The Bad Sleep Well is one of the best revenge movies of all time. It stars the great Toshiro Mifune as a man seeking revenge against the people who forced his father into committing suicide. Unlike many revenge movies, The Bad Sleep Well doesn't glamorize its subject. Instead it shows how in trying to get retribution for a man who is now dead, Mifune ends up injuring himself and other people he loves who are still alive. There are a lot of beautiful and haunting images, like when we see a desperate man struggling to climb a volcano so he can throw himself in, or a number of scenes that are shot at the bombed out wreckage of an old WWII munitions plant. The bleak landscape mirrors the damaged lives of the movie's characters. Powerful and haunting, this is a movie that will follow you for days.
Reviews
11 Reviews
Before Sunrise
(1995)
yadda, yadda, yadda . . .
5 November 2007
Before Sunrise is an exceptionally boring movie. It stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke as a couple people who meet on a train, spend the night wandering through Vienna, and then go their separate ways at sunrise. I have to admit that there are moments that feel very genuine, and it seems more realistic and heartfelt than most romance movies. The problem is that you have to hear these two people talk, and talk, and talk for an hour and forty-five minutes and neither of them has anything interesting to say. You get to hear Hawke's ideas about reincarnation and Delpy's story about going into therapy after breaking up from a boyfriend she didn't like that much anyway, and yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah . . . I wanted to shoot myself in the head.
The Valet
(2006)
Sweet and Funny
31 October 2007
I really enjoyed The Valet. It's a sweet little film that had me grinning the whole way through. My smiles were only interrupted now and then by bursts of laughter.
Gad Elmaleh plays a valet who through pure chance is photographed with a billionaire (the always wonderful Daniel Auteuil) and his mistress, a famous supermodel. When the photo turns up in the tabloids the billionaire must convince his wife that the supermodel is really with the valet, so he gets them to live together while his wife has them shadowed by private investigators. The plan backfires on the billionaire when he finds himself consumed with jealousy at the thought of his mistress spending the night with another man, so he also sends private investigators to watch them. Meanwhile the Valet has romantic problems of his own that are complicated by the fact that all of a sudden he finds himself shacking up with the most beautiful woman in France. It's a cute and funny little romantic comedy.
Gad Elmaleh plays a valet who through pure chance is photographed with a billionaire (the always wonderful Daniel Auteuil) and his mistress, a famous supermodel. When the photo turns up in the tabloids the billionaire must convince his wife that the supermodel is really with the valet, so he gets them to live together while his wife has them shadowed by private investigators. The plan backfires on the billionaire when he finds himself consumed with jealousy at the thought of his mistress spending the night with another man, so he also sends private investigators to watch them. Meanwhile the Valet has romantic problems of his own that are complicated by the fact that all of a sudden he finds himself shacking up with the most beautiful woman in France. It's a cute and funny little romantic comedy.
The Trial
(1962)
Better than the Book
29 October 2007
I watched this movie on a sleepy Sunday afternoon and somewhere around the one hour mark I began to doze off. But slipping in and out of consciousness isn't a bad way to watch the Trial. It's a dreamy sort of film, filled with haunting images that seem to come from a nightmare. And there isn't much of a plot to keep track of.
The Trial is the story of Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) a falsely accused man. In fact, his position is worse than that because he doesn't know who has accused him, who is trying him, or even what he has been accused of. Kafka's story is a prophecy about our modern world with its massive, heartless bureaucracies. It's a meditation on injustice and the inevitability of death. The novel is a little flat, and even boring. I read it ten years ago and all I can remember of it is the beginning and the end. Wells breathes life into it with his dark and brooding photograph. He adds a sinister and not inappropriate beauty. I liked the movie better than the book.
The Trial is the story of Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) a falsely accused man. In fact, his position is worse than that because he doesn't know who has accused him, who is trying him, or even what he has been accused of. Kafka's story is a prophecy about our modern world with its massive, heartless bureaucracies. It's a meditation on injustice and the inevitability of death. The novel is a little flat, and even boring. I read it ten years ago and all I can remember of it is the beginning and the end. Wells breathes life into it with his dark and brooding photograph. He adds a sinister and not inappropriate beauty. I liked the movie better than the book.
