Post by william on Sept 17, 2018 2:23:46 GMT
FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING
Splendour in the Grass (1961, Elia Kazan)
tv
This drama sees Natalie Wood (Rebel Without a Cause) playing a fragile Kansas girl whose love for a handsome young man (Warren Beatty) from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madness. All around good film, with a tight script, memorable characters and good performances.
7/10
Someone's Watching Me! (1978, John Carpenter)
This thriller's title gives you the plot and it is about what you's imagine only it is a tv movie that does not rise beyond that station with it looking like a soap throughout. The script could have been better with characters not reacting in a natural way to the circumstances.
4.5/10
The Predator (2018, Shane Black)
Cinema
I love the first two predator films and have seen them both many times. The third film ‘Predators’ had its moments but is not a good film and now we have Shane Black (the Nice Guys, Iron Man 3) trying to rejuvenate the franchise with this fourth entry. Black would seem to many like the man for the job as he was on screen in the original and proved to the numbers guys that he can turn a profit with a tent pole like Iron Man 3. However despite loving his last film “The Nice Guys”, I had my doubts that his more comedic sensibilities would jive with a franchise that despite what other faults any of the three previous chapters might have had, has always taken itself seriously.
My doubts were realized by the film being a very unserious tonal mess. To be fair at the start I decided to just go along with the ridiculousness of the film and actually had fun watching the first third of the film despite no characters being fleshed out, not being very well made with poor effects. However the terrible choices kept adding up and made the rest of the film a chore.
The film has way too many characters and way too much universe building style story elements and absolutely none of them are good. Most of the cast are fine and do well enough with what they have to work with but the leading man is very bland and Olivia Mann is very miscast. The Predator creature through the first half of the film is done practically like he has been in the previous films and looks good but the super-predator who arrives later in the film is done with cgi and looked awful and basically suck really bad. Not only that but they team him up with one of the worst parts of the previous chapter, the predator-dogs, who are terribly rendered and are just a bad idea from the get go.
In the end you have a film that was planned to reinvigorate the franchise and tries to set you up for more films but gives you a total mess of bad ideas, bad effects, bad action, some okay gore with a few laughs in a film that looks like a B film from the 90’s. Also the post climax tag is embarrassingly awful... I doubt we will see another Predator film anytime soon.
3.5/10
REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING
East of Eden (1955, Elia Kazan)
tv
I ended up liking this film Based on the classic John Steinbeck novel a little better this time. In it we see James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause) play a wilful young man who contends against his brother for the attention of their religious father while reconnecting with his estranged mother and falling for his brother's girlfriend.
6/10
Predators (2010, Nimrod Antal)
tv
The third in the series has a few good elements but the direction could have been better. Also Larry Fishburne (Apocalypse Now) is unusually bad in this where as Adrien Brody (The Pianist) Makes a surprisingly good action lead.
5.5/10
FIRST TIME DOCO' VIEWING
Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995, Richard Schickel)
tv
Okay enough talking head piece that discusses Kazan's history with film and the themes of his work. However it would have been more interesting if they had spend a large chunk of time on his controversial red scare court appearances where he gave up many of his colleagues who lost their livelihood.
Somewhat Recommended
FIRST TIME TV VIEWING
Atypical (2018, Season Two)
Netflix
Great second season about an autistic high schooler and his family as they navigate the troubles of life.
Recommended
WEEKLY AWARDS
BEST FILM: Splendour in the Grass
BEST ACTOR: Warren Beatty - Splendour in the Grass
BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Wood - Splendour in the Grass
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Fred Stewart - Splendour in the Grass
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Zohra Lampert - Splendour in the Grass
BEST SCORE: David Amram - Splendour in the Grass
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ted D. McCord - East of Eden
BEST SCRIPT: William Inge - Splendour in the Grass
BEST DIRECTOR: Elia Kazan - Splendour in the Grass
10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too
I didn't like The Predator trailers, will probably catch it on Tv.
Did they interview Kazan himself in the documentary?
Yours:
Splendour in the Grass 8/10
Watched it ages ago, I remember liking it.
Someone's Watching Me! 7.5/10
Is it the one directed by John Carpenter, with Lauren Hutton? If so, I remember enjoying it.
East of Eden 8.5/10
I prefer On the Waterfront, loved it though. James Dean was great.
Predators 6/10
I thought it was so-so.
Mine:
Dragged Across Concrete 8/10
The new S. Craig Zahler movie, got the chance to catch it. I liked it a lot. It feels too long, but I liked the twists and the 70s vibe.
It gets quite gory, but it's human too, IMO. Mel Gibson is very good, he has great chemistry with Vince Vaughn. If you watch it, try to go in unspoiled. Chato's Land 7.5/10
The movie with Charles Bronson, about a native American who shoots a sheriff in self defense, and is hunted down by a posse of ex soldiers who want to kill him. I enjoyed it, it's a bit trashy maybe. Charles Bronson is cool.
The Ghost of Peter Sellers 8/10
It's a documentary by Peter Medak, about a movie he made in the early 70s with Peter Sellers, a pirate comedy, who was supposed to be a big commercial hit. He had a lot of success in Cannes with his previous indie movies, but then this one ends up being a disaster, with an insane, surreal shooting, everybody going against everybody else. He manages to make a rough cut, even if parts of the script weren't filmed, but Columbia decided to bury it, and it's still unreleased today, I think.
I liked it, it's funny, but very emotional too, you can tell it's something that had a big impact on Peter Medak's life.