madmad Reviews

Like Someone in Love (2012)

One of the worst movies of the century, so far.

[1/10 · 31 March 2013]

This aimless exercise was a complete waste of time, I want that two hours of my life back. Plot less, characters with no motivations, long, agonizing takes with excessive "street noise" for faux-effect. In one scene inside a third-floor apartment with the windows closed, the soundtrack sounded like the action was taking place in the middle of a busy street.

The set-up might have been intriguing, if it went anywhere. It did not.

In one scene, the audience was actually subjected to viewing a guy falling asleep in his car while stopped at a traffic light. In real time. He nodded off, he napped, the light changed, traffic started to move.... Yawn!

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Don't waste your time

[1/10 · 16 December 2007]

This is, quite simply, one of the worst movies I've seen in 2007, and may be one of the worst films of all time. The thing was utterly devoid of plot, the characters were a deadly combination of unlikeable and uninteresting, the cinematography was dull and ugly. Baumbach must think movie viewers are extremely stupid: In the beginning scenes it's obviously winter or very early spring -- the trees are all bare, and later on in the movie, which takes place over the course of one weekend, the trees are all in full leaf like it's high summer.

Sad, pretentious, overly talky. Ugh! I would have walked out, as some did during the performance, but I was with other people and didn't want to cause a disruption. Save the price of a ticket and give it to charity.

The Day of the Jackal (1973)

This movie knocks my socks off

[10/10 · 21 February 2005]

One of the rare movies that actually deserves the category "thriller." I've seen it many times, and each viewing reveals more detail, more structure. There are numerous shots of various clocks. Because of the time-frame of the story (early sixties) everything is analog. Found a couple of plot-holes, but they're so nit-picky I won't even bother putting them out there.

Also found the early interrogation scenes much, much more disturbing since the Abu Ghraib scandals became public.

Be patient, not every scene is action-packed, and you will be richly rewarded.

The Witches (1967)

Woof!

[3 October 2004]

This one's a big-named Dog. The last segment, with Mangano and Clint Eastwood, is at least interesting, if only for a look at baby Clint, but ultimately goes nowhere. Big style, substance missing in action. Trivia note: in the first segment, filmed in Kitzbuhel, Austria, one of the press photogs is a Kitzbuhel local who was a ski instructor at the time, according to my husband who lived in Kitzbuhel around the same period. Yawn. I kept hoping something profound would happen. Hope was dashed. The Italians have a perfect word for this: Stupidagine!

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

I laughed, I cried, and then I cried some more...

[9/10 · 7 July 2004]

I saw this movie last night, and found it extraordinarily moving and upsetting. Much of Moore's "case" is not new, but some of it definitely was. Agree or disagree with the man, he knows how to tell a story, and the footage he obtains is simply amazing. I cried at several points in the story, literally dumbfounded. The theater was full, even on a Tuesday night.

There are those who dismiss this film, without having even seen it. To them I say, see it. The images speak for themselves. You don't need Moore's commentary to get the point, in fact, the only flaw in the movie is Moore's talking when being silent would have been the better choice.

Suspiria (1977)

I agree with "Dog's Breakfast"

[25 August 2003]

I saw this film last night at a special screening at a local theater. That is, I saw about the first 25 minutes until I walked out. What plotless drivel! No amount of lush photography and atmospheric lighting can make up for the overwrought bore that is "Suspiria." I had hopes for a good thriller at the beginning, and the weird score (with almost subliminal moaning voices going at it nonstop) didn't begin to grate on me until about ten minutes in. I was initially intrigued by the address she requests: Escherstrasse, especially when, in a subsequent scene, the wallpaper in a bathroom has those famous M.C. Escher optical illusion designs. I was hoping for a brain-teasing thrill, movie as Mobius strip, but all I got was a slasher flick with mammoth and unjustified pretentions. Yuk!

Berlin Express (1948)

good thriller, unbeatable location shots and cinematography

[4 November 2002]

I saw this movie recently on TCM and liked it. I thought the plot was good, as was the acting. I couldn't believe that the secretary was Merle Oberon, I hardly recognized her, and I think that is a testament to how good an acting job she did. Some of the lines seemed stilted and staged, particularly toward the end, but given the time period when the movie was filmed, not at all surprising. There was a good mix of characters, but the real star of the film is the location: there are wonderful shots of Berlin and Frankfurt right after the war, and the devastation around the characters adds a powerful unspoken dimension to the film.

For anyone who enjoyed this movie, I would also highly recommend "Decision Before Dawn," also filmed on location in postwar Europe, which starred Richard Basehart, Oskar Werner and a whole host of other fabulous character actors, including Hildegard Kneff.

