@Neilb1906 Unfortunately it might not be in Netflix. I watched it through the stream provided by the local public broadcasting company.
This might not be available outside the country though
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Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai
This is a superb film, a deconstruction of the Samuari mythos, certainly as portrayed in films; if you would like to get some insight into one family during one period of Japanese history I would strongly recommend The Hagakure, presents a FAR more human face, and some great advice.
Within the context of this film you have an unyielding philosophy confronted by the tragedy of life. Do not look for any shafts of light here, but the price is well worth the cost of admission.
Recommended.
M
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The Magnificent Seven
NOT the modern pile of excrement.
This really is a superb piece of cinema, as long as you haven’t been infected by the modern philosophy, in which case you will see nothing here but problematic thinking.
The story is pure mythos. Evil visits a village whose people go on a quest and find a hero. This hero assembles a group of flawed individuals who stand up for right at great personal sacrifice. The winners are the farmers as expostulated in a note perfect ending, and the youngest of the group joins them, finding his future and happiness in the arms of a local woman.
How does this film match to the source material? To my mind The Seven Samauri is a different film, being rooted in a very different culture; and one that I would judge as ultimately more satisfying, as I find Eli Wallach’s reasoning for letting the heros loose tortured to say the least.
Still, a film that resonates. Charles Bronson’s death protecting the children who have dogged him through the film always brings a tear to my eye:
CB: ‘What’s my name kid’.
Children: ‘Bernardo’.
CB:‘Damn right it is’.
Superb.
M
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Samauri Marathon
On Netfix or Amazon.
I didn’t expect much, but was pleasantly surprised. A story built on a misunderstanding, one that has unintended and violent consequences.
My feeling is that where the film chose to stop was by no means the end of the events.
Very watchable.
M
That anyone managed to get a movie out of Salman Rushdie’s notoriously dense and fantastically literary novel is a feat in itself, but despite its stunning good looks and some fine acting, Deepa Mehta’s 2012 picture isn’t particularly engrossing. I think it’s because it’s difficult to work out what’s going on, and to actually care what’s happening, and to whom.
Gone With the Wind
My wife surprised me three nights ago by asking to watch this, after thirty minutes I think she wished she hadn’t, but we plowed on over three nights with this four hour-ish epic.
This is the highest grossing most successful film of all time, and I do wonder …why?
The two main characters, Scarlet and Rhett, are deeply flawed. She is an intelligent but self-willed, vain and selfish young woman; he is an older, experienced, pragmatic, clear sighted but self centered and amoral character, although one shot through with a degree of humanity. For instance in an early scene he tells his Southern audience why the South will lose, a foolish young man calls him out and he profusely opologises. When some of the audience call him a coward, after he has left, the host points out that he is a dead shot with a famously steady hand, and that he has spared the boy’s life.
It is in these smaller moments that I find some pleasure. Otherwise we are principly left to follow the steps of Scarlet, someone who takes poisonous step after poisonous step. The only point in the film where I have any true sympathy for her is when she pulls herself up by the bootstraps and saves Tara, putting the Estate before everything, including herself. Although in doing so she also takes some reprehensible decisions they are in character, and reflect a reality that I hope none of us have to face.
There are some nuggets for me in this film, but overall I find that I don’t much like the main characters and so I am not too emotionally engaged by their triumphs or loses. It is in the characters who surround them that I take more interest.
The title comes from the quick loss of a way of life for the wealthy in the American South. In our troubled times I wonder whether we too will see a life style that is Gone With the Wind.
M
@MrUnderhill It’s true that GWTW has aged badly in many respects (it’s astonishing to think that there were still a few Civil War veterans alive when the film premiered which demonstrates just how old the film is now – few would mourning the passing of the old slave-owning South today, but back in 1939 there were plenty), but it remains the acme of the sweeping Hollywood epic. No other movie epitomises the Golden Age better, even if the picture appears kitschy to modern eyes, and time has not treated its approach to race very kindly.
In many respects, it’s an astonishingly accomplished piece of movie-making - the huge vistas, the apocalyptic burning of Atlanta, director Victor Fleming’s expert marshalling of the enormous cast, the glorious Technicolor photography, the costuming and AD. And that cast! Gable, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel, Evelyn Keyes, Olivia de Havilland (still with us at 103), Ona Munson… all superb.
And at the centre of the whole film is Vivien Leigh’s extraordinary performance as Scarlett O’Hara, an obnoxious, selfish brat whom you (eventually) can’t help rooting for. She is a whirlwind, a ball of manic energy and drive. Amazing.
