Film Reviews
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Quatermass and the Pit (Roy
Ward Baker, 1968)
Science-fiction with Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara
Shelley, Julian Glover & Duncan Lamont.
Nigel Kneale's sci-fi drama started off back in the fifties as
a black-and-white TV play starring Andre Morell as the Professor, before
Hammer decided to remake it with studio stalwart Andrew Keir in the title
role. Although critics appear on the whole to regard the Morell film as the
definitive version, this 1968 retelling is an impressive effort. I sympathize
with David Pirie, who criticized Roy Ward Baker for the "limitless number of
close-ups in an attempt to convey tension". Certainly the close-ups are a
little overdone, and Tristram Cary's otherwise brilliant score is a little too
obvious too early on, yet still Quatermass and the Pit is a gripping, tense
thriller with considerable suspense and atmosphere.
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Rasputin, the Mad Monk (Don
Sharp, 1965)
Horror with Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Francis
Matthews, Richard Pasco, Suzan Farmer, Reece Dinsdale & Renee Asherson.
By no means is this Hammer's greatest picture, but it is
nevertheless a vintage piece of grand guignol from Britain's most famous
horror studio. Christopher Lee turns in one of his finest performances as the
monk who uses his hypnotic and shamanistic skills to manipulate his way into
the royal household in pre-revolutionary Russia. The concern isn't so much
with historical accuracy -- most of the plot is fictional, although some
details are based loosely on the "true" story -- as with suspense and terror.
Hammer afficionados will delight in spotting how the sets were ingeniously
revamped from
Dracula, Prince of
Darkness, made only weeks previously (1965) with the same cast.
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Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock,
1954)
Thriller with James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter,
Wendell Corey & Raymond Burr.
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Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948)
Thriller with John Dall, Farley Granger & James Stewart.
Rope was an experimental movie, filmed on a single set in as
few takes as possible. The idea worked. The sun sets over the New York
skyline, and day turns into night as the net gradually closes in on the two
killers. Camerawork and lighting, a major challenge in view of Hitchcock's
unprecedented requirements, create a haunting, tense, almost broody
atmosphere. Writers Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents work well with Patrick
Hamilton's incredibly old-fashioned stage play, producing a sharp script. The
cast are generally excellent, even if Jimmy Stewart looks a tad uncomfortable
in an atypical role.
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Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Occult horror with Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon,
Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans & Charles Grodin.
There is no doubt that Polanski is a brilliant film-maker. He is skilled at
creating horror, particularly through suggestion -- indeed, there is very
little graphic horror here. Rosemary's Baby is suspenseful and scary
throughout. Especially impressive is his ability to create unease and terror
through some of the most ordinary, non-supernatural elements of the story, for
instance, the isolation of a young woman from her peers.
I must admit, however, there was little entertaining here, only shocking
and terrifying. Ultimately, Polanski's seminal horror film signals a marked
departure away from the redemptive themes of earlier films of the genre;
Polanksi's vision is Christless, redemptionless and despairing, the ultimate
expression of the "death of God" era to which the film occasionally refers.
Rosemary's Baby may be technically ingenious, but it it is finally bleak,
hopeless and, as such, empty.
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Royal Tenenbaums, The (Wes
Anderson, 2001)
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Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
Quirky drama with Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray, Olivia
Williams, Seymour Cassell, Brian Cox & Mason Gamble.
I struck up my acquaintance with the work of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
with the later The Royal Tenenbaums. I was
not disappointed when I finally sat down to watch Rushmore. Anderson and
Wilson have the extraordinary gift of being able to write characters and
stories that are as deeply human and believable as they are absurdly surreal.
Like Tenenbaums, Rushmore is a film about vulnerable people finding their way
through conflict to resolution and reconciliation. From my Christian point of
view, I like to see it as GRACE. In the world of Rushmore, there is even hope
for a washed-up old failure like tycoon Herman Blume (Bill Murray). The
filmmakers place in their world characters who are poles apart from one
another: Rich and poor; English, Scottish and American; young and old; western
and eastern. Somehow events conspire to show the characters their commonality;
something breaks; and through the cracks we see glimpses of healing.
