Thursday, November 23, 2023
Watership Down
- Commentary: Under construction.
Professional critics left a trail of highly ambivalent reviews of this movie. This is one of the reasons I decided to add it to my collection. The other reason is the star-spangled cast, some of whom are mentioned below. Wow! Was this movie chased after by the acting community and the heavy-hitters tended to win out! They clearly had high hopes for it. Which, I think, in the end, is what made this movie so popular.
More later.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role John Hurt Hazel Richard Briers Fiver Michael Graham Cox Bigwig John Bennett Captain Holly Ralph Richardson Chief Rabbit of Sandleford Simon Cadell Blackberry Roy Kinnear Pipkin Terence Rigby Silver Mary Maddox Clover Richard O'Callaghan Dandelion Denholm Elliott Cowslip Zero Mostel Kehaar Harry Andrews General Woundwort Hannah Gordon Hyzenthlay Nigel Hawthorne Campion Lynn Farleigh Tab the cat
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1978
Directed by Martin Rosen.
Labels: animated, Criterion7, john-hurt, rosamund-pike
Saturday, July 02, 2022
The Hit
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Terence Stamp Willie Parker John Hurt Mitchell Braddock Tim Roth Myron Laura del Sol Maggie Bill Hunter Harry Fernando Rey Senior Policeman Willoughby Gray Judge Jim Broadbent Barrister
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1984
Directed by Stephen Frears.
Labels: §4, bill-hunter, john-hurt, neo-noirA
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Snowpiercer
- Commentary: I just received this movie today so I haven't yet watched it, but I'll be doing that tonight. At any rate, I had to mention, there are no less than three reviews written about this movie at RogerEbert.com. No, Ebert didn't come back from the dead to review the movie, but two regular reviewers and one non-regular reviewer weighed in on the movie. The first review that came up at the site is linked to the title of this post. Here's the second and here's the third. The second, I think, is going to be the most informative, although I'll let you know once I've read it and watched the movie (I plan to do the movie watching first).
Frankly, I have a troubled relationship with apocalyptic (and post-apocalyptic, I mean, let's face it, if a movie is about an apocalypse, is stands to reason it's also about the post apocalyptic period, although, I can think of one exception to that rule: The Last Wave; and, come to think of it, Dr. Strangelove doesn't cover the post apocalyptic period, either) movies. There are a few that I love and I think I own most of those. The ones I love are subtle and surprising, like The Last Wave and The Rapture. I'm not sure, from what I've read so far about this movie (a few blurbs, including the blurb on the cover of my copy), that this will be one of my favorites. It seems like it's not about apocalypsis, but uses an apocalypse as an excuse for a fight between the haves and the have nots. Thinking about apocalyptic events put me into an apocalyptic mindset and I ordered two other apocalyptic movies along with this one, both of which I'd seen years ago: Threads and On the Beach, both of which qualify for the "subtle and surprising" category. I've rewatched Threads and will be producing a write-up soon. I have yet to rewatch On the Beach. And, of course, I haven't watched this movie yet, although I notice in the Wikipedia article about it, linked in the next paragraph, that it got unusually good reviews, not all around, there were some critics who found the film less than good, but mostly the reviews were well above average.
Can't wait to see how it hits me. Stay tuned.
Update 5/18/2022 I watched this movie a couple or three months ago. The end is excellent, true Bong Joon-ho: One assumed lone survivor, leaving the wrecked train into a snow covered world with a polar bear snuffling around. I don't know why, but this scene captured my imagination. The rest of the film? Eh. A lot of have/have-not fighting. Tilda Swinton going crazy with her role and having what looks to be a fun time. Chris Evans as a totally forgettable protagonist. Lots of interesting bit parts by interesting bit players.
This movie was a hit with the critics, but, I don't know, I think there are lots more credible and interesting apocalyptic films out there. Maybe I'm not in touch with the apocalyptic zeitgeist. And, the one question I had that was never concretely answered, why a train? I mean, why an apocalyptic train?
Then, there's Ed Harris playing another version of Christof and John Hurt playing another version of, hmmm, oh, I don't know, name your poison. [This comment, by the way, is not to belittle his work. John Hurt was an astonishing actor with a wiiiide range. It is actors of his calibre that make me ever grateful I exist in a time when performances are recorded and readily available. He did, however, get a little typecast in his later years.]