It is irksome, but neither Berlin Express nor Decision Before Dawn seem to be available on Video or DVD, which is a real shame. So, watch your TV listings for these two.

La Terra Trema (1948)

This is a riveting movie!

[24 June 2002]

I saw this movie Friday night on TCM. I'd never heard of it, but I'm a neorealismo fan, so I watched. I'm sorry I didn't tape it, what an epic! Like "The bicycle thief," this movie uses real people, and almost feels like a documentary at times. I agree that the sentiments are rather marxist, but I have to admit that if I lived as these people do, I might be drawn to communism, too. There are some subtle (or maybe not so subtle) references to the politics of the times, wall posters about Mussolini and the hammer and sickle images painted on the walls. Oddly, this movie reminded me somewhat of "Man of Aran," the images are that stark, life is that bleak. The film is beautifully shot, and the story is wrenching. Watch it if you get the opportunity. It memorializes a way of life that is gone, and I'll bet there's not a single person who misses it.

Vertigo (1958)

A minor correction

[22 May 2002]

I just read an incorrect comment on this movie.

Andrew 162 remarked about the "shape of the church tower" and referred to its location as San Francisco. In fact, that adobe building, is Mission San Juan Bautista, which is about 100 miles south of San Francisco off Hwy 101. The Coroner's Jury scene is also filmed in the same town, in one of the historic buildings there. Mission San Juan is one of the original California missions, and is the oldest continuously operating church in the state.

The bell tower in the movie was a set constructed by Hitchcock, there was no bell tower there at the time, but there is one there now, which was constructed since.

Lastly, the scene in the automobile in which they are "driving down" to San Juan Bautista, the divided highway with the eucalyptus trees, is actually still there, but it is located south of San Juan Bautista on the way to Salinas, so they would not have passed that stretch of highway between San Francisco and San Juan Bautista.

Maybe this is "too much information," but I had to get it out there.

Midnight Express (1978)

What a tense movie!

[21 May 2002]

It's interesting to note the comments on this movie.

I saw it on TV last night, not for the first time, and I noticed how the Turks in the film are all one-dimensional bad people, and physically ugly to boot. I also read that many of the scenes are completely fictional. I am not one of those people who think that a "true" story must be completely true; I think that the purpose of movies is to entertain, and this one certainly does that, if in a harrowing way. But, given the politics of our time, if the author of the screenplay wanted to create a demon people for dramatic effect, perhaps it would have been better to have set the story in a fictional or unidentified country.

The other observation I would make is, we are not much better than they are. We regularly sentence people to ungodly amounts of prison time for drug offenses, both on a state and federal level. Our prisons are no picnic, either, with many of the same sorts of things that were portrayed in the movie happening right here at home.

So, go check "the man in the mirror" before you condemn anyone else.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

I walked out.

[21 February 2002]

I couldn't take this movie. I loved the books, read them all, including "The Hobbit." I even liked the animated version that came out in the '70's. There were some lovely things in this film, liked Elijah Wood, liked the sets, costumes, etc. My major problem with this movie was that it was very cold in tone. It went from battle to battle, and the scenes in between the fighting were little more than "whew!" The books were emotional, the books were involving, evocative. This was awful. When the characters emerged from the underground dwarf mines, and I realized that they had at least two set-piece battles remaining, I was out of there. It was a shame to waste such a talented cast.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

(yawn!)

[19 February 2002]

I went to this movie last night expecting great things. I liked Rushmore and found it entertaining, and I was looking forward to this movie about a quirky family, with such a great cast. First observation, maybe not the most important, this movie was filmed in New York. I'm from NY originally, and I couldn't believe it, they actually made it look like Toronto. Why pick a location like New York and then not capitalize on it? Second, the story was all over the place, none of the characters was developed emotionally, they were all empty caricatures, as far as I'm concerned. Those matching track suits and Gwyneth Paltrow's canoe-paddled eyeliner became leitmotifs for ideas that were never developed. Sorry, this one didn't resonate with me at all; I think that Hackman has loads of performances that he should have, could have been nominated for Oscars, but this isn't one of them. Feh.

Rollerball (1975)

Not a great movie, but a good, interesting one

[11 February 2002]

I know this movie has recently been remade, and I'm sure that the remake will be much, much more violent, with a driving rock sound-track, and that it will be perfectly awful. The thing I like about this film, which I saw when it first came out, and again recently, was the nice contrast between the violence of the game and the classical music soundtrack. The scenes outside the game all showed an attempt at great cultural refinement. The opening scene, which was of the team filing into the empty arena to Bach's "Toccata fugue in D minor" was absolutely brilliant. Some of the stuff seems silly now, the "futuristic" scenes, which worked in 1975, are incredibly dated. John Houseman gave a wonderful performance as the amoral executive, as did Ralph Richardson as the batty librarian, with a computer that rivalled the "Hal 2000" in Kubrick's 2001. James Caan, who plays the lead character, was at the height of his acting ability, and his methody treatment of the athlete who got too big for his own good is just right. He also has the broadest shoulders I've ever seen, but Oh! those leisure suits with zippers were too, too much....

