Movie Review: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Year of Release: 1958
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson
Plot outline: A Southern house is divided by patriarchal dominance and the marital problems between one of the sons, a heavy drinker, and his wife (IMDb).
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was originally a successful play by Tennessee Williams, who had earlier created a sensation with A Streetcar Named Desire. For the movie adaptation, some changes had to be made to get past Hollywood censors, and to prevent Paul Newman from playing a character with homosexual overtones. Williams' exaggerated characters and situations create a tumultuous soap opera plot involving latent homosexuality, suicide, terminal illness, gold-digging, and alcoholism. The movie is hard to watch yet hard to turn away from. The story provides the frame for a script loaded with impassioned speeches and vicious arguments; the final outcome amazingly creating a happy ending with Newman's personal demons apparently cured. While never boring, the intense drama is sometimes overblown. Newman constantly drinks but, except for the opening scene, is never drunk. It is also difficult to believe Taylor's faith in her embittered husband, and that she would repeatedly throw her gorgeous self at him despite his rejection. (BK)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Tora! Tora! Tora!
Year of Release: 1970
Country of Origin: USA, Japan
Directors: Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Joseph Cotten, Tatsuya Mihashi
Plot outline: A dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that allowed it to happen (IMDb).
Unlike the comparatively dramatic Pearl Harbor (2001), Tora! Tora! Tora! interprets events from both the U.S. and Japanese perspectives. From a dramatic perspective, there are too many American officer characters - it's difficult to tell exactly what the responsibilities of Balsam, Cotten, Marshall, Robards, etc. are - they all seem to be doing the same thing, trying to avert a catastrophe, and all run into the same brick wall of American complacence: It can't happen here. Unfortunately, much that couldn't have happened actually did during World War II. In a way, Tora! Tora! Tora! is two (and perhaps even three) different movies. Richard Fleischer directed the American scenes. The Japanese portions were supposed to be directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, but the marriage with Twentieth Century Fox went poorly, and the divorce brought in two Japanese directors to replace him. Fast worker Toshio Masuda filmed the indoor scenes, while a second crew led by action specialist Kinji Fukasaku completed the scenes staged the aerial and naval sequences. The movie bravely faces a great human tragedy. If the invading Japanese planes had been stopped in 1941, perhaps there would have been no need for the U.S. to drop bombs throughout Japan in 1945, killing a half million civilians. (BK)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Patton
Year of Release: 1970
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: George C. Scott, Karl Malden
Plot outline: The legendary general's rebellious behaviour almost costs him his command during World War II (IMDb).
As befits a soldier like few others, George C. Scott (in his Oscar-winning role) delivers a performance like few others in his lengthy and illustrious career - his interpretation of Patton is such that it's startling to watch actual newsreel footage of Patton; Scott nailed not only the physicality but also seemingly the psychology of this ageless warrior trapped in World War II but truly at home in the conflicts of ancient Rome or Greece. Working from a screenplay by then-wunderkind Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North (which was based upon "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph" by Ladislas Farago and "A Soldier's Story" by Omar N. Bradley), Franklin J. Schaffner's vivid biography of one of America's truly great generals rarely, if ever, flags - Patton pulses with a life and authenticity often missing from conventional Hollywood biopics. By tracing Patton's efforts throughout his various World War II campaigns, Schaffner manages to paint a portrait of both a man and his battles - it's a mammoth war etched in miniature as seen through the poet-warrior eyes of Patton. Scott is surrounded by a terrific, if minor-key, cast including Karl Malden as Omar Bradley, Patton's long-suffering compatriot, Karl Vogler as Patton's nemesis, German general Erwin Rommel and Frank Latimore as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Davenport, representing the British - but it's Scott's show the entire way. He doesn't so much command attention as sear the very screen with his presence. Volumes have been written about Scott's performance as Patton but it still somehow doesn't do it justice - this is world-class acting of a rare and magnificent scale. Patton the movie is every bit as enduring and compelling as the man who inspired it. (PJ)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: The Anniversary
Year of Release: 1968
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Bette Davis, Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley, James Cossins, Christian Roberts, Elaine Taylor
Plot outline: A very possessive matriarch uses the excuse of a family reunion to strengthen her grip over her relatives (IMDb).
60-year-old Bette Davis is in rare form here as the hideous matriarch of Bill MacIlwraith’s darkly comedic play. With her colour-coordinated eye patches, relentless demands, and constant stream of vitriolic put-downs, she emerges as one of cinema’s true villains. The words coming out of this anti-mother’s mouth are almost beyond belief - to her daughter-in-law (Sheila Hancock) she says matter-of-factly, “I don’t think you are a good mother, but it’s not my place to say so”, and “Natural good manners told me when to put the plug in.” To her youngest son (Christian Roberts) she states, “I promise you I’ll have your skin for rags, and wipe the faces of your children with them!” McIlwraith’s play is clearly a black comedy, but one which unfortunately doesn’t offer quite enough relief to redeem its overriding negativity. The narrative trajectory is relentless - while mother Taggart’s children try their best to stand up to her, she’s constantly one-upping them, and the effect is disheartening. There are many moments of shocking, laugh-out-loud humour, but ultimately this movie is more unpleasant than enjoyable, and one keeps watching simply to see what ghastly action or statement the incomparable Davis will come up with next. (FF)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
Movie Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Year of Release: 2008
Country of Origin: Spain, USA
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz
Plot outline: Two young American women come to Barcelona for a summer holiday. They're then drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with a charismatic painter who is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife (IMDb).
In this movie, Woody Allen is in a sensual mood, taking on the role of tourist in a passionate land. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an aimless diversion, even for the notoriously unfocused Allen, but retains expected performance momentum, and positively sells the hell out of a lusty Spanish vacation. It is a sensory experience, not a dense piece of drama. Allen appears in perfect concert with the Spanish locations, graciously revealing the beauty of the land through the master shooting of cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, filling the frame with golden Euro delights. It is suffused by Spanish sunlight, a dreamy setting for what becomes something of a crooked fantasy involving inescapable infatuation and questions of emotional self-preservation. Allen doesn’t create any traditional arcs for the characters to follow, instead the movie chases passions to their logical conclusion: DISASTER. Following Vicky and Cristina around Barcelona, and later Oviedo, Allen gives the camera two women eager to learn about themselves, using Jose as transport to new experiences that quickly roll into serious questions of yearning. Allen leads with these characters, using little explosions of lovemaking and combat to keep the experience lively. As usual, the actors make the experience worthwhile, with Johansson, Bardem, and Cruz creating a believable trio of frustrated lovers. While Hall has the least showy role, she’s a great asset as the moral center, so to speak, conveying the great eroding sway of infidelity with minimal indication. Much like the vacation itself, Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn’t hunker down with much of a climax, ending the movie the same instant the ladies leave Spain. It’s a fitting conclusion for such a whirlwind sexual adventure, leaving the characters and the audience breathless and unsure where the road will lead to next. (BO)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
Year of Release: 1958
