074 - Hard Boiled

Synopsis: Shoot 'em up video game

Director: John Woo

Actors: Yun-Fat Chow, Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Teresa Mo, Anthony Wong

Date: 1993

How viewed: Rented from Lovefilm

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:
John Woo creates the most poetic, lyrical, technologically impossible, rhythmic, orgasmic, skillfully edited, widely imitated action sequences in the history of filmmaking. 

I say:

Guns, fast cars, kung fu, origami, jazz, the Hong Kong skyline, neon, yachts, sharp suits, and explosions - what more could you possibly want? Well, some sort of coherent story line would help! Otherwise this is just 2 triad gun-smuggling gangs and the police all shooting each other (and innocent passers by) with guns that rarely need reloading, and it is relentless - the body count runs into the hundreds, all of whom die beautifully choreographed deaths flying through the air in slow motion - unless of course they are the heroes who somehow avoid the hail of bullets fired straight at them! I know that, in its day, it was revolutionary, and pre-dates all the current video massacres and action films, but that doesn't save it from being an extremely boring comic book film. 

073 - In Which We Serve

Synopsis: Lives and loves of 3 Royal Navy sailors during WWII

Director: Noel Coward, David Lean

Actors: Noel Coward, Bernard Miles, John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Celia Johnson, Joyce Carey, Kay Walsh

Date: 1942

How viewed: Rented from Lovefilm

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

Never a voice is raised, never a plot point is overemphasised, never anything so gaudy as an overdone action sequence is permitted to ruffle the calm, smooth tone.

I say:

A terribly, terribly British propaganda film about the courage of all the ranks (and their wives at home) serving on a Royal Navy destroyer in WWII. Noel Coward produces, directs, stars and probably makes the tea (well, probably not). The film follows the history of the ship, from being built and commissioned just as war breaks out, through various scraps, until it is sunk, with only about a third of the crew surviving (rather a bold move for a wartime propaganda film!). The stories of 3 men (upper, middle and lower class - hints of those sketches in 'That Was The Week That Was' with Corbett, Barker and Cleese!) are told in flash-back as they cling to a life raft awaiting rescue (the message being that everyone needs to pull together in the war effort). Some of the action stuff is great, and Bernard Miles, John Mills, and the wives (Celia Johnson, Joyce Carey, Kay Walsh) are all believable characters, but, for me, Noel Coward in his role as Captain of the HMS Torrin, is the only jarring aspect of the film, with his clipped tones, and stiff upper lip - it just doesn't ring true. Lots of propaganda ('There'll always be an England', and the like) obviously age the film, but nevertheless some of the bravery, fear, grimness, and dignity of what it must have been like, come through, especially moving are the arrival of telegrams at home with the families not knowing whether it will be wonderful or terrible news. Apparently the film is based on Lord Mountbatten's experiences and his speeches to the crew are taken word for word. The ending though is somewhat weird, with the surviving crew being re-allocated to other ships, the Captain shakes hands with them all to say goodbye - it seems to go for ages, and at the end Noel wanders off, leaving 4 officers, who sort of stand there embarrassedly, and then also wander off! 

072 - The Last Movie

Synopsis: The blurred edges between reality and movies

Director: Dennis Hopper

Actors: Dennis Hopper, Kris Kirstofferson, Don Gordon, Stella Garcia, Peter Fonda, Henry Fonda, Sylvia Miles, Sam Fuller, Dean Stockwell, Michelle Phillips, Julia Adams

Date: 1971

How viewed: Bought DVD from J4HI.com

Rating: 4/5

David Meyer says:

It's clear that Hopper was on the track of something miraculous, but for whatever reasons lacked the courage of his convictions while editing the final third of the film. Or that as a (totally self-destructive) director, preferred anarchy to a more conventionally satisfying conclusion.  

