Movie-a-Day days 36-38: Still trying to blog
Well, I'm hopelessly behind, but, on the bright side, back in 2004 I'd crapped out by the end of January, so at least I'm "much improved," as the report cards used to say. I'm not ready to declare the blogging portion of the move-a-day project dead just yet, so here's some more capsules:
36: Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939;USA) D: Herbert I. Leeds W:Peter Milne, from a story by George Bricker and John Reinhardt, based on the novel "Murder in Trinidad" by John W. Vandercook and on the character created by John P. Marquand
The seventh Mr. Moto movie sees Moto (Peter Lorre) teaming up with comical pro-wrestler Twister McGurk (Warren Hymer), who wants Moto to each him some o' them judo moves. Moto travels to Puerto Rico (I don't think there's even stock footage of the island here) to uncover a smuggling ring. More of a whodunnit than usual, and missing Norman Foster's flair with the action, but still an amusing way to pass the time. Featuring an uncredited bit-part appearance by Willie Best, wasted in a typical "chauffeur" role, as a boatman who's scared to go into the haunted swamp. Best was one of several black comedian/entertainers who got stuck playing comical menials throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Within a couple of years, he'd be sidekicking for Bob Hope in "Ghost Breakers" and appearing with Bogart in "High Sierra".
I am amused by the adaptation of someone else's mystery novel about an American detective in Trinidad into a movie about Mr. Moto in Puerto Rico. Hollywood doesn't really change, does it?
37: Once Upon a Time in the West (aka C'era una olti il West;1968;Italy) D: Sergio Leone W: Sergio Leone & Sergio Donati, Story by Sergio Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci English dialogue by Mickey Knox
Leone's best Western, period. Both gorgeously epic and painfully intimate, OUaTitW is, on the surface, "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful." Charles Bronson is a mysterious gunman with a harmonica, on a mission of revenge. Henry Fonda is Frank, an evil, murdering bastard trying to move up in the world on the coattails of railroad man Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti). Jason Robards is brilliant as Cheyenne, leader of a gang of robbers who gets dragged into the machinations of the other two. Claudia Cardinale is the wild card in this equation, Leone's first major female character, as widowed ex-prostitute Jill McBain, determined to reclaim her new life on the frontier, which was destroyed before she even arrived. The film stands as an elegy for the Wild West, brought low by the coming of the railroad, but what the railroad represents is the real killer of the frontier: Real Estate. Inevitably, all the death and strife is about land rights, a theme that goes back to the earliest Westerns. Leone shot on location in Spain and in Monument Valley, Arizona. He also makes use of several recognizable character actors, familiar from Hollywood Westerns (Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, Lionel Stander).
Seriously, best movie I've seen in a long time (my own fault I know). I've had his DVD for years, but failed to watch it mostly due to length (165 minutes) and the neurotic fear that it wouldn't be as good as its reputation. (High Noon has left scars, apparently) Turns out, there was no need to fear. This is brilliant.
38: Tokyo Gore Police (aka Tokyo zankoku keisatsu;2008;Japan/USA) D: Yoshihiro Nishimura W: Kengo Kaji, Sayako Nakoshi and Yoshihiro Nishimura
Here's what you get when Japanese filmmakers are hired by American producers to make one of those "crazy Japanese movies" the kids love so much. Fortunately, if the filmmakers give a shit, you get a film with some entertainment value, even if the overall result is essentially the bastard child of Robo-Cop and Wicked City. Actually, now that I think of it, I love those movies. This one's not quite in their league, though. The isuals are imaginative and striking at times, if held back by the obviously inexpensive nature of the film. The violence is plentiful and splattery, the gore turned up to 11 right from the start. The litle bits of societal saire scattered throughout are actually funny in a grim sort of way. But the story lets it all down by being the same cliched "female cop/soldier/magical warrior must battle monsters/demons at the risk of turning into one" schtick I've been getting from anime for over 20 years now, complete with "heroine's secret past / daddy issues" subplot, and untrustworthy superiors (her boss keeps a quadruple amputee wearing bondage gear as a pet attack dog, so maybe he's not a nice guy.) Still, if one is in the mood for a colorful, weird and goofy bloodbath of a film, here you go.
