cafescott
Joined Feb 2005
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"The Martian (2015, Ridley Scott)" is pretty good overall, but riddled with enough flaws you want to warn people about.
It is occasionally more intense than pleasurable. (For example, Matt Damon's injured astronaut performing desperate surgery on himself. We get prolonged looks at the bleeding gut.). Also, it is often a tepid music video, particularly during the schmaltzy sequence when David Bowie's "Starman" is heard.
The propaganda elements are also all over the place. The head of NASA (played by Jeff Daniels) actually cares about whether a lone astronaut stranded on Mars lives or not. What a nice guy. Also, nearly every woman working at NASA is really hot. I also get a kick out of the plot turn where an odd, reclusive wonder kind uses a supercomputer to verify a gravity assist algorithm--and he's the only person at NASA who had thought of using what would seem to be a common maneuver.
The science is interesting but dumb in crucial places. What confuses me the most is how initially it takes hours to communicate to Astronaut Matt Damon on Mars, when later that communication is instantaneous. (As evident by the Times Square euphoria.) Did Matt build a new Internet?
However...the good side is The Martian shows us a doomed character using his wits to postpone his fate. There is also a lot of admirable teamwork, and resistance to authority when necessary.
The acting is very good. Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain really show up. They both are larger than life; just what we expect in movie stars. (But isn't Matt Damon a bit old to be an astronaut assigned a Mars mission?) I wasn't keen on Ridley Scott's direction, but the Martian landscape is always enjoyable.
If you can handle the shocks and intensity of a modern US movie, you will like this. Otherwise, avoid.
It is occasionally more intense than pleasurable. (For example, Matt Damon's injured astronaut performing desperate surgery on himself. We get prolonged looks at the bleeding gut.). Also, it is often a tepid music video, particularly during the schmaltzy sequence when David Bowie's "Starman" is heard.
The propaganda elements are also all over the place. The head of NASA (played by Jeff Daniels) actually cares about whether a lone astronaut stranded on Mars lives or not. What a nice guy. Also, nearly every woman working at NASA is really hot. I also get a kick out of the plot turn where an odd, reclusive wonder kind uses a supercomputer to verify a gravity assist algorithm--and he's the only person at NASA who had thought of using what would seem to be a common maneuver.
The science is interesting but dumb in crucial places. What confuses me the most is how initially it takes hours to communicate to Astronaut Matt Damon on Mars, when later that communication is instantaneous. (As evident by the Times Square euphoria.) Did Matt build a new Internet?
However...the good side is The Martian shows us a doomed character using his wits to postpone his fate. There is also a lot of admirable teamwork, and resistance to authority when necessary.
The acting is very good. Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain really show up. They both are larger than life; just what we expect in movie stars. (But isn't Matt Damon a bit old to be an astronaut assigned a Mars mission?) I wasn't keen on Ridley Scott's direction, but the Martian landscape is always enjoyable.
If you can handle the shocks and intensity of a modern US movie, you will like this. Otherwise, avoid.
****Good summary from stephen-357 ("Another touch of brilliance from Welles", stephen-357 from United States, 26 January 2005). Also, Brandt Sponseller ("A beautiful, haunting and complex film noir", Brandt Sponseller from New York City, 11 July 2005) has a good review.****
"Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)" is baroque. Orson Welles adapted the novel ("Badge of Evil", by Whit Masterson); he also directs and stars. Reviewers are mixed on "Touch of Evil". While many regard it as Welles's best film, the holes in the story are too large for others. It sure is refreshing to see a movie that isn't remotely commercial. The cardinal rule in Welles's films is never, ever shoot a scene that resembles anything else ever made.
The three and a half minute sequence at the start is justifiably famous. Without a cut, we see a bomb planted in the trunk of a car, the driver of the car unwittingly takes off, the camera backs up while climbing over a building, the car is again seen on a street, and on the sidewalk walking in the same direction as the doomed vehicle are Mike and Susan Vargas (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh), presumably newlyweds very much in love. Henry Mancini's Latin score adds a very jazzy vibe. Set on the border between Mexico and the US, once the bomb goes off both countries are represented with the subsequent criminal investigation.
Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles) assumes the leadership role. Vargas joins in despite technically being a Mexican narcotics officer. The pair could not be more different. While Vargas adheres to strict ethics, we eventually learn that Quinlan has spent decades sending suspects to the "death house" based on falsely planted evidence. When Vargas openly questions Quinlan's claimed discovery of dynamite in the home of a suspect in the car bombing, the two duel until one is victorious.
It may surprise some with how grotesque and loathsome the director (Welles) makes the principal antagonist (i.e., Welles again) appear. Welles is only 43 when the film is released, but he looks twenty five years older. The physical transformation between the still nimble Orson Welles in "The Third Man (1949)," to the corpulent Quinlan, is difficult to believe. While Welles let himself go on the outside, he never lost his distinctly original visual flair. He often uses cranes for aerial shots, employs deep focus and keeps objects moving. Along with his famously deep and penetrating voice, the effect is larger than life. Still, one of the more legitimate complaints made by critics is that it is distracting when Quinlan interrupts other characters as they are speaking.
