What was the last movie you saw?

[Jestak]

This evening's movie was a very good French thriller, Les Rivieres pourpres/The Crimson Rivers. Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno) is called in from Paris to investigate the bizarre murder of a professor at a remote and unorthodox university, and follows clues from the first murder to uncover another. Meanwhile, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) starts out investigating what appears to be a minor case of vandalism--of the grave of a girl who died 20 years ago--but finds a trail of evidence that leads him to a meeting with Niemans, and the discovery that they are working on the same case. This is a very well-executed thriller, and an impressive film visually--much of the action was shot on location in the French Alps. The only weakness is the too-rapid explanation of the plot in the final 20-30 minutes, which leaves a few too many unanswered questions. Besides the two strong leads, Nadia Fares, a Moroccan-born actress who's had a nice career in French film, plays a pivotal role; appearing in support are two big names of European cinema, Jean-Pierre Cassel (father of Vincent) and Dominique Sanda.

[Jestak]

Although I lived through the Nixon years, until tonight I had never watched the movie version of All the President's Men, based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the Watergate burglary and cover-up and a great deal of associated Nixon White House wrongdoing. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as Woodward and Bernstein, and we follow them for several months as they relentlessly try to dig through layers of denial and obfuscation and uncover the truth. Jason Robards won an Oscar for portraying Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, Stephen Collins had his first significant role as Hugh Sloan, a key witness for Woodward and Bernstein, and Hal Holbrook plays Woodward's clandestine source Deep Throat (now known to have been the late W. Mark Felt, then the Associate Director of the FBI). Various other figures of the period appear as themselves in archival footage, including Tricky himself.

[Jestak]

There are a number of reasons that I'm less than satisfied with Franco Zeffirelli's film of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello. Zeffirelli's handling of the camera is less than inspired, and there are some confusing flashbacks inserted at several points. Worse, to cut his running time, the director chopped Verdi's magnificent score. Desdemona's beautiful Willow Song is cut entirely, and the famous Vengeance Duet between Otello and Iago is shortened in a very ham-fisted manner. Rather perversely, while cutting some of the most beautiful moments, Zeffirelli decided to include the ballet music, which is almost always omitted from performances of the opera. Despite the shortcomings, there is one very good reason to watch this--to see a great singer, at the peak of his form, in one of his signature rules. I refer to Placido Domingo, who sings the title role--for most of my life he's been generally accepted as the finest Otello in the world. Katia Ricciarelli, although I suspect she was cast largely for her looks, proves to be a satisfactory Desdemona; Justino Diaz, however, is not the best Iago--he doesn't truly bring out the character's malevolence.

[funkidiva]

Marmaduke on an airplane. Its a childs film about a great dane dog (voiced by Owen Wilson) and I wasnt expecting much but I actually really enjoyed the film. It had plenty of humour, ups and downs, great characters and voice overs but underneath it it had a moving serious story. Great entertainment and im glad I watched it. Would happily sit and watch it again too.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

Hamlet, the 2009 BBC version starring the lovely and most awesome David Tennant.
I LOVED IT. Mostly because it was David Tennant. I'm not a huge fan of modernizing Shakespeare (they used the original language, but was set with modern clothes and such, like the Leo Di Caprio R&J) but they did a fairly good job at it. The camera angles and the use of security cameras at odd moments put me off a little, but then Tennant would begin one of his many soliloquies and I would lose all interest in anything else. Its really not fair that he is that old, that good looking, that good of an actor (well, when doing absolutely barmy people) and he's my favorite Doctor. I just can't take my attention off him. He was the star actor of the play, but Stewart (er, Captain Picard, cough cough) made an excellent Claudius and bad guy. Now I'll never be able to watch Star Trek:NG or X Men again without grumbling about him killing Hamlet.

[Jestak]

Sherlock, Jr., is one of Buster Keaton's best features--it's my favorite other than The General. Made in 1924, it's a very inventive film. Most notably, it features one of, if not the first "breakings of the fourth wall--Buster, a movie projectionist with dreams of becoming a detective, daydreams himself into the midst of the film he is showing, casting himself as the "crime crushing criminologist" of the film's title. The film also includes a very early, highly inventive auto and motorcycle chase sequence.

[Jestak]

Indie film pioneer and legend John Cassavetes produced one of his best-regarded films in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. Cosmo Vittelli (Ben Gazzara) is a small-time strip club owner with a bad gambling habit; no sooner does he pay one debt off than his "celebration" lands him in debt to someone else. His latest creditors are the local mob, who want him to clear his debt by doing them a favor--knocking off a Chinese competitor (the "bookie" of the title). This was a pretty good one, anchored by a strong performance from Gazzara. Since it's a Cassavetes film, however, don't expect adherence to all the standard crime film conventions.

[Jestak]

Sink the Bismarck! is a solid British war movie that recounts one of the last great victories in the history of the Royal Navy. In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck broke into the Atlantic and sunk the British battlecruiser HMS Hood (the "Mighty 'ood"), before being relentlessly tracked down and sunk by the British fleet. Director Lewis Gilbert, best known for directing several James Bond films, tells the story in a semi-documentary fashion--the miniature work depicting the sea battles is very well done--but with sufficient human interest elements as well, centering on the character of Captain Shepherd (Kenneth More), the Admiralty Operations officer coordinating the hunt for the German battleship. Other cast members of note: American journalist Edward R. Murrow appears as himself, recreating some of his "This is London" broadcasts, while British actor Esmond Knight, who took part in the hunt for the Bismarck as a member of the crew of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, plays the captain of that ship in the film.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

The 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings. Oh my stormfather, it was RIDICULOUS. My friend and I were just sitting there and laughing our heads off! Frodo and the hobbits are far too happy (We're determined to greet our other friend with a "Yippee! I've missed you so!" and do a happy dance.) and Aragorn... Well, I really REALLY wish he'd wear that man-tunic in the most recent movie. ANd Boromir was a Viking in a man-tunic-skirt! Legolas and Gimli just looked stupid, Sam was ugly, and Merry and Pippin are just asking to have their cute little cheeks squeezed. I rofled at its silliness.

[Jestak]

Tonight was a good night for a Western--specifically, Winchester '73, the first of a series of five thematically similar early 1950's Westerns directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, generally scripted by Borden Chase. Stewart's character, as is the case throughout the series, is a man with some sort of darkness in his past which has the potential to drive him to the edge of madness. In this first in the series, he plays a man who is obsessed with tracking down his long-estranged brother (played by Stephen McNally), who has murdered their father. There is a solid supporting cast, including Millard Mitchell, Dan Duryea (as an outlaw whose toughness only goes skin deep, something Duryea was very good at), Will Geer (as a fatherly, absent-minded Wyatt Earp) and Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis in small roles. The title refers to a special rifle of the famous Winchester model 1873, sometimes called "the gun that won the West." The Mann-Stewart Westerns run the gamut from good to classic; I'd rate this one as the second or third best in the series.