UKH

Early in the year I saw a trailer for The  Power of the Dog and bought the book to read. I enjoyed it but was n't sure how good a film it would make. It's just appeared on Netflix and Jane Campion has used some brilliant acting, cinematography and music to produce a masterpiece, not to be missed.

Oh excellent!  I read the book a few years bag and loved it...

To be clear, this is the story set in 1920's Montana, not the Don Winslow drug cartel novel which shares the same name.......

Yes I know! Worth pointing out… I got recommended the book and read the Don Winslow one (which is excellent) then the cowboy one afterwards.

Loved them both so happy mistake, but definitely worth clarifying!

Thanks for this month's reboot. I decided to re-watch some classics this month as I'd seen too much mediocracy recently. Paths of Glory was the first.... couldn't remember much other than I enjoyed it before. Better than I recall...highly recommend for anyone who hasn't seen it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paths_of_Glory

I watched this last night, I liked it a lot, but didn’t totally love it.

Some fantastic performances and scenery, but the big reveal didn’t have the impact that the book had for me. But then it wouldn’t as I’ve already read the book!

Very good film, very well made and well worth a watch.  But read the book first!

I watched Bridge on the River Kwai again tonight on BluRay, perhaps only the second or third time I've ever seen it (the first being c.45 years ago). I was stunned to be reminded just how excellent it is in every way. Apart from the incredible, all-on-location, film work - done in a difficult, real jungle location - the script is absolutely superb, and subtle. The characters - particularly Nicholson (Alec Guinness) – are the opposite of cardboard cut-outs, very complex. Because David Lean really knows how to tell a story visually, it's absolutely gripping from beginning to end, and there are few cinema climaxes more suspenseful than this. It's arguably, on balance, the greatest of all the films made by the greatest of British film directors. Even better than the superbly accomplished Lawrence of Arabia, which had a distinctly shaky script. [Marks out to ten for David Lean's films, just some of them: Brief Encounter 10/10; Hobson's Choice 8/10; The Sound Barrier 6/10 (overrated), Kwai 10/10, Lawrence 9/10, Zhivago 8+/10, Ryan's Daughter 6/10. But what an extraordinary, rich and varied corpus of work David Lean's is. I think he's vastly underrated.

It is a great blockbuster movie with no let up on the quality front.

In contrast I thought it worth highlighting my last night's viewing:  'A Vigilante'.  A minor film that literally punched well above it's weight. The first two thirds were compelling and stylish, gradually revealing the backstory to it's violent entry. Sadly it lost its nerve a bit at the finish with a slightly too conventional ending. I'd be interested in what others thought, if anyone saw it.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_vigilante

Really enjoyed Finch.

Tom Hanks doing Robinson Crusoe in a broken future.

Great robotic character who talked like Borat.

Strangely comforting to see the world destroyed by natural causes rather than human included.

I'd say watch the film first as the book provides the big  spoiler ( which I suppose it's entitled to......)

I started watching Ryan's Daughter a few months ago for the first time and left it halfway through, all the more strange since I am one of Mitchum's biggest fans. 

Although Lean would probably turn in his grave to discover that I was watching it in my car on a portable video recorder with a 9" screen......

I saw it a few months ago and liked it a lot.

Is there anyone else who gets confused by all the current Olivias in the acting  world or is it just more evidence of dotage on my part?

I agree with you there Gordon but would reverse my score for LoA & BotRQ. That scene of Omar Sharrif emerging out of the desert sand is one of the great moments of cinema. No action required, it's all about Lean's vision.

As for Power of the Dog. Described as a slow burner is an understatment. You don't have much empathy for any of the characters, except perhaps the brother. Acting and scenery is fine but content doesn't maintain the intetest.

By contrast, quite enjoying the Spanish drama Money Heist, which has a number of different themes running through the drama. And where is it all going, will they succeed or not? I'll  keep watching...

Agreed. There was a huge falling off there, and it was so panned by the critics that Lean didn't make another film for 15 years. I think because he had worked so hard for so many years that he was worn out/ prematurely aged. He edited 24 films between 1930 and 1942, and then directed 14 between 1942 and Ryan's Daughter in 1970.

I read somewhere that some real life Spanish bank robbers had adopted the red outfits from Money Heist which I thought was a good example of life imitating art and also rather cheeky.

The Last Duel.

2 1/2 hrs of excessively-sumptuous and overly-produced medieval clap-trap.

It's almost, but not quite, worth watching for the last duel itself, which is even more frenzied and intemperate than I had hoped.

Not recommended, unless you can skip the first 2hrs 20 mins. 

