Day to Day Viewing (avid movie watcher and reviewer)
I'll watch almost anything and have seen thousands of movies. Some I watch now are new to me, others are repeat viewings. These are in the order I see them, from the time this list was created. I'll add daily, like a journal, warts and all, in no order of merit, just to show the variety there is out there to be enjoyed and briefly what I thought of them.
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- DirectorElem KlimovStarsAleksey KravchenkoOlga MironovaLiubomiras LauceviciusAfter finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.The most powerful & visually intense image of war I've ever experienced. A sensory overload that I'll never forget. Russian film set in Belarus during WW2
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber-plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand might prove her undoing.Bette Davis in a ripe old melodrama, set on a Malayan rubber plantation, where she murders a man. She thinks that she ought to get away with it but a letter surfaces that puts her credibility into doubt. They don't make them like this any more!
- DirectorAlison PeeblesStarsLindsay DuncanKevin McKiddPaula SageAn ambitious Scottish journalist is torn between a high-profile career and caring for his younger sister who has Downs Syndrome.Rather dour life drama from 2003 set in Scotland, but does include a good cast, including Eddie Marsden, Shirley Henderson and Kevin McKidd. A journalist, who is itching to follow up a story in Switzerland about a euthanasia clinic is hindered by his mother diagnosed with ovarian cancer and his Downs Syndrome sister, who his mother looks after. It has its moments though!
- DirectorJulien TempleStarsKeith AllenMichael GambonSteve JonesLondon: The Modern Babylon is legendary director Julien Temple's epic time-traveling voyage to the heart of his hometown.Ace documentary maker Julien Temple's affectionate ode to London and its multiculturalism, timed to coincide with the 2012 Olympics. Premiered on BBC2
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsJeremy IrvineEmily WatsonDavid ThewlisA young farm boy enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. His hopeful journey takes him out of England and onto the front lines as the war rages on.Missed this at the cinema, bought the DVD, love Spielberg. Bit too Disneyfied, corny in parts but there's no denying the power, either of the story or of the director's unapologetic emotional manipulation. Either moan and avoid or enjoy it, as I did!
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsIrene DunneRex HarrisonLinda DarnellIn 1862, a young Englishwoman becomes royal tutor in Siam and befriends the King.Sumptuous black & white original of the evergreen but charmingly naive story. American Irene Dunne is spot-on as the English schoolmistress but Rex Harrison as the Siamese King is horribly miscast and just looks and sounds awful. Rarely shown on TV, though.
- DirectorSemih KaplanogluStarsBora AltasErdal BesikçiogluTülin ÖzenThe quiet life of a boy and his family is endangered when his father does not return home from his work collecting honey in the forest.Simple & meditative story set in the current day mountains of Turkey, of a travelling honey-collector and his ten year old son. Incredible photography and heightened use of natural sounds make this rather different, crawling pace allows the viewer to almost become part of their organic way of life.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsRichard PryorRachel TicotinRubén BladesCon man Kevin Lennihan, framed in a jewel smuggling, tries for an insanity plea, and is sent to a hospital for review, where he is confused for a doctor and takes over the hospital when a major storm hits.Richard Pryor is seldom funny in this - it's the dreadfully unfunny material that lets both him and us down. Even worse is where he tries to get sentimental AND romantic - I almost needed hospital treatment myself!
- DirectorBenoît JacquotStarsDaniel AuteuilMarianne DenicourtJeanne BalibarA man prepares himself to be transferred to a detention center and rest home where he will relive one more time the highlights of his youth.Subscribing to French movie channel Cinemoi means I want to get my money's worth and and watch everything. This rather dry and straightforward drama about the infamous lewd libertine starring the usually very good Daniel Auteille is worthy but dull - certainly compared to the much more entertaining Quills.
- DirectorRaymond De FelittaStarsAndy GarciaJulianna MarguliesSteven StraitPrison guard Vince tells Molly from acting class, that one inmate is his 24 y.o. love child. Vince takes him home to stay with his family - straight A son with fat girl fetish, college dropout/stripper daughter and cute wife.Interesting and warm-hearted little indie movie, involving a family. Starring an unusually candid and vulnerable Andy Garcia, set in and around present-day The Bronx. Could almost be an adult version of the Simpsons, except he's a prison guard with a penchant for acting Marlon Brando, badly!
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.I'd eagerly anticipated this Iranian Oscar winner for best world movie. Once into it, it becomes an ever increasingly gripping tale of everyday domesticity, except this is Tehran, there's an 80 year old Alzheimer's sufferer who's peed himself and needs changing and the female home help refuses to...sounds like a comedy, but this is definitely not. Tragic, intuitive and very believable and where religion and social circumstance turn this into almost a Shakespearian masterpiece.
- DirectorMike BarkerStarsPierce BrosnanMaria BelloGerard ButlerA perfect family's dynamic is ruined by a kidnapper's brutally efficient plot.Starring Pierce Brosnan, this flashy ransom movie has him being rather surly and mean rather too much. It does sort itself out though, with an ending that is both unseen and believable - rare these days.
- DirectorMario ZampiStarsTerry-ThomasGeorge ColeBrenda de BanzieIn this spoof on crime films, four would-be criminals manage to botch every job they plan. When they try to rob wealthy Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) they fail again. But the gang decides to kidnap his daughter.Part of the Terry-Thomas dvd collection, this has a whole load of Brit actors who went on to star in those (mostly) awful Carry On's. This is both smarter and far less peurile!
