I'm way behind on movie reviews, so I'll catch up a bit with some short ones of older films I've watched recently on cable.
Arabesque (1968) - Gregory Peck is a professor of ancient egyptian history and is recruited by spies to help the bad guys decode a message in hieroglyphics. Sophia Loren is the bad guy's mistress. It's not a comedy but it's kind of light hearted. It's definitely 60s mod. Directed by Stanley Donen it's a fairly fun romp.
Two For the Road (1967) - Also directed by Stanley Donen, this tells the story of a couple (Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney) over 10 years, from their meeting through their marriage. But it sticks mostly to their various car trips through Europe. The interesting thing is it tells the story out of order, constantly switching between different times. When you see them falling in love you know they cheat on each other later. When they talk about never having children you know they ultimately do. The oscar nominated script is well written and many lines are repeated in different contexts with different meanings. You can keep track of the different story lines by their cars and Audrey Hepburns outfits and hairstyles. This film had far more to say about relationships than Benjamin Button did. A few things about Audrey Hepburn struck me: she didn't look good in jeans, she made many animals sounds in this film, and Albert Finney called her a bitch which I found shocking. Nice soundtrack by Henry Mancini. I also loved the line "I can't hear myself drink".
Seconds (1966) - I do love John Frankenheimer but hadn't heard of this film. It's a sci-fi story taking off on what I suspect was the new popularity of plastic surgery. An older miserable banker played by John Randolph is transformed into a bohemian painter played by Rock Hudson. This is more than just surgery, this is a mysterious organization the provides a whole new life for its clients. It's very impressive black and white filmmaking, with closeups creating a bleak and claustrophobic world. The beginning was completely engaging as you and the main character don't know what's going on, the end is also very good in a twilight zone way. The middle is a little rougher and a bit bizarre. If you liked the Manchurian Candidate, give this a try. The A.V. Clubs review is quite good.
Hud (1963) - I had never seen this Paul Newman classic and didn't know much about it. Hud's a drunk and a womanizer and works on his father's cattle farm in a small town. His father is a good man and they clash while his younger nephew idolizes him. A very good film about a very bad man.
Fanny & Alexander (1982) - When Ingmar Bergman died I realized I had seen very few of his films. This is considered one of his masterpieces. It won 4 oscars and was nominated for 2 others. The theatrical release is 3 hours long though the original was shown on Swedish TV and was twice that length. For a detailed plot summary see this Ebert review. Fanny and Alexander are two children in a wealthy and a bit eccentric theater family in early 1900s Sweden. It opens Christmas eve and while all seems happy in the lushly filmed mansion, as we get to know the family members we see various human frailties. In the middle of the film they go and live with their stepfather who is an authoritarian bishop. This is at least partial autobiographical to Bergman's own childhood. There's a bit of the mystical involved and then more conversations on the meaning of life and family. I found it very absorbing and interesting. Well worth seeing.
Infamous (2006) - This is the other Truman Capote film and I enjoyed it a lot. It's while since I've seen Capote, but this offered a slightly different take on him that helped round out my impression of him. I also enjoyed Sandra Bullock as Nelle Harper Lee and Daniel Craig as Perry Smith. Both stretched beyond their usual roles for these parts and did well.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) - Richard Roeper called this one of the funniest comedies ever and I had missed it this spring in the theater. I thought it was good, but liked The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up better. It might have been that I saw those in the theater. The film is written by and stars Jason Segel from How I Met Your Mother. He breaks up with his TV star girlfriend (Kristen Bell) and is devastated. To help get over her he takes a vacation to Hawaii, where he ends up in the room next to Bell and her current rock star boyfriend. Lots of quirky hotel guests and staff add to the awkward scenes. Worth a rental, but it won't end up on my year's best film list.
6 comments:
We actually just saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night. Agreed...fun movie in an odd way, not quite 40YOV but still good. We actually watched the director's cut on DVD, which seemed to show just way to much of Jason Segal's front bumper for my liking. Also Jack McBreyer (the guy from 30Rock), was fun as ever, though I think they forgot to add a closing scene for him of some sort. "Let me just say that if God was a city planner he would not put a playground next to a sewage system!" Loved that.
Oh, happy birthday!
Agreed on all points and thanks. The writer apparently was really dumped while nude so he wrote that into the film.
I discovered "The Office"!! This should be mandatory watch for anybody entering US workforce.
The TV show? Yeah and yeah you would enjoy. Both the British and US versions.
Also, see the movie Office Space. Silly, but gets some things very right.
I love Seconds. One of my favorite movies. Have you seen "Seven Days in May"? With "Manchurian Candidate" it is the 3rd part of Frankenheimer's 60s paranoia trilogy.
I saw 7 Days in May as a kid and loved it so much I read the novel. It was one of my first suspense thrillers. I didn't learn it was Frankenheimer until many many years later.
It was probably about the same time I saw and read The Andromeda Strain, so about 6th grade. With that I remember reading the intro which was in the form of a government report and had a hard time figuring out if it was true or fiction.
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