Nevertheless, the talented cast thrives in the big man's shadow. In a small, uncredited role, look out for the great Joseph Cotten as the coroner. Another veteran of Welles's films is Ray Collins as the District Attorney. A comely Zsa Zsa Gabor portrays a strip-club owner. Mercedes McCambridge has a delicious role as a sadistic, lesbian gang leader. Dennis Weaver is a mentally challenged hotel clerk. Joseph Calleia is memorable as Pete Menzies, Quinlan's only friend. Also, Akim Tamiroff as the Mexican gangster Uncle Joe Grandi. Tamiroff is especially effective portraying a not particularly frightening, toupée-adorned patriarch of a crime family.
As Susan Vargas, Janet Leigh is an attractive, resilient woman stuck in an isolated motel room who is threatened with an invasion. (Two years later she has a similar predicament in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho.") Some critics of the story have trouble with Vargas stashing his exhausted wife away in a remote hotel when the Grandi family is lurking. However, there is no reason to fault Leigh's expression of terror when it is next door.
Curiously, there are two Mexican roles played with little effort towards authenticity. Marlene Dietrich is Tana, the proprietor of a Mexican brothel. Speaking with a fatigued, world-weary voice and smoking cigars, Dietrich's observant character is one of the most admirable here, even if she is not trying to be Mexican. (BTW, what amazing cheekbones she has.) In addition, Charlton Heston's portrayal of Vargas is often derided, possibly unfairly. Early on, Quinlan himself declares that Vargas does not look Mexican. So it doesn't appear to have been terribly important to Welles that Vargas actually speak as if he has ever lived South of the border. However, controversy appears with the face paint and thin mustache that Heston is wearing. Vargas is still a heroic figure even if Heston's effort of portraying a Mexican is somewhat ludicrous.
Quibbles aside, this is a memorable film made by legendary artist with enormous passion.
"Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)" is baroque. Orson Welles adapted the novel ("Badge of Evil", by Whit Masterson); he also directs and stars. Reviewers are mixed on "Touch of Evil". While many regard it as Welles's best film, the holes in the story are too large for others. It sure is refreshing to see a movie that isn't remotely commercial. The cardinal rule in Welles's films is never, ever shoot a scene that resembles anything else ever made.
The three and a half minute sequence at the start is justifiably famous. Without a cut, we see a bomb planted in the trunk of a car, the driver of the car unwittingly takes off, the camera backs up while climbing over a building, the car is again seen on a street, and on the sidewalk walking in the same direction as the doomed vehicle are Mike and Susan Vargas (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh), presumably newlyweds very much in love. Henry Mancini's Latin score adds a very jazzy vibe. Set on the border between Mexico and the US, once the bomb goes off both countries are represented with the subsequent criminal investigation.
Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles) assumes the leadership role. Vargas joins in despite technically being a Mexican narcotics officer. The pair could not be more different. While Vargas adheres to strict ethics, we eventually learn that Quinlan has spent decades sending suspects to the "death house" based on falsely planted evidence. When Vargas openly questions Quinlan's claimed discovery of dynamite in the home of a suspect in the car bombing, the two duel until one is victorious.
It may surprise some with how grotesque and loathsome the director (Welles) makes the principal antagonist (i.e., Welles again) appear. Welles is only 43 when the film is released, but he looks twenty five years older. The physical transformation between the still nimble Orson Welles in "The Third Man (1949)," to the corpulent Quinlan, is difficult to believe. While Welles let himself go on the outside, he never lost his distinctly original visual flair. He often uses cranes for aerial shots, employs deep focus and keeps objects moving. Along with his famously deep and penetrating voice, the effect is larger than life. Still, one of the more legitimate complaints made by critics is that it is distracting when Quinlan interrupts other characters as they are speaking.
Nevertheless, the talented cast thrives in the big man's shadow. In a small, uncredited role, look out for the great Joseph Cotten as the coroner. Another veteran of Welles's films is Ray Collins as the District Attorney. A comely Zsa Zsa Gabor portrays a strip-club owner. Mercedes McCambridge has a delicious role as a sadistic, lesbian gang leader. Dennis Weaver is a mentally challenged hotel clerk. Joseph Calleia is memorable as Pete Menzies, Quinlan's only friend. Also, Akim Tamiroff as the Mexican gangster Uncle Joe Grandi. Tamiroff is especially effective portraying a not particularly frightening, toupée-adorned patriarch of a crime family.
As Susan Vargas, Janet Leigh is an attractive, resilient woman stuck in an isolated motel room who is threatened with an invasion. (Two years later she has a similar predicament in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho.") Some critics of the story have trouble with Vargas stashing his exhausted wife away in a remote hotel when the Grandi family is lurking. However, there is no reason to fault Leigh's expression of terror when it is next door.
Curiously, there are two Mexican roles played with little effort towards authenticity. Marlene Dietrich is Tana, the proprietor of a Mexican brothel. Speaking with a fatigued, world-weary voice and smoking cigars, Dietrich's observant character is one of the most admirable here, even if she is not trying to be Mexican. (BTW, what amazing cheekbones she has.) In addition, Charlton Heston's portrayal of Vargas is often derided, possibly unfairly. Early on, Quinlan himself declares that Vargas does not look Mexican. So it doesn't appear to have been terribly important to Welles that Vargas actually speak as if he has ever lived South of the border. However, controversy appears with the face paint and thin mustache that Heston is wearing. Vargas is still a heroic figure even if Heston's effort of portraying a Mexican is somewhat ludicrous.
Quibbles aside, this is a memorable film made by legendary artist with enormous passion.