Elevator to the Gallows
(1958)
Louis Malle Movie isn't Muy Mal
25 October 2007
Elevator to the Gallows is about a guy who murders his boss/girlfriend's husband, realizes that he has left a terrible piece of evidence behind, goes back to get it, and then gets stuck in the elevator all weekend. While he's trying to figure out how to get out his car is stolen by a stupid young thug and his equally idiotic girlfriend, and they go on something of a spree. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, who helped plot her husband's murder by supplying the weapon, wanders around Paris wondering what happened to her man and not knowing whether her husband is dead or not.
This movie is tense, stylish and just plain cool. Jeanne Moreau and a Miles Davis score make it sexy. I could spend hours watching Jeanne Moreau walk the streets of Paris while Miles Davis plays in the background. This movie is just cool like that. If you like 1950's French Noir, I recommend this one.
This movie is tense, stylish and just plain cool. Jeanne Moreau and a Miles Davis score make it sexy. I could spend hours watching Jeanne Moreau walk the streets of Paris while Miles Davis plays in the background. This movie is just cool like that. If you like 1950's French Noir, I recommend this one.
Gone Baby Gone
(2007)
Great Baby Great
24 October 2007
When I went into the theater to see Gone Baby Gone, Casey Affleck was not what I pictured when I read Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie novels. But he won me over and will now forever be Kenzie as far as I'm concerned.
Gone Baby Gone is a tough and gritty movie about a child abduction and the lives it destroys. You can see the end coming a little too early in the movie, but it's still fascinating watching Kenzie slog through a lot of awful stuff before you get there. Ben Affleck has proved that he can direct a movie with the best of them. There was nothing slack or boring for the entire running time, and the ending will give you something to argue about over dinner after watching the movie.
The best detective movie I've seen in a while.
Gone Baby Gone is a tough and gritty movie about a child abduction and the lives it destroys. You can see the end coming a little too early in the movie, but it's still fascinating watching Kenzie slog through a lot of awful stuff before you get there. Ben Affleck has proved that he can direct a movie with the best of them. There was nothing slack or boring for the entire running time, and the ending will give you something to argue about over dinner after watching the movie.
The best detective movie I've seen in a while.
On the Avenue
(1937)
Slumming on Broadway
24 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
On the Avenue has a simple musical comedy plot. Dick Powell plays the lead actor and creator of a musical comedy on Broadway. When the wealthiest man in America and his daughter go to see it, they are annoyed to discover that a portion of the play is dedicated to mocking them. The girl (Madelein Carroll) gets steamed up, goes backstage, slaps Powell around, and then . . . they fall in love. He promises to change the play so it is less offensive to her, but the lead actress (Alice Faye) is in love with him and she manages to make it even more offensive when Carroll and her family come back to the theater to see it again. Carroll then gets revenge by buying the musical from its producers and sabotaging Powell's performance.
It's a promising little plot, but the attempts at comedy they hang on it often misfire terribly. There are no three people more annoying than the Ritz Brothers, who seem to think that going cross-eyed is the height of comedy. And there is a scene where Powell and Carroll go to a diner and then laugh at the accent of its Greek owner . . . whoo-hooo hilarious. There is a laugh or two wedged in here and there, and some of the musical numbers are entertaining, but on the whole this thing is a bust.
It's a promising little plot, but the attempts at comedy they hang on it often misfire terribly. There are no three people more annoying than the Ritz Brothers, who seem to think that going cross-eyed is the height of comedy. And there is a scene where Powell and Carroll go to a diner and then laugh at the accent of its Greek owner . . . whoo-hooo hilarious. There is a laugh or two wedged in here and there, and some of the musical numbers are entertaining, but on the whole this thing is a bust.
The Great McGinty
(1940)
The Very Good McGinty
23 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Whenever people talk about how naive movies of the 40's and 50's were, you can tell them they don't know what they're talking about and then show them a copy of The Great McGinty. It is impossible to imagine a more cynical story about American politics.
The Great McGinty tells the tale of Dan McGinty, a homeless bum who impresses the city's top political boss (hilariously played by Akim Tamiroff) and quickly rises from a thug collecting protection money to governor of the state. Along the way he rakes in enough graft to make Boss Tweed look like a piker. In the end he stands up to the boss and about a day later the law is after both of them (this isn't a spoiler because the film begins with him telling this sob story while he works as a bartender in some South American dive).
