Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

Not really sure why I watched this given that I’m not into vampires and that I never really rated Neil Jordan as a director. Just curious I guess - the premise sounding intriguing. Sadly the idea of a vampire living for centuries didn't go anywhere interesting, and I thought the bookend structure of Christian Slater interviewing Brad Pitt didn’t amount to much either. Apparently Brad Pitt became depressed during filming, which is not that surprising given that his character has precious little to do other than mope about for eternity. Tom Cruise on the other hand looks like he is really enjoying himself. But the most noteworthy performance is that of a pre-teen Kirsten Dunst as a child who becomes a vampire, and who then has to spend eternity in the body of a child.  Understandably she's not that happy about this state of affairs. It's all visually stylish but I couldn't much care about the characters, and increasingly lost interest.  Then again I'm not the target a...

I'm not into horror films, which may explain why I had never got around to watching this classic of the genre. I'm at a loss what to make of it.  It's not especially scary but it is shocking, mainly due to the foul language coming out of the mouth of the schoolgirl, Regan.   One of its strengths is that it takes all the Catholic church mumbo-jumbo seriously.  Max von Sydow does a good job of injecting gravitas into the proceedings, as Father Merrin.  In comparison modern science gets a bad rap, and it was impossible for me not to feel huge sympathy for Regan's mother (well played by  Ellen Burstyn) in the hospital scenes in particular.   Perhaps the most effective thing that director William Friedkin achieves is to create a lowkey quasi-documentary style which makes the ordeal that Regan and her mother are going through all the more horrific. There's no denying that it's well-made and I can see why it made such an impact, even if ultimately it's n...

The opening credits sequence of this film, a remake of the 1962 original, is terrific, combining the visual design of Saul and Elaine Bass with the music of Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock masterpieces such as 'Vertigo' and 'Psycho' used the same collaborators, but sadly Scorsese is no Hitchcock, and for me the film goes downhill once the action begins. One has to question how committed to this remake Scorsese was, given that he only did it so that the studio would back the film he really wanted to make, 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. The basic plot is that Max (played by De Niro), is recently out of prison and seeking revenge on his lawyer, Sam, (a surprisingly svelte Nick Nolte) who failed to defend him properly.  Also in Cady's sights are Sam's wife (Jessica Lange) and teenage daughter.  Max is a violent rapist, so it's pretty obvious what form of revenge he has in mind. Apparently Scorsese liked the idea of making the family dysfunctional, so Sam h...

I was in the mood for a well told tale of police corruption and that is what I got, but (and this may explain the relatively low audience score of 59% on a well-known website) it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi . Well actually I do know.  It needs a more charismatic protagonist than Timothy Hutton as Al, an Assistant District Attorney, and it doesn't need the highly implausible romantic subplot involving him and Nancy, an ex of his who is now the wife of a Puerto Rican crime boss. And it could do with a better score than what we have here, which fluctuates from barely adequate to wildly inappropriate.  Quite how veteran director Sidney Lumet put up with it is a bit of a mystery, other than the fact that by 1990 the director of ‘Network’ and ‘The Verdict’ was at a low ebb in his career.  Which may explain the rather generous 88% critics gave it, according to the aforementioned website.  Having got those gripes out of the way let me say there is much to enjoy, from the...

My memory of this Scorsese film was one of mild disappointment but I couldn’t say why - was it something about the Edith Wharton story or was it how it was put on the screen? Either way, on this rewatch I was far from being disappointed.  In fact I was completely gripped by the unfolding scandalous relationship between the betrothed Newland (Daniel Day-Lewis, excellent as always) and the Countess Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer, one of my faves, giving one of her finest performances).  Slowly but inexorably the polite society surrounding Newland and the Countess manages to kill their burgeoning romance, and leads him having to submit himself to a dull marriage to May (Winona Ryder).  It's all very sad which is maybe why I didn't remember the film fondly. Then at the end we flash forward several decades, to a conclusion where the aging Newland could meet the Countess, but he declines the opportunity.  I don't understand why, and found this ending a bit of a let-down. ...

I'm not into basketball but this film, directed by Ron Shelton, was a critical and commercial hit, and it stars Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, so I thought why not give it a go? It’s a classic case of a film where the individual scenes are entertaining enough but they don't cohere into anything much of a narrative arc. The only thing at stake is that Billy (Harrelson) and his girlfriend Gloria owe £8,000 to some gangsters, the Stucci brothers, but no real attempt is made to make this seem important.  It’s just a plot device to get Billy to join forces with Sidney (Snipes) to hustle up some cash. The relationship between Bobby and Gloria  exemplifies the narrative fuzziness.  Early on, the film goes out of its way to show us that she has an alcohol issue, but this then gets dropped or forgotten.  And the resolution of their relationship issues is odd, with her just walking out of his life. The actress who plays Gloria (Rosie Perez) is a memorable screen presence a...

Rewatching this was a nice nostalgia trip since I had fond memories of this early Jonathan Demme directorial effort,  although in all honesty the only thing I could remember clearly was the early motel room scene, which made quite an impression.   The basic setup is that square businessman Charles (a very young-looking Jeff Daniels) is swept up by wild Lulu (Melanie Griffiths) one Friday afternoon, a setup which has echoes of earlier films such as ‘Bringing Up Baby’. Gradually though the wild energy of the first act dissipates as we get to know the real Lulu, a small town girl whose real name is the more prosaic Audrey. The film begins to sag during the school reunion dance that Audrey drags Charles to, which goes on longer than necessary.  For no good reason a  new character (Irene) is introduced, who is then quickly dropped.  And I was confused as hell when a work colleague of Charles turns up, a huge coincidence I felt, or maybe America is a small place - who...

For some reason (probably the title) I'd always assumed that this 1943 film by Fritz Lang was a film noir.  In fact, it's a bit of an oddity, being set in occupied Czechoslovakia in 1942, and centred on a real event - the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a senior Nazi known as "The Hangman of Europe". The film is based on a story by Lang and Bertold Brecht, which departs from the truth in having the assassination be by a Czech surgeon, Svoboda, somewhat implausibly played by Brian Donlevy. Svoboda takes refuge with a family headed by Professor Novotny, played by Walter Brennan, whose daughter Mascha (Anna Lee) emerges as the main character in the ensuing tale. The Nazis take several hundred citizens, including the Professor, as hostages, and start executing handfuls of them at regular intervals to put pressure on the locals to betray Svobòda.  How this situation is resolved is told by way of a quite complicated plot which involves  numerous characters, both members...