WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[RedRiver]

This does sound interesting.

[JackFavell]

This is the best new-ish movie I've seen all year, Red. I will definitely be revisiting it.

Tucci has a writer's eye - he never bludgeons to make a point, but instead lets the camera roll on, catching the performances softly but with clarity and truth. He lets you make your own decisions about the characters, which is something that always hits me hard and makes me think. We begin to notice the bored look, or a slight flinch of emotional discomfort from Joe Gould's "friends", those he hits up for money and we sense the...I can only say the ickiness of the situation. Tucci gives us the impression of manners brought to the fore to mask polite disinterest or even fear. The characterizations are gentle, even when they are painfully truthful. No one is exempt from the critical eye of the camera. He lets scenes run long, and holds the camera in long shot so we can sense the frustration brewing between characters. The same thing that makes Gould so interesting initially is also the thing that eventually drives people away.

I said this was based on a true story, which makes it more devastating and emotional. The fact that Gould affected so many very real people and even famous ones and yet could not find a niche in the world is overwhelmingly sad, perhaps even a crime. He himself had something to do with the way he ended up, though. No one here escapes blame. Tucci, or perhaps Joe Mitchell, the writer of the Joe Gould stories, is able to draw parallels between us and this man, who was essentially what we today would call a bum or homeless person. And Mitchell, I suspect, was never able to get over the guilt of letting Joe Gould down. In turning his back on Gould, he was turning his back on himself at the same time.

Sorry for going on and on. It's refreshing to find such a hidden gem!

[MikeBSG]

Today I took my son to see "The Hunger Games."

It was good. Not great, but good. My son, who likes the novels, was on the edge of his seat the whole time. I enjoyed myself, but I had a better time at "John Carter" a couple of weeks ago.

The bizarre future fashions were interesting, and Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson were both very good as a smarmy TV host (Tucci) and an embittered winner of a past game (Harrelson.) Donald Sutherland made the most of his few scenes as the sly President. The two teenage leads were both first-rate, and I found the relationship between their characters to develop in a refreshingly different way.

My only complaint about the film was the "hunger game" itself. The film should have made one of the contestants a distinctive villain. As it was, the bad guys in the game itself were all pretty interchangeable. But the action scenes were well handled.

Worth a look if you like science fiction films.

[JackFavell]

My daughter loved it, and she's read all the books. I did not see it yet, she went with a group of friends who had also read the books. I like the fact that they went BECAUSE of the books, sharing an experience because of reading. It's great that Hollywood apparently put some thought into this movie and the way it was to be presented. It's about time!

And I love Stanley Tucci. I will go to any movie he's in, he's worth watching.

[Rita Hayworth]

And I love Stanley Tucci. I will go to any movie he's in, he's worth watching.

JackFavell ... he another favorites of mine. Stanley is incredible

[kingrat]

If you like courtroom dramas or English movies of the 1950s or Dirk Bogarde (all three in my case), I recommend LIBEL (1958, Anthony Asquith). The plot is none too believable, but if you can accept a coincidence or two, this is well acted, well directed, and most enjoyable, one of the most exciting courtroom dramas I've seen. Dirk Bogarde is an English lord married to a wealthy American (Olivia De Havilland)--or is he a down-at-the-heels actor pretending to be the English lord, who did change remarkably, though perhaps that was due to the pressures of WWII? Either possibility could be true, for Bogarde plays both roles in the flashbacks. Paul Massie, an actor unknown to me, plays the Canadian soldier who asserts that Bogarde is a fraud. With Robert Morley as Bogarde's lawyer and Wilfred Hyde White (who steals every scene, even from Morley) as Massie's, we are in good hands. If this sounds like your kind of movie, don't miss it. One of the best Asquith films, and Bogarde is a much underrated actor.

[feaito]

"Libel" is definitely a movie I'd like to revisit. As for "The Hunger Games" I saw the trailer some weeks ago and I did not like what I saw.

Over the weekend I saw:

"Anonymous" (2011), a good historical drama-thriller about who the real author of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets was...Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave are grand as the Earl of Oxford and Elizabeth I. I did not know anything about the "Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare Authorship" before watching this; all in all, intriguing and well acted. I wouldn't have expected a film fo this type from Roland Emmerich.

"The Swan" (1956). Did lovely Grace Kelly ever look more ravishing than in this film? My wife could not believe that Louis Jourdan was reaching 40 when this film was made and that he was 9 years Grace's senior. A very appealing adaptation of Molnar's play with all MGM's gloss and production values and a superb supporting cast that only that studio could assemble at this time: Jessie Royce Landis, Agnes Moorehead, Leo G. Carrol, Estelle Winwood, Brian Aherne...each of them giving priceless performances. Alec Guinness is fine as the Crown Prince. Jourdan's and Kelly's love scenes are believable and they look so handsome together. I'll have to re-check the Silent version with Frances Howard and watch the 1930 Lillian Gish version. This was one of the perennial matinee films of my childhood, but the print never looked so good!

"Labyrinth of Passion" (1982). Very raw film by Pedro Almodóvar (his second). Not as raw as his first, but still not for everybody's tastes. IMO it lacks humor. He'd achieve much better results with his following films "Dark Habits" (1983) -hilarious- and "What Have I done to deserve this?" (1984). It stars Cecilia Roth and Imanol Arias. A very young Antonio Banderas appears in a featured role and Pedro himself makes a cameo. For fans of early Almodóvar.