I have never been a fan of Murray, but I fast became a devotee after
Rushmore proved his skills as an actor. Schwartzman veers brilliantly between
suavely sophisticated and grimacingly geeky. Seymour Cassel is a talent of
whom I'd like to see more: His brief appearances here and in Tenenbaums are to
be treasured. There is even an amusing turn from Mason Gamble, who doesn't
seem to have aged a bit since Dennis the Menace.
The humour is subtle, yet hilarious to those with whom this brand of
quirkiness resonates. For me, its funniness comes from the fact that the
comedy is not arbitrary---no banana skins for banana skins' sake---but is made
part and parcel of the characters, who they are and how they develop.
This is a film I will watch over and over, simply because it resonates me
at gut-level as a human being -- contra those critics that say that Anderson
and Wilson's films lack heart and warmth. My favourite films have always been
about vulnerable people who find courage and a means to healing, and Rushmore
does that with the best of them.
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Scars of Dracula (Roy Ward Baker, 1971)
Horror with Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley,
Patrick Troughton & Michael Gwynn.
Hammer films are rarely unwatchable, but this is certainly not
one of the studio's better efforts.
On the plus side, it is notable for restoring a few elements of Bram Stoker's
original: The Count plays the icily charming host as well as the feral,
demonic villain; he exerts supernatural power over wild animals; and he scales
the walls of his castle like a bat. There are a few nice gothic flourishes
here and there, too.
On the whole, however, the negatives outweigh the positives. The cast are
dull, and there's no strong protagonist to rival, say, Peter Cushing or Andrew
Keir from earlier on in the series. Even Christopher Lee is starting too look
too old for the part by now. The effects are remarkably inconsistent,
bordering on utterly silly at times, especially in the final showdown. Lastly,
the sex and violence are often embarrassingly gratuitous, evidence of a film
franchise in serious decline, from which it sadly never recovered. Both Hammer
and director Baker (whose best work was probably the brilliantly suspenseful
Quatermass and the Pit in 1967) were capable
of far better.
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Schindler's List (Steven
Spielberg, 1993)
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Scrooge (Ronald Neame, 1970)
Festive musical with Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Kenneth
More, Edith Evans & Michael Medwin.
A formidable musical retelling of Dickens's famous tale.
Albert Finney is splendid as the eponymous miser, and the film is full of joy
and spirit. Songs are rather hit-and-miss, as almost all Leslie Bricusse
musicals tend to be, but it's all tremendous fun anyway. The production looks
wonderful, with handsome sets and good cinematography by veteran Oswald
Morris. The Ronald Searle-designed titles are a treat, too.
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Scrooged (Richard Donner, 1988)
Seasonal comedy with Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe,
Robert Mitchum & Robert J Pollard.
Murray brings his usual deadpan style to the role of a
modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge in this classic festive comic treat. Against the
odds, Murray even manages to make the overblown sentimentalism of the ending
work. Very funny at times, and some nice effects along the way. Certainly
among the three or four best of several Scrooge adaptations.
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Secrets and Lies (Mike
Leigh, 1996)
Drama with Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste,
Claire Rushbrook & Phyllis Logan.
Sit back and savour the genius of the master storyteller, Mike Leigh. In
Secrets and Lies, Leigh draws incredible, multi-dimensional performances out
of a talented cast; quite the finest performances I have seen in a Leigh film.
There is no need for lengthy analysis here. As usual, the director does not
aspire to grandeur, but simply presents his characters with utter sincerity
and conviction, and allowing us to travel with them on their journeys. The
tension culminates in a brilliantly acted climax and a touching, low-key final
scene reminiscent of that of his earlier, and inferior,
Life is Sweet.
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Send Me No Flowers
(Norman Jewison, 1964)
Romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day & Tony
Randall.
