Back at the start of the week we had some noir based trouble, we had to remove Shadow of a Doubt from the noir rundown because of a shoddy DVD provided by some cowboy eBay seller but we did fit in a double feature once more, complete with comfort food and beer to raise our spirits after a tough few weeks. Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake starred in the first of this weeks films noir This Gun For Hire followed by Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, reviews to come on Tuesday as usual.We tried out the new Irish film that's been getting rave reviews, The Guard, but were only mildly impressed. It had moments of great humour in an enjoyable performance from Brendan Gleeson but when it wasn't making me laugh, 80% of the time, I was quite bored, which I blame on the pacing of the script which was filled with many moments that felt completely irrelevant to the story and perhaps were supposed to be funny. Check out the Blondoner review for more.
We took quite a few days of trying to watch Star Wars again but falling asleep every half an hour, we can't help but love the film despite its melodrama and massive amounts of exposition. It's a movie that we've seen so many times that it feels so much more than mere entertainment when we watch it.
Jerome Bixby's Man From Earth has been on my MUST SEE list for a while, it's considered a great piece of Science Fiction writing and after reading the review from Chip at Tips From Chip I went out of my way to find it. I'm very glad I did, it's a simple film, almost a stage play, with a one room setting and a group of people discussing one characters life story. Some of the dialogue and acting is a little bit OTT but overall it's a thoroughly enjoyable film.
Classic pre Star Wars Science Fiction came directly after Man From Earth on a day of laziness and was a perfect lazy day movie. I'd never actually seen all of Forbidden Planet but I can tell you now without any hesitation that this was an impressive and enjoyable film. The special effects were better than a lot of CGI films you get now, but for 1957 it was astounding. The influence on the science fiction of later TV shows is obvious as well, Star Trek would not have looked the way it did if it wasn't for this movie. The fact that Anne Francis didn't go on to be a superstar after making the most of her minuscule amount of dialogue and equally minuscule level of clothing is a travesty. If you haven't seen it and want to know more or just enjoy reading good movie reviews check out Kevyn's excellent review over at The Most Beautiful Fraud.
The blahblahblahgay turnoffs this week happily consists of a single movie, Timeline. Recommended by Ruth at FlixChatter repeatedly recently, including as part of the Groovers and Mobsters time travel blogathon, the film had enough ideas on its side to get me interested, including being written by my favourite author of the popular novel, Michael Crichton, but I just could not get on board with any of it, I just kept picking holes until I got enraged and switched off. Blah at Paul Walker, blah at Ethan Embrey, blah at Gerard Butler with his own accent.
And that is the week that was. Feel free to share your weeks viewing or your opinions on my opinions in the blah below. Did anyone other than Ruth enjoy Timeline?
I haven't seen any of these. I should check some out.
ReplyDelete@ALAN - you haven't seen star wars?
ReplyDeleteDid not like TIMELINE at all.
ReplyDeleteTHE GUARD's only mildly good? This changes everything.
@TYLER - changes our relationship or changes your anticipation? it's a comedy, it's open to different tastes. but to me it felt a little light, more so than PERRIERS BOUNTY infact.
ReplyDeleteForbidden Planet!!! OMG, what a classic. I loved that film as a kid, i don't think I've seen it in some 20-odd years. I really must track it down.
ReplyDeleteAnd Timeline was a film I'd happily call "shit" in any timezone.
@RODNEY - definitely do, FP is a great piece of entertainment and has so much historical value as a little bonus. Anne Francis is quite wonderful too.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Guard, but that just shows how small my brain is I expect.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday
@SL - i know you did, but there's no accounting for little brain syndrome is there? it's all a matter of comedic taste i suppose.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about Timeline. I read Ruth's post and it almost convinced me to watch it for my last time-travel marathon movie. Your reaction (and Tyler's) isn't convincing me to give it a shot. I've heard a lot of poor feedback on it.
ReplyDeleteLove that poster for forbidden Planet, it really is a classic one...
ReplyDeleteDouble Indemnity was good, saw it a while ago...
Glad you enjoyed Forbidden Planet. This is one of the best sci fi movies from the 50's, complete with Shakespearean references and all. Love it. And love Anne Francis too!
ReplyDelete@DAN - I had also heard bad things about TIMELINE but in my eagerness to enjoy Crichton/Scifi movies I wanted to believe Ruth. I can't really tell you to give it a go, you're not someone who turns movies off are you?
ReplyDelete@NOSTRA - I love how the poster doesn't relate to any part of the movie at all! Stop by for the DOUBLE INDEMNITY post later, i'd love to hear your thoughts in more depth.
@JON - On seeing Anne Francis I felt certain she must've gone on to be incredibly famous but was terribly disappointed when I checked out her rather sparse imdb page.
Yes wished she would have been in more movies. I do like her also in a smaller role she has in Bad Day at Black Rock, an essential noir/western with Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan. It's awesome.
ReplyDelete@JON - i've been avoiding that sub-genre of the film noir cycle. primarily because it was happening at the same time as classic noir as opposed to tech-noir which came after. somehow that seems more acceptable to me.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I guess I consider it a noir set out west, rather than western that happens to be a noir, if you get what I mean. It's still a great film however you look at it.
ReplyDelete@JON - the other thing i should admit to is that i never really got in to watching westerns but i intend to.
ReplyDelete@Toby - I'm glad you liked The Man from Earth. By coincidence I had also recommended Forbidden Planet in my Before Star Wars posts. It's a really good film and I'm not surprised you liked that, too.
ReplyDeleteI remember that I saw Timeline, but I can only remember a couple of scenes from it, so it didn't make much of an impression on me. Check out Timecrimes (2007) sometime for a non-Hollywood take on a time travel movie.
CHIP - i think i may have forgotten to come tell you in your comments so i'm glad you found this post. Yes i saw them both afer reading your reviews. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Timecrimes and really enjoyed it, now i suffer with the fact that compared to Timecrimes similarly structured films feel a bit rubbish.
@Toby - no, you did leave a comment on my blog and I responded there. When I finally got a chance to catch up on the blogs that I follow I saw your post here on it, too, and responded here, too, in case you had not seen my reply on my blog.
ReplyDeleteSince you've seen Timecrimes I'll toss out another time travel movie then - Primer (2004). I was not as enamored of it as critics were, but I think that's because they were impressed by not being able to completely understand the movie, whereas having read any number of time travel stories when I was younger I could follow it well enough to pick out a really big goof in the plot. It IS a movie you need to pay attention to. I've even seen a chart online that purports to track the various timelines in order to make sense of it all. It has spoilers, so only look at it after seeing the movie, if you feel the need.