Brian Donlevy is great as McGinty, and the movie is smart and funny. It may not be quite as funny as The Palm Beach Story or Unfaithfully Yours, but it's still classic Sturges.
The Great McGinty tells the tale of Dan McGinty, a homeless bum who impresses the city's top political boss (hilariously played by Akim Tamiroff) and quickly rises from a thug collecting protection money to governor of the state. Along the way he rakes in enough graft to make Boss Tweed look like a piker. In the end he stands up to the boss and about a day later the law is after both of them (this isn't a spoiler because the film begins with him telling this sob story while he works as a bartender in some South American dive).
Brian Donlevy is great as McGinty, and the movie is smart and funny. It may not be quite as funny as The Palm Beach Story or Unfaithfully Yours, but it's still classic Sturges.
Forbidden Planet
(1956)
Dated but Classic
22 October 2007
The special effects of this movie are terribly dated. The acting, except for maybe Walter Pidgeon, is wooden. The score of weird science fictionish noises throughout the entire movie is annoying and distracting. The subplot involving Ann Francis as a hot-looking girl who has never known what it is to be kissed by a man is ridiculous.
Still, this movie is entertaining fifty years after it was made. What sustains it is the mystery surrounding the strange invisible monster that destroyed the original mission to the planet, and now threatens to destroy the new one. The resolution to this mystery is satisfying and has a lot to say about the interplay between humans and the technological marvels they can create, but not always control.
Still, this movie is entertaining fifty years after it was made. What sustains it is the mystery surrounding the strange invisible monster that destroyed the original mission to the planet, and now threatens to destroy the new one. The resolution to this mystery is satisfying and has a lot to say about the interplay between humans and the technological marvels they can create, but not always control.
Good Luck Chuck
(2007)
The Worst Movie I've Seen in a Long Time
2 October 2007
I went to Good Luck Chuck with the lowest of expectations. I knew that Dane Cook would be in it, so how good could it possibly be? I only went because I had a small window of time in which to see a movie, and GLC was the only movie that fit. Even so, it was far worse than I had anticipated, and my time would have been better spent Googling "Jessica Alba".
The movie begins with a scene that is borderline child pornography and involves a preteen girl tearing off her shirt and demanding sex from the preteen version of the eponymous Chuck. He denies her, and she curses him to be always a groomsman but never the groom.
After that we are subjected to annoying characters and unfunny jokes. Cook is irritating. Alba is beautiful and winning but not very funny. And Dan Fulger, who plays the best friend, made me cringe time and time again with his terrible delivery of terrible lines.
A small bright spot is brought by 30 Rock's Lonny Ross, who plays Alba's stoner brother and manages to milk a chuckle or two from an awful script. And as long as you have Alba to look at things can't be all bad . . . but other than that this film is atrocious.
The movie begins with a scene that is borderline child pornography and involves a preteen girl tearing off her shirt and demanding sex from the preteen version of the eponymous Chuck. He denies her, and she curses him to be always a groomsman but never the groom.
After that we are subjected to annoying characters and unfunny jokes. Cook is irritating. Alba is beautiful and winning but not very funny. And Dan Fulger, who plays the best friend, made me cringe time and time again with his terrible delivery of terrible lines.
A small bright spot is brought by 30 Rock's Lonny Ross, who plays Alba's stoner brother and manages to milk a chuckle or two from an awful script. And as long as you have Alba to look at things can't be all bad . . . but other than that this film is atrocious.
The Narrow Margin
(1952)
Pzanardo hits the nail on the head with his review
2 October 2007
The plot will have you pulling the hair out of your head and yelling at McGraw (the cop who's supposed to be protecting the witness), "just stay in the room with her you moron!" Additionally, McGraw makes a tactical decision that is ethically indefensible and annoying in the context of the film. But, still, it's a fun little movie and Marie Windsor is as entertaining as all get out. She's one of the great noir tough girls.
It's true that there wouldn't be much of a plot if McGraw didn't keep leaving and putting the witness in peril. But this movie might have been even better if McGraw and Windsor had just stayed in the same room and jawed at each other for an hour.
It's true that there wouldn't be much of a plot if McGraw didn't keep leaving and putting the witness in peril. But this movie might have been even better if McGraw and Windsor had just stayed in the same room and jawed at each other for an hour.
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