After two hitmen (Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager) shoot their target, a former race car driver named Johnny North (John Cassavetes) who offers no resistance, the two hitmen investigate who was behind the mysterious contract for them. More loosely based off of Hemingway’s story than the 1946 version (Siegal was actually originally tapped to direct it before being fired) this version is a more colourful and violent adaptation. It is certainly a more quirky and playful version of the story - Marvin and Gulager are early versions of the talkative hitmen portrayed in Pulp Fiction - but there’s not much depth to the story compared to the 1946 version. The film is also notable as the final film role of future president Ronald Reagan who plays a menacing villain (in film and real life). I could watch Reagan’s character being pistol whipped and thrown out of a moving car all day long.
I've seen this one a few times and man it is WILD to watch Reagan in it because he's old enough here that he pretty much looks like the man who'd be president about 16 years later. And there definitely is a bit of cathartic aspect to parts of this ...
I've seen this one a few times and man it is WILD to watch Reagan in it because he's old enough here that he pretty much looks like the man who'd be president about 16 years later. And there definitely is a bit of cathartic aspect to parts of this ...
Death Takes a Holiday (1934) Directed by Mitchell Leisen 7A
Initially, Death Takes a Holiday looks like one of those fizzy drawing room comedies of the ‘30s in which very rich people in formal wear stand around in a mansion sipping champagne from crystal goblets and trading bon mots. And a bit of that goes on, but Death Takes a Holiday provides a dark side that is satisfyingly different. Returning to their estate to party, a bunch of people almost meet their end driving on a dark road...but they don’t. As in the Final Destination series, they should have, though. As a result, a shadowy figure visits them and, after a brief discussion with Duke Lambert, the owner of the manor, decides to take human form. Death (Frederick March) goes on a three-day holiday to learn more about being human and about this silly little thing called love. The rest of the guests don’t know; they think Death is some, slightly out-of-it foreign dignitary. The Duke tries to ensure that Death stays cordial, because the Grim Reaper has a tendency to get a little excitable.
All the human romantic complications play out, and the movie works to a tee; you could almost call it the most sophisticated horror movie ever made...almost. It took me a while to get used to Frederick March as I am not his biggest fan, especially in his earlier days. March can be a bit of a stuffed shirt as an actor, but maybe, I figured, the personification of death would be a bit of a stuffed shirt, too, someone superficially affable but easy to affront unintentionally to one’s own peril. March actually walks the line between menace and curiosity very well. The set design is also a giggle—a combination of Baroque and high kitsch with exaggerated wall paper, bad sculptures and art, and Roman pillars everywhere to be seen. Death Takes a Holiday was remade into Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, a movie that had no fizz at all.
I've been catching up on the AA's foreign language nominees in the past couple of days. I know Another Round eventually won, that actually was the only nominee I had seen so far but after watching the others I thought two movies were notably better. Quo Vadis, Aida? depicts the days leading up to the Srebrenica massacre during the Yugoslav war in 1995, seen through the eyes of a Bosnian woman working as a translater for the UN forces. I've always been fascinated by that war anyway, so maybe this movie had a leg up on the competition for me. But still it was really good. The other is Chinese drama Better Days which might be the best movie about bullying at school since After Lucia, a Mexican film from 2012. I think if I had a vote this one would get it.
Looking back at the previous decade I think only both Asghar Farhadi's movies winning in '11 and '16 I would agree with as being the best nominee of that year, even though I do not think of The Salesman as a great film (pretty weak year anyway). I also think it's a crime how Andrey Zvyagintsev has been nominated several times but never won, especially losing against A Fantastic Woman which I thought was the weakest nominee of that year. But also Leviathan losing against Ida I didn't really get. Amour, Roma, and Son of Saul I all found hugely overrated however I can get behind the reasoning for them winning the award.
The Killers [Ubiytsy] (1956) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Gordon, and Marika Beiku
Two hitmen walk into a bar seeking to kill a former boxer. A very faithful adaptation of Hemingway’s story, notable for being the student film of future auteur Andrei Tarkovsky when he was studying at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Tarkovsky along with Beiku were responsible for filming the beginning and ending of the film, while Tarkovsky’s brother-in-law, the very Russian sounding Alexsandr Gordon, filmed the middle section. Gordon would also play the bartender while Tarkovsky briefly plays a bar patron. The film is better than your average student film though, it has excellent black and white cinematography and very interesting choices of shots, notably some that use the serving hatch of the kitchen to the bar to frame shot. The film however does use racial slurs to refer to a character in blackface, both of which is not a great look these days, though to be fair the slurs are consistent with the original text from Hemingway’s story. The film is worth watching and is competently made and never feels like the work of an amateur – certainly hints at potential for Tarkovsky and co (though Gordon and Beiku would not go on to direct anything notable, talk about busts, sorry to whoever drafted them).
