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Cabaret (1972)
Won 8 Oscars. Good performances by all involved. The musical numbers have impressive editing but the songs were surprisingly unmemorable. The only one I remember is the title track "life is a cabaret" sung by Liza Minnelli. It was the love story that interested me more than the music. I'm curious how this measures up against Bob Fosse's other musical All That Jazz (1979), which I'll be seeing soon.
Rating 8/10
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High Hopes (1988)
Directed by Mike Leigh. Mixing both depressing relationships and laughs, the themes are a bit heavy handed with the class depictions. A bit dated and not among my favorite Leigh films. Good performances, but a bit of a downer with the relentless bleak score. Shirley and Cyril are easy to like, while the rest of the characters tend to be caricatures. Not an essential watch. Mike Leigh would only get better from here.
In the director’s own words, High Hopes is about the difficulty of being a socialist during the 80s Thatcher years. In one of the film's central scenes, Cyril has an argument with a young idealist about how the revolution will happen. The conversation goes round in circles as the various means of action are discussed, until the only options are talking in meetings without changing anything, or sitting on one's backside. There is discussion as to whether inaction or inertia is a legitimate form of protest.
Rating 6/10
Ditte Menneskebarn (1946)
I don't know if the film is available with English subtitles. Considered among the best Danish films of the pre 1950s. The best performance by a child actor I've seen in a while, it's easy to root for the main character Ditte.
A realistic depiction of life in Denmark during the 1800s, people living at the bottom of society. The story centers on a family and a child born out of wedlock.
Ditte Menneskebarn (1917–21) is a novel by Martin Andersen Nexø. He also penned Pelle the Conqueror (1906-10), which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1987.
Rating 8/10
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Love is All You Need (2012)
Light-hearted romantic comedy by director Susanne Bier. Pierce Brosnan does his best with a cast consisting of mainly Danish actors. It’s watchable and charming, and quite different to Bier's other work.
Rating 7/10
Pump up the Volume (1990)
Empowering anti-establishment teen movie starring a young Christian Slater. About seizing the day and being part of a something. Thematically similar to other rebellion movies such as Over the Edge (1979) and Dead Poets Society (1989)
I was a bit underwhelmed by the soundtrack, but it's definitely a very good high school movie.
Raring 8/10
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Directed by Mike Leigh. Mixing both depressing relationships and laughs, the themes are a bit heavy handed with the class depictions. A bit dated and not among my favorite Leigh films. Good performances, but a bit of a downer with the relentless bleak score. Shirley and Cyril are easy to like, while the rest of the characters tend to be caricatures. Not an essential watch. Mike Leigh would only get better from here.
In the director’s own words, High Hopes is about the difficulty of being a socialist during the 80s Thatcher years. In one of the film's central scenes, Cyril has an argument with a young idealist about how the revolution will happen. The conversation goes round in circles as the various means of action are discussed, until the only options are talking in meetings without changing anything, or sitting on one's backside. There is discussion as to whether inaction or inertia is a legitimate form of protest.
Rating 6/10
Ditte Menneskebarn (1946)
I don't know if the film is available with English subtitles. Considered among the best Danish films of the pre 1950s. The best performance by a child actor I've seen in a while, it's easy to root for the main character Ditte.
A realistic depiction of life in Denmark during the 1800s, people living at the bottom of society. The story centers on a family and a child born out of wedlock.
Ditte Menneskebarn (1917–21) is a novel by Martin Andersen Nexø. He also penned Pelle the Conqueror (1906-10), which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1987.
Rating 8/10
Light-hearted romantic comedy by director Susanne Bier. Pierce Brosnan does his best with a cast consisting of mainly Danish actors. It’s watchable and charming, and quite different to Bier's other work.
Rating 7/10
Pump up the Volume (1990)
Empowering anti-establishment teen movie starring a young Christian Slater. About seizing the day and being part of a something. Thematically similar to other rebellion movies such as Over the Edge (1979) and Dead Poets Society (1989)
I was a bit underwhelmed by the soundtrack, but it's definitely a very good high school movie.
