Films Seen Recently

I am Legend (2007)
I'm very easily frightened in a movie, particularly by the power of suggestion. The last film I saw that nearly did me in was The Grudge, (U.S. version). For at least two weeks afterwards I was nervous when alone at night. *SPOILER ALERT* And of course, for those of you that saw it, you'll know that it broke that unspoken pact between audience member and film maker, that no matter how frightening a scene is, when you are at last home in your bed you will be safe with the blankets pulled over your head. You know the scene I'm talking about. The bastards! How could they do that to me? So I had to be reassured that I am Legend wouldn't do me in too badly. The first half was fantastic. Will Smith was sympathetic and admirable as potentially the last human being left in the world after a devastating man-made virus is unleashed, with Will - so far as he knows - being the only human immune to its effects. *SPOILER ALERT* Not that everyone died. If you've seen the trailer you'll know that there are vampire-like survivors who he has to hide from at night, when they roam the streets of an abandoned Manhattan. Until we actually saw the creatures it was brilliant. The suspense was terrifying. I wasn't sure I could keep watching. As soon as I'd seen them, my reaction was "Meh..." What was such a great premise - what do you do if you might be the last person left on earth? How do you deal with the crushing loneliness? - became a ghoul flick, and they were CGI-created no less, so they were much less scary than they might have been. *SPOILER ALERT* Also, how where did the running water and electricity come from? An amusing touch was the female vampire that Will captures and has tied down on a gurney as he tries different antidotes on her. What in Sam Hill was with her breasts? I'd never seen anything like them! We had a good laugh over those. Hee hee.

Pat and Mike (1952)
A wonderful Garson Canin/Ruth Gordon script is brought to life by Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn under director George Cukor. This is one of my favourite movies ever. Hepburn's patrician, East-coast, California-based, very proper, professional lady athlete comes into the scoundrelly radius of Tracy's New York-Irish, not-entirely-legit, sports promoter. *SPOILER ALERT* The scene of the disarming of the thugs (featuring a very young Charles Bronson who is credited as Charles Buchinski) is wonderful. So is the scene where Pat and Mike realize that they have found themselves in an actual relationship with real feelings for each other. No kiss has yet been shared and he seals their decision with a firm handshake. I watch this one at least once a year, usually on a double bill with Adam's Rib (1949), which has the same creative team.

The Eye of the Needle (1981)
I remember this film coming out when I was very young and have wanted to see it ever since. Finally got a chance too. *SPOILER ALERT* Donald Sutherland is perfect as the lethal-yet-charming spy and Kate Nelligan heart-breaking and sympathetic as the lonely wife living on a remote Scottish island. Where is that island? I'd like to be stranded there too. Sigh. There's a slightly crazy soundtrack which seems to have been lifted out of a 1940s Hollywood melodrama and it's distracting. I'd like to read the book now.

Sweeney Todd (2007)
*SPOILER ALERT* I love this musical and I raced to see this film with much anticipation, but not sure entirely what to think. It's visually stunning. It has a fine cast (although Johnny Depp is altogether too handsome and young to play the part of this ravaged man.) The music isn't very well served when you consider the kind of voices that could have sung it. On some level this film never engaged me fully... especially towards the end, with all the blood. I mean, this looked like red paint, and there were gallons of it. GALLONS. Spewing forth every five minutes. It just got silly after a very short while. I think the stunning visual was part of the problem. It was distractingly stunning. And Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter were more like brother and sister with their matching cheekbones and coal-black eyes, than broken, older man and ravaged-yet-hopeful older woman. I think the photography didn't help either. I had the impression whoever was filming it wasn't used to musical form. Hmmmmmm. Well, those are my current thoughts. Part of me would like to see it again, as I think part of the problem might have been that I wasn't really in the mood for it.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Last spring, when I first saw this, I figured it might have to be my new Christmas movie, and so it is. I bought the DVD last week and watched it on the weekend. It's a delight. One of the final scenes featuring Frank Morgan (famed as the Wizard of Oz) as Mr. Matuchek and the new delivery boy Rudy, is tear-inducing. A wonderful movie about friendship and not being alone on Christmas Eve.

Casino Royale (2006)
I got my mother the DVD for Christmas. We're both extreme fans - me of Bond in general - she of Daniel Craig as Bond. When it was released last year, December 2006, I ended up seeing it three times at the cinema, which is unique in my experience. Craig is a great Bond, playing him as he learns how to be a double O. He looks like a marine, like he could perform the stunts. Casting Judi Dench as M is perfect. She is so authentic and so classy. The locations are stunning, the casting is perfect, the editing is breathtaking, and - after a few listens - I love the theme tune. That same month I also saw Borat twice at the cinema. The first time I was not so much breathless with laughter as I passed that point fairly early on... it was more like I was going to be sick with laughter. In the intervening months, I had assumed that it probably wasn't as good as I remembered it. Then I saw part of it again, and fell about laughing like a nine-pin. Ow.

All This and Heaven too (1940)
What a premise! Charles Boyer as an unhappily-married French duke in the mid 1900s, and Bette Davis as the gentle governess who loves his children as though they were her own. And of course - in the manner of all great romances - his beautiful-yet-cruel wife being the bitch to end all bitches. But it's so indescribably one-sided... Bette is so long-suffering, such a perfect victim, and Charles Boyer is such a unmeaning cad... I couldnae take it lassie! But I did watch it all the way through, willing it to be a better film. The sets and costumes are wonderful. Sigh...