Can't wait to watch this tomorrow. Love the short story. Also, on a related note, it's high time we stop making narrative films about an author's life (thinking back on all those awful movies about Hemingway) and have some fun with their actual works. Like, The Metamorphosis is sitting there waiting for a great challenger to adapt it.
This is great. Both in its delivery and its content. It's about Last Year at Marienbad and Resnais looks and stands like my aunt's husband. The quips (from the interviewer) and mannersisms(from the interviewee) are great too, especially if you can get the full value out of them by knowing french.
Can't wait to watch this tomorrow. Love the short story. Also, on a related note, it's high time we stop making narrative films about an author's life (thinking back on all those awful movies about Hemingway) and have some fun with their actual works. Like, The Metamorphosis is sitting there waiting for a great challenger to adapt it.
It's a good adaptation, if you like the short story you'll enjoy it because it's a very close and faithful adaptation of it
Agreed, you would think someone would adapt Metamorphosis by now. I'm still waiting for the brave soul to eventually adapt Blood Meridian. Though on the topic of Hemingway, I am interested in the recent Ken Burns Hemingway docuseries.
It's a good adaptation, if you like the short story you'll enjoy it because it's a very close and faithful adaptation of it
Agreed, you would think someone would adapt Metamorphosis by now. I'm still waiting for the brave soul to eventually adapt Blood Meridian. Though on the topic of Hemingway, I am interested in the recent Ken Burns Hemingway docuseries.
I've daydreamed about a Blood Meridian adaptation more than once. It's my favorite work of art. Even McCarthy's for it! I think it will happen eventually and I just hope it's put in the hands of someone with great intellect and style.
Can't wait to watch this tomorrow. Love the short story. Also, on a related note, it's high time we stop making narrative films about an author's life (thinking back on all those awful movies about Hemingway) and have some fun with their actual works. Like, The Metamorphosis is sitting there waiting for a great challenger to adapt it.
Don't know, I just watched 20 seconds to make sure it was working and filed it correctly. It looks like a decent-looking short. I'll send it and you tell me!
Stowaway--When one extra person is found on a space craft, a serious crisis ensues. There is not enough oxygen for everybody before they get to their destination. That was a lot more movie than I expected. I mean, yeah, it has some obvious flaws. The initial plot hook really doesn't address some basic questions, like how could this possibly even happen to begin with, and there are some inexplicable missteps along the way (what happened to the fact that everything is weightless in space?). However, the strength of the movie is its characters. There is no made up villain, just four very believable, well acted characters who react in specific and quite understandable ways, something that is pretty rare in US genre movies these days. The strength of the characterization makes the tension, which is considerable, a whole lot more gripping. As a cinematic experience, I don't think it is in the same class as Gravity, but Stowaway is nonetheless a surprisingly compelling movie, 6A
Thank you for the recommendations, I am also a big Mendelsohn fan. He is so underrated, it is great to see him get some leading roles. I enjoyed both films, if pressed for a choice it would be The Land of Steady Habits though it was quite close. Mendelsohn was able to show some extra range in emotion due to the larger role, even if the overall film was maybe a little below Babyteeth.
I enjoyed the recommendations, however my wife did not. She despises sad movies more than anyone I have met, it is both interesting and frustrating because some of my favorites are very sad. Those were two good, and real sad movies.
The other is Chinese drama Better Days which might be the best movie about bullying at school since After Lucia, a Mexican film from 2012. I think if I had a vote this one would get it.
For me, Better Days has a more interesting backstory than the movie itself. I thought the depiction of bullying is accurate, and it is interesting how the honour students are the ones who commit the acts, because they often get leeway in the eyes of the teacher, but this theme has been well-explored in many other Asian movies, especially ones from Japan. In fact, the plot point about how the young thug protects the girl, even at a great personal cost, is ripped from the Japanese novel Under the Journey of the Sun by Keigo Higashino. Plus, the movie falls apart in the third act, when the reason of how the bully dies is revealed, because her reaction just makes no sense.