But, I'll keep it, especially since it is an example of apocalyptic movie-thought in the second decade of the 21st century, a century which appears to finally promise the long awaited "apocalypse". I mean, if humanity doesn't deliver it, the environment will.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Chris Evans Curtis Everett Song Kang-ho Namgoong Minsoo Ed Harris Wilford John Hurt Gillam Tilda Swinton Minister Mason Jamie Bell Edgar Octavia Spencer Tanya Ewen Bremner Andrew Go Ah-sung Yona Alison Pill Teacher Vlad Ivanov Franco the Elder Luke Pasqualino Grey
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2013
Directed by Bong Joon-ho.
Labels: anti-fascist, apocalyptic, bong-joon-ho, john-hurt
Monday, January 28, 2019
Contact
- Commentary: I'm surprised I haven't entered this movie into this index before this. I've owned it for about a year. My movie collecting has slowed, considerably, true, but I didn't realize it had slowed to the point that I was sure I'd entered this one. Everything I've entered in this update is much "younger", in my collection, anyway, than this one.
Thus, it should not surprise you that I've watched it several times since buying it. Which is exactly why I bought it for my collection. I checked this movie out of the library so much that I remember looking it up online and thinking, "This is so cheap, I should just own it!"
For me, this is another one of those movies that has a diaphanous quality to it. No matter how much contact it actually contains, for me the bulk of the movie is about dreaming, wishing, hoping and actualizing, even in the face of the lack of recognition of everyone around you. Sure, it's a cool sci-fi movie. But, bottom line, this movie says to me, experience isn't what others say happened to you, it's what you know happened to you.
In case you're wondering, yes, I read the book upon which it is based long before the movie went into production. The book, perhaps because my primary familiarity with Carl Sagan is through the Cosmos series (which is, in itself, more about dreaming and actualizing than it is about space) was, for my mother and me, an essential fill-in for the series. I sometimes wonder if Carl Sagan considered himself, primarily, a dreamer and only secondarily a scientist. Or, perhaps he was a scientist, an astrophysicist, because he was, first, a dreamer.
In Roger Ebert's initial review of this film (linked to the title of this post), he gave the movie three and a half stars. Then, in 2011, he christened Contact one of his Great Movies and added the initially lacking half star. In the review he discusses the differences in his opinion from his initial watching and watching it 14 years later. It's interesting to compare the two reviews.
Update 8/11/2021: Funny thing, yesterday my older sister and I, in a lengthy phone conversation (life-catch-up, really), discussed this movie (it remains a popular movie, folks) in light of a series of beach scenes aired during Season 17 of Grey's Anatomy in which Meredith, while suffering from COVID-19, meets up with previous and current colleagues on a beach. I don't have access to this season (or any seasons past 12), but I looked them up to clarify exactly what my sister was comparing to this movie. For those of you who remain as cable-challenged as I, here is a descriptive rundown of those scenes. My sister brought up those scenes (in our conversation she remembered them as one scene) without reference to this movie. Once she described them, I brought up their curious duplication of Ellie's beach scene with her father in this movie. Although I didn't use the term, my sister's description of these scenes seemed to me a rip-off of that famous scene in Contact. Although my sister said she's seen the movie, she didn't recall the scene I was describing. My take-away, now, is that, both of us being unaware of the other's references, we were kind of talking at cross purposes, yesterday, without realizing it.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Jodie Foster Dr. Eleanor Ann Arroway Jena Malone Young Ellie Matthew McConaughey Palmer Joss David Morse Theodore Arroway Tom Skerritt Dr. David Drumlin James Woods Michael Kitz John Hurt S. R. Hadden William Fichtner Kent Clarke Angela Bassett Rachel Constantine Jake Busey Joseph Rob Lowe Richard Rank Geoffrey Blake Fisher
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1997
Directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Labels: adventure1, aliens, david-morse, drama3, dream1, fantasy1, james-woods, jodie-foster, john-hurt, popcorn-and-soda2, pseudo-cgi-animation, science-fiction1
Saturday, November 11, 2006
I, Claudius
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: *1* *2*
- Commentary: My mother and I discovered this separately, together, many years ago when it first came out. I think we weren't even in the same state, but were in close touch and both of us mentioned it. Unfortunately, this version has no CC, and, whereas Mom had trouble with British accents at the time, now they wreak havoc upon her ears. But she remembers the story, loves watching it unfold again and loves the spectacle.
Damned fine cast, by the way!
In addition to the review above, which is stunning, you might be interested to know some reviews of "ordinary" watchers of the series. Three people responded to the Quora question, "What is your review of the TV mini-series 'I, Claudius'?" The first response is particularly meticulous and includes a video snatch from the show.
