Directed by Silvio Amadio (and also starring Rosalba Neri ), this one started out a bit slow but came through with an interesting finish. It even had a very…very short cameo by Barbara Bouchet which shouldn’t be too surprising given that this was about the time Amadio filmed Amuck! with both her and Rosalba. One issue I had was that I didn’t get to see nearly enough of Rosalba but I am happy to report that the extras do provide a bit more.
The presence of Jenny Tamburi started me thinking about how much different she looked in Sergio Martino’s The Suspicious Death of a Minor which started me thinking about the tragedy of Claudio Cassinelli and how his outstanding career was cut so short. Therefore, I decided to give that one a re-watch as well.
I know the semi-comic nature of parts of this one isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoy it and I think that Cassinelli is outstanding in this role.
Still overcrowded with long term house guests here so my movie watching continues to be sadly curtailed. But I’ve been slowly pressing on with my year by year project and am finally done with 1942.
Mrs Miniver (Wyler / 1942) 5/10 Saboteur (Hitchcock / 1942) 6/10 The Ghost of Frankenstein (Kenton / 1942) 4/10 The Spoilers (Enright / 1942) 6/10 Woman of the Year (Stevens / 1942) 6/10 The Talk of the Town (Stevens / 1942) 7/10 Once Upon a Honeymoon (McCarey / 1942) 6/10 Casablanca (Curtiz / 1942) 9/10 This Gun for Hire (Tuttle / 1942) 7/10 The Glass Key (Heisler / 1942) 7/10 To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch / 1942) 9/10 Went the Day Well? (Cavalcanti / 1942) 6/10 In Which We Serve (Lean / 1942) 7/10
So, the thing I’m enjoying most about this project of watching films chronologically from 1930 onwards is seeing the gradual changes; first in technology, then in production code influence and now, predictably, the war as a major plot element. Where the villains in the 1930s were mostly bankers or gangsters or corrupt politicians in 1942 they are almost uniformly Nazis or Fifth Columnists. In terms of genre, the romantic comedies still remain super strong, the war film (again predictably) starts to rear its head, and there is the early glimpses of what will become Film Noir. All in all an enjoyable year with To Be or Not to Be and Casablanca the stand outs for me.
Aguirre the Wrath of God - strange but very hypnotizing, 7/10 Cat O’ Nine tails - had potential to be better, still intriguing, 7/10 Ronin - surprised I had not seen, deserves more credit imo, 10/10 Wild Geese - very enjoyable, well acted and scripted, with great stars, 8/10 Long Good Friday - bit of a let down, expected more, 6/10 Code Name Wild Geese - Did not enjoy, bit of a lame duck, 4/10 the Aviator - one of Scorsese’s that never jumped out at me, glad I finally watched, 9/10 Death Wish - love Charles Bronson, never bothered with this one before, 7/10
An absolutely brilliant film imho. One of my favourites. A movie which seems to gain traction after having seen it, and then becomes better with each subsequent viewing.
Definitely wanted to give it a go as I’d heard a lot about it and Kinski is a favourite. Could easily have been an 8 - its just a rough show of how much I enjoyed them, nothing serious.
Dorsvloer vol confetti
Dutch coming of age movie about a young girl in a firmly religious family, set in the eighties.
Some flaws but a nice watch. Without the usual Dutch actors.
The bizarre premise is as follows: A group of liberals kidnap a group of deplorables to hunt them down in a deadly game of hunter and prey. Those deplorables hate immigrants and believe in conspiracy theories, the liberals are fervent anti-racists and talk about cultural appropriation when they see a white man in a kimono. According to the film makers this is a satire on the political divide between the American left and right. Thanks for the info guys, we would never have guessed!
In order to work, a satire must be witty and challenging, but the jokes in this movie are way too obvious and the liberals are, so to speak, as deplorable as the deplorables (who are rednecks). The film found itself in a political maelstrom in the US, so there must have been at least some people who thought it was offense. To some. Or to all.