Raring 8/10
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Despite an excellent cast, a very dull and unmemorable espionage film. I hardly cared who was the mole in the organization. Probably the 70s TV-mini-series and book are superior.
Rating 5/10
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Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Entertaining screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Kathrine Hepburn. Funnier than I expected, especially the jail scenes.
I do agree with SJHoneywell at 1001plus that Hepburn's character is self-centered and difficult to warm to, but I'm willing to forgive that aspect because I enjoyed the comedic elements.
Rating 8/10
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La Grande Illusion (1937)
French drama directed by Jean Renoir. POW drama set during WW1. About the value of freedom. Sometimes it takes the horrors of war to show us the things we have in common. The last act was my favorite part, and sporadic memorable quotes throughout.
I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece as some have, but it did set the template for a number of prison movies that would follow.
According to film critic David Thomson: "The point of the story is that a bond exists between the aristocratic Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein that is more significant that the ties among Frenchmen. The rules of social class crossed and in many ways superseded national boundaries.
Favorite quote: ”For me it's simple. A golf course is for golf. A tennis court is for tennis. A prison camp is for escaping.”
Rating 7/10
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Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) (documentary)
I caught this on TV since it was on anyway. A documentary that is extremely anti-Scientology. It's informative if you want to know more about the secrets of the religion. However the filmmakers are biased in their dislike of the church, so it's a bit one-sided.
Airing on HBO on March 29, 2015, it was a major ratings success and by mid-April 2015 had attracted 5.5 million viewers, making it the second most-watched HBO documentary in the past decade.
Apparently the Scientology church complained the doc was a smear campaign, full of lies.
Rating 8/10
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Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) (documentary)
About the life of Nirvana's lead singer. The documentary is a portal into his mind, the filmmakers had access to his diaries and notes. The film is authorized by his family, who also appear in interviews. A troubled childhood and teenage life, Kurt was rejected by his family, who couldn’t deal with his manic behavior.
I didn’t know he had stomach pains from singing, and that he started taking drugs to relieve that discomfort. It’s unclear whether this was still a factor at the time of his suicide.
To me, Kurt seemed like he was confused. A sensitive soul who hated bad reviews, but can’t really deal with all the success. Despite his good looks, fame and family of his own, he writes "kill yourself" in his diary over and over. He says in an interview he’s happy and his new baby is important to him, yet he still goes ahead with suicide attempts.
Not an easy watch. It’s painful to watch at times. He led a sad life and even during his success was unhappy. While the doc does work on an emotional level to some extent, the editing of the diary entries is simply too fast and confusing. The filmmakers wanting to include so much detail at such a frenetic pace, that it unfortunately becomes sensory overload. A book of his drawings and writing would have appealed to me more, looking at it at my own pace.
Rating 7/10
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007) (documentary)
Covers his rise to fame and dark period after The Clash fell apart. Not much time is spent on the albums, though you do get under the skin of what drove him.
Rating 7/10
Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983) (TV-special)
I wish I liked it more. Considered among the best stand-up comedy shows of the 80s. I found Eddie Murphy’s performance vulgar, both the contents and the foul language. His jokes barely raised a smile with me. The only time I laughed was the mention of the nameless dog and the shit turned into furniture, but it soon turned to a frown when the joke became about animal cruelty.
I don’t mind the guy, I enjoyed Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Coming To America (1988), but I guess his stand-up style just isn’t for me.
Murphy is clearly aware his show is inappropriate and offensive, he admits at the end it’s dirty. The homosexual remarks are still controversial to this day.
The imitations of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and the Good the Bad and the Ugly whistle are spot on, while some of the other references such as Ralph Kramden and Jimmy Walker felt dated.
Rating 6/10
Agree or disagree? Seen anything great during April? As always, comments are welcome
Despite an excellent cast, a very dull and unmemorable espionage film. I hardly cared who was the mole in the organization. Probably the 70s TV-mini-series and book are superior.
Rating 5/10
Entertaining screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Kathrine Hepburn. Funnier than I expected, especially the jail scenes.