Made (2001)

unreconstructed drivel

[28 January 2002]

If my comment can save even one person from viewing this absolutely, annoyingly boring piece of trash, my life will have some meaning. It made me wonder, how did something like this get a green light? Terrible dialogue (I have no objection to profanity, but it should enhance the dialogue, not replace it,) horrible camera work, no discernable plot. Yuk, yuk, YUK! And I have actually liked these people in other movies....

Decision Before Dawn (1951)

realistic WWII movie, illustrates a little-known aspect of the war

[10/10 · 17 October 2001]

I saw this movie recently on AMC, and was extremely impressed. It was filmed on location only a few years after the end of the war, and uses the bombed-out scenery to brilliant advantage. I agree with all of the previous comments, and wonder why this film is not available on DVD or video. I was so intrigued by the story that I found a copy of the book on which it was based over the internet, "Call it Treason" by George Howe. I just finished it, and I enthusiastically recommend the book,it's worth searching for (out of print.) I wish there were more books and movies like this around....

Traffic (2000)

Watch the 1989 original, it puts this movie in the shade!

[16 July 2001]

I saw the original "Traffik" as a TV miniseries on PBS when it first came out, and then again over the past two weekends. I saw "Traffic" the movie when it came out, and enjoyed it also.

In seeing the original again, however, I can only say that it literally eclipses the movie. The movie took the story, moved it over a continent or two, added flash and glamor but removed the soul. In every category, acting, writing, editing, music and, yes, directing, the original outshines the movie. The drug-addicted daughter is played heartbreakingly by a very young Julia Ormond. The Catherine Zeta-Jones part (which she did not have the gravitas to play) was played by the icy, beautiful and completely believable Lindsay Duncan. The mini also has a subplot entirely missing from the movie, although some of the character, who is a Pakistani farmer in the mini, is injected into the Benicio Del Toro part in the movie.

See the original, and notice how Soderbergh copied the English director's idea of filming the different locations in different hues. Soderbergh got a lot of critical acclaim for that one, and I don't remember hearing him credit his predecessor with the idea.

The user guide rating for the original is an incredible 9.1. I think that's about right.

Traffik (1989)

Much, much better than "Traffic"

[16 July 2001]

I saw this one when first broadcast in the US, then saw the remake with Michael Douglas, then watched the original again last night. I was amazed by the degree to which the quality of the original exceeded that of the remake, with the possibly sole exception of Benicio Del Toro's performance as the Mexican police officer.

In every category, acting, writing, photography, music, editing, the original is superior. It managed to project the same message without being preachy, and the characters had much more depth and scope.

One other observation: when the remake came out, much fanfare and praise was directed at Soderbergh for "his" concept of filming the different locations with different color pallettes: Mexico was yellow, Washington blue. This is a concept he lifted whole cloth from the director of the original, which I had not noticed the first time I saw it, but did notice the second. Pakistan is filmed in ocher hues, Hamburg and London in shades of blue and grey.

When the Hollywood product came out, I felt like I was the only one on earth who had seen "Traffik" the first time around. I sincerely hope that the movie will spark the interest of others to watch the mini-series--it's worth the investment of time, and a great education, not only on the drug and social issues, but on how quality gets diluted to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Two Family House (2000)

I loved this movie

[19 December 2000]

I was a young girl in New York around the time portrayed in this movie. I didn't live in Staten Island, but where I came from wasn't so different. I knew these people, I went to high school with them, I heard them talking in bars, etc. The characters are right on, even if they are perhaps just a bit exaggerated for dramatic effect. Yes, racism like that expressed in the movie was (and probably is) endemic. Yes, people who wanted to break out of the mold were viewed as "throwing their whole lives away." I loved that Buddy was able to escape. I also loved the character of his wife, who was painful to watch. Go see this movie. It is everything movies should be. Great story, great acting, a soundtrack that complements the action without intruding. It's like a wonderful home-cooked meal, nothing fancy but it stays with you. And a return comment to the guy who said it was hackneyed: Hey, there are no new stories, only old ones retold and retold. It's how you do it that makes a movie or a play. Even Shakespeare stole his plots from someplace else!