The Killing (rewatch)

Just going to keep this short, it’s late and I’ve got some stuff to do before I can go to bed.  Terrific noir, one of the best heist-gone-wrong flicks with memorable turns by Sterling Hayden, Tim Carey, Elisha Cook and especially the amazing Marie Windsor.  The fragmented chronology is a curious touch, maybe not entirely necessary but it keeps things interesting.  A lot of people seem to bitch about the voiceover, but the more noir you watch, the more you get used to that sort of thing.  Rating: Very Good

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Killer’s Kiss (rewatch)

Well, the performances are atrociously bad, the storytelling is clunky and even some of the editing choices are poor.  It’s certainly not of the great noirs.  But Kubrick’s photographic talents are quite prominent, and the film looks absolutely fantastic.  From the fight scene to the warehouse climax, it’s a terrific example of noir lighting.  Even the ballet scene, as plodding and unnecessary as it is, looks dynamite.  Also the use of real New York locations adds a lot of spice, as does the jazzy off-kilter score.  The whole thing has a surreal, almost dreamlike quality to it.  At any rate, I’d rather watch this than Spartacus.  Rating: Good

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Concert of Wishes (rewatch)

Since Criterion is releasing the Three Colors trilogy on Blu-Ray, I wanted to go through the extras on the old DVDs before selling them off, including this student short.  It’s really not that bad for a student film, lacking in depth but with a few minor complexities.  The use of music is a bit too on-the-nose, but I like the camerawork, especially the POV shot of looking for the lost tent.  Rating: Fair

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42 Up

Maybe it’s because the participants are closest to my own age, but I found this the most interesting of the series.  Many of the subjects are in some state of transition (new job, financial troubles, divorce) or are eloquent enough to reflect on their lives with insightful introspection.  The most compelling one, Neil, has taken a turn for the better, though still struggling.  John once again disappears from the picture, but Symon makes a return with a new family.  Tony and Paul are both taking baby steps in upward mobility, but finding it difficult.  The commentary on class at the end of the film was more thoughtful than previous attempts to address the subject.  I still think the series is better as an idea than in execution, but I’ve got the next one queued up anyway, perhaps just out of habit, like a TV show you don’t particularly enjoy but keep watching out of desire to know what happens next.  Rating: Good

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35 Up

Ho-hum.  This is my least favorite of the series so far.  Except for Neil and Bruce (doing a teaching stint in Bangladesh), there’s not much going on with these people that’s surprising or interesting (I do still like Nick for some reason, but his life isn’t all that thrilling).  A couple of divorces, a few dead parents, but nothing that special and nothing that revealing.  John is back, slightly less douchey for his humanitarian work in Bulgaria, but still obviously a twit underneath.  In a rather odd turn, Symon — the one ethnic minority of the group — doesn’t even get a mention, his existence has been completely erased from the series.  Hopefully this is by his own request.  The larger problem here is that the recaps are starting to overwhelm the new material.  Roughly half of the film, possibly more, consists of previous clips.  And it’s almost always the same clips, meaning there are many parts of Seven Up that I’ve now seen five times.  Again, this is probably best for people watching one of these every seven years, but as an at-home DVD experience it’s a drag.  It feels like all you really need to do is watch the most recent installment and to hell with the others.  And yet, I’m moving on to the next one anyway.  Despite my griping, there is an addictive quality to these films.  Rating: Fair

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28 Up

I guess at this point it goes without saying that I’m still underwhelmed.  The highlights here are Nicholas and his relocation to Wisconsin and Neil continuing down the spiral of depression.  Other than that, most of the subjects have just settled into comfortable, and somewhat mundane, lives.  I was disappointed not to get more of John’s douchiness, but he declined to be interviewed, as did one of the other rich (but far less douchey) kids.  It’s amusing to see the way Apted keeps trying to badger his subjects into expressing some kind of rage against the upper class, yet they’re having no part of his agenda.  They all (with the exception of Neil) seem quite content with their standing.  I’ve decided to soldier on with the series, mostly because I’ve already invested so much in it, but I also remain curious about a few of the subjects.  Rating: Fair

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21 Up

I hate to say it, because this series is so highly regarded, but I remain rather ambivalent.  Certain characters are emerging as people whose futures I’m curious about: John the douchebag, Suzi the bored little rich girl, Tony the cabbie, Neil the squatter.  Others I’m less curious about, although Apted often spends unreasonably long stretches of time talking to them and eliciting little of interest.  Oddly, it’s not the use of clips from the prior films that inflate the running time as much as these long-winded interviews.  This installment does get a leg up in the sense that a larger picture is being drawn, we can see more of a development through these peoples’ lives.  But there still isn’t a ton of compelling material, nor much in the way of unexpected sociological observations.  It’s all pretty much what you’d expect.  I considered bailing out of the series here, but I’ll give it one more chance to win me over.  I do consider age 28 to be an interesting time in my life, maybe it will be in theirs as well.  Rating: Good

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7 Plus Seven

I’m still not terribly impressed, but still hopeful for the later films.  As I feared, a lot of this film is repeats of footage from the first one.  For someone watching one of these every seven years, I’m sure it’s a big help, but for home viewing in an afternoon I could use a little less recap.  There’s not a whole lot of progression from the first movie, either.  One of the prissy prep boys is turning into a huge git, it’s interesting to hear the three girls compare and contrast their different schools, one kid moved to Australia.  But things are pretty much the same.  There aren’t many surprises here.  I suspect (and hope) that events become more compelling in the next film, as the kids start making more decisions for themselves.  Rating: Fair

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Seven Up!

I’ve heard about this series for ages, but I’ve been reluctant to dive in.  Partly because of the time investment, but also because I fear the concept as a whole is more interesting than the individual parts.  And although I expect the later installments to improve, the first film really doesn’t stand well on its own.  I’m not that interested in children to begin with, especially not such precocious ones.  The subjects were all chosen as the brightest of their respective classrooms, so they’re all trying to talk like adults, which gets on my nerves.  Particularly the three prissy upper-class boys.  The film is too short and has too many players to get very in-depth, but some of the observations about class differences are fairly intriguing, and I’m curious to see how those develop.  But as a stand-alone movie, there’s not much meat here.  Rating: Fair

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All I Desire

A failed actress returns to the family, the lover and the small town she abandoned years earlier and sets tongues wagging anew.  Does it rank up there with All That Heaven Allows or Imitiation of Life?  No, not really.  It all wraps up too neatly (the “happy” ending was forced by the producer), Lyle Bettger has the charisma of a toilet brush (why would Barbara Stanwyck ever fall for this lummox?) and it’s pointlessly set in the early part of the century.  The only rationale I can think of for the latter is that Stanwyck’s lack of success would be harder to keep a secret in modern times, but it takes the edge off and makes the whole thing a bit too quaint.  However, it’s not really a dud, either.  It’s a tight script, Stanwyck is riveting as always, and Sirk’s eye for brilliant framing is hard at work.  It makes for a quick, easy watch with some slight subversiveness in its commentary on small town gossip and hypocrisy.  Rating: Good

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