The Colossus Of New York - 1958 - USA

The Colossus Of New York - 1958- 5/10

 
Father is a brain surgeon, the eldest is an automation engineer, but he youngest is hailed as the brilliant genius, because he endeavors to solve world hunger!
Alas, after he returns from receiving his Nobel prize, he is killed in a traffic accident.
Or is he?  Dad is a brain surgeon, after all, and the brother can create a huge robot.
Not as bad as some decry, yet this is ploddingly slow, crawling from one listless scene to another.
Energetic final three minutes not enough compensation.
Actually, what I did enjoy was the Van Cleave score.  Largely Impressionistic piano.

Sense And Sensibility - 1995

Sense And Sensibility - 1995 - 6/10

 
I have probably viewed this twenty times.
Over the years, I have grown more and more disenchanted with it, due to two headliners.
Alan Rickman’s Colonel Brandon is portrayed as rather weak and incompetent, not to mention he was way too old to be a proper suitor for Kate Winslet’s Marianne Dashwood (Rickman was 30 years older than Winslet).
A much bigger problem is with writer / star Emma Thompson who cast herself as 19 year old Elinor Dashwood.  Thompson was 36 when the film released, and matronly at that.
There is still a lot to appreciate in this version.  Scenery, outstanding support (though Hugh Grant sleepwalks his role), great score, costume design, even the direction - and I do not like Ang Lee.
This used to be such a favorite, I wish it were still so.
The 2008 adaptation has a lot more going for it, though the role of the dashing Willoughby was somewhat miscast.

Sense And Sensibility - 2008 - UK

Sense And Sensibility - 2008 - 7/10

 
Excellent three part series of the Jane Austen costume drama.
More than holds its own with the Ang Lee / Emma Thompson version, but marred by a fatal casting choice.
Being longer, more characters and incidents entered the narrative. Some useful (Lucy Steele's sister, an opening erotic moment), some useless (a pointless duel).
Story follows a family of females after their father dies and they are displaced from the manor.
Their mother was wife #2, and English estates always pass into male hands.
The family struggles to survive in “good society,” the daughters on, perhaps, finding romance.  
Cast is uniformly fine, though Dominic Cooper seems miscast as Willoughby.
His character lacks panache, and comes across a rather oily on the screen.  I could not buy him as a heartbreaker.

Six Minutes To Midnight - 2020

Six Minutes To Midnight - 2020 - 6/10

 
Lightweight espionage thriller suffers from insufficient plot.
On the eve of WWII, daughters of influential Reich commanders are in an elite English finishing school.
What if war breaks out?  What will happen to those Aryan beauties?
Overly padded story (including an extended, lackadaisical chase) is dull.
Actor / writer / co-producer Eddie Izzard gave himself the lion’s share of scenes in fluff history.

Neon Demon - 2016

Neon Demon - 2016 - 5/10

 
Listed as Horror / Thriller.  Say what?
I got this hoping for fashion arthouse Horror.  What a fool believes.
Dewy eyed miss wanders Los Angeles hoping to make it as high fashion model.
Success is overnight, everything else is glacial.  Pace is mind numbing slow.
On the couture end, clothes look off the J C Penney’s rack.
Inventive composition, angles, colors?  No, just colored light filters.
Nick Knight, Annie Leibowitz, Grace Coddington, et al have nothing to fear from this twaddle.

The Beautiful Troublemaker - 1991

The Beautiful Troublemaker - 1991 - 6/10
AKA - La Belle Noiseuse

 
Overlong arthouse fare that will tax your endurance.
Once famous, now less fashionable, painter returns to an unfinished project.
A fresh model awakens inspiration, though he cannot find the line.
This is four hours of the creative process, and will certainly not appeal to all.
I recall feeling cheated by the end (I first viewed during the original run).
One artist friend deemed it a masterpiece, another said it was like watching paint dry.
Revisiting this did not improve my opinion, though this is like watching a master at work.

Whore - 1991

Whore - 1991 - 6/10

 
Spare study of cynical prostitute.
Dealings with difficult johns, her handlers, tribulations, personal history.
Severe budget restraints are evident, and the look favors glamour over seedy.
Theresa Russell seems closer to a high tier call girl, rather than a street walker.
Many of the comments are laugh out loud funny.  Once edgy film, tame now.
Viewed after seeing Pretty Woman, this is an acid rebuke.
Ken Russell provides a droll cameo as a waiter, sir!

Ghost In The Shell Arise: Border 4 - Ghost Stands Alone - 2014 - Japan

Ghost In The Shell Arise: Border 4 - Ghost Stands Alone - 2014 - 5/10

 
Stumbling, repetitive conclusion to groundbreaking franchise.
Finale prequel to the original finds the unit mostly assembled.
Kusanagi, Batou, et al, just before joining Section 9.
Usual themes of identity, cyber consciousness, terrorism, intelligence hacking.
Some visuals quite beautiful, other scenes are static.  Characters sitting in a bare room, talking.
Action is minimal, the plot is borrowed bits and pieces from earlier shows.
Not essential, even for GITS fans.

Traitor - 2008 - USA

Traitor - 2008 - 6/10

 
Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce star in terrorist / espionage thriller.
American Muslim Cheadle, after suffering a crisis of faith, switches sides and helps terror cell in Yemen.
Pearce the CIA op tracking him down.
Solid location photography, tense cat and mouse plot, several twists.
Well acted all around, and seemingly unbiased, but I never got involved with any of the characters.

Walk A Tightrope - 1964 - UK

Walk A Tightrope - 1964 - 6/10

 
Middling crime mystery sees female stalked by man with a gun in his pocket.
Does she go to the nearest copper?  No, she heads into a pub.
Not to reveal too much, there is a murder soon thereafter, and the killer demands payment.
Straight off, we know who did it, just not why.
Dan Duryea, in the twilight of a long career, before a string of TV appearances, is the best element in this.
Once he gets going, he bristles with energy.  Everyone else is muted.  As is the film itself.

L’Argent - 1983 - France

L’Argent - 1983 - 6/10
AKA - Money

 
Sorry, I ain’t buying this.
Ostensibly, we follow counterfeit money as it passes various hands.
From the gullible to the devious to the sly to the trusting.
Moralizing film studying human reactions.
For skeptical souls, behavior is predictable, especially if your opinions of humanity are low.
Narrative settles on one character and his path, which sinks preposterous.

Manson - 2009

Manson - 2009 - 5/10

 
Lightweight documentary about Manson family as told by Linda Kasabian.
She has been in hiding since the 60's.
Perhaps interesting if you know zero about the group.
Ed Sander's “Family” remains definitive on the early Manson era.
Prosecutor Bugliosi's “Helter Skelter” is the one to read for the trial.