver is a murderer? Really? I don't think that's how it happens.
"How to Get Away with Euphoria" would be a good title. Still, it's worth watching. Just don't expect an interesting story, good performances, or an acceptable script. This is the kind of content that was created for binge watching. Binge away.
The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
Great '70s cinematography
I love films from this era because of the incredible amount of formica, cheap tile, carpet, wallpaper, concrete, glass, and steel in every shot. There's something so lush about film and television from the early 1970s. I like to remember that it was a bizarre and broken time, with Vietnam and Watergate looming over everyone. People retreated from life outside the home and focused on hair and clothing. Pop culture was very shallow and easily accessible. Films from this time all have an element of giallo with stylishness and hipster details carrying the film forward at times. This film is wonderful to watch, and the story is a bit foolish but very dramatic and engaging. And the actors turn in good performances. It's such a window into what life was like back in 1972.
Ombre roventi (1970)
I didn't hate this
The sleazy, superficial, vapid, druggy atmosphere is almost overpowering. But, having grown up in the '70s, I can't say it isn't an accurate depiction of reality around that time.
The plot is a mass, as others have noted. I would really like to see a better quality video of this. The sets are amazing.
The music is pretty atmospheric. And the depiction of hippies as cult murderers is pretty good. It will make you laugh, but it will also make you feel disgust and contempt for the entire scene.
There are a lot of passages that made me think of Kenneth Anger. There were also a lot of scenes where I found myself wondering where are all of the Egyptians?
The Turning (2020)
Not the worst, not the best
I think screenwriters and directors underestimate how difficult it is to film this story. The elements are much more unpleasant than they seem at first. Most people reading the text notice really quickly that it appears that the children have been sexually molested by the former governess and Quint. At the very least, the two were engaged in a horrific process of grooming with the children, and the text dances around it a lot but it makes it a really horrifying story.
Filming this would be difficult. The actors for the most part are giving their all to this script, and there are some commendably coherent performances. The cinematography is decent and the Victorian mansion motif is very consistent with the story. I think it's a good looking film.
There are also some huge problems with the mood and pacing, and some awkward and stilted scenes that are actually kind of bad. I would still recommend watching this. Go and expecting to laugh once in a while, and be prepared to hate some of the parts of the film, but I command the actors with some exceptions for their work here.
The Lodge (2019)
Excellent camerawork
I really like the shots in this. The camera work is really good, and it's clear that their eye is on the walls and halls and architecture and landscapes. I could tell from the start when it opens with minimalist architecture that they were setting up a contrast for a creepy lodge later on. And I was not disappointed.
Atmosphere and pacing are also very good. I really enjoyed this movie.
The Stay (2021)
Good for what it is
I'm actually enjoying this. From negative reviews I thought all kinds of horrible things would be here, but the actors are doing the best with this script. For some reason, this film dives deep into a sick and toxic marriage and drags the audience through all kinds of unpleasant emotions associated with breakups and dead marriages. It's strangely unpleasant, but a lot of horror depends upon broken relationships, dead parents, illness and infection, etc.
Citizen Bio (2020)
Affect is off
When the biohackers talk about the failure of the project, they smile. When Tristan talks about being locked out of the laboratory, he appears to be happy. I think this is because it confirms his paranoid and conspiratorial beliefs, and I think that that's more of a win for these kind of biohackers and anarchists than any actual accomplishment would be. This whole story is a win for them because it justifies their toxic and pessimistic views about life and humanity.
Columbo: The Conspirators (1978)
Cold blooded psycho
One of the things I like about this episode is how the poet is a loud, braggadocio, narcissistic, hateful psychopath. But the actor does a good job of showing how the cold and manipulative psychopath can exude charm even when their eyes are coldly scanning the crowd to see how they're being reacted to. This actor is so good.
The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness (2021)
Enjoyable but sad
I think Maury lost his mind over this. Of course there are groups of drug using kids who use satanic imagery, but there's nothing linking this to the murders. Of course it's possible that there were other people involved with David Berkowitz, and possibly there were people assisting him in the killings. Maybe even other people were gunmen at times.
Among the many problems I see with his approach, he seems to have thought that the two or three famous people associated with cult activity were the only people in the universe. The process church was a very unimportant and minor avant-garde group, and I don't think they ever had any kind of power over other people who were engaged in occult activity and occult practices.
I myself have no fears about black magic or sorcery from a supernatural point of view, but people who have those beliefs also possess motivations to murder other human beings at times. So satanists are dangerous people, and there are groups of satanic believers. But they're not coordinated by the process church or Charles Manson. But they're not coordinated by the process church or Charles Manson.
Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan (2021)
Interesting study of a hoax
This is a difficult subject to present in a documentary. They present all of the jumbled accounts, without saying anything about the truth value of Billy's claim. As you listen to the mental health professionals speak, the flimsiness of his facade becomes less and less believable.
One of my favorite touches is the fact that when psychiatrist expressed skepticism, they were told to watch a Sally Field mini series in order to understand multiple personality disorder.
Don't Look Up (2021)
... um ...
I do not enjoy this film. No. I don't know if it's supposed to be a comedy. It has a lot of farcical elements that are distracting, but then it becomes suddenly serious. No.
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (2020)
It takes a while to get to their claims
The discourse of UFOs is basically listening to people's paranoid ideation. They assert that the government monitors publication and THIS PROVES THAT ALIENS ARE AMONGST US because the government can ONLY be monitoring publication to suppress UFO data.
There is no other subject which the government could be monitoring.
Think about that for a moment. It's nonsensical and delusional beyond belief.
From a logic point of view, that argument simply assumes its premises and asserts them, over and over. There is no reason to believe that all governments for the past 100 years are *only* focused on suppression of UFO data. There are thousands of other pieces of data which our governments would wish to suppress.
Assesrting that it can *only* be UFO data is a tell.
It reveals that the makers of this documentary are insane.