For the month of September...

Best Film of the Month: Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution

Worst Film of the Month: Stargate

September 29, 2007

Across the Universe (2007)
Director: Julie Taymor
Writers: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Julie Taymor
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, and Joe Anderson
Co-Starring: Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy, and T.V. Carpio
Description: An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.
Rating: A-
In a word... lovely.

September 29, 2007

Hannibal (2001)
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Thomas Harris, David Mamet, and Steven Zaillian
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, and Gary Oldman
Co-Starring: Ray Liotta, Frankie Faison, and Giancarlo Giannini
Description: After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he is discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns back to America to once again make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI official/rival as well as the media. Meanwhile, Hannibal must survive the advances by a disfigured and vengeful victim he first came in contact with years ago as a patient. He finds himself being tracked down not only by his wealthy victim and his henchmen but also by Agent Starling and the American authorities.
Rating: C
In a word... disappointing.

September 28, 2007

Vice Versa (1948)
Director: Peter Ustinov
Writers: F. Anstey and Peter Ustinov
Starring: Roger Livesey, Kay Walsh, and Petula Clark
Co-Starring: David Hutcheson, Anthony Newley, and James Robertson Justice
Description: Businessman Paul Bultitude is sending his son Dick to a boarding school. While holding a magic stone from India, he wishes that he could be young again. His wish is immediately fulfiled and the two change bodies with each other. Mr Bultitude becomes a school boy who smokes cigars and has a very conservative view on child upbringing, while his son Dick becomes a gentleman who spends his time drinking lemonade and arranging children's parties.
Rating: B
In a word... strange.

Note: I couldn't find an original movie poster, so I used the DVD cover.

September 22, 2007

Some Like It Hot (1959)*
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Robert Thoeren, Michael Logan, Billy Wilder, and I.A.L. Diamond
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon
Co-Starring: George Raft, Pat O'Brien, and Joe E. Brown
Description: Joe, the saxophone player, is Josephine in the all girls band that he joined with Jerry, the bass violin player, to be one step ahead of the mob after witnessing the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. After a train ride that sets a record for number of people in an upper berth, they are In Miami. Joe decides to be the man of Sugar Kane's dreams and invites her out to a yacht he doesn't have. But he can use Osgood Fielding's yacht if Jerry -- as Daphne -- will keep Osgood dancing. The pace gets even giddier when the Chicago mob arrives in Miami for a convention.
Rating: A+
In a word... hot!
Note: I saw this on the big screen at the coolest theater ever. Visit it here.

September 13, 2007

Unbreakable (2000)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson
Co-Starring: Robin Wright Penn, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, and Eamonn Walker
Description: Security Guard David Dunn miraculously survives a catastrophic train crash outside Philadelphia. Not only is he the sole survivor out of 132 passengers, he also is completely unharmed. A little later, comic book specialist Elijah Price contacts him to confront David with an incredible theory: Elijah, who has been nicknamed "Mr. Glass" due to his more than fragile bones, thinks that David has got all which he himself lacks. The two of them "seem to be linked by a curve, but sitting on opposite ends". First, David does not believe the strange man, but every single thing he had said proves to be true: David has never ever been hurt or sick in his life, his physical strength is larger than normal and he has a skill which others don't. Slowly, David begins to discover the shocking truth behind Mr. Price's assumptions. But after all, David's fate is not only to find his real place in the world. It also is about proving Elijah's theory of his own existence.
Rating: B+
In a word... subtle.
Note: I watched this in English, to compare with the classic epic poem, Beowulf.

September 9, 2007

Needful Things (1993)
Director: Fraser Clark Heston
Writers: W.D. Richter and Stephen King
Starring: Ed Harris, Max Von Sydow, and Bonny Bedelia
Co-Starring: Amanda Plummer, J.T. Walsh, and Ray McKinon
Description: Leland Gaunt comes to Sheriff Alan Pangborn's pleasant little New England town, and opens a store. What this kindly Satan sells is whatever you need, from a surcease from pain to an object which you have always coveted. The Faustian price is, of course, corruption, and soon the poor sheriff's town is wracked by jealousy, spite, and violence.
Rating: B
In a word... unsubtle.

September 9, 2007

Stargate (1994)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich
Starring: Kurt Russell and James Spader
Co-Starring: Viveca Lindfors, Alexis Cruz, and Mili Avital
Description: Egyptologist Daniel Jackson is brought to an underground military base where he decodes the symbols on Egyptian cover stones as star constellations. That allows a alien device known as the Stargate to be opened and a team led by Air Force Colonel Jack' O' Neil and Jackson to travel across the known universe to a distant planet. Arriving on the planet, they find a culture ruled by someone pretending to be the Egyptian sun god Ra. Soon, Ra captures the team and takes control of a nuclear weapon brought to the planet in case of the discovery of hostile aliens. Jackson and O'Neil escape and must fight Ra and his army of warriors to save Earth from being destroyed by Ra.
Rating: C-
In a word... cheesy.

