Author: john

School for Scoundrels (1960)

The original 1960 film, based on the the Stephen Potter novels, and directed by Robert Hamer. It’s quite good. Alastair Sim is terrific. And he has the fuzziest ears in all of movie history. This is the story, which is not exactly like that of the Todd Phillips remake, which came out a few years ago: Henry Palfrey (played by the late Ian Carmichael, of I’m All right Jack and Lucky Jim fame) is the head of a small firm (very small, not very firm). He is a nitwit and everyone knows it but him–that is until Raymond Delauney, with whom he occasionally plays tennis, makes him all-too-aware of this fact. But the film doesn’t begin here, it begins a little later then jumps backwards. Continue reading School for Scoundrels (1960)

The Legend

Finished The Legend with Jet Li. Made the same year as City Hunter, this is visually a far-superior film. It’s actually quite beautiful–Cory Yuen has a gift for composition, sometimes making nice use of the wide-angle lens, tilted angles, low angles, low-tilted angles.

There’s a great deal of humor as well–and it’s much better than the humor in City Hunter, though I find the latter’s more endearing. Continue reading The Legend

City Hunter

What good fun this movie is. My colleague loaned me his copy of the film–I have to confess I wouldn’t have sought this out on my own. But it brought me back to those heady days of 1992-1993, when Hong Kong cinema was the rage in L.A. This film captures that national cinema at its absolute peak. It’s so full of energy. I recall how excited I was by Kung Fu Hustle a few years back, and how a few weeks ago hearing from a professor from Hong Kong, who knew I admired Stephen Chow’s film, a variation on the “you ain’t heard nothin’ yet” line: “you sure have missed a lot.” He listed off title after title that he considered superior to Kung Fu Hustle (though he admires that film). Particularly 1994’s Hail the Judge–which I had never heard of. Anyway, I feel there is much for me to discover about Hong Kong cinema. I suppose I’ve known this all along, but it’s perhaps out of laziness or…I don’t know what…that I’ve not delved back into that area of cinema that enchanted me, for all too brief a period, some 16-17 years ago. Everything that follows I owe to a colleague of mine (not that what follows is good, but that I have something at all to say about Hong Kong cinema). Continue reading City Hunter

Oscar nominees have been announced

Remember, there are now ten…TEN nominees for the Best Picture category. About five too many, I think. Maybe some of them should be combined so we can get back a more manageable number. For instance, Up and Up in the Air can be, simply, Up Up in the Air. And I like the idea of Precious Inglourious Basterds. Seriously, with as many as ten films up for Best Picture, one can easily eliminate about three or four from contention from the get-go. Don’t we all know it’s down to Precious, Inglourious Basterds, and Avatar?

Of course, everybody knows this change for what it is. The film industry wants to have those five other films bear the stamp, “the Academy Award nominated…”, for these next five weeks. And the Academy wants the hype. Continue reading Oscar nominees have been announced

Avatar

There’s been a bit of talk, here and there, on this blog about Cameron’s digi-romance 3D thrillride, but I thought it deserved its own thread. First of all, I’ve seen quite a few films made with the latest 3D technology, but this surely is the finest yet. I don’t want to go into the story too much. It is, as Chris pointed out, Ferngully (I’m taking his word, as I have not seen it). But it is also Aliens (Ribisi doesn’t quite manage to outdo Paul Reiser, but he comes close). Bad corporate interests, good-intentioned scientists, an ambivalence about technology Continue reading Avatar

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Well, I think I’ve recovered adequately from this film to say a few words about it. First, the story (of which there is little). Terence McDonagh is with his partner, Stevie (played by Val Kilmer), in a flooded building in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. The two are standing safely above water, looking down on a criminal trapped behind a barred window, water up to his neck. And the water is rising fast. Stevie is a bad cop. He wants to watch the criminal drown. What makes Stevie bad is that Terence is just a little better. When Terence sees the criminal pray for his life and bless himself, Terence dives into the water. Doing the right thing kills his back. Continue reading Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

The Citizen Kane of bad movies

Is Tommy Wiseau’s The Room (2003). I must admit, I’m way behind on this one (has someone posted on this film already?) as the film has had a sizable cult following–mostly in Los Angeles–for some time now. Let me share my feelings about this extraordinary…thing. Wiseau managed to cobble together 6 million dollars (how? no one quite knows) to realize on the big screen a play/novel he had written about a love triangle between Johnny (played by Wiseau), Lisa (played by…who the fuck knows, some woman he met in L.A. who had just stepped off a bus from Texas), and Mark (Greg Sestero, who had previously worked on “The Days of Our Lives”). Continue reading The Citizen Kane of bad movies