Paths of Glory is a great film. Kirk Douglas has so much 'heart' as an actor. 

Bridge On the River Kwai is as you say excellent. I thought William Holden was very good in it as was nearly all the acting. However I thought Alec Guiness at the end when he fell onto the plunger was an oddly stilted and wooden piece of acting.

 I still much prefer Lawrence of Arabia.

I've always said that L of A is the greatest British big scale epic that's ever been made, but despite it's incredible grandeur, with Freddie Young's superlative 70mm photography, and perfect casting with Peter O'Toole, the script seems to run out of steam/ get a bit bogged down towards the end, whereas BOTRK is surely one of the greatest 'big movie' film scripts ever written - the history of that is interesting, because David Lean struggled with it for a very long time with about three different writers. I think the ending is wonderfully ambiguous, because Nicholson (Guinness) says: 'What have I done?' and you think he's changed his mind and is now going to press the plunger himself, as he's now been told that the order to destroy the bridge has come from the very top. But he dithers, and is woozily injured, and then falls onto the plunger. Did he intend to do it or not? Or was it the very last thing he wanted to do, and not his intention at all? I love that. We just don't know. But that last 10 minutes is just incredible, with the very experienced Lean obviously having every shot very clearly in his mind from an editing point of view well in advance. The pulling up of the wire is just so suspenseful. Plus the sound of the distant train which seems to take FOREVER to arrive!

I suppose another criticism that can be levelled at Kwai is that the final destruction of bridge sequence is so like that in Buster Keaton's amazing 'The General', done 30 years before. So much so that one could almost accuse it of being a rip-off. But Lean still remains one of the most versatile film craftsmen that's ever lived.

Yes it is definitely a great film. It always surprises me that the younger members of my family ( in their 30's) won't watch films like the ones we are talking about. I persuaded them to watch '12 Angry Men' recently. They thought it was ok. I have always thought it was brilliant.They are missing so much.

They thought it was 'OK' ! ? As you say, that was one of the all time classics - wonderful.

I think its lack of attraction for some audiences is because of its theatrical nature: it's basically a play put onto film. You don't get many of those in current film making. Even films with strong courtroom scenes  usually have a back story and location changes.

You're right of course - it's superbly bold. 12 people talking in a room. A couple of other more recent examples of less going on: Ryan Reynolds in Buried (bloke never leaves a coffin), The Guilty (bloke in emergency call centre, changes rooms at one point), Locke (man takes a call in his car). 

I haven't watched 12 Angry Men for a long time but it's probably in my top 50. There's a still of it in a frame over there >

Yes, agreed to some extent true (though it's not exactly 'put onto film'). That's why we should celebrate the ultra-cinematic David Lean, who understood exactly how pictorial story-telling and film editing are interdependent.

The other night I watched In Bruges. I'd always avoided it because from what I heard it sounded a bit too nuts-magazine for my tastes, but I thought I'd give it a go.

I found it hilarious and brilliant, superb filmmaking on every level. I'm generally not that keen on the theatre-y overacting type performance given by Colin Farrell, but I've got to admit it worked and was just right against the far more down to earth Gleeson. Ralph Fiennes was pretty silly, yet totally compelling. 

I've put Three Billboards on the list now.

Worth it just for the alcoves.

Glad to hear it.

I'm on a roll. From last night I found this gem low budget sci-fi

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lapsis

Down with the gig economy!

Also noticed that the weekend BBC4 series is Stieg Larsson's Millennium, for those who have seen the excellent film trilogy, based on the books (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, etc)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011mqr

Really good! Enthralling, stylish drama, very funny but ultimately bleak. Superb writing and acting again. More!

Can't imagine what made me think of re-watching this corny 1964 Roger Corman horror film

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058333/

Me neither

The Patriot series on Amazon reminded me a lot of In Bruges

House of Gucci. Having read reviews of this which varied wildly, from smug one star bitchery in the Times to indulgent four star gushery in the Guardian, I got a chance to check it out for myself this afternoon. I rather enjoyed it - but you do have to enter into the spirit of its over-the-top pantomimic style. There's a good deal of over-acting to accompany the frequently operatic soundtrack, but I thought Gaga pretty much blew the rest away with a performance of wit and style. For me, while the movie generally had plenty of narrative drive, it did lose some momentum when she was off-screen. Oh yes it did. 6/10.

The Guard might also be worth a look for you, if you've not seen it. Neither it nor Three Billboards is quite as good as in Bruges, to my mind, but Brendan Gleeson gives another good turn.