I say: 

On first viewing I found it very difficult to decide whether this film is an indulgent  mess or a masterpiece - and had to watch it again to try and see which side of the fence I came down on. I certainly liked it a lot more the second time - though a lot of it still didn't make sense! Dennis Hopper plays a wrangler with a film crew making a western in Peru - but after a stunt man accidentally dies on set (I admit I still didn't spot that!), he stays on in Peru with a local woman, but then finds out that the locals are making their own 'film', but are shooting each other for real. However, the film itself blurs the edges of what's real and what's imaginary, and is difficult to follow, due to the confusing timeline, the many jump cuts, various side plots (e.g. searching for a gold mine), and other unconventional devices (like the title not coming up until about 30 minutes into the film). The film does not seem to officially be on DVD, but I picked up a copy from J4HI ('Rare, Out of Print, and Lost Cult Film' - http://www.j4hi.com/index.html - well worth a browse!) and I've just realised that someone has posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxNyUCE6kPo. However, both options are somewhat blurred, the sound's not great, and there's no subtitles (I find I tend to turn on the subtitles for everything these days - not just because my hearing may be going, but because the trend for mumbling means you can miss important details!). I also notice that there's also 'an extremely rare' documentary of Hopper editing the film, on youtube called 'The American Dreamer' (Hopper spent years editing the film in an 'unconventionally way in an attempt to break new cinematic ground'). The tagline for The Last Movie says 'Compared to this, every movie you've ever seen is just a film. This is cinema' - and whilst today its disjointed confusing feel would probably not feel out of place, 40 years ago it undoubtedly would have been considered revolutionary. See it at least twice, I think you might start to like it! 

071 - Kind Hearts and Coronets

Synopsis: Disinherited son murders his way to a Dukedom

Director: Robert Hamer

Actors: Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson
Date: 1949

How viewed: Lovefilm rental

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:
Am adult exercise in irony, crafted to perfection, presented in a flowing, unhurried rhythm. An unmistakeable product of its age: the ultimate - and funniest - British black comedy.

I say:

I'm afraid that once again I find myself out on a limb and not agreeing with the general opinion that this is one of the greatest British films of all time, sorry! I felt it was a rather boring, macabre little tale, with, sadly, few laughs. It recounts how a disinherited member of the aristocracy (Dennis Price) gains his revenge by killing off all those ahead of him in line to become the next Duke of Chalfont. It's all done in a very flat, matter of fact, tone, poking fun at the aristocracy and indeed seeming to approve of their demise! In it's favour, the circular format of the story (the revenger is eventually trapped by revenge) is neat, but mainly it's a vehicle for Alec Guinness to have fun playing all 8 of the members of the family who get bumped off (though they are all rather similar characters, and some are only on screen for a few seconds!). Nice to see the great Arthur Lowe pop up as a reporter in the last scene - though blink and you'll miss him! Overall though, not a bundle of laughs. PS The film's title comes from a line in a Tennyson poem: "Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood' - though not sure how that really fits the film!

070 - Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle)

Synopsis: Life in a post-apocalyptic world

Director: Luc Besson

Actors: Jean Reno, Maurice Lamy, Pierre Jolivet
Date: 1984

How viewed: Bought DVD

Rating: 2/5

David Meyer says:

Weird, funny, hypnotic and irresistible. The first hint of Besson's unique merging of American mayhem and French art film.

I say:
In Besson's film, It's not much fun after the apocalypse - the wind blows, skyscrapers are half submerged in sand, there's no food or water (though it does rain fish!), the survivors have lost the power of speech, everyone's out to kill you, and the few remaining women are kept locked up as possessions. Plus it's a near silent film in back and white... This is story of one man, alone after some apocalyptic event - living in an office block, scavenging parts to build a plane to escape across the vast desert that presumably now covers the city. He escapes, he crashes, he's chased, he finds a friendly doctor living in a derelict hospital, they continue to be hunted until he is alone again, eventually flying back where he came from (why?). It's all very slow and depressing, occasionally coming across like a silent comedy (though with few laughs). Not sure what we're supposed to take from it - I guess that in extreme circumstances man reverts to an animal. Great, thanks for that!