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Reviews
Le casse (1971)
Fun 70s French action movie
The plot becomes a fairly nonsensical car crash after the initial heist but the movie is quite a lot of fun anyway. It is basically a cat and mouse between the gang, particularly head burglar, Belmondo and the corrupt cop, Omar Sharif. The meetings betwen the sides and powerplay are central but slightly odd and ill conceived. Belmondo also has two women chasing him - Dyan Cannon is a kind of blonde Penthouse Pet of the Month and a pretty French redhead played by Nicole Calfan. No sex though, things fall apart before he can get down to enacting the glamour model pose selected from her latest magazine. All 3 are very charmant though. A few nice comic touches. The two main highlights really though are the archetypal quirky Morricone score and a great car chase.
Les bronzés (1978)
Amusing holiday comedy
Film from la Splendide cafe theatre comedy troupe. Engaging characters and dialogue about romantic longing particularly through the eyes of a couple who are in love but experimenting with separation and Michel Blanc's socially inept desperado, trying far too hard for a date. Support is from the staff romantics and casanovas. The action takes place mainly in the club and at the holiday camp's beach. Well directed by Patrice Leconte who also worked with Michel Blanc on the adaptatuom of Georges Simeon's Monsieur Hire novel. Spawned various sequels that took the Splendide team next to the mountains in Les Bronzes Font Du Ski.
L'homme de Rio (1964)
Fun and good looking movie
A kind of silly adventure caper premise with Amazon statues giving a clue to the whereabouts of a diamond mine. But the two stars look great, Brazil looks great and some of the action set pieces look great too. Not just Rio either, Brasilia is a fascinating backdrop for some of the second half. Occasionally the quality drops or it goes close to spoof. There is a dreadful plastic crocodile at one point.
Les coquillettes (2012)
Bit of docu fluff
Not much to it. 3 attractive women go to a film festival and take a shine to various men who are to a greater or lesser extent less interested in them. There are some bedroom encounters towards the end that generally aren't that successful for either party.
Untraceable (2008)
Predictable enough torture fest
I think I have seen similar and better some like The Bone Collector. I don't really like the torture scenes. The cyber element is not without interest. The performances are OK.
Un linceul n'a pas de poches (1974)
French noir bit comic book with some sexy sections
Enjoyable enough romp based on the hard boiled Horace McCoy novel but not very hard boiled. Basically the uncorruptable journalist takee on the corrupt town bigwigs and won't back down. Along the way various sexy dames throw themselves at him. Sylvia Krystal is one and looks great especially in a skinny dipping scene early on. Michael Lonsdale puts in a good turn as her jealous husband. The real star is the very catchy jazzy Paul de Senneville main theme which is a major earthworm.
Y a-t-il un Français dans la salle? (1982)
Political comedy drama mystery I suppose
A but all over the shop. I may have to read the San Antonio / Dard Nov to make better sense if it. A Peesident attends the deathbed of a close relation - looks for a letter left by the dead man. He falls in love with the daughter of the housekeeper, romances and later marries her. A photographer unsuccessfully tries to blackmail him. A mad secretary of the politico sets fire to the daughter's house. She jumps from the window to save herself cutting her face so badly that el presidente runs off home and hugs his house, his ardour presumably having subsided.
Une nuit à l'Assemblée Nationale (1988)
Mocky bonkersness
I couldn't very accurately follow the plot. Michel Blanc's character is a naturist activist who stumbles on a cash for honours scandal. He is the unknowing recipient of such an award. He is also naked for most of the movie though the film allows the dignity of his philosophy for the most part. Behind the scandal are the monarchists and their hired thugs, including one whose limbs keep falling off. Investigating it are the leftist journalists. They chase each other about a good deal. The final assault of gauchistes and naturist doesn't really come off but Poiret's monarchist character decides to call a press conference and confess all for reasons of political manoeuvring. Pretty enjoyable and slightly bonkers Mocky romp.
Vive les femmes! (1984)
Rom sex com
Tries for romance. Lonely people try to find Mr or Mrs Right. Comedy is comic book sketches on hols and in apartments. Sometimes dodgy dated e.g. Violence between couples and panties shown off to pupils by a teacher. Catherine Leprince is nevertheless a particularly sexy presence and the jazzy score is fun.
I... comme Icare (1979)
Near Future Thriller
Well acted by Montand but a rather dry procedural. The plot is basically a take on the JFK Assassination conspiracy material replacing Kennedy with the francophone Eurostate Jarry. The cityscapes are rather a character of the movie. Th Morricone soundtrack is excellent.
Tirez sur le pianiste (1960)
Truffaut does noir
Truffaut does noir and nouvelle vague. This is not quite either. It is not very hard boiled and it is not very experimental though it perhaps has some A Bout de Souffle influences. It is a black and white gangster film with a lot of dialogue, thoughtfulness, romance and comedy. Charming as always.
