Entertaining. First half is better than the second. Third reel is basically a demo reel/calling card for VFX artists.
(Indeed, 3/4ths of the closing credits are just blocks and blocks of computer graphics people).
It had some clever stuff - but kept tipping closer and closer to the feeling of watching someone play a video game rather than watching a movie.
(Recently viewed at the 4th Annual Nitrate Film Festival on nitrate print from Academy Film Archive)
A great story about a man trying to find meaning in life after his experiences in WW1 - well acted by The cast (especially Clifton Webb, who was Oscar nominated). Anne Baxter won a supporting actress Oscar.
It has quite a bit of melodrama, but the overarching story is excellent.
Fantastic cinematography.
(Recently viewed at the 4th Annual Nitrate Film Festival on nitrate print from UCLA Film Archive)
Delightful Cukor/Hepburn/Grant appetizer before they would make THE PHILADELPHIA STORY two years later. It has the same type of acerbic rapid fire dialog as TPS. Lewis Ayres is hilarious as the brother who is four sheets to the wind most of the time.
(Recently viewed at the 4th Annual Nitrate Film Festival on Nitrate print from MoMA Archive)
Fantastic Noir film by Robert Siodmak that could be called the second in a trilogy that started with THE KILLERS and finished with CRISS CROSS. The Cinematography is killer, and was shot on location in NYC circa 1948 (you can get a good grasp of what the city looked like then).
Victor Mature has never been better (see this instead of his miscasting in Samson & Delilah).
Richard Conte is great as Martin Rome, and Fred Clark is fantastic as Mature's hard bitten partner.
If you like noir, this is a must.
(Recently viewed at the 4th Annual Nitrate Film Festival on Library of Congress nitrate print)
The quintessential 50's western - since this is the film that brought the Western back in the 50's.
The story is one that follows an object (in this case, a Winchester '73 rifle) as it changes hands from one person to another - and the rightful owner (Stewart) hunting a man who is revealed at the end to be....
A classic in every regard. The shootout in the rocks at the end is so well constructed and conceived- it is a wonder that no modern film has aped the idea.
It has every element a great western should have. Look fast for Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson in early roles. The cast is uniformly outstanding.
There is a reason it is a classic!
(Recently viewed at the 4th Annual Nitrate Film Festival on Nitrate print from George Eastman Archive- final two nitrate reels from Martin Scorsese's Nitrate Collection)
Certainly one of the great films. I am biased since I love all Powell/Pressburger's films.
But this, along with BLACK NARCISSUS and TALES OF HOFFMAN (which I viewed at the 2nd Nitrate Film Festival) are the grandaddies of their oeuvre for me. (A Matter of Life and Death, and Colonel Blimp are in there too - but these have spectacle that must be seen on the big screen).
A masterpiece.
A student film somehow made it to release and home video. No, it is not a student film - but it has all the hallmarks of a second year USC film student. Awful acting, camerawork, half baked dialog and story...
But it commits the worst of the cardinal sins of cinema: It is boring and really dumb.
What a great surprise. I know James Gray has been making quality films all along - but this one was well outside his wheelhouse.
This was an excellent adventure. (It certainly recalls great adventures like Gunga Din, The Four Feathers, The Man Who Would Be King and Treasure of The Sierra Madre).
It really reminded me of the great underseen and woefully forgotten Bob Raefelson film MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990) about the search for the source of the Nile.
In this film, it is the search for a lost tribe and city in Amazonia. The 35mm images captured by the great cinematographer Darius Khonji (SE7EN, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN) is lush and painterly.
The fact that it was shot in the jungle on location aids the reality of the story immensely.
The biggest takeaway was stunningly great performance by Charlie Hunnam. I never gave him a thought as a "real" actor. But, damn. He is the real deal. Looking forward to his future work (let's hope it is in work that is much more in this vein than, say, PACIFIC RIM).
Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson were also surprisingly terrific.
And, I have to give a shoutout to Angus Macfadyen....Anytime Robert 'The Bruce' shows up in a film, I gotta give a "hell yeah"!!
One of the best films of 2017 for sure.
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