Update 2/7/18: I have two sets of this production, now, the original without subtitles and the 35th Anniversary Edition with subtitles. I'm sad this wasn't produced before Mom's death. She missed the subtitling by 3 years. Oh well, I'm enjoying it now and discovering there are a few delightful phrases I missed in the original, regardless of how good my hearing was (and still is, actually), i.e. Augustus often using the phrase "...as boiled asparagus", when he's annoyed or troubled, which is hilarious in the various contexts to which he puts it. I never quite heard it right, until I could access it on the screen in the subtitles. That's when it became funny to me!
Update 5/16/2022: Even if you haven't seen this series, you likely know that the cast is huge and ever adds new principal actors in new principal roles. I'm not going to attempt to list everyone in the table below, just those standouts who I think likely, or know, go on to star in other productions I have in my collection and those who delivered standout performances in this series like, for instance, Young Herod Agrippa. Even at that, the table may be overwhelming. I apologize in advance.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Derek Jacobi Claudius Siân Phillips Livia George Baker Tiberius John Hurt Caligula Beth Morris Drusilla Robert Morgan Young Caligula Brian Blessed Augustus Margaret Tyzack Antonia Patricia Quinn Livilla Kevin McNally Castor John Paul Agrippa Frances White Julia Christopher Biggins Nero David Robb Germanicus John Castle Postumus Fiona Walker Agrippina James Faulkner Herod Agrippa Michael Clements Young Herod Sheila White Messalina Patrick Stewart Sejanus John Rhys-Davies Naevius Sutorius Macro Bernard Hepton Marcus Antonius Pallas John Cater Tiberius Claudius Narcissus Barbara Young Agrippinilla Jo Rowbottom Calpurnia Peter Bowles Caractacus John Bennett Gaius Stertinius Xenophon Patsy Byrne Martina Nicholas Amer Mnester Moira Redmond Domitia Lepida Charlotte Howard Scylla Tony Haygarth Claudius' Slave
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1976
Directed by Herbert Wise.
Labels: biography1, derek-jacobi, drama8, historical3, john-hurt, political3, shared-favorite, TV2
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
A Man for All Seasons
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: This is one of those movies that, when we stumble across it on TV we always watch. It enthralls both of us. We never tire of it. There isn't a false note in the casting. As well, Shaw brings a special, light, provocative touch of madness to his portrayal of Henry VIII that is thrilling to glimpse. This will be a perennial favorite of ours.
Update 5/15/2022: I have to mention, this movie remains a perennial favorite of mine. I watched it last a few months ago. It's partly the actors, partly the setting and partly the politics, especially in the subtle ways Henry asserts his dominance on everyone, and in the ways subtly defies Henry's dominance.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Paul Scofield Sir Thomas More Wendy Hiller Alice More Leo McKern Thomas Cromwell Orson Welles Cardinal Wolsey Robert Shaw Henry VIII Susannah York Margaret More Nigel Davenport Duke of Norfolk John Hurt Richard Rich Corin Redgrave William Roper Colin Blakely Matthew Cyril Luckham Archb. Thomas Cranmer Vanessa Redgrave Anne Boleyn
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1966
Directed by Fred Zinnemann.
Labels: drama9, historical3, john-hurt, political3, religion1, royals, shared-favorite, wendy-hiller
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The Elephant Man
- Who's watched: M & G
- Mentions: None
- Commentary: This is one of those movies that has a hypnotic effect on both of us; both the way it's filmed and the story. Every time we watch it we're galvanized into a discussion of the extraordinary possibilities inherent in the desire to survive, regardless of the difficulty.
One odd note: This movie was filmed in Black & White. Every time we watch this movie, the B&W filming tricks my mother into thinking one of two things, sometimes both on the same night: 1) that the film is a very old movie made when she was much younger than she is now, and 2) that the film is actually a newsreel captured early in the 20th century. Funny, the tricks the history of film can play on someone who's been alive through much of that history!
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Anthony Hopkins Frederick Treves John Hurt John Merrick Hannah Gordon Ann Treves Anne Bancroft Madge Kendal John Gielgud Francis Carr Gomm Wendy Hiller Mrs Mothershead Freddie Jones Mr Bytes Michael Elphick Jim the Night Porter
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1980
Directed by David Lynch.
Labels: anthony-hopkins, biography2, drama9, historical3, john-gielgud, john-hurt, period4, wendy-hiller
