banhei Reviews

Swann in Love (1984)

Better than I expected

[7/10 · 9 May 2024]

Proust's prose is so much what makes the novel effective I thought any film version would fall flat, but some of the feel of the novel comes forth on the screen here (although not nearly enough). The downer was the rewriting of a classic (amazing how often that's done), changing the protagonist's name and his love life and his fate. When I read the film's title, I thought for sure his love interest would be Albertine, who's his main love interest in the novel. And to name the other extreme departures from the novel would be to write spoilers, so I'll just say they were disappointing. And how can they have no scene with a madeleine...?

The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003 TV Movie)

Highly amusing

[8/10 · 2 April 2024]

I saw this DVD in the library last week, not having ever heard of THE RUTLES 2: CAN'T BUY ME LUNCH, and checked it out. The negative reviews here made me wonder if I should bother watching it, but I watched it and greatly enjoyed it (so did the non-Beatles fan who watched it with me). Frankly, I didn't think the first THE THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH was any masterpiece, but, as with THE RUTLES 2: CAN'T BUY ME LUNCH, I enjoyed it. My favorite Rutles products have been the first album that accompanied THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH and then the RUTLES ARCHAEOLOGY album. In this THE RUTLES: CAN'T BUY ME LUNCH a RUTLES 1 album cover is brought out more than once (it mimics the BEATLES 1 album cover, with its big yellow "1" against a red background) but it was only a prop. I wish it were an actual third Rutles album!

Cry Macho (2021)

A simple story well told

[8/10 · 20 March 2024]

I recorded CRY MACHO a couple years ago from a free HBO weekend and then saw here many below-5-stars reviews, so thought it must really stink and never played it. Tonight my mom was having Steph-Curry-withdrawal symptoms because she had no Golden State Warriors game to watch, and I thought, "Well, she's also a huge Clint Eastwood fan so I'll start CRY MACHO," that neither of us had seen, half expecting both of us would want to turn it off within the first 20 minutes. But it drew us both in. It does have some long conversations in dark light (among the complaints here), but the conversations serve the story and reveal character, and Eastwood has always liked dark lighting, so that's nothing new (Eastwood once said that too many TV sitcoms are lit like stadiums). At the end we both said, "That was good." My low expectations might have increased my enjoyment (a cinematic version of "under promise and over deliver"), but even with no preconceptions I think I still would have liked it.

The Formula (1980)

Intriguing thriller that requires attention

[8/10 · 29 August 2022]

I saw THE FORMULA years ago and then caught it again recently on TCM and remembered it was hard to follow, so made sure to pay attention this time, especially to names that were thrown out that only later were put to faces (and so hard to remember) and the effort paid off. I really enjoyed all aspects of the movie (with the exception of the actor who plays George C. Scott's partner, whose acting is quite weak, especially against the fine acting of the rest of the cast). Only after seeing THE FORMULA the first time, did I learn Brando's Adam Steiffel was based on then-head of Occidental Petroleum, Armand Hammer (who Trevor Loudon describes as, "the leading American Soviet agent of the early 20th Century" who mentored "Al Gore Sr.," who, himself, ran the anti-American "Council for a Livable World" created "to gut the U. S. military" who itself got the 29-year-old Joe Biden elected senator). I know Brando's assistant, who was working for Brando when he made THE FORMULA, and she said, "It was known on the set that Adam Steiffel was based on Armand Hammer." Almost comically, in the Armand Hammer biography DOSSIER, after Hammer learned that Brando's murderous character was based on him, Hammer's only complaint was, "Brando is fat in THE FORMULA and I'm thin." Anyway, I recorded THE FORMULA off TCM and expected to delete it after I recently watched it, but decided not to, knowing I'll watch it again.

Jackie Brown (1997)

Awkward!

[2/10 · 27 March 2022]

A clunky, clumsy film (just the transitions from one scene to the next are clunky, and that's just the start of it). The high number of top ratings here is surprising. When this first came out I got the awkward vibe from just the promotional clips so didn't bother to see it. But I recently got an HBO free-sample week and JACKIE BROWN happened to be on, so I finally watched the whole movie, and that original awkwardness vibe was more than fulfilled. What's hilarious to me are the 1-3 starred ratings here say, "Tarantino lost his way with this film." Uh, Tarantino has always been a clumsy, clunky director and writer. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD was smoother, so he's improved, but not enough.

Andy Irons: Kissed by God (2018)

First rate

[9/10 · 25 January 2021]

I saw Andy Irons place his feet in cement at the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame and found his somewhat bashful manner endearing. I knew nothing of his struggles and was surprised when I learned of his death. This movie reveals his struggles along with his triumphs intelligently and interestingly. It's a well done documentary by any measure. And has some fantastic surfing sequences!

