OCTOBER 2005 MOVIE VIEWING #766 - #776

30 Sunday
Court Jester (Melvin Frank / Norman Panama 1956) 3.5/5
[FOX Classics 8.30pm] #776
Fast moving colourful story of Danny Kaye attempting to steal a king's key to gain access to a secret tunnel to overthrow him. A brilliant vehicle for Kaye who is simply wonderful as the Court Jester in disguise. With unforgettable lines (the pellet with the poison...), and a wonderful cast including Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury, Mildred Natwick and Alan Napier (of Batman TV series fame as Alfred the butler)

28 Friday
Last of Sheila (Herbert Ross 1973) 4/5
[ACMI 10pm Cinema 2] Third Viewing
On the third viewing this film gets better. Aware of all the red herrings and plot twists, one can focus on James Mason truly humorous and intelligent performance, the brilliant dialogue and one liners. Disappointing that the print shown was simply the DVD version of the film, however still worth the price of admission. The premise is simple, 6 people attend a games weekend on a ship, where a murder happens. Stellar cast of Mason, James Coburn, Richard Benjamin, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, with a script by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.

14 Friday
Silent Running (Douglas Trumball 1972) 1.5 / 5
[DVD] #775
The last forests from earth are held and maintained in Space, by the one main who truly understands their importance. So it is his murdering of his fellow astronauts to continue the forest's life than catapults this story forward. However, once that plot point is established not much else happen. An odd song here and there, some humorous by play with two robots, but this film fails in it's ultimate attempt at humanity and the environment.

13 Thursday
A Night to Remember (Roy Ward Baker 1958 ) 3.5 /5
[DVD] #774
A documentary style retelling of the 1914 Sinking of the Titanic. Really lovely crisp images and well directed. Good use of multi characters to convey the sense of failure, courage, sacrifice and redemption. A film which still remains quite striking nearly 50 years on. Better than James Cameron's Titanic.

12 - Wednesday
Event Horizon (Paul W.S Anderson 1997) 1/5
[DVD[ #773
Crew members on board a spaceship rendezvous with a missing spacecraft, only to encounter strange activities. A nice idea, but really this film loses itself halfway through and rather than answering questions, raises more than is needed. A really disappointing film.

8 Saturday
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick 1993) 2 /5
[DVD] #772
Beautifully made stop motion animation about the inhabitants of Halloween Town, who attempt to celebrate Christmas. Some wonderful creations, especially the Mayor of Halloween Town. Some of the songs are difficult to follow and as such make you lose part of the narrative, but on the whole, the story is fresh, and moves along quite well.

7 Friday
The Last Voyage (Andrew L Stone 1960) 1.5 /5
(Movie Extra) #771
Every possible disaster film plot point can be found in this film about a cruise ship on the verge of sinking. The stubborn captain (George Sanders), the trapped innocent mother (Dorothy Malone) and the heroic husband (Robert Stack) who refuses to let his wife die. Sanders performance is quite good until the end when some of his motivations and decision as captain seem far fetched. Some nice thrilling moments at the end, but ultimately nothing great about this film. Andrew Stone even managed to partially sink a real ship- the S.S Ile De France to add to the authenticity.

5 Wednesday
Cube (Vincenzo Natali 1997) 2/5
[Movie Extra] #770
7 strangers are trapped in a series of booby trapped cubes with seemingly no way to escape. Original and fascinating idea by Natali, but ultimate, one would like complete closure on the film. Some very smart plot devices and good creation of characters but ultimately the ending was lacking.

3 Monday
The ABC Murders (TV Movie) (1992) 2 / 5
[Hallmark] #769
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot solving a series a murder seemingly related only by the victims surnames which are running in alphabetical order. This wasn't a bad telemovie, and the majority of Poirot films are good, but it seemed that the ending was slightly lacking (blame the book ?) in resolution. As always everyone performed well, however I would have liked to have seen the Doncaster Race Course utilised better in the story.

Category 6: Day of Destruction (Dick Lowry 2004) 1 / 5
[Hallmark] #768
A hurricane and a tornado converge, creating a Category 6 storm over Chicago. Every potential disaster cliche appears in this Tele-Movie. The pregnant wife stuck in an elevator, the mother and child stuck in a bank fighting for their life, and a father piloting an aeroplane who must navigate the storm's eye to land and rescue his wife. It all comes together in a very B Grade feeling with weak unconvincing acting and poor graphics.

2 Sunday
The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenbar 2004) 3 / 5
[DVD] #767
Javier Bardem portrays real life quadriplegic Ramon Sampedro who wants to die rather than live the remainder of his life in bed. A very strong film with particular fine performances by Bardem and Tamar Novas (as Javier). Some very nice touches and use of music, in particular Bardem's first 'flying dream' . This film won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign film and some say, Bardem should have been nominated as Best Actor.

1 Saturday
Serenity (Josh Whedon 2005) 2.5 / 5
[Highpoint Cinema 3] #766
Sci Fi fim which has just the right amount of seriousness and light heartedness. Sure, the majority of the film is by the book, but there are several moments which shock. Particular impressive acting by Chiwetel Ejiofor as 'The Operative'. A film that fans of the TV series 'Firefly' will predominately like (apart from one or two plot points), and that general movie goers can have fun with