I do agree with SJHoneywell at 1001plus that Hepburn's character is self-centered and difficult to warm to, but I'm willing to forgive that aspect because I enjoyed the comedic elements.
Rating 8/10
French drama directed by Jean Renoir. POW drama set during WW1. About the value of freedom. Sometimes it takes the horrors of war to show us the things we have in common. The last act was my favorite part, and sporadic memorable quotes throughout.
I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece as some have, but it did set the template for a number of prison movies that would follow.
According to film critic David Thomson: "The point of the story is that a bond exists between the aristocratic Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein that is more significant that the ties among Frenchmen. The rules of social class crossed and in many ways superseded national boundaries.
Favorite quote: ”For me it's simple. A golf course is for golf. A tennis court is for tennis. A prison camp is for escaping.”
Rating 7/10
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) (documentary)
I caught this on TV since it was on anyway. A documentary that is extremely anti-Scientology. It's informative if you want to know more about the secrets of the religion. However the filmmakers are biased in their dislike of the church, so it's a bit one-sided.
Airing on HBO on March 29, 2015, it was a major ratings success and by mid-April 2015 had attracted 5.5 million viewers, making it the second most-watched HBO documentary in the past decade.
Apparently the Scientology church complained the doc was a smear campaign, full of lies.
Rating 8/10
About the life of Nirvana's lead singer. The documentary is a portal into his mind, the filmmakers had access to his diaries and notes. The film is authorized by his family, who also appear in interviews. A troubled childhood and teenage life, Kurt was rejected by his family, who couldn’t deal with his manic behavior.
I didn’t know he had stomach pains from singing, and that he started taking drugs to relieve that discomfort. It’s unclear whether this was still a factor at the time of his suicide.
To me, Kurt seemed like he was confused. A sensitive soul who hated bad reviews, but can’t really deal with all the success. Despite his good looks, fame and family of his own, he writes "kill yourself" in his diary over and over. He says in an interview he’s happy and his new baby is important to him, yet he still goes ahead with suicide attempts.
Not an easy watch. It’s painful to watch at times. He led a sad life and even during his success was unhappy. While the doc does work on an emotional level to some extent, the editing of the diary entries is simply too fast and confusing. The filmmakers wanting to include so much detail at such a frenetic pace, that it unfortunately becomes sensory overload. A book of his drawings and writing would have appealed to me more, looking at it at my own pace.
Rating 7/10
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007) (documentary)
Covers his rise to fame and dark period after The Clash fell apart. Not much time is spent on the albums, though you do get under the skin of what drove him.
Rating 7/10
Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983) (TV-special)
I wish I liked it more. Considered among the best stand-up comedy shows of the 80s. I found Eddie Murphy’s performance vulgar, both the contents and the foul language. His jokes barely raised a smile with me. The only time I laughed was the mention of the nameless dog and the shit turned into furniture, but it soon turned to a frown when the joke became about animal cruelty.
I don’t mind the guy, I enjoyed Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Coming To America (1988), but I guess his stand-up style just isn’t for me.
Murphy is clearly aware his show is inappropriate and offensive, he admits at the end it’s dirty. The homosexual remarks are still controversial to this day.
The imitations of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and the Good the Bad and the Ugly whistle are spot on, while some of the other references such as Ralph Kramden and Jimmy Walker felt dated.
Rating 6/10
Agree or disagree? Seen anything great during April? As always, comments are welcome
Ditte Menneskebarn sounds like a film I really need to see!
ReplyDeleteI love Cabaret...it's one of my favorites. Love me some Liza in that film. I also love Bringing Up Baby, like a LOT.
@Fisti: Ditte Menneskebarn has a great lead performance, I think she might nab a Fisti nomination for that year! Liza Minnelli is excellent in Cabaret, her character lights up the screen. Could say the same about Cary and Katharine!