September 8, 2007

Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Writers: Jean-Luc Godard and Paul Éluard
Starring: Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina
Co-Starring: Akim Tamiroff and Howard Vernon
Description: Lemmy Caution, an American private-eye, arrives in Alphaville, a futuristic city on another planet. His very American character is at odds with the city's ruler, an evil scientist named Von Braun, who has outlawed love and self-expression.
Rating: A-
In a word... fascinating.

September 8, 2007

Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Director: Preston Sturges
Writer: Preston Sturges
Starring: Rex Harrison and Linda Darnell
Co-Starring: Rudy Vallee and Barbara Lawrence
Description: Haughty, acid-tongued symphony conductor Alfred De Carter is madly in love with his wife, Daphne, but is driven to a murderous fit of jealousy when he reads a private detective's report of her activities during his absence. Convinced she is having an affair with his handsome young secretary, Tony, De Carter contemplates doing them both in. His fantasies of revenge inflate with elaborate, grisly detail in his mind as he conducts, but attempts to carry out his plans degenerate into a slapstick fiasco.
Rating: B
In a word... hahaha.

September 7, 2007

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Director: Michael Davis
Writer: Michael Davis
Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Belluci
Co-Starring: Stephen McHattie and Greg Bryk
Description: A man named Mr. Smith (Owen) delivers a woman's baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen.
Rating: B+
In a word... carrot.

September 7, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Writers: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio
Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, and Kiera Knightley
Co-Starring: Jack Davenport, and Jonathan Pryce
Description: This swash-buckling tale follows the quest of Captain Jack Sparrow, a savvy pirate, and Will Turner, a resourceful blacksmith, as they search for Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth, the daughter of the governor and the love of Will's life, has been kidnapped by the feared Captain Barbossa. Little do they know, but the fierce and clever Barbossa has been cursed. He, along with his large crew, are under an ancient curse, doomed for eternity to neither live, nor die. That is, unless a blood sacrifice is made. Full of edge-of-the-seat action and swashbuckling adventures, this is a movie you won't want to miss!
Rating: B-
In a word... arrrrr!

Note: I watched this in multimedia. Yeah, I don't get it either.

September 6, 2007

π (1998)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Sean Gullette, and Eric Watson
Starring: Sean Gullette
Co-Starring: Mark Margolis and Ben Shenkman
Description: The mathematician Maximillian Cohen (Sean Gullette) is tormented by a severe migraine since he was a kid, and he uses many pills to reduce his painful headaches. He is a lonely man, and his only friend is his former professor Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis). Max has the following assumptions, which rules his life: (1) Mathematics is the language of nature; (2) Everything around us can be represented and understood from numbers; (3) If you graph the numbers in any systems, patterns emerge. Therefore there are patterns everywhere in nature. Based on these principles, Max is trying to figure out a system to predict the behavior of the stock market. Due to his research, Max is chased by a Wall Street company with obvious interest in the results of his studies, and by an orthodox Jew follower of the Torah, who believes that this long string of numbers is a code sent from God.
Rating: B
In a word... what?!

September 5, 2007

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Gary K. Wolf, Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, and Joanna Cassidy
Co-Starring: Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, and Alan Tilvern
Description: Roger Rabbit is a cartoon character who (along with many others) exists along side of real humans. Eddy is a private eye who has seen better days and has been on the skids since the death of his brother at the hands of a Toon (cartoon character). Rogers' boss hires Eddy to see if his sexy wife has other male interests, but things get out of hand as Roger is framed for murder with no one but the Toon hating Eddy to go to for help.
Rating: B+
In a word... looney.

September 5, 2007

Paths of Glory (1957)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Humphrey Cobb, Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham, and Jim Thompson
Starring: Kirk Douglas
Co-Starring: Ralph Meeker and Adolphe Menjou
Description: In Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" war is viewed in terms of power. This mesmerizing, urgent film about a true episode in World War I combines the idea that class differences are more important than national differences with the cannon-fodder theory of war, the theory that soldiers are merely pawns in the hands of generals who play at war is if it were a game of chess. The result of this amazing film has been the emergence of one of the great talents in contemporary cinema, the master whose greatest work was yet to come.
Rating: B
In a word... hypnotic.