Infidel (2019)

First rate

[9/10 · 19 January 2021]

A very well-structured screenplay lays the foundation for a first-rate film. Exciting and intelligent, the film gripped me from the first moment to the last. About three clunky-but-brief moments marred the film, but only slightly (again, they were brief). I saw it about a week ago and I'm already itching to see it again. Incidentally, I was interested to hear (on a podcast) one of the producers say, "Because he was so expensive, we could only afford Jim Caviezel for a small part, but when he got the script he was impressed enough by the lead role he said he'd do it for less." I'm glad he did.

Street People (1976)

Italiano!

[7/10 · 13 March 2020]

If you've seen your Fellini or THE LEOPARD with Burt Lancaster you know Italian productions often have actors speak the dialogue in front of the camera only to have lip-syncing to match when they actually record the dialogue later in the studio. That's certainly the case with STREET PEOPLE (and not my favorite thing) and the rest of the production is often similarly clumsy. Having said that, the screenplay is well-structured with different story threads that are woven together quite successfully. Moore was at his peak as 007 and I marveled that he signed onto this clunky movie, until I realized (on top of the likely influence of his then Italian wife and what I assume was a hefty salary) he probably realized the screenplay was actually quite good. The car chase is sort of an irreverent homage to BULLITT's (it takes place in San Francisco, after all) and I enjoyed it.

I only tracked this down because a couple relatives told me they happened across the filming of this movie in S. F. and one of them went up and talked to Roger Moore and said he was quite charming. I wanted to see the movie solely based on that, and am glad I finally tracked it down.

Chappaquiddick (2017)

A fantastic piece of film making

[10/10 · 17 April 2018]

At the film's foundation is a very well-structured screenplay that presents events in a manner that is both subtle (considering the subject matter) and gripping (think WITNESS) with wonderfully nuanced and natural performances by all the actors, and direction that balances and meshes these elements into a fantastic film.

Brad's Status (2017)

Interesting but too incidental

[6/10 · 20 October 2017]

Gore Vidal notoriously said, "Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies," which could be this movie's subtitle. Interesting subject matter I think, but this movie could have used more of an outright plot. Whether I'm right or not, this movie had the feel of having been written with a vague direction in mind but no structured outline set down beforehand. (The long bar conversation with the big-brown-eyed girl kind of came out of nowhere and I suspect did, to the writer as he sat at his laptop.) Ben Stiller was okay, but I felt his regular (facial) expressions of resentment could have used more variety and nuance. Knowing both ends of: not thrilling at running into people as I puttered along with nothing to brag about, to suddenly being put in charge of huge projects covered in the international press that suddenly made me the star of dinner parties, I found this an interesting movie, but wanted more of a story than a collection of vignettes. (For those who liked them, this movie I felt could almost go together as a sort loose trilogy with Stiller's GREENBERG and PERMANENT MIDNIGHT.)

Into the West (1992)

Fantastic!

[10/10 · 5 June 2017]

This is a wonderfully told tale of poignancy and intelligence and humor, with a literary touch and wonderful performances all around. I just saw it on HBO after not having seen it since its theatrical release, and loved it just as much again after all these years. I do find some of the other comments here of PC silliness. I'm reminded of some press reviews for "Captain Phillips" that said the Somali pirates were pure victims acting as only they could have, as repressed Third Worlders. But in the movie itself they were largely and accurately portrayed as criminal types who could have acted differently and ended up reaping what they sowed. Some comments here similarly suggest the Travellers/Tinkers/Gypsies in "Into the West" are pure victims, when the movie itself portrays them as certainly victims in part, but also, in part, reaping what they've sowed (making up false names to sponge off their fellow citizens, faking illness when panhandling). It was this unvarnished look at the Travellers—whom you root for in the film—that contributes to making this such an effective, nuanced movie.

Particle Fever (2013)

I loved this movie

[10/10 · 4 April 2014]

I went to this movie as a layman, seeing it because it would probably be good for me—educational—but also thinking it would probably be hard work. But I was riveted and the movie flew by faster than a James Bond movie. Many physicists will certainly wish the movie dug deeper into the actual physics, but it's partly because it didn't that I found it not just good for me but good fun. One minor quibble is that the face of the killing of the construction of a particle accelerator in Texas was put on two Republican congressmen (clips are shown of them complaining it was too expensive) and no Democrats. But it was a bipartisan decision. Here's a quote from an article in the 7/6/12 "The Atlantic": "'I'm not saying there isn't a lot of elegant science that can be gleaned from this, but that's what it is: elegant,' Senator Dale Bumpers, a Democrat, told the 'New York Times' in March 1993. 'We can't afford elegance now.'" Again: bipartisan.

A great movie.