Movie Reviews
One From The Heart
Francis Ford Coppola was said to have directed this entirely from a trailer, watching on TV. Huh? The sets are fabulous; nothing else is.
Ondine
Neil Jordan is a terrific director, with movies like The Crying Game and Mona Lisa. Here he tries to mix myth with reality, and it doesn’t quite work, but it’s good up until the very end. Colin Farrell is a small-time fisherman in a small Irish village. One day he hauls in a beautiful woman (Alicja Bachleda-Curuś), near death, in his ... Read more »
Once Were Warriors
New Zealand is a fabulously beautiful country. (I’ve never been there, but everybody I’ve ever spoken to who has is rapturous about it.) It’s so beautiful that, in the opening shot here, Lee said “It looks like a painting!” Well … what it was, was a billboard advertising “Beautiful New Zealand!” What’s behind the billboard as we pull ... Read more »
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
One of those sweet little British comedies about the working class. I like them, and this is an excellent example.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Who needs Montezuma’s Revenge when there are movies as rancid as this? Don’t drink the water, it’ll clean your bowels right out. I’d prefer a severe case of diarrhea to having to see the last hour of this movie. We quit at about 40 minutes.
Once Upon a Honeymoon
This reminded me a little of Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers rushing pell-mell all over Europe as the Nazis advance. One by one the countries fall, and Cary and Ginger try to stay one step ahead, which is hard, since Ginger is married to a Nazi provocateur and saboteur who is inciting the populations in any way he can. Hubby ... Read more »
Once
A short and appealing film about people making music. It plays out over about a week, during which a street musician/guitar player/songwriter meets a piano player from the Czech Republic, in Dublin. They are attracted, but for various good reasons they can’t get together. Sometimes you just meet the right person at the wrong time. We were both reminded of a film we both love, Read more »
On the Riviera
Danny Kaye was a huge musical comedy star back in the ‘50s, probably as big as Kelly or Astaire. His films were carefully tailored vehicles for his singular talents, which included wildly original patter songs and athletic dancing skills. They were usually quite funny, with him usually playing an incompetent of some kind, in films like The ... Read more »
Oliver Twist
You often wonder why someone chooses to remake a film, even if it is based on a classic book. Oliver Twist has been made no less than 20 times, according to the IMDb. Most critics agree that David Lean’s 1948 version is the best, with Alec Guinness’s Fagin the definitive one. (Ron Moody in Oliver! is a close second, though ... Read more »
Offside
In Iran women can’t attend men’s sporting events. Some girls who are also soccer fanatics try to get into the stadium for the big game with Bahrain. The acting is poor, the writing is boring. The Iranian regime are barbarians. Militant Islamists are barbarians. I don’t even like peaceful Muslims very much. And soccer is a stupid game. So what’s to like? Nothing.