Post by theravenking on May 5, 2019 19:50:33 GMT
First Time Viewing
Praying Mantis (1982)
This British TV movie is an adaptation of a French novel by Hubert Monteilhet. It opens with a professor (Pinkas Braun) setting up a life insurance for his wife (Carmen Du Sautoy) at a Swiss bank. After which insurance agents start wondering whether she is going to murder him. Jonathan Pryce plays the professor’s assistant, who is seduced by the wife, who wants him to kill her husband. While the first part is a clever Hitchcockian thriller the second becomes tedious and contrived. Performances are solid and it has a quite classy score, but the characters are so unlikeable I lost interest long before the end.
4/10
A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)
Apparently some fans regard this as Laurel & Hardy’s worst movie and I have to concur, it’s just tragically dull with very little of the charm and inventiveness of their better work.
3/10
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Perhaps my favourite Eastwood western so far, although I’ve yet to see The Outlaw Josey Wales. It has a certain dream-like quality like a weird nightmare. I think I prefer this to the rather downbeat Unforgiven.
8/10
TV
Narcos – Season 1
Just a solid very gripping thriller. Fortunately not as slowly paced as some other Netflix shows. There is a good balance between history/politics and the characters personal lives. Wagner Moura is a revelation as Escobar. I don’t know how historically accurate it is, but you can’t please everyone with this type of films which are based on real events.
8/10
Repeat Viewing
Big Fish (2003)
For some reason I felt the urge to rewatch this. Sadly I don’t think that it holds up too well. I never rated this as a masterpiece just as a good solid tearjerker and while the ending is still quite effective, some of the plot is a bit dull and the production design looks surprisingly cheap and unimaginative for a Burton movie.
6/10
The Remains Of The Day (1993)
This is obviously a very good film, but I always thought, it didn’t really need the Nazi-sympathiser subplot which to me felt a bit preachy.
8/10
Praying Mantis (1982)
This British TV movie is an adaptation of a French novel by Hubert Monteilhet. It opens with a professor (Pinkas Braun) setting up a life insurance for his wife (Carmen Du Sautoy) at a Swiss bank. After which insurance agents start wondering whether she is going to murder him. Jonathan Pryce plays the professor’s assistant, who is seduced by the wife, who wants him to kill her husband. While the first part is a clever Hitchcockian thriller the second becomes tedious and contrived. Performances are solid and it has a quite classy score, but the characters are so unlikeable I lost interest long before the end.
4/10
A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)
Apparently some fans regard this as Laurel & Hardy’s worst movie and I have to concur, it’s just tragically dull with very little of the charm and inventiveness of their better work.
3/10
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Perhaps my favourite Eastwood western so far, although I’ve yet to see The Outlaw Josey Wales. It has a certain dream-like quality like a weird nightmare. I think I prefer this to the rather downbeat Unforgiven.
8/10
TV
Narcos – Season 1
Just a solid very gripping thriller. Fortunately not as slowly paced as some other Netflix shows. There is a good balance between history/politics and the characters personal lives. Wagner Moura is a revelation as Escobar. I don’t know how historically accurate it is, but you can’t please everyone with this type of films which are based on real events.
8/10
Repeat Viewing
Big Fish (2003)
For some reason I felt the urge to rewatch this. Sadly I don’t think that it holds up too well. I never rated this as a masterpiece just as a good solid tearjerker and while the ending is still quite effective, some of the plot is a bit dull and the production design looks surprisingly cheap and unimaginative for a Burton movie.
6/10
The Remains Of The Day (1993)
This is obviously a very good film, but I always thought, it didn’t really need the Nazi-sympathiser subplot which to me felt a bit preachy.
8/10