La planète sauvage (1973)
Imaginative sci fi animation
The alien world is a panoply of highly creative images. It is very alien. The sci fi itself is pretty simplistic. The human like Oms find their intelligence and potentiality misunderstood by the advanced colonisers, the Draags. They are treated as something akin to rabbit vermin, good for pets but to be kept down in numbers in the wild.
La nuit américaine (1973)
Film about film making
Well written piece with loads of great characters. The personal and professional are well and truly mixed up and everything kind of comes out OK in the end.
La bonne année (1973)
Intelligent romantic heist movie
Great character studies of the jewel thief who falls in love with an antique dealer while chasing a joint in the South of France. Brilliant dialogue, brilliant performances by FF and Lino Ventura. Good comic turn by LV's partner in crime too.
On the Edge (1985)
Unusual running movie
Scenery great. Other locations really interesting to. The father's yard. The makeshift gym in the old riverboat hulk. Bruce Dern is committed. You can tell his genuine passion for running. Pam Grier looks great as the love interest. As for the rest. Fun that other competitors protect the interloper but rationale not really explained. A generally muddled plot with elements that peter out in slightly hackneyed dialogue. The father who never appreciated him coming around to a good luck son. The love interest wandering out on his life at the aquarium. The draw at the end is a bit corny too but why not I suppose.
Pickpocket (1959)
Atmospheric French Drama of the Fifties
Nice performances as we follow the intellectualising Pickpocket around the streets of Paris. He is played as a very cold fish and it is often hard to see what the heck the friend and the would be girlfriend, played by the very beautiful teenage starlet Marika Green see in him, though the latter is quite cool, or maybe just introverted too.
80 huszár (1978)
Beautiful but meandering film
Virtually no plot, or at least not one I could easily follow. The 80 hussar deserters need to get back to Hungary to participate in or protect the country at a time of revolution. The Austro Hungarian Army including the Poles (is this correct?) don't want them to and treat them as traitors for reasons that aren't clear. I couldn't differentiate all Hussars or all twists of their arguments very readily. The costume, scenery, horses, battles are all stunning. Not an easy watch for the horse lover - you see them at their most magnificent buy most horses (and Hussars) have unhappy endings.
Dérapages (2020)
Unusual and enjoyable drama
Big business is evil. Recruitment by staged hostage crisis (yes, totally bonkers set up) goes awry when unemployed mid life crisis executive Alain Delambre decides to stage his own hostage taking during the exercise . Cantona is well cast though his monologuing is a bit excessive.
Girlfriends (1978)
Nice if ambiguous
Girlfriend housemates in a very close, but non lesbian relationship struggle to cope with the changes in their relationship caused when one of them suddenly decides to marry.
De slag om de Schelde (2020)
Interesting war story told from different perspectives
This film has very high production value and feels a very real film. The action on the reed beds, mudbanks and flooded villages of Zeeland following D Day is fascinating. The piece is well acted. I struggled a little with the three dramatic strands to really engage emotionallu with any one of the human stories here. And their stories don't touch upon each other, particularly the Dutch girl and the Brritish soldier. The drawn out battle sequence was pretty harrowing stuff. I did enjoy the film.
La Pointe-Courte (1955)
Touching psychological tete a tete.
Should the couple choose the quiet life of the fishing port (Noiret's character's only wish) or the ambition and excitement of the city(montfort 's character favours that). The discussion is never dull. Nor is the fishing port. The locals battle against the regulations of health officials and the enforcing coast guard. The camera angles and cinematography are always interesting. The music is lovely. Very enjoyable.
Un taxi mauve (1977)
Charming international film set in Ireland
I thoroughly enjoyed this story told from the perspective of a thoughtful, bereaved father played by Philippe Noiret and set in an Irish village. Everyone has a secret apart from the local doctor in his pink taxi, played by Fred Astaire. Ustinov puts in a great turn as the eccentric European with a weird, unhealthily controlling relationship with his daughter/neice/whoever. Charlotte Rampling as the uber rich, princess and sister of a man hiding from his own past (under orders from his family) looks absolutely stunning and turns the sensuality up to 11. Goodness knows how Noiret retains his mild, calm demeanor under those eyes.
No Time to Die (2021)
Lost pace halfway
A generous five in the end. Some really nice open sequences but as in other outings the sheer monotony of silly plot and the extra burden of human storyline has the viewer crying out for the end. By that time, the controversy over the death of Bond seems a little irrelevant. If Blofeld had given me a gun and a bag of toffees for the bus back from the cinema I'd have shot him myself.
The Enemy (2001)
Predictable TV Movie thriller fare
Might amuse those who like to say - ooh wasn't he in thanks to appearances by Tom Conti, Hortz Bucholz and Roger Moore. I find it hard to remember what was what here. Bucholz is some sort of mad scientist refugee on the run type. His equally intelligent son, Luke Perry, needs to recreate his experiments quick when he disappears. After that it is all - who can he trust and a couple of explosions. The final twist is well signalled.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Alright
Good performances but script just OK. Some great scenery but a lot of indoor sets with quite stiff TV show type staging. Can't really understand the Oscar buzz.