Film blog These are films that I saw on TV or at the cinema. ------------------------------------------------------------ Casino Royale the sad anecdote about Casino Royale is that Peter Sellers wasn't feeling well at the time he filmed the scenes at the casino. As you know Orson Welles plays in the film too, and one of his party tricks was to perform magic tricks. If you've seen the movie "Fake" that Orson Welles did, then you'll understand what kind of mind boggling person he is. Basically poor Peter was totally freaked out by Mr Welles and refused to film with him in the scenes at the casino. Nevertheless, both actors are amazing, plus David Niven and Woody Allen. :) I love Casino Royale because it's completely over the top and totally funny. The bit you should look out for is when Peter Sellers' character walks past the aquarium and that classic Dusty Springfield/Burt Bacharach song "The Look of Love". This is what I call very sexy. That scene is pure movie heaven. The script and the direction are a total mess. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 02, 2006 12:01AM saw a film called "American Gun" which was James Coburn's last film. Co. star Barbara Bain and Virginia Marsden. Told in flashbacks, this is the story of a man whose daughter has been shot and he wants to pursue the enquiry after police closed the case. He manages to trace back the gun to the owner as he does so he reminisces about his daughter's life, his time as a soldier during the second Word War where he saw many people around him being shot. His wife is against the idea of him doing this enquiry. There is a twist to this film which is very smart hence I won't reveal it. Date: July 08, 2006 12:48PM I saw a film called The Long Memory with John Mills. 1952 - produced by Rank - ealing studios some stills from the film: [www.reelstreets.com] mostly shot in Gravesend/Kent, this gritty film is about a guy called Davidson who gets set for 12 years in prison for a murder he did not commit on the basis of false testimonies, incl. from his own girlfriend. Bitter and resentful, he wows himself to take revenge. Is revenge going to destroy him completely? Date: July 09, 2006 08:40PM if I was a bloke, I would want to be James Stewart. He was one of the nicest people ever to be on film. Not a bad bone in his body. This afternoon ITV made a special effort to show two movies ahead of the football world cup final. which were: Harvey (1950) Starring: James Stewart, Josephine Hull Director: Henry Koster Synopsis: When a gentle, pleasant man tells his friends about his best pal, an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit, his sister considers having him committed to the funny farm. Runtime: 104 minutes MPAA Rating: Not Rated Genres: Classic, Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Destry Rides Again (1939) starring Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Brian Donlevy, Charles Winninger screenplay by Felix Jackson, Gertrude Purcell and Henry Mayers, based on the novel by Max Brand directed by George Marshall Genres: Comedy, Western Tagline: They make the fighting sinful west blaze into action before your eyes! An owner of a chain of movie houses published an advertisement in all American newspapers: "The following actors and actresses are declared undesirable at the box office" printed in bold letters were the names: Garbo, Hepburn, Crawford, Dietrich, etc. That was a death sentence. The studios at that time, it must be understood, pursued a strict business policy: each time a distributor wanted a film for example, one with Garbo or Dietrich, he was forced to buy six mediocre films (or even downright bad films) as part of the deal. This public announcement shook the film industry. Metro-Golwyn- Mayer remained loyal to its stars, and continued to pay them, but it no longer wished to invest money in their films. Paramount wasn't so generous; They fired me, and Columbia withdrew the George Sand project. During the course of the summer of 1939, I received a call from the Hollywood producer Joe Pasternak. "In spite of everything, I'm taking the risk of making a film with you," he said "Jimmy Stewart has already agreed, and I would like to have you as his co-star in the western, Destry Rides again," I answered, "Not for anything in the world". But Josef von Sternberg advised me to accept the offer. So I left Antibes and set out for Hollywood. It was fun to make the film, and we were all delighted with its great success. Joe Pasternak was especially happy, since he had challenged the film industry and saw that his efforts had been rewarded." from pp207-209 Pan Books 1978 Seven Day to