Why would the bully suddenly realize the gravity of her actions, and beg for forgiveness, when she has the upper hand all along?
It is forced drama, and it completely ruins the movie for me. I also dislike the majority of camera techniques, because there are too many useless cuts, but there are some really well-shot scenes, especially the one during the interrogation of both main characters.
The worst part of the movie for me is at the end, when it completely turns into propaganda of how the government has taken action to curb school bullying. In fact, the point is driven home, when the male main character appears to do a PDA. That pretty much destroys the movie in my eyes, but because China has such a powerful censorship board, it is understandable. From what I read, the director was forced to make numerous changes before it can even be shown.
When the posters of the female main character's mother is plastered throughout the neighborhood because she owed money, it is supposed to feature her naked with her ID card fully visible, in reflection of real life events back in 2011. However, the censorship board forced the movie to "clean" it up, so it becomes a generic picture.
Furthermore, the ending is supposed to be less optimistic, but again, the censorship board forces every Chinese movie to make it so that the government is all-powerful yet beneficent, so all misdeeds will be punished, and a happy ending is increasingly required. Honestly, that is why every Chinese movie is pretty much the same, as the hands of the filmmakers are rather tied, and only a few is creative enough to comply and still tell a gripping story. The best examples I can think of is probably Drug War by Jonny To, and Wrath of Silence by Yukun Xin.
Zhou Dongyu is a very interesting actor. She is very good in this, but it is also that she has very good chemistry with the director, who directed her in Soul Mate that won her a ton of accolades and vaulted her into A-list status. I have seen her other works, and while she is often good, they are often generic performances that lacks a soul. Also, I am very surprised that she is actually in latter half of her 20s when she made this, but unlike American entertainment when high school students often look like the oldest students one has ever seen, she does not look too far out of place.
Personally, I have it no higher than 6/10. The movie is not that bad of mainstream entertainment, with somewhat of a purpose, but it is only good for roughly two thirds, and there are a lot of problems. That said, most of them are caused by outside factors, and the director's full vision will never make the light of day, so it is a lot more understandable. It does give a glimpse of the inner politics of the Chinese film industry, so there is that too.
I've been catching up on the AA's foreign language nominees in the past couple of days. I know Another Round eventually won, that actually was the only nominee I had seen so far but after watching the others I thought two movies were notably better. Quo Vadis, Aida? depicts the days leading up to the Srebrenica massacre during the Yugoslav war in 1995, seen through the eyes of a Bosnian woman working as a translater for the UN forces. I've always been fascinated by that war anyway, so maybe this movie had a leg up on the competition for me. But still it was really good. The other is Chinese drama Better Days which might be the best movie about bullying at school since After Lucia, a Mexican film from 2012. I think if I had a vote this one would get it.
Looking back at the previous decade I think only both Asghar Farhadi's movies winning in '11 and '16 I would agree with as being the best nominee of that year, even though I do not think of The Salesman as a great film (pretty weak year anyway). I also think it's a crime how Andrey Zvyagintsev has been nominated several times but never won, especially losing against A Fantastic Woman which I thought was the weakest nominee of that year. But also Leviathan losing against Ida I didn't really get. Amour, Roma, and Son of Saul I all found hugely overrated however I can get behind the reasoning for them winning the award.
I actually want Quo Vadis, Aida? to win. I like how accurate it portrays the war, and I am impressed by the execution. The only part I did not like was the ending, but I understand the idea behind it, thanks to kihei, so it is more of a personal preference.
I agree with all your other points, other than Amour, which I really liked and have no problem with its victory. I too am a bit miffed that Zvyagintsev has not won it yet, who made duo 9 plus out of 10 films with Leviathan and Loveless. That said, even though A Fantastic Woman are not at the level of those works, and I have it around 7.5/10, I do think it is fantastic, and I quite enjoy it. I will pick up Ida soon, which I have not seen yet.
Also, Roma is rather weak, personally, because there is often an Uncle Tom's Cabin feel to the theme of loyal servant, but it is beautiful shot, and Alfonso Cuarón is a great director. I have it at 8/10, and I think either Shoplifters or Cold War should have won, which were both 9 plus out of 10 movies, again.
I actually fell asleep during Son of Saul.