- DirectorUrsula MeierStarsIsabelle HuppertOlivier GourmetAdélaïde LerouxLife for an isolated rural family is upended when a major highway next to their property, constructed 10 years before but apparently abandoned, is finally opened.One of the best and most original movies I've ever seen.. Isabelle Huppard plays the mother of a happy but dysfunctional French family who live right bang on an unused autoroute. Then, one night, the road-rollers move in as it is resurfaced. Now open to heavy traffic and during a heatwave, the family (try to) carry on as before. Equally funny, tragic and environmentally very astute, this is an unusual, brave and superb movie.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsWesley SnipesDonald SutherlandMaury ChaykinUN's secretary general uses covert operations to help diplomacy along. Shaw's called back 6 months after one such operation. He witnesses the murder of Chinese UN ambassador at UN, NYC, chases the assassin and ends up a suspect.Overly flashy and chaotically directed crime/mob thriller, involving Triads, apparently. With Wesley Snipes, who's actually good. Plot has more holes in it than an old string vest and one gets to just not caring for anybody, or anything, except perhaps a premature ending!
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsGene WilderRichard PryorJill ClayburghOn a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance--but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.The best and worse of '70s Hollywood, personified. About a big, very long train, it's a mixture of Bond, Hitchcock and pure American 'biggism' and Gene Wilder partnering a very funny Richard Pryor.
- DirectorsRob CurryTim PlesterStarsBilly BraggMyAnna BuringChris LeslieAs quintessentially homegrown as a game of cricket or a plate of fish-and-chips, Morris dancing is one of Englands most ancient roots traditions. And yet to your average man on the street, its seen as little more than a national joke. And a bad national joke at that. Something to ridicule. Something to be embarrassed about. Things have always been a little different for actor and filmmaker Tim Plester. Tim hails from a family of Morris dancers, and was raised in the quiet North Oxfordshire village of Adderbury; a community with a proud and fertile dancing history stretching back through the centuries. The tinkling of the shin-bells is part of his heritage. Part of his legacy. Part of his very folklore. And yet, despite the connections, Tim doesn't dance. Never has A heartfelt docu-ballad in praise of birthplace, bloodline and rural brotherhood, WAY OF THE MORRIS follows Tim on a deeply personal journey from the barleyfields of his childhood to the killing fields of The Somme, as he traces the poignant link between the spirited folk revival of the mid-1970s and the true story of the young Adderbury Morris side so decimated by the carnage of the First World War. Featuring contributions from singer/songwriter Billy Bragg and Fairport Conventions Chris Leslie, and utilizing treasured home-movie footage and rare village archive, what emerges is a timely and evocative exploration of the origins and impulses behind the Morris, and an attempt to understand its curious place within enchanted Britannia's ongoing story.Documentary oddity that was on Sky Arts. Enlightening and surprisingly well-made little film about these most maligned traditional dancers and how they not only keep up tradition but help maintain the organic link between our pagan past with current village life.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsLeon NiemczykJolanta UmeckaZygmunt MalanowiczA couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.Roman Polanski's striking debut, made in his native Poland. Imagine a claustrophobic, gritty black & white version of the much later Hollywood Dead Calm, add some jazz and a running theme about a flick-knife.
- DirectorsJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.One of the most beautiful and quite scary of all fairytales, this sounds so much better with its native title - Belle et La Bete. Jean Cocteau's exquisitely imaginative sets and poetic light touch make this 1946 French version an equal to, if radically different alternative to Disney's animated Classic.
- DirectorCharles CrichtonStarsAlastair SimFrederick PiperHarry FowlerA gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip's wording each week, unknown to writer and printer. The first of the Ealing comedies.Apparently, Ealing's first comedy, the stars of which are mostly a gaggle of young kids who play around and in London's bombed-out just post-war East-end. A tall-tale about their favourite comic missing a page and so a race against time - and crooks! - to fill in the missing story. Highlights are Alistair Sim, as the reclusive creator of the comic and the often evocative on-location filming.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.This classic anti-war French film from Jean Renoir is still seen as pertinent and influential. Not my favourite movie but it is often funny and is rather like Colditz crossed with Carry On, but all the WW1 guards are nice...
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.Alain Resnais' directorial debut is a graphically intense but ultimately beautiful and sensual contrast between horrific aftermath with architectural new beginnings and an impassioned love affair. Literally blew me away when I first saw it; still grips.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsWinston ChaoMay ChinAh-Lei GuaTo satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.Taiwanese maestro director Ang Lee with his first feature made in the U.S is a clever, witty and poignant observation of cross culture and sexuality. A gay Taiwanese man living with his partner New York gets a visit from his old-fashioned parents, for, yes, his straight wedding!
- DirectorsVittorio De SicaFederico FelliniMario MonicelliStarsAnita EkbergSophia LorenRomy SchneiderInspired by Boccaccio's novellas, each episode focuses on sex, love and seduction in Italy in the 1960s, an era of economic growth and major cultural changes.Portmanteau of four films that typify love and lust at a certain time in Italy, according to the big directors of the day. Bit hit and miss, with Fellini's the most entertaining.
- DirectorStephen KayStarsSylvester StalloneRachael Leigh CookMiranda RichardsonA Las Vegas mob enforcer travels back to his hometown to investigate his brother's mysterious death.The original remains one of Britain's best crime thrillers, so a remake with Stallone must be worth seeing? No, is the short answer!