I rewatched this a while ago, knowing far more now about the French army of WW1 and the real event that inspired the film, than I did when I first saw it about 30 years ago.  This time around I could barely watch it, and think it is a masterpiece on the insanity of war. Made me so angry. 

Are you sure this is the right word, alcoves?

Perhaps nooks and crannies would be more accurate.

Yeah I was going to suggest when In Bruges was mentioned too...

I saw The Guard at the cinema and thought it was fantastic, never understood why it wasn't a bigger film than it was.  Perhaps it wasn't given a big push by the distributer, it being a relatively low budget film directed by a first timer?

Either way, great film. 

Last nights classic rewatch was In the Heat of the Night.

Even better than I remembered it. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't seen it. Fantastic lead acting, wonderfully directed, a cool score, complex, funny ...a great thriller set in the face of the background of small town, southern US racism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heat_of_the_Night_(film)

I liked House of Gucci as well. 

Gaga is totally on point as the scheming but ultimately humiliated wife. 

Some nice retro fashion and location shots to boot.

Thanks for the recommendation, next on the list.

If you enjoyed McDonagh's In Bruges and 3 Billboards, I'd certainly check out his dark, violent and very funny satire, Seven Psychopaths. I found it highly entertaining. Lots of great one-liners.

Watched Argo on Netflix last night. I really annoyed it, great film with lots of rising tension…

However I didn’t rate it as highly as I thought I would, no real depth to the characters or story, some pacing issues and a slightly predictable sequence of events. There’s just nothing in there that really surprises you…

It’s a good film, but not best film Oscar worthy good for me?

An example of perfect casting, isn't it?

My last night's classic was a first time watch: David Lean's 1946 version of Great Expectations. Astoundingly good. So much better in every way than Mike Newell's 2012 version. Very, very concise, and as always with Lean, so much of the storytelling is done in the visuals and cutting. He must have been one of those directors who saw each scene, cut for cut, in his head before he shot it.

*enjoyed

West Side Story. This has long been one of my favourite musicals and one of my proudest moments as a secondary head was when we staged it as our annual big production in a "bog standard" state comp. Consequently I was fascinated to see how Spielberg would approach a remake. At times it is visually spectacular - for instance, a long opening glide in over a slum clearance wasteland where the camera morphs into a wrecking ball, and a gorgeous explosion of swirling colour when America takes to lovingly recreated 1950s Manhattan streets. I thought the two female leads were superb - sadly, the boys don't match them, either in acting or singing. But it's certainly worth seeing for the dramatic set pieces plus the performances of newcomer Rachel Zegler as Maria and Ariana de Bose as Anita. 6/10.

I think 'in the Heat of the Night' is like that. Saw it a number of times when I was young on a b and w telly. Watching it recently as an adult I hung on every word and scene. It dripped with atmosphere.

Surely that must over-egg your disappointment with some aspects?.... I struggle to see how it could be that low a score given Spielburg always does a reasonably good job and the main reason to see any musical, especially this one, is the quality of the songs.

My Mrs saw it last night and said it was brilliant. 

Watched Great Expectations last night. John Mills and a very young Alec Guinness. Haven't seen it for years. What a great film as you say. Thinking of watching the 1948 version of The Winslow Boy with Robert Donat tonight. Then possibly Alistair Simm in An Inspector Calls. All films I have seen many years ago but one's I look forward to seeing again. 

O yes! One of my favourite films. Of course Sidney Poitier was great in it but so too was Rod Steiger. What an actor! Definitely one of the best films.

Yes, I'd love to see it on the big screen.

Maybe 6/10 was harsh - but I'd stick to my point that Ansel Elgort as Tony is out-acted and out-sung by Maria and it's a struggle to believe in him as someone capable of killing in a red mist of rage. I certainly recommend seeing it yourself.

Sadly it will be a while, as I can't see myself going back to the cinema until this omicron wave has abated.

Does the actress playing Maria do her own singing, because Natalie Wood wasn't up to it and had to fall back on the voice of Marnie Nixon. If you google it you can listen to the difference between Natalie's attempts and those of a trained singer like Ms. Nixon.

Pop trivia fans will know that Marnie was the mother of Andrew Gold, not a bad musician/singer/writer himself.

Yes, based on what I've read. She won the part after submitting videos of herself singing and Spielberg has commented on how struck he was by her voice.

I have to say I was really disappointed with it. I admired the craft, cinematography in particular, but had no emotional attachment to it at all. Very static, felt like I was watching from a distance and Jesse Plemons just disappeared half way through. By no means a bad film, just nowhere near as good as I was hoping.

Davie