ozlock's Reviews

Savage Grace (2007)

6/10

6 September 2009

Warning: Spoilers

Best: Julianne Moore. She and her movie son dominate the action. I watched it during a sleepless night on Sundance Channel. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. It is fraught with tension, and it culminates as one might suspect as mentioned below.

The description contained cautions such as "depravity" and "incest." That should get the message across. The acting was superior and it has a curiosity factor because it is apparently based on real characters. But even if you are not a prude one might get a slightly slimy feeling from the entire film.

Another curiosity is that I have been unable to find any mainstream reviews of the movie, not Ebert, not Rotten Tomatoes.

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Music from Another Room (1998)

4/10

I Agree With The Law

2 January 2009

This is, at best, a fairly good TV movie. It is predictable but starts with an interesting premise. It appears that the positive opinions were mostly generated by virtue of Jude Law having been it. It is the ultimate Chick Flick.

The actors are rather good. Gretchen Mol was fantastic in "...Betty Page" and is likely to become a super star. Actually she is much more attractive ten years later. Also, the makeup is quite bad.

Piven is a class actor of the Chicago school. Although I am not a fan, Martha Plimpton is an OK actor. Jane Adams too is a fine actress.

Bottom line, this is a poorly written, shabbily directed movie that is more intent upon wisecracks than real dialog.

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The Cape Town Affair (1967)

1/10

Next To Worthless

5 October 2007

There is one redeeming feature: the gorgeous Ms Bisset. The acting is dreadful. Even Bisset is terrible. Forget the fact that it is a remake and forget great views of Cape Town (because this is a very dark film, and I don't mean noir).

My first attempt at this submission was rejected because it contains less than ten lines, but what else is there to say?

OK, I can say that even the music is formulaic in the sense that all spy movies were in the 60s. This is the sort of movie where you want to say "What were they thinking?"

OK? It is hard to imagine that IMDb encourages wasting cyber space.

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Lady in the Lake (1946)

3/10

Silly gimmickry.

24 December 2005

Warning: Spoilers

I think I remember the original reviews of this movie, and they were universally bad. But sometimes one might enjoy a bad movie when it is seen as a historical context--but this is not such a movie. It is unfaithful to the wonderful writing of Raymond Chandler. As an adaptation to the silver screen it does not even come close to "The Big Sleep," "Double Indemnity" or any other of Raymond Chandler's stories. Montgomery's attempt at tough guy speech is ludicrous; it's as though he is trying to emulate Humphrey Bogart while at the same time avoiding a comparison. Furthermore, it is derivative of Hitchcock and Orson Wells but falls ridiculously short of these standards to be thought of as something revolutionary in film. Probably the only value of this movie is to see Jayne Meadows at a very young age. She comes across as the perfect ingenue but is too sweet to have been a primary villain.

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The Shanghai Gesture (1941)

3/10

Pathetic Acting

8 October 2005

With the exception of Walter Houston, the acting would make a high school production look like academy award stuff. Victor Mature should not be faulted because he is rotten in everything. Phyllis Brooks would not get the part in a primary school production.

I confess that the director is a master at creating mood, however he should have suggested acting lessons instead. Gin Sling's makeup is outrageous but it fits the mood he has attempted to establish.

Ouspenskia is a joy to see no matter what she does, whether you can understand the speech or not.

I see no reason why everyone has to look Chinese. It's not a Chinese movie otherwise it would have sub titles.

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City of Ghosts (2002)

1/10

Could Not Be Worse

24 January 2005

Whevever an "artist" tries to do it all, at least one of the roles is lacking. In this case in which Dillon is actor, director and writer, all fail. This movie is filled with clichés. The acting is stiff and rich in the art of mumble. The female romantic character is worse than Katherine Houghton or Michelle Johnson who, by comparison would be award winners. At least Johnson displayed a spectacular body! I had hoped it would put me to sleep, but this one is bad enough to keep you awake. Add to that the extreme violence and predictable plot twists and one would pray for a sequel to "Heavens Gate." After this, the only thing left is to add one more line to achieve the minimum. Gerard Depardieu! What more do you need to know?

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Bride of the Wind (2001)

Fascinating view of genius and feminism.

13 August 2002

The rating of others amazes me. However, I do think that one might need to be a classical movie lover, and perhaps a Mahler lover. This is a great movie, and it has everything: beauty, taste, sex, mystery and a fascinating ending with the doings of Alma's daughter. The most amazing thing is the incredible feminism of Alma for the time--a time two decades before women in the US gained their franchise. For that reason alone, it is a fascinating movie. But be warned: I hate just about every movie one can see in the houses today with people flying up walls and employing robots to do their evils. This is a thinking person's movie.

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