"Limitless" (2011). Well done thriller about a man who finds a pill which changes his life...for good? Fine performance by Bradley Cooper. De Niro plays a ruthless impresario.

[JackFavell]

The Swan is a beautiful film, perfectly acted. You're right, Grace never looked more lovely than here, but it's Alec Guinness who gets me every time with his final scene with Grace.

The Lillian Gish version, One Romantic Night, I hate to say, is just awful. I think it may be the only really bad performance she ever gave, but maybe someone else likes it better? Oh lordy, the whole thing sets my teeth on edge.

[feaito]

Hi Wendy, I'll check ORN ASAP!

BTW here is the review I wrote last year when I watched the 1925 Silent version:

Today I watched a very interesting Silent: "The Swan" (1925), a Paramount picture directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki, with Frances Howard (later Mrs. Samuel Goldwyn) as Princess Alexandra, Adolphe Menjou (as the Prince she has to marry) and Ricardo Cortez (as the Tutor). I enjoyed very much this film adaptation of Molnar's play and I found it less glossy and more realistic, in a way, than its 1956 Remake (I haven't seen Lillian Gish's 1930 version, "One Romantic Night"). There are many differences with the 1956 film: Where Alec Guinness, as the Prince, was restrained and stolid, Adolphe Menjou's Prince is a more of a cad; a rather disagreeable Casanova, full of mischief, flirting with all the women around. He couldn't have cared less about Alexandra. I'd say his character is nearer those Royals portrayed by Von Stroheim in his films. Frances Howard's icy beauty suits well her Alexandra and she gives a fine performance. Ricardo Cortez is also fine as the good-natured, very ethical and melancholic Tutor, who loves Alexandra in silence. In all, a very pleasant surprise. I did not find it slow paced as other reviewers stated on the net.

[JackFavell]

OK, fer, I hope you like it better than I did.

I think the problem for me, on second thought isn't that Gish isn't good, it's that she's too old to play the part and I just can't get around that stumbling block. The film is centered on her, and she is just filmed wrong. The movie itself lacks a direction or a style - it's not funny, and it's not romantic. It isn't really anything - just a script filmed verbatim.

[feaito]

Wendy, from what I've read about ORN I've suspected the same that you write about its worth But still, I'm curious.

[feaito]

I just saw "The Descendants" (2011) a superior film which may well contain George Clooney's finest performance to date (he deserved to be nominated). The two girls who play his daughters are also excellent. The film is honest, like real life, not formulaic or predicatble. The Hawaiian landscapes are awesome, especially in HD.

[MikeBSG]

This afternoon I watched "Kinky Boots" (2005) directed by Julian Jarrold.

In some ways, this British comedy about a shoe factory trying to stay afloat is akin to "Brassed Off" and "The Full Monty." It is also 'naughty' in a way that reminded me of "Calendar Girls" and "Mrs. Henderson Presents."

However, I liked this movie better than the ones I mentioned. "Kinky Boots" is less about keeping the factory going than it is about friendship. The plot, while predictable, is well-structured, and the cast, particularly Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton, has a real charm. It isn't a great film, but it is pretty entertaining.

[feaito]

I've just seen "Take a Letter Darling" (1942), a film I had long anticipated, directed by the rather underrated Mitchell Leisen, starring Roz Russell and the also -unjustly underrated- Fred Mac Murray. Roz plays another of her career women, this time a very succesful advertisement executive, who's a partner in an agency with Bob Benchley (in fact she used to be his secretary & thanks to her talent she saved the agency from bankruptcy). She handles accounts of US$ Millions (very huge by 1942 standards) and hires out-of-luck artist Tom verney (Fred MacMurray) as her private secretary for very specific reasons and purposes. Mac has great chemistry with Roz, just as she has with Colbert & Lombard, in different ways of course.

The film is somewhat reminiscent of "NoTime for Love" (1943) (Leisen) in which Colbert plays a magazine editor (do I recall well?) and Mac an architect, who turns Colbert's world upside down. In both films Mac is regarded first as sex-object (quite rare in the 1940s with the Production Code at his highest enforcement), thanks to Leisen's take of the stories. In TALD Mac also messes Roz's world (as, by the way, Lee Bowman did in 1945's "She Wouldn't Say Yes") and we get to enjoy funny moments and their snappy exchanges...there's also some slapstick! Recommended.

[feaito]

Due to all the positive feedback regarding RKO's "They Won't Believe Me" (1947) here at SSO I finished watching it a few moments ago and it contains perhaps Bob Young's best, most complex and multi-dimensional performance on film, along with her masterful portrayal of the husband who has an affair with Hedy Lamarr in "H.M. Pulham Esq" (1941), a King Vidor little discussed small gem.

Young plays a sort of a likable wishy-washy cad in this powerful suspense-drama in which he is surrounded by three baeautiful and talented actresses, all of whom play multi-layered characters: Rita Johnson as a suffering wife, not so noble or exemplary either; Susan Hayward, "a little tramp" that can be "on the level" when she falls in love for real and Jane Greer as an attractive lady whose morals are quite adaptable...The plot is rather unpredictable; I did not really know for many moments where it was going to...and the ending is quite stunning. Like "Out of the Past" (1947) it needs a secong viewing. Good work by Irving Pichel.