eddiecatone Reviews

Brooklyn (2015)

Italians in the film

[6/10 · 23 October 2019]

As an Italian I can say that the Italians in this film don't look at all Italian, especially Ronan's love interest. Scrolling the cast they haven't got Italian surnames. One little kid has an Italian surname, he uses Italian gestures but not in the right way. They drink milk at the table. No Italian would ever dream of drinking milk at the table. My point is that if you get Irish (or British) actors to play the Irish you might as well get Italian-Americans to play the Italians. If you do things do them right...

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

The reason why...

[3/10 · 3 October 2019]

I get it: American audiences don't like dubbing American audiences may not care for subtitles American audiences may not know or care about Argentina and its history American audiences aren't (even to this day) ready to watch a film in Spanish.

This film is the U.S. remake of an Oscar winning Argentinian film, but it just doesn't work as well. In the original the thriller/drama plot is deeply connected to Argentine's history and soccer crazy society. Here it doesn't translate as well and we're only left with the murder plot. Watch the original and if you don't like it watch something else. No need to watch this.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

While most of the other big budget films today...

[9/10 · 3 October 2019]

...today are either franchises, spin offs, re-boots or saga wannabes, Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon...is a nostalgic fairytale about his favourite subject (cinema) set in its ideal kingdom (Hollywood). I'll leave it to you to guess who Prince Charming, Snow White, the huntsman and the wicked witches are here.

As usual with QT the movie is packed with film and 60's tv references that only a lucky few film buffs will be able to appreciate in its entirety.

As usual with Tarantino the writing is clever and the plotting crafty even if his trademark suspence dialogues are almost absent, after all the two protagonists aren't champions of verbose eloquence: -The Di Caprio carachter is a self pitying moan with a hint of a stutter who can't help talking about himself even when telling the story of a book he is reading. -Pitt's character is a laconic, laid back and out of luck stuntsman whit a caring nature who always speaks out his mind even when facing Bruce Lee or the Manson's lot. Di Caprio and Pitt are pitch perfect in their roles.

Margot Robbie brings candour and glee with her homage to Sharon Tate and her role is mirrored by Margaret Qualley's happy-go-lucky hippie girl. The two girls live in the same world but in a social scale they may well be on different planets. 1969 Los Angeles and it's streets and neon lights is the other protagonist, Tarantino wisely avoids 60's cliches and the town appears both real and nostalgic through Bob Richardson's lighting.

Cannot say much more or as I don't want to give away too much, I'll just say that I'm more than eager to a second viewing.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

20 years since EWS 20 years since the death of Kubrick.

[10/10 · 7 September 2019]

20 years since EWS 20 years since the death of Kubrick.

Very minor spoilers 1999 When I saw the film back in the day it left me baffled as it did with most viewers (and many critics as well, though they had a hard time trying not to show it). The death of its author overshadowed the film, and rumours about the famous "masked orgy scene" somehow mined my viewing "..when's this orgy scene coming...?" So I was left thinking that this cryptic farewell by Stanley was either too complex for me or that this story about jealousy didn't turn out to be as iconic as his other masterpieces.

2019 20 years have gone by and I now believe that EWS is one of K's most complex and fascinating films. Maybe because I've grown up in the meanwhile but on my second viewing I picked up on details, patterns, hints, symbolisms that I didn't ' on my first viewing twenty years ago. This is a film to watch over and over again.

The plot a in a nutshell: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are the Hartfords a dream couple,young, beautiful and presumably with good economic prospects..but as wealth and status they are nowhere near to Victor Ziegler (Sidney Pollack) whose grand style Christmas party they've been invited to. At the party the couple toys with the idea of possible infidelity (without believing to much in it) and Cruise's character, who is a doctor, witnesses also an unexpected aspect of Ziegler's private life though he is sworn to secrecy.

The following day after having had a fight with his wife on the subject of infidelity Cruise's character is called to the house of a patient and this sets him off on an all night long journey across a Christmas lit New York. He is tormented by jealousy but at the same time he bumps into many potential sexual encounters with different women (most of them, if not all with rufous hues in their hair like his wife's). The night culminates in an out of town castle which in a distorted way (as in a dream) provides a bookend to Ziegler's party at the beginning. By the end of the eventful night all of Hartford's insecurities, inadequacies and maybe his inability to climb the social ladder are dramatically unfolded.

Throughout Cruise/Hartford's odyssey his perception of sex is always associated with money and death and violence and guilt and social status. But maybe Nicole Kidman's character has a more practical take on this subject. Her last line in the Christmas shopping scene maybe is after all the best way to drive away nightmares and insecurities, restore normality and reunite the family.

This F-word is the last thing we will see from Stanley Kubrick, a very private man whom we got to know a bit better in the following years through books and documentaries and interviews with his family and collaborators. After 20 years he is still very much missed.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Oops they did it again...