OK, that's something accomplished, so it's time to clean the condo for company tomorrow. More soon, I hope.
36: Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939;USA) D: Herbert I. Leeds W:Peter Milne, from a story by George Bricker and John Reinhardt, based on the novel "Murder in Trinidad" by John W. Vandercook and on the character created by John P. Marquand
The seventh Mr. Moto movie sees Moto (Peter Lorre) teaming up with comical pro-wrestler Twister McGurk (Warren Hymer), who wants Moto to each him some o' them judo moves. Moto travels to Puerto Rico (I don't think there's even stock footage of the island here) to uncover a smuggling ring. More of a whodunnit than usual, and missing Norman Foster's flair with the action, but still an amusing way to pass the time. Featuring an uncredited bit-part appearance by Willie Best, wasted in a typical "chauffeur" role, as a boatman who's scared to go into the haunted swamp. Best was one of several black comedian/entertainers who got stuck playing comical menials throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Within a couple of years, he'd be sidekicking for Bob Hope in "Ghost Breakers" and appearing with Bogart in "High Sierra".
I am amused by the adaptation of someone else's mystery novel about an American detective in Trinidad into a movie about Mr. Moto in Puerto Rico. Hollywood doesn't really change, does it?
37: Once Upon a Time in the West (aka C'era una olti il West;1968;Italy) D: Sergio Leone W: Sergio Leone & Sergio Donati, Story by Sergio Leone, Dario Argento and Bernardo Bertolucci English dialogue by Mickey Knox
Leone's best Western, period. Both gorgeously epic and painfully intimate, OUaTitW is, on the surface, "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful." Charles Bronson is a mysterious gunman with a harmonica, on a mission of revenge. Henry Fonda is Frank, an evil, murdering bastard trying to move up in the world on the coattails of railroad man Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti). Jason Robards is brilliant as Cheyenne, leader of a gang of robbers who gets dragged into the machinations of the other two. Claudia Cardinale is the wild card in this equation, Leone's first major female character, as widowed ex-prostitute Jill McBain, determined to reclaim her new life on the frontier, which was destroyed before she even arrived. The film stands as an elegy for the Wild West, brought low by the coming of the railroad, but what the railroad represents is the real killer of the frontier: Real Estate. Inevitably, all the death and strife is about land rights, a theme that goes back to the earliest Westerns. Leone shot on location in Spain and in Monument Valley, Arizona. He also makes use of several recognizable character actors, familiar from Hollywood Westerns (Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Keenan Wynn, Lionel Stander).
Seriously, best movie I've seen in a long time (my own fault I know). I've had his DVD for years, but failed to watch it mostly due to length (165 minutes) and the neurotic fear that it wouldn't be as good as its reputation. (High Noon has left scars, apparently) Turns out, there was no need to fear. This is brilliant.
38: Tokyo Gore Police (aka Tokyo zankoku keisatsu;2008;Japan/USA) D: Yoshihiro Nishimura W: Kengo Kaji, Sayako Nakoshi and Yoshihiro Nishimura
Here's what you get when Japanese filmmakers are hired by American producers to make one of those "crazy Japanese movies" the kids love so much. Fortunately, if the filmmakers give a shit, you get a film with some entertainment value, even if the overall result is essentially the bastard child of Robo-Cop and Wicked City. Actually, now that I think of it, I love those movies. This one's not quite in their league, though. The isuals are imaginative and striking at times, if held back by the obviously inexpensive nature of the film. The violence is plentiful and splattery, the gore turned up to 11 right from the start. The litle bits of societal saire scattered throughout are actually funny in a grim sort of way. But the story lets it all down by being the same cliched "female cop/soldier/magical warrior must battle monsters/demons at the risk of turning into one" schtick I've been getting from anime for over 20 years now, complete with "heroine's secret past / daddy issues" subplot, and untrustworthy superiors (her boss keeps a quadruple amputee wearing bondage gear as a pet attack dog, so maybe he's not a nice guy.) Still, if one is in the mood for a colorful, weird and goofy bloodbath of a film, here you go.
OK, that's something accomplished, so it's time to clean the condo for company tomorrow. More soon, I hope.