I believe that close-up camera angle is actually a double edge sword, because it takes a lot of focus, and I was exhausted during the film festival that year. That said, I like the part that I was awoke for, so I will give it a try again.
The ship is constantly spinning, exerting an outward, centrifugal force that's felt as gravity. The only place on the 3-module ship where there should be near weightlessness is at the module at the center, which has the solar panels and the thrusters doing the spinning. That's why it became progressively easier to climb as they got closer to it and harder to slow their descent as they returned from it.
Also, I am very surprised that she is actually in latter half of her 20s when she made this, but unlike American entertainment when high school students often look like the oldest students one has ever seen, she does not look too far out of place.
Yeah I actually found that kinda disturbing During the movie I seriously thought she was around 14 and how great of a job she did for someone so young, turns out she's 27.
While I do get most of your criticism, this was the one plotline I also couldn't get my head around, because it really came out of nowhere.
It wasn't like she was thinking about it before since even when the school people were talking to her parents, she had this evil grin on her face the entire time like she was untouchable
. However it didn't ruin the movie for me since I was more focused on the relationship between the girl and the thug anyway. Bullying may have been the main theme of the movie but the dynamic of that relationship is what really did it for me.
The censorship stuff you're talking about.. I mean yeah it's kind of a given with Chinese movies so I tend not to overthink it or let it affect my viewing experience. I have an uncle who's married to a Chinese woman and I've tried to discuss censorship with her but it's just pointless they're way too stubborn, almost brainwashed.
And Then There Were None (1945) Directed by Rene Clair 7A
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie remains the most popular mystery of all time with over 100 million copies of the novel sold worldwide and still counting. Ten strangers are invited to gather on an isolated island as the guest of someone they don't actually know. Soon, one by one, they start to die off. Christie is known for her clever mysteries and there is none more clever than this one--you won't guess the ending and you won't forget it either. This is the original movie version and the kicker is it is directed by France's wonderful Rene Clair, a fact that surprised me no end and that I was totally unaware of. Despite the French director and American Walter Huston in a key role, this adaptation of And Then There Were None is very English-y, as all adaptations of Christie mysteries should be. The atmosphere just doesn't seem the same with too many American accents. Clair always had the lightest of touches, so the movie rolls right along gracefully. If you like light mysteries and you haven't seen any of the other 25 film and television adaptations of And Then There Were None, you can't go wrong with the original.
Kobe, a young famous and successful writer, he has everything in life: money, fame, recognition, love - The problem remains in his way of being, due to a hidden and difficult past, affecting him in his current life unable to leave behind.
The Killers [Ubiytsy] (1956) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Gordon, and Marika Beiku
Two hitmen walk into a bar seeking to kill a former boxer. A very faithful adaptation of Hemingway’s story, notable for being the student film of future auteur Andrei Tarkovsky when he was studying at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Tarkovsky along with Beiku were responsible for filming the beginning and ending of the film, while Tarkovsky’s brother-in-law, the very Russian sounding Alexsandr Gordon, filmed the middle section. Gordon would also play the bartender while Tarkovsky briefly plays a bar patron. The film is better than your average student film though, it has excellent black and white cinematography and very interesting choices of shots, notably some that use the serving hatch of the kitchen to the bar to frame shot. The film however does use racial slurs to refer to a character in blackface, both of which is not a great look these days, though to be fair the slurs are consistent with the original text from Hemingway’s story. The film is worth watching and is competently made and never feels like the work of an amateur – certainly hints at potential for Tarkovsky and co (though Gordon and Beiku would not go on to direct anything notable, talk about busts, sorry to whoever drafted them).
I've daydreamed about a Blood Meridian adaptation more than once. It's my favorite work of art. Even McCarthy's for it! I think it will happen eventually and I just hope it's put in the hands of someone with great intellect and style.
Have you seen Godless, a Netflix mini-series from a few years back? It's not Blood Meridian, but it has a few aspects that reminded me of it in a generally positive way including a somewhat Judge-like character.
The way Toronto is going with the pandemic right now, this seems almost like wishful thinking. But September is a ways away, so let's hope for the best.
Have you seen Godless, a Netflix mini-series from a few years back? It's not Blood Meridian, but it has a few aspects that reminded me of it in a generally positive way including a somewhat Judge-like character.
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they're way too stubborn, almost brainwashed.