Luckily there’s at least one normal character: Betty Gilpin plays a person who was selected as a victim by mistake and must now fight against heavy odds to get to the bottom of things, that is: to the person who masterminded this bloody cocktail. Since all others in the movie are either stupid or repulsive, it’s easy to sympathize with her: Go girl, kill kill! (and that would’ve been a better title than this anaemic ‘The Hunt’)
The Hunt has a few ridiculously gory killings that are so far over the top that they almost become funny. They have a certain Tarantino ring and they’re not the only elements that reminded of Tarantino’s movies: the final fight between Gilpin and Hilary Swank (the liberal mastermind) was obviously inspired by the kitchen fight (between the Bride and Copperhead ) in Kill Bill. But Tarantino would have made more out of this rather silly premise.
Well, there is some gory stuff and as some kind of exploitation thing it could work. I’m not a fan of that kind of movies, so others might rate it a bit higher. ** out of 5 seems a bit harsh, thinking about it
Not doing a full-on Shocktober but thought a few horrors in the month would be a good thing so am revisiting the Hammer Frankensteins.
So far:
The Curse of Frankenstein (Fisher / 1957) The Revenge of Frankenstein (Fisher / 1958) The Evil of Frankenstein (Francis / 1964)
I love these earlier Hammer Frankensteins. Cushing is terrific as the more sinister Baron. Christopher Lee plays a great physical performance as the creature in the first one. The second one is possibly even better. The third diverts from the original story arc and the monster not as good but all three very enjoyable for me.
Alright, so my first post in this thread some time ago was about the film Cadillac Records, and thus it feels fairly fitting to write a bit about another blues themed film, Honeydripper, which i had the pleasure to watch the other night. Directed by John Sayles, it is set in Alabama ca 1950 (shot close to Hank Williams childhood home, which is quite cool). The plot revolves around a Juke Joint owner (played by Danny Glover) hires the popular electric guitarist “Guitar Sam” (probably based on Guitar Slim, a popular New Orleans-based blues guitarist in the 1950s) as a saving throw for his bankruptcy-threatened club. Everything seems fine… until it turns out Sam is hospitalised in Arkansas.
What’s so fantastic about this? Well, checking the IMDB site of the film suggests it’s not Sayles most famous nor acclaimed film - it has an average of 6.7 by a mere 2k voters, compared to what is probably his most acclaimed effort, Lone Star, with a 7.4 average from 30k voters. I guess several people with no particular interest in Blues/R&B doesn’t really see anything beyond a plodding period piece about some musicians. But if you’re not only a fan, but an active performer and exponent of this music, it’s two hours of pure wonder. Shot on a tight but effective budget, the cast and crew make you feel like you’re in Harmony, Alabama at the onset of the Korean War by fairly unassuming means.
The plot moves on slowly and casually without any major twists or three clearly-defined acts (a floating mood amplified by the sparse, harmonica-driven soundtrack), which might turn some viewers off, but is actually a major pro to me; this isn’t really a dramaturgic story as much as it’s a chronicle of a crucial part of culture history - and just watching the fields, juke joints and saturday night dances you’ve always imagined as a blues player is a bigger joy than a over-complex story. And even though this is a good distance east of the Mississippi river, there’s something very western-esque about those small southern societies depicted in this film (and blues history in general), which might appeal to several SW fans regardless of musical or cinematic taste.
I could write a good deal more, but this post is already overlong, so: If you don’t like the blues and/or slowly paced period pieces about 1950s southern United States, don’t let this film trouble your want-to-see lists. But if you share my love for this music and films that take their time without having to complicate things, It’s a sincere recommendation.
Watched From Dusk Till Dawn 2 last night since it’s getting near Halloween here in the states and had a great time with it! I actually thought it was much better than the first film, found all the characters in this one much more to my liking. (Plus, I’m almost certain the character Luther Heggs was a Ghost and Mr. Chicken reference.) Excited to watch the third one now.
), this one started out a bit slow but came through with an interesting finish. It even had a very…very short cameo by Barbara Bouchet which shouldn’t be too surprising given that this was about the time Amadio filmed Amuck! with both her and Rosalba. One issue I had was that I didn’t get to see nearly enough of Rosalba but I am happy to report that the extras do provide a bit more. 