DeleteThe only thing I've seen here is Delirious. Yes, it's completely vulgar...but I love it. I am one who thinks it's the best stand up special of the 80s. I might be biased by the fact I grew up a huge Eddie Murphy fan and first saw this back when it was new. I have watched it recently and most of it holds up for me. The gay jokes are touchy, but definitely proof it was a different time then. AIDS was still new and thought to be a homosexual man's disease. Homophobia was pretty much the way of the world. Eddie paid for this later in the decade as his shows were often picketed. He talks about it in Raw (unrepentantly, though). Seriously doubt he would tell those same jokes today.
ReplyDelete@Wendell Ottley: I don't doubt you love Delirious, and yes it was a different time then.
DeleteWe disagree big time here. I didn’t find it funny which was unexpected considering Eddie Murphy was gold in the 80s. To his credit I loved some of the imitations. Just the swearing and homophobia in front of teenagers. No, I can’t appreciate that. The jokes that dissed certain groups just made me feel uncomfortable. Apparently Eddie apologised about the homophobic material 15 years later:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/oct/11/comedy-gold-eddie-murphy-delirious
Thanks for the link. They left out HBO movies. A big one is And the Band Played On, which is about the early days when the Centers for Disease Control were trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It's not a documentary, but it does a good job of showing just how little people wanted them looking into it, including some of the gay men who were getting it.
DeleteIn the U.S. it was really the death of Rock Hudson that finally got some action from the government, President Reagan refused to even discuss AIDS or help to combat it until his close personal friend Rock Hudson died from it. It was seen as "only a gay disease" in the U.S. because of who got it first. Then when Magic Johnson announced he had HIV that finally got some people to understand that straight people could get it.
@Chip Lary: Interesting how it's evolved over the years. The Magic Johnson case I didn't know about. In the early 90s, I think the movie Philidelphia (1993) was also a turning point by humanizing the AIDS victim and demystifying homosexuality. I think some people are still afraid, but there is more knowledge now about AIDS and how it can infect people. I heard AIDS/HIV is a real problem in African countries where awareness is not as widespread about the disease.
DeleteOh God Tinker Tailor bored me to tears
ReplyDelete@Sati: I didn't fall asleep, but I hardly remember any scenes even though I saw it just a few days ago!
DeleteI loved Cabaret, too, but your comment that most of the songs, other than the title, were unmemorable elicited a "wow" from me. I consider the songs one of the things that makes the film great. Tomorrow Belongs to Me, Money Makes the World Go Around, Wilkommen, Mein Heir, If You Could See Her Through My Eyes (with it's killer last line), etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to see Pump Up the Volume here. I saw it when it came out. The music was quite radical at the time, especially for a studio movie. I was young enough when I saw it to still appreciate the alienation the kids felt. It was also interesting to see them be fully fleshed out in many cases (although the adults were mostly two dimensional).
I agree on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In addition to the presentation, there was no suspense on the mole. Of the four suspects, one is played by a Swedish actor no one has heard of, two are played by character actors, and one if played by an Academy Award winning actor. Gee, I wonder which of the four has the juicy role of the double agent?
I liked both Bringing Up Baby and Grand Illusion.
Delirious is a product of its time. I saw it with my friends when it came to video and we all laughed our asses off - "you married a goddamn bigfoot Gus!" Believe it or not, this was the first time I EVER heard anyone mention AIDS, although he only references it indirectly ("now they have this thing where if you get it, you die"). That's how little the news sources cared about it the first few years it was happening.
@Chip Lary: I realize it’s close to blasphemy to diss the songs in Cabaret :) All I can say is that a few days later it was the characters that stayed with me, more so than the songs. If I rewatch the film maybe the music would get stuck in my head. On first watch it didn’t, except “life is a cabaret old chum”. Thanks for highlighting your favorites. I like the chorus of “Wilkommen”. ”Mein Herr” and “Money Makes the World Go Around” are good too, though I wouldn’t listen to them often.
DeletePump Up the Volume surprised me in a good way. I liked the characters. It’s the best Christian Slater performance I’ve seen(in a career with not many great movies)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy didn’t do it for me either. It was an Oscar baity movie
"If You Could See Her From My Eyes" from Cabaret is memorable for the gorilla, and it kind of reminded me of the Bigfoot joke in Eddie Murphy’s Delirious.
