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Reviews
Quentin Durward (1955)
How can this not be available on DVD?
This is one of my favorite films. It's not a great film, by any means, but to me it is eminently enjoyable. It has a fine cast, a literate script by Robert Ardrey, wonderful cinematography by Christopher Challis, and a lovely, melodic score by Bronislau Kaper. What's not to like? An earlier writer remarked that the film does not take itself too seriously, and to me that's one of its best qualities. The film combines drama, comedy, romance and action in approximately equal parts to good effect. It's even a little bit ahead of its time, in some ways. The theme of the good man who is a relic from an earlier time became a staple in the '60s and '70s, particularly for filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah. It received an early sounding in "Quentin Durward." Robert Morley steals the show by the way. He delivers a charming whitewash of the paranoid and manipulative Louis XI. It was also my introduction to Kay Kendall. This is not one of her top roles, but new viewers will get a taste of her talents and may seek out films that showed off her multifaceted skills as an actress, comedienne, singer and dancer. She was a short-lived wonder. This is a sumptuous production with top stars and a great story. Why isn't it on DVD?
The Upside of Anger (2005)
huh?
For the life of me I cannot understand why this movie was so widely admired. Yes, it's well acted -- playing an alcoholic, egocentric, destructive, hateful, selfish, manipulative witch is a challenge, and Joan Allen rises to the occasion magnificently.
And yes, Mike Binder deserves some credit for tackling a project in which the two main characters are not likable.
But, there has to be some correlation between what we see and what we're told we're seeing. Time and again we're told that Terry Wolf whatever is "the sweetest person." Well, even in emotional extremis, a sweet person will display some residue of sweetness. Something!!!! Not Terry. She never commits one generous act in the whole film. She becomes slightly less vile toward the end of the movie, because she's eased up on vodka some, but even then, everything is all about her.
Yes, her husband ran away. Yes, it's sad. But you know what? I would have run too, Swedish secretary or not. Anybody would.
For a film like this to work there has to be some point, some larger context about shared humanity, something!!! Here there's nothing, no larger lesson, not even a convincing view of realistic characters. Just rich spoiled people who can't get their way.
It's not impossible to make a film like this. Michelangelo Antonioni made a whole career about spoiled rich people being vacuous. And they were good movies. But the characters and the filmmaker had some greater level of self awareness that lent the action universality.
Not here. No how. No way.