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shana-carter
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Between Two Worlds (1944)
Competently made, well acted, I hated it.
My favorite part of this movie is the opening, a convincing recreation of London during the Blitz, and I think it's significant that it's the sequence which is the least "stagy" and most cinematic. It's too bad the shipboard scenes weren't staged more imaginatively - why not play up the eeriness of the situation, maybe throw in some dutch angles or play with the lighting or the sound design?
What spoiled the film for me were the gender dynamics, especially the arc of Eleanor Parker's character, Ann, who LITERALLY doesn't care if she lives or dies as long as she can be with her husband. I was really hoping that her moral lesson would involve realizing that she has a life and worth of her own, but NOOOOPE.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Who are YOU trying to kid, paul-64175?
Aside from the central premise of a romance between a human woman and an amphibious humanoid, "The Shape of Water" and "Mrs. Caliban" have nothing in common. Dorothy is a bereaved mother estranged from her husband who meets Larry after he's escaped; Elisa is a mute orphan who finds the Asset while cleaning the lab where he's being held and decides to help him get free. A cursory watching of the trailer for "The Shape of Water" should make it clear it's telling a different story than Ingalls' book.
Vynález zkázy (1958)
Attention Steampunk Fans!
I'd never heard of this film until I saw it scheduled at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. I'm so glad I saw it -- this movie has everything! Guileless inventors, ruthless pirates, a winsome heroine, hot-air balloons, a villain's lair in a volcano, submarines with duck-foot paddles, roller-skating camels, a giant man-eating octopus, and the most charming production design this side of Edward Gorey's sets for "Dracula." I look forward to the steampunk movement's embrace of this film, assuming they don't already know about it. Even if they have, they should check out this restoration, which is crisp, clear, and gorgeous.
Daughter of the Dragon (1931)
A sporadically entertaining period piece
As a fan of Sax Rohmer's books, I'm predisposed to enjoy this loose adaptation of "The Daughter of Fu Manchu." Like the source material, this film has obscure drugs, secret passages, Limehouse opium dens, and a strong whiff of sadism, though it downgrades Fu Manchu's goals from world domination to vengeance. Its best feature is the gorgeous anti-heroine Princess Ling Moy, ably portrayed by the luminous Anna May Wong. Alas, the film is also chockablock with racism, which manifests in the yellowface performances of Warner Oland and E. Alyn Warren and the stilted dialogue which forces Anna May and her Japanese co-star Sessue Hayakawa to repeatedly call upon their honored ancestors and refer to themselves in the third person. That said, I must give the writers credit for addressing anti-Asian prejudice, if only briefly, with Ling Moy's question, "If I stayed, would my hair ever become golden curls and my skin ivory like Ronald's?"
My biggest problem with the movie is that the intersecting love triangles are uninteresting and unconvincing. Bramwell Fletcher's Ronald Petrie, whom Ling Moy is sworn to kill, has a wandering eye and a limited vocabulary ("I wish I could find a word to describe her...Exotic, that's the word!"), while as his fiancée Joan Marshall, Frances Dade is alternately petulant and shrill. Why on Earth are they together? And why would Ling Moy fall for this upper-class twit, when she could have Hayakawa's man of action, Ah Kee?
Playing It Cool (2014)
I never want to date the scriptwriters
I really wanted to like this one — it has a solid cast, and the promotional shots of Chris Evans in a variety of costumes (including a WWII sailor, a chain-smoking film noir hero, and an astronaut) looked intriguing. All the actors do sterling work, particularly Anthony Mackie and Topher Grace (who are, respectively, the film's id and superego). Unfortunately, not even these talented performers could make up for the clumsy, sexist script.
I was especially appalled by how Mr. Shafer and Mr. Vicknair treated Aubrey Plaza's character. I mean, her consolation prize for not becoming the narrator's girlfriend is an evening out with a guy who has problems taking no for an answer. The fact that Evans's next romantic picture, "Before We Go," was also written by this duo does not inspire with me confidence.
My recommendation? Skip this and watch "Some Like It Hot" for a hilarious rom-com with male protagonists and three-dimensional female characters who are treated with sympathy and respect.