As for your last point… well, who can say what will happen next, or what kind of world we’ll be living in once this crisis abate, but it’s pretty inconceivable that we’ll be carrying on as before – after all, you can’t pretend this didn’t happen, can you?
There’s an old Tinseltown story that goes like this: in the spring of 1979, several hundred members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences woke up to the fact that they’d been conned. They’d seen a picture the previous year and were so dazzled by it they’d showered it with Oscars (including the top prize, for Best Picture). Now they were having serious doubts. Was The Deer Hunter – the movie in question – actually that good?
Watching the film again last night for the first time in 30-odd years, it’s difficult not to side with the doubters. Time has been less kind to the 42 year old Deer Hunter than it has been to the 81 year old Gone With The Wind.
Most of the fault for this lies with director and co-writer Michael Cimono. It’s often said that he was a great visual stylist but a poor dramatist and storyteller and I think that’s true. This movie looks gorgeous, one of the most handsome pictures of recent years. The evocation of steel-town life is great. The cast (especially De Niro and the late great John Cazale) are superb. The sound design and cinematopgraphy are fantastic. But beyond that… not much.
The best part of the film - which, at three hours, is at least an hour longer than it needs to be – is the first part. The evocation of American working-class life and the portrayal of male friendship are top-notch. It’s when the film moves to Vietnam that it starts to collapse. It’s just incredibly unconvincing. Even the infamous Russian roulette scene is curiously flat and undramatic… it’s just a lot of hysteria, face-slapping and shouting. Irritating rather than moving. The scenes in Vietnam also just don’t have the impact of later films such as Apocalypse Now, Casualties of War, Platoon et al – the conflict feels a bit small-scale.
And IMO the portrayal of the VC as vicious sadistic thugs isn’t racist particularly, it is just myopic and tin-eared in the way that only Hollywood can be when tackling “big subjects”. In addition the use of Russian roulette throughout the rest of the fim just grates and eventually comes across as silly.
Despite the best efforts of the cast, and some impressive technical achievements, The Deer Hunter is an overlong, disjointed mess.
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Hi Kevin(?),
I don’t disagree with any of your points. I could easily have majored on the grandeur, the quality of the acting, the cinematography or the quality of the script which, despite the length, has no excess flab. So, why am I less than adoring?
What is it about this story that is worth four hours of my life? Is this telling me something that I cannot easily see by opening my eyes to what is around me, or give me an insight that had escaped me?
For me the disappointment that this film engenders in me is that it DOES indeed get me to root for Scarlett, but once she actually decides to have yet ANOTHER dishonest marriage, by marrying Rhett, her resumption of a self indulgent life style where she is even jealous of her own daughter is not revelatory, just a showing of the self evident. Perhaps you could claim that her position at the end of the film where she, perhaps, understands what she may have squandered will lead to self understanding and a positive way forward; I have my doubts.
In summary. I agree that this film is a technical achievement, I just do not find the tale told to be worthy of my time - as he goes off to watch Thor! What a hypocrite 
M
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The special effects are so bad they are funny and the story line is silly but somehow it entertains. And, of course, Jane Fonda is fabulous.
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She certainly is! One of my favourite films …when I was fourteen.
M
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Sphere
Ultimately rather disappointing. The first third I found riveting, the second kept me engaged, the last third was a let down.
It was as though the writers simply ran out of imagination and so decided to steal the denouement from ‘The Forbidden Planet’; Monsters from the id.
M
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Kev, your review has reminded me that I need to re-watch The Deerhunter. I have not watched it in a good many years - or at least not since the DVD came out back in the early noughties. I must also watch Cimino’s next film, Heaven’s Gate, which I’ve never seen before., but recently got hold of a copy of the longer version.
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…get a good night’s sleep before watching ‘Heaven’s Gate’ or keep around for those nights when you have insomnia.
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The Equalizer, Apple TV
l look forward to your thoughts, I have never been able to build up the enthusiasm to try watching it.
Although it was panned upon release, Heaven’s Gate is actually a better picture than The Deer Hunter, I think, especially in the “long” version.
MICMACS - Great fun, visuals, and an excellent cast, this is superbly put together by the Director of ‘Amelie’ - Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
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Late 1990s early 00s seemed like a little golden nugget age for horror from Japan.
When I originally witnessed this for the first time I was well and truly spooked.
Watching again still gets my skin crawling.
AaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhheeeeeooooooooAAAAAAA.
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