Following on from the success of
Pillow Talk (1959) and
Lover Come Back (1962), the
stars teamed up for the last time in this amusing romantic comedy. The set-up
is slightly different this time: Day and Hudson are married; he's a
hypochondriac who gets the wrong end of the stick and thinks he's only got a
few weeks to live, and tries to make the best of the rest of his life without
his wife finding out. It's all pretty funny, and delightfully entertaining,
excellently performed as you'd expect from the line-up. Some nice turns in the
supporting cast, too.
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Servant, The (Joseph Losey, 1963)
Drama with Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles & Wendy Craig.
The social metaphors may be a little worn nowadays, but Joseph Losey's film
has lost none of its drama and intensity. Bogarde stars as the butler who
responds to decidedly foppish architect Fox's advertisement to find a servant.
Enter Miles, and a complicated love triangle ensues. Order eventually descends
into chaos as servant-master roles become blurred in this riveting allegory of
social disintegration.
It is the sheer brilliance of the ensemble here that makes this film a true
classic: Much of the credit must go to the skilful black-and-white photography
of Douglas Slocombe, one of the Britain's most talented cinematographers.
Stylistically, this is quintessential sixties British realism. Also noteworthy
are John Dankworth's jazz-oriented score and Harold Pinter's screenplay, from
the story by Robin Maugham. The film stands or falls on the strength of the
performances, and the cast here are on stunning form, especially Bogarde in
probably his finest role.
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Shop Around the Corner, The (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
Gentle comedy with James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan & Frank
Morgan.
Lubitsch's film weaves together seamlessly and beautifully a
handful of narrative strands, chiefly the shaky romantic development of stars
Stewart and Sullavan's unusual relationship. The story is believably told and
engagingly acted Script is witty, and the production-design quite charming.
German-born Lubitsch, one of many great directors to leave Germany in the
1920s and '30s to pursue a career in Hollywood, brings the Eastern European
setting to life convincingly. A fine film and a classic.
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Sixth Sense, The (M Night Shyamalan, 1999)
Supernatural chiller with Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment,
Toni Collette & Olivia Williams.
A superbly executed film that veers between horror and human
drama. There's a lot of atmosphere, with key moments revealing the director's
natural talent for dramatic tension and shock. Nitpicking about whether
everything in the film adds up in light of the final twist is misconceived: In
retrospect, of course, there are holes and inconsistencies all over the place,
but the point is that it works at the time, and it works quite brilliantly.
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Small Time Crooks (Woody Allen, 2000)
Comedy caper with Woody Allen, Tracey Ullman & Hugh Grant.
This broad farce is by no means among Woody Allen's best, nor the most
consistently funny, but it nevertheless entertains. Allen and Ullman manage to
make the central characters warm enough to engage our affections. It's said
that Woody cannot do physical comedy, but there are some delightfully amusing
moments herein that belie such a criticism, such as Woody's bungled attempts
to sneak upstairs at a party to commit a robbery without being noticed.
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Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak, 1943)
Horror starring Lon Chaney, Jr, Louise Allbritton, Robert
Paige, J Edward Bromberg.
Dracula shows up on a southern plantation to claim his vampire
bride in this enjoyable slice of horror from Universal Studios. Surprisingly,
the special effects are pretty good for the era, and Lon Chaney, Jr, doesn't
make a bad vampire. It's no masterpiece, but it's fun.
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Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)
Coming-of-age drama with Richard Dreyfuss, Wil Wheaton, River
Phoenix, Corey Feldman & Jerry O'Connell.
Stand by Me follows the journey of three twelve-year-old boys
from smalltown Oregon as they set out in search of the body of teenage Ray
Brauer. The gorgeously lensed west-coast scenery provides the backdrop for the
boys' own inner journeys at a seminal point in their young lives. Sure, the
nostalgic coming-of-age thing has been done many times, but rarely as well as
this and with such affection and believability. It seems, at least in my
memory, that this film was rather overlooked on its initial release, but I
predict it will be remembered as a true classic in the generations to come.
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