The Prince lyric “a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name” was one of the first AIDS references in 80s mainstream music. Apparently Eddie Murphy was even earlier.
Strange that the news coverage about the diaease was so limited back then. I found this article about the evolution of AIDS in Pop Culture: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/12/from-haight-street-to-sesame-street-the-evolution-of-aids-in-pop-culture/265872/
Oh man, I love Eddie Murphy: Delirious. I grew up on that and the "ice cream" sketch still makes me laugh. Whatever happened to that guy?
ReplyDeletePump Up the Volume is awesome as is the Scientology documentary though I sort of disagree with it being one-sided though it's hard to find yourself in favor of Scientology and what it does to people.
@thevoid99: I prefer Eddie Murphy movies from the 80s, I’m glad I finally watched Delirious. There are some funny moments.
DeleteMurphy kept making movies in the 90s and 2000s even though the scripts got worse, that's what happened. He should be more selective.
Yes, I agree there are people defending Scientology in the doc such as John Travolta, and we do get to see what initially attracted some of its members to the church. To me it felt like the filmmakers had an agenda to bring down Scientology. As you say, it is hard to find yourself in favor of Scientology, so maybe we couldn’t really expect anything else from the documentary.
Nice recap + mini reviews as always.
ReplyDeleteI think in regards to Mike Leigh’s films, they’re really an acquired taste. I was really bored by Another Year, but maybe I should give his other films a try.
I felt the same way about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, despite my love for the all-Brit cast and spy thriller genre.
Oooh can’t wait to see Going Clear, I was impressed by Gibney’s doc on Lance Armstrong.
P.S. I sent you a Twitter DM, hope you'll take part :)
@Ruth: Thanks!
DeleteMike Leigh’s films are indeed an acquired taste. I would say Secrets + Lies (1996) is Mike Leigh's most accessible, which won the Palme d'Or
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy had a nice cast, just the movie was too dull
Going Clear is worth seeing. I felt I was wiser after having seen it
Glad we figured out the DM
The Going Clear documentary had me riveted all the way through. Wish it was longer. I started reading Lawrence Wright's book and am finding several things that the doc left out.
ReplyDelete@Luke: I too had my eyes glued to the screen watching the Going Clear documentary. The best doc I saw this month. I hope you enjoy the book!
DeleteI haven't seen any of these except for The Grand Illusion, which I really liked. Ditte Menneskebarn sounds right up my alley. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
ReplyDelete@Irene McKenna: Ditte Menneskebarn or Ditte, Child of Man as it's know in English, is a coming of age drama. Recommended although could be difficult to find with subtitles.
DeleteGreat stuff. I liked Tinker Tailor a lot, but I should give it another look. Glad you liked Bringing Up Baby so much, and I hope you like All That Jazz, which I prefer to Cabaret. I really need to check out Mike Leigh's '70s and '80s work.
ReplyDelete@Josh: I was smiling the whole way through Bringing Up Baby, happy I finally discovered that movie!
DeleteLooking forward to All That Jazz, heard good things.
Mike Leigh's early work is not all good, his best from that era is argubaly Abigail's Party (1977)
"Despite an excellent cast, a very dull and unmemorable espionage film."
ReplyDeleteRegarding your thoughts on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - I totally agree. I wasn't engaged in it at all.
I need to see Cabaret, glad you liked it.
@LightsCameraReaction: Yeah, Tinker Tailor didn't work, maybe the story was better for a mini-series and as a novel. Hope you enjoy Cabaret
DeleteTotally agree with you on Tinker Tailor! I was surprised to see so much acclaim for it. I thought it was a real slog to sit through.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing Going Clear -- have that in my HBO Go queue.
Eric @The Warning: Tinker Tailor just wasn’t that interesting and quite dull. A shame.
DeleteHope you like Going Clear, it''s currently my #1 of 2015