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Entry tags:
2010 Films X-XV
It's slow work - I've been marking.
X: Eyes of Laura Mars (Irvin Kershner, 1978)
Slasher-ish with supernatural tinge from the same year as Halloween and the future director of Empire Strikes. Mars is a fashion photographer, known for her controversial violent-looking photoshoots, who begins to see through the eyes of a killer and watches her friends be killed one by one. Can she discover the murderer before she runs out of friends? Rather routine psycho thriller, which rather leaves the psychic gift unexplained.
XI: Pink String and Sealing Wax (Robert Hamer, 1946)
Somewhat of an ensemble melodrama, in which the children of a Sussex patriarch end up in various kinds of trouble by rebelling against his rule - and how they both try to escape from under his thumb. Hamer's first full length direction, a fascinating example of gaslight noir.
XII: Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973)
Second outing for Dirty Harry, where a series of murders can be traced to an ex-cop, but in fact a group of cops is behind it. I guess the film is already beginning to question the vigilante justice of Harry, as the law enforcers are the criminals, but in a sense Dirty Harry ends up as the answer to the question of who shall watch the watchers. I wonder if David Tennant got his hair from these films - although I seem to recall a spectacularly unconvincing comic strip Tom Baker who may be the intermediary. Catch phrase: "A man's gotta know his limitations."
XIII: The Enforcer (James Fargo, 1976)
Third outing for Dirty Harry, where a series of murders are being pinned on Black activists, although he has other ideas. Unfortunately he seems to have been saddled with Mary-Beth Lacey as a partner, although you reckon that she can't have long for the world, given his record with partners. Sometimes the film should have the courage of its convictions - Harry apparently isn't racist or sexist, he hates every one. He just gets to tell women that to their face. Catchphrase: " I'd like to suggest that you sit out here" and variations.
XIV: The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, 1948)
Rewatch of the updated fairy tale, restored print on the big screen. The story of a female dancer who is groomed for greatness by a ballet impresario, who makes the mistake of falling in love with the conductor and some-time composer. A visual feast, glorious Technicolor, and taken up with The Red Shoes ballet, which takes the audience into a fantasy world. Odd to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's child catcher in this - but he was a dancer, and he choreagraphed the ballet.
XV: The Gauntlet (Clint Eastwood, 1977)
I wasn't clear if this was another Dirty Harry - but the direction is superior from the start, and this is a washed up character, although no more or less popular than Harry. Ben Shockley is sent to Vegas to pick up a key witness, who turns out to be a woman (Sondra Locke, from The Outlaw Josie Wales). Someone clearly wants her dead, and doesn't care if Shockley is killed in the cross fire. And boy is there crossfire. It;s a fun double act to watch, and Eastwood isn't afraid to show himself being sent up, but his redemption and her seduction seem to come about rather too neatly, although the ending is less than pat.
Totals 15 (Cinema: 3; DVD: 6; Television: 6)
X: Eyes of Laura Mars (Irvin Kershner, 1978)
Slasher-ish with supernatural tinge from the same year as Halloween and the future director of Empire Strikes. Mars is a fashion photographer, known for her controversial violent-looking photoshoots, who begins to see through the eyes of a killer and watches her friends be killed one by one. Can she discover the murderer before she runs out of friends? Rather routine psycho thriller, which rather leaves the psychic gift unexplained.
XI: Pink String and Sealing Wax (Robert Hamer, 1946)
Somewhat of an ensemble melodrama, in which the children of a Sussex patriarch end up in various kinds of trouble by rebelling against his rule - and how they both try to escape from under his thumb. Hamer's first full length direction, a fascinating example of gaslight noir.
XII: Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973)
Second outing for Dirty Harry, where a series of murders can be traced to an ex-cop, but in fact a group of cops is behind it. I guess the film is already beginning to question the vigilante justice of Harry, as the law enforcers are the criminals, but in a sense Dirty Harry ends up as the answer to the question of who shall watch the watchers. I wonder if David Tennant got his hair from these films - although I seem to recall a spectacularly unconvincing comic strip Tom Baker who may be the intermediary. Catch phrase: "A man's gotta know his limitations."
XIII: The Enforcer (James Fargo, 1976)
Third outing for Dirty Harry, where a series of murders are being pinned on Black activists, although he has other ideas. Unfortunately he seems to have been saddled with Mary-Beth Lacey as a partner, although you reckon that she can't have long for the world, given his record with partners. Sometimes the film should have the courage of its convictions - Harry apparently isn't racist or sexist, he hates every one. He just gets to tell women that to their face. Catchphrase: " I'd like to suggest that you sit out here" and variations.
XIV: The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, 1948)
Rewatch of the updated fairy tale, restored print on the big screen. The story of a female dancer who is groomed for greatness by a ballet impresario, who makes the mistake of falling in love with the conductor and some-time composer. A visual feast, glorious Technicolor, and taken up with The Red Shoes ballet, which takes the audience into a fantasy world. Odd to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's child catcher in this - but he was a dancer, and he choreagraphed the ballet.
XV: The Gauntlet (Clint Eastwood, 1977)
I wasn't clear if this was another Dirty Harry - but the direction is superior from the start, and this is a washed up character, although no more or less popular than Harry. Ben Shockley is sent to Vegas to pick up a key witness, who turns out to be a woman (Sondra Locke, from The Outlaw Josie Wales). Someone clearly wants her dead, and doesn't care if Shockley is killed in the cross fire. And boy is there crossfire. It;s a fun double act to watch, and Eastwood isn't afraid to show himself being sent up, but his redemption and her seduction seem to come about rather too neatly, although the ending is less than pat.
Totals 15 (Cinema: 3; DVD: 6; Television: 6)