[7/10 · 20 May 2019]

"The Ballad.." is not just the Coens joyriding into the old west as the trailer seems to suggest. A zany love declaration to old America with a few songs...a bit like in "O brother, where art thou?". I found the "Ballad.." closer to some of the Coens most cryptic stuff like "Barton Fink" or "A Serious Man". Here a bouncy light-hearted opening sequences slowly gives way to an uneasy feelings of impending doom.

The first episode "THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS", A singing lonesome cowboy (Tim Blake Nelson) rides into town. it's pure Coen: cartooneque and unpredictable. Tex Avery would have loved it.

"NEAR ALGODONES" Starts with another lonesome cowboy (James Franco) about to enter a bank. You can guess the rest but there are few surprise encounters and a brilliant action scene that is as good as those in Innaritu's "The Revenant".

"MEAL TICKET" is the most haunting and gloomy episode. Harry Melling plays a young actor in an itinerant one man show managed by an unrecognisable Liam Neeson. Here the Coens abandon their usual zany camerawork and eccentricities as the story is straight forward and there is nothing to add.

ALL GOLD CANYON follows another lonesome figure, this time an old gold prospector (Tom Waits) wandering into a beautiful valley.

THE GALL WHO GOT RATTLED Set in the epic of the Oregon trail we follow the journey of a young girl (Zoe Kazan) her brother and their pet dog. Compared to the other Segments it's more of a short novel which for its barren landscapes, gritty characters and effective action scenes could have easily been renamed as " No Country for Young Women".

The last chapter, "THE MORTAL REMAINS" deals with another Western classic the stagecoach. This episode is the most enigmatical and evokes the equally cryptic opening sequence of the Yiddish village in "A serious man".

So that's the Coens in a nutshell: the Wackiness and the Inquietude...they did it again.

Terminal (I) (2018)

35 minutes into the film and...

[4/10 · 8 May 2019]

....and nothing happens. It looked promising, we get the whole "Sin City package " of neon lights, dark hallways, guns and briefcases and lap dancers, Margot Robbie looking cool in different outfits and Simone Pegg dodging awkward situations... yet nothing really happens and instead we get quick cuts and flashbacks and main characters meeting up exchanging supposedly witty and clever dialogues, that are not that witty nor clever. So I decided to quit. Who knows maybe the rest of the film is a Masterpiece, and maybe the beginning is crucial for the plot...judge for yourselves. I gave up.

Goya's Ghosts (2006)

Worth watching if you haven't yet.

[8/10 · 11 March 2019]

There are at least two memorable scenes in Milos Forman's "Goya's Ghost". One sequence shows us step by step how Spanish artist Goya created his famous etchings. The other is a dinner scene where a truly wonderful Javier Bardem, without revealing too much, is asked to compare himself to a monkey.

Goya's Ghost is a film inspired by Goya's haunting images that Forman and his co-writer Jean-Claude Carriere concoct into a story halfway between a Poesque nightmare of dungeons and inquisition (The Pit and the Pendulm) and a dramatic historical feuilletton a la Victor Hugo.

There are some flaws, the story doesn't seem to have a barycentre (who is the lead here?) and the plot somehow ties too neatly with real historical events.

Having said that "Goya's Ghost" for its production values is clearly a notch higher than most period dramas.

The cast is strong, the aforementioned Bardem, Natalie Portman looking straight out of a painting, Scandinavian actor Stellan Skarsgaard gives a keen portrayal of the Spanish artist and the American Randy Quaid a surprisingly effective one of the somehow ineffective king of Spain. Like with Jeffrey Jones's Emperor in "Amadeus", Forman seem to know how to tackle his monarchs.

The Name of the Rose (2019)

To many false starts, are a bad start

[4/10 · 11 March 2019]

Being a big fan of both Eco's novel and Annaud's film I had been anticipating this series with the always likeable John Turturro.

The first episode started by hopping from location to location in an effort to create backstories for the main protagonists, and by the time we get to the Monastery where everything takes place, (and where the goods should be delivered), the story had already lost its initial spur. More flashbacks later on don't help and the murder-mistery plot ends up loosing the grip it might have had.

My judgment is partial as haven't watched the whole series (the last episodes are still to be aired), but I haven't been intrigued by it so far. Meanwhile I picked up the novel again and I'm looking forward to re live the suggestive atmosphere of J.J Annaud and Sean Connery's 1986 film version.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Mel Gibson sticks to his guns

[7/10 · 7 August 2017]

"A single man, driven by faith endures all possible torments without giving up hope." I think this works quite well for most of Mel Gibson's films from "Braveheart" (1995) to "The Passion of the Christ" (2004) and the brilliant "Apocalypto" (2006). "Hacksaw Ridge" is no exception telling the story of another man of faith and determination, a man who "sticked to his guns" however this idiom sounds particularly ironic in this case because the man in question, corporal and U.S army medic Desmond Doss achieved military glory while being a conscientious objector that refused to carry or even touch a gun or any other weapon.

