mphilipm Reviews

The Dark Knight (2008)

A Plot in the Dark

[1/10 · 23 April 2009]

Why did I watch this movie? To observe the performance of the late Heath Ledger. It was not a disappointment but, like other reviewers, I think it was not one in a league with, say, John Huston in "Chinatown" or Bogart in "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". It was more akin to Edward G. Robinson in "Key Largo", not shabby, entertaining in a movie which is really not memorable at all. The noise of it would have been unbearable in a movie theater but I saw it at home and could control the sound level and fast-forward. I've only seen a handful of movies that shouldn't have been over in ninety minutes and this one really didn't even have that much content. The dialog seemed to have been pieced together from the dead bodies of older scripts. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman grace any film by their acting abilities but I kept waiting for Christian Bale to say, "Go on. Make my day". Monique Curnan was notable in her supporting role. The rest of the major players seemed to be phoning it in.

Testament of Orpheus (1960)

A Unique Contribution to Film

[10/10 · 24 December 2008]

While I had surely seen the second film in Cocteau's Orpheus trilogy if not the first as well, I suspect I was in no position to appreciate any of what Cocteau accomplished. Now I'm about the same age he was when he did the Testament. I remember the time period for the second and third pictures, having grown up in it. But how all three of these films really transcend time as Cocteau is trying to show you works of art should! I had to rely on the subtitles for the sense of the lines but it was no matter. I don't remember anything else like these films. They are political to the extent they lobby for the poet's point of view. And in spite of the black and white and old prints their effect is most striking. Orpheus Descending and Testament sometimes look like the inspiration for Rebel Without a Cause. And Testament has some pithy comments on modern technology and the short comings of air travel that seem funnier and more relevant today. And toward the end of Testament, having the red blood and the red hibiscus in this black and white movie--how many times has that been imitated by computer technology? But it is what the poet saw then, not what technology makes commonplace and commercial today.

On the discs for Blood of the Poet and Testament are two separate bonus features, documentaries of Cocteau in fading Technicolor--but oh how interesting they are as well. At some point Cocteau says it was Picasso who taught them all to see. But what a treasure trove of talent Paris produced in the first half of the twentieth century. I hope this kind of sharing of artistic discovery can take place on the internet. Maybe it is already happening and I just don't know it. But I do know people who care for serious--but not heavy and sometimes witty--artistic expression, let alone movies, should see all three of these movies and the docs which accompany them.

Guns at Batasi (1964)

A Little-Seen Excellent Motion Picture

[10/10 · 26 August 2006]

Richard Attenborough gave a performance in this film worthy of an Oscar and everyone in the movie shone. The writing, the direction, the experience are what movies are all about and time has not dimmed the significance of the content. It seemed to be a lost film for many years but has come out on DVD with the usual--and in this case--entertaining extras. It is billed as a "war film" but it is much more than that, an action film in the way in which Master and Commander is an action film, exciting but significant as well, since it illustrates a point of view with which you may agree or disagree but which you will see distinctly after a viewing, comparisons and contrasts being inherent to the vehicle itself. Mia Farrow debuted in this but it is an English movie with a fine supporting cast including Jack Hawkins in a final speaking role.