Noon heartbreaking documentary-style film filmed on locations in London, Photographer Gilbert Taylor United Kingdom (1950) directed by John Boulting Writer James Bernard starring Barry Jones , Andre Morrell , Hugh Cross , Sheila Manahan , Olive Sloane , Joan Hickson Atomic scientist Barry Jones is horrified by the destructive power of the weapon he's working on, so he steals one and demands nuclear disarmament - or he'll blow London to smithereens! The authorities have seven days to comply and start to evacuate the city as the hunt for the renegade boffin begins. This tense and intelligent thriller is one of the earliest movies to deal with people's fears over "the bomb" Joan Hickson who plays a landlady in the film is better known as Miss Marple from the later TV series. Actors are all fantastic. Date: July 24, 2006 08:50PM i saw Amelie (le destin fabuleux d'amelie poulain). this is a world i can relate to. nice to see La Foire du Trone, Montmartre, Rue Mouffetard and the interior of a French bistrot. Even a painter (poor soul has osteoporosis). soundtrack by Yann Thiersen starring the lovely Audrey Tautou worth listening to the French version (that More4 showed) for the narration by Andre Dussolier. a modern classic. charmingly weird film :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 27, 2006 12:05AM I saw this strange film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger [www.screenonline.org.uk] A Canterbury Tale (1944) a little classic of British cinema and it's not a period drama about Geoffrey Chaucer book of the same title, not even a modern remake of an old story but it takes the theme of going to Canterbury... Powell and Pressburger films are always well worth watching, very intelligent, atmospheric and poetic. Date: July 29, 2006 06:00PM yesterday i watched Lost in Translation (2003) with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. For those who don't know it, it's set in a modern hotel in Tokyo and two guests, one shooting a whiskey advert, the other accompanying her photographer husband meet. Nothing much happening in that film but it's very watchable and cool soundtrack. www.lost-in-translation.com i saw it on film four channel which is now free ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boys Don't Cry A film from 1999 based on the life Brandon Teena, a young person who was facing a sexual identity crisis and coming to terms with it. Hoping to get a sex-change operation in the near future, Teena lives out his identity as a man. What happened to that person is a classic case of hate crime and small town prejudice, yet also some kindness from a few people. Shocking story... this is a website about Brandon Teena [songweaver.com] link to the film with Hillary Swank and Chloe Sevigny on bbc2 [www2.foxsearchlight.com] I watched a film called Code 46 with Samantha Morton and Tim Robbins directed by Michael Winterbottom [www.code46movie.net] It's a sci-fi film set in a globalised multicultural world. Tim Robbins plays a guy whose company in Seattle asks him to investigate a fraud at one of the companies in Shanghai. I'm not giving the plot away, but the themes in the film are about memories being erased/kept, about pills that make you read people's thoughts (= empathy virus) and pregnancies being regulated by the authorities, and class barriers between those who benefit from cover and those who live outside of it. One realises that some of the themes exist in modern china and modern USA. In China there is birth control, and in the USA there are people who don't have medical cover. strange film - soundtrack is trendy with the keyplayers of electronics of 2003 (David Holmes, etc) The actors are excellent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frantic by Roman Polanski with Harrison Ford and Emanuelle Seigner Paris 1988 Harrison Ford and his wife arrive from Los Angeles to Paris where they spent their honeymoon thirty years ago. As they arrive they notice that they got the wrong suitcase and set out to sort that luggage question. However, next thing is that the MRs gets kidnapped, and Harrison is frantic to find her. The police is not really much help especially as there is a language barrier. The US embassy says they can't do much because it's not their jurisdiction. Harrison has another look at the suitcase and opens it, inside he finds a phone number, he tracks the owner down but when he arrives at the flat the guy lies dead. a young lady played by Emanuelle Seigner who likes Grace Jones, chewing gum and cocaine arrives and the scene. Both decide to join forces and find what's behind the story... more than they bargained for.