"Hacksaw Ridge" is structured like many army and war films. The warm prewar life (here however haunted by a complex relationship with Mr.Doss Sr.) Second act is the obligatory Boot Camp scene with the always enjoyable routine barrack inspection and training chin deep in the mud. Third (and fourth) act is the lengthy battle chapter in which Gibson almost revels in a gory dance of torn limbs and fire and smoke pyrotechnics. What makes the difference is Doss, the atypical hero, lanky and a bit goofy, but whose courage is not simply innate but fuelled by his compassion his sense of duty and his unflattering faith. If you think about it this definition works for most of Mel Gibson's films.

Goldstone (2016)

No Country for Tourists

[7/10 · 1 August 2017]

(No plot spoilers)

When I ask somebody" what's your dream holiday ?" 9 out of 10 answer: "Australia". The other "1" instead has already been there: Ayers Rock, Sidney Opera House, the souvenir boomerang and the photo with a Koala bear. That's the Australia we know about.

But what about the Australia we don't want to know about? Once I was chatting with an Australian guy, Bondi beach surfer type with a bleached grin. When I asked him about the Aboriginal people he scorned "...they're just a bunch of drunks". I didn't like what I heard. This long preamble is to say that "Goldstone" is about the Australia we don't want to know about. An Australia made of endless rocky deserts and of aborigines copying with drug abuse and high suicide rates while the "whites" exploit the hidden ores of the underground.

Also women are exploited in this story which starts with federal cop Jay Swan arriving in the mining town to track a missing Chinese girl , his presence and methods are not welcomed by the local authorities and by the mining company that finances everything.

The word "town" is repeated several times in the movie but there is no town as we imagine it, just cargoes, cargoes scattered on a barren lunar landscape. Inside these cargoes we find are offices, neon lit brothels, a morgue and even a perfect suburban kitchen where the mayor bakes cakes like in a Doris Day comedy. Director and cinematographer Ivan Sen seems to have had fun with this juxtaposition between interior and external scenes, and the main character Jay Swan who has indigenous origins is usually seen to stand on the threshold of these two worlds.

"Goldstone" is a solid thriller with all the elements of the classic western: the lone stranger new in town, the wise old native man, the sympathetic prostitute, the villain and its henchmen and there are some effective shootouts. The film has its weaknesses too: characters are sometimes predictable and dialogues a bit clichéd and unrealistic while the plot could have benefited from being a little more straightforward.

"Goldstone" has certainly dropped Australia down the list of places Im looking forward to visiting but on the other hand I'm now looking forward to watching its prequel "Mystery Road" (2013).

The Invisible Guest (2016)

It twists and turns like a ...twisty-turny thing

[8/10 · 29 July 2017]

" you twists and turns like a ...twisty-turny thing" is a line from Curtis and Elton's 1980's sitcom "Blackadder II". And this Spanish mystery thriller is certainly the most "twisty-turny" thing I've seen in a while.

Set in an atypical Spain made of coniferous forests and mountain resorts, in which a rich businessman and his lover are forced to deal with an unwanted and unforeseen event. Wrong decisions are made leading to guilt and fear while the mystery of what really happened thickens and changes at each turn until it spirals down to its climax. I said spirals, there are so many plot twist in rapid succession that the film ends up spinning. The film is structured in an almost "Rashomon" style where different possible solutions to the mystery are shown in flashback. Ideally the viewer should be trying to work out its own solution as well before the final plot twists are unleashed on us. Once a thriller becomes predictable it looses its appeal and The Invisible Guest (Contratiempo) by Oriol Paulo seems on a mission to baffle us till the very end.

May God Save Us (2016)

Gripping crime thriller set in Madrid

[10/10 · 29 July 2017]

Que Dios nos perdone (May God Forgive Us) Gripping crime thriller set in Madrid. The film does the job and does it well.

The plot is straightforward: Madrid 2011, a string of heinous crimes,two unorthodox cops on the hunt for the serial killer.

Pacing,editing,photography and camera-work is neat and effective and director Rodrigo Sorogoyen wisely avoids the usual gimmicks and tricks that are used to convey mood and suspense in conventional thrillers. The serial killer behaves likes A criminal that doesn't want to get caught. He becomes more and more hateful as the film progresses.

While sticking to the serial killer plot the script allows space to explore the character and private life of the two cops (an aggressive family man and an introvert stutterer) There is also a third protagonist which is the city of Madrid itself with its houses, staircases and landings , the streets in the center and the anonymous housing blocks of the suburbs.

As a Spanish language film it strongly reminded me of one of the masterpieces of this century, J.J. Campanella's Oscar awarded "The Secret in Their Eyes" (El segreto de sus ojos, 2009). Hollywood turned "The Secret.." into a clumsy remake, I hope they'll think twice before doing the same with May God Forgive Us.

La La Land (2016)

Bland Bland Land

[2/10 · 28 July 2017]

What a disappointment. Not a musical. (Musical acts are scarce and scattered, there is only one recognizable tune, the others are instantly forgotten). Not a love story. Stone and Gosling show no chemistry, no passion. Not a film about jazz. (apart from a few corny clichés)

The film has been successful, so I guess it must have had some appeal. But this Hollywood self celebratory so called return of the musical didn't win me over.