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WALLE (Dir: Andrew Stanton, 2008).
WALL•E (Dir: Andrew Stanton, 2008).
Combining futurist sci-fi and robot rom-com with a timely ecological message, this 9th feature film from Pixar Animation Studios released by Walt Disney Pictures opens on post-apocalyptic Earth 700 years after humans mass consumerism and neglectful waste management has made the planet uninhabitable. Here trash compactor robot WALL•E, the last of his kind, stoically continues a clean-up operation. Enter Eve, a reconnaissance bot dispatched from starliner Axiom to recover life forms and asses suitability for a possible return of humans to the planet. On discovering a solitary plant sample Eve is summoned by the Axiom pursued by WALL•E. A burgeoning bot romance ensues on their quest to deliver the sapling to the Axiom’s Captain and initiate a return to Earth.
From its opening scenes of an eerie, trash-strewn abandoned Earth to its awe-inspiring space-scapes, the movie is a visual delight. With a titular character who is largely mute, the screenplay by director Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon is a masterclass in how to tell a moving, thought provoking story with minimal dialogue. Its comments on consumerism, big business, political corruption and the human destruction of Earth are even more pertinent now than when the movie was released a decade ago.
Despite its serious message WALL•E is an utterly joyful, uplifting viewing experience and is refreshing in the entirety uncynical, optimistic approach to its subject.
In 2016 a poll of international critics conducted by BBC Culture voted WALL•E the 29th greatest film of the 21st Century. With this I would disagree, this modern masterpiece is arguably the greatest movie of the century and one of the greatest movies of all time.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read more reviews of Disney/Pixar classics! Link below.
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Movie number 51: The Hatton Garden Job aka One Last Heist (Ronnie Thompson, 2016). Proving that coming first doesn’t always make you a winner, The Hatton Garden Job, like last year’s King of Thieves (James Marsh, 2018), is based upon the true story of the Hatton Garden safe burglary of 2015. Arriving in cinemas a full 17 months before King of Thieves this bungled bank job of a movie is weaker than its competitor in every department.
While purportedly based on the actual crime, this version of events is largely fictionalised. The basic plot of a bunch of ageing criminals conniving to pull off one last job is the same, yet the involvement of the Hungarian Mafia and a corrupt ex-copper are entirely fabricated. This would perhaps be forgivable if the retelling had any entertainment value. How such an audacious real life story can be transformed into such a dull and insipid movie is anybody’s guess.
Matthew Goode, Larry Lamb, Phil Daniels and Joley Richardson prop up the otherwise less than stellar cast but are severely let down by stilted dialogue and lazy character development. The screenplay by Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines fails to draw upon the inherent humour of the situations while Ronnie Thompson’s bland direction is lacking style and imagination.
If you like geezer ladden crime movies that take themselves too seriously then maybe The Hatton Garden Job is for you. Otherwise you would be better off checking out the superior King of Thieves. #thehattongardenjob #onelastheist #ronniethompson #raybogdanovich #deanlines #matthewgoode #larrylamb #phildaniels #joleyrichardson #kingofthieves #hattongarden #london #britishfilm #britishcinema #everymovieiwatch2019
Movie number 49: The Beloved Vagabond (Curtis Bernhardt, 1936).
A British made star vehicle for French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier, The Beloved Vagabond is a silly soufflé of a musical comedy.
Frenchman lodging in London Gaston de Nerac (Chevalier), forsakes the love of his life to a wealthy Count who will pay her father’s debts and save him from financial ruin. Returning to France with his lodger’s son in tow, he hooks up with a struggling musician (an early role for future star Margaret Lockwood) and the three of them traipse across the country getting mixed up in some foolhardy japes, the details of which will be forgotten by the time the end credits roll.
Chevalier is the only French actor in a mostly British cast. None of the other players (excluding Chevalier) even attempt a French accent and the end result feels patently fake.
Your enjoyment of The Beloved Vagabond will largely depend on your tolerance for Chevalier who, let’s be honest, is a little bit of an acquired taste. It’s an okay movie, somewhat submarined by its preposterous plot. It’s lighthearted with plenty of musical interludes but, ultimately, feels like it should be a lot more fun to watch than it actually is.
Movie number 37: That Touch of Mink (Delbert Mann, 1962). In 1959 Universal cast Doris Day opposite Rock Hudson in the risqué romcom Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon). It was a deserved huge critical and commercial success, such that Universal looked to recreate the ol’ Doris-Rock magic with other leading men, casting her alongside James Garner in The Thrill of it All (Norman Jewison, 1963) and less successfully, Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink.
Grant is once again in ageing playboy mode, attempting to woo Miss Day to the chagrin of his neurotic pal, a miscast Gig Young. The movie looks wonderful. With it’s mid-century interior stylings and its fabulous gowns - Day has countless costume changes, it is kind of the filmic equivalent of flicking through an early 60s lifestyle magazine. But really nothing else about the movie works.
At age 58 Grant was far too old for this sort of thing. As too was Miss Day who is filmed through a hazy soft lens to make her appear more youthful (in actuality this was unnecessary - at 40 Doris still looks great). Worse than this is a woefully unfunny screenplay, littered with dated , sexist ‘humour’. Doris’ career girl roles in the 60s often seemed quietly progressive; here it is anything but, as Day goes doe-eyed whenever Grant is in her sights, whilst modelling pretty outfit after pretty outfit. There is also an unforgivable wife-beating gag.
Of course a film with Doris Day and Cary Grant is not a total loss, it’s just that both have been much better in many other movies and have little chemistry together here. That Touch of Mink is worth a watch for Baseball aficionados with appearances from New York Yankees legends Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. It also has an excellent, though underused supporting cast featuring John Fiedler, 2nd Darrin Dick Sargent and best of all TV’s Gomez and occasional Batman baddie ‘The Riddler’ John Astin; as a sleazy potential suitor of Day he is easily the highlight of the movie.
If, like me, you have watched all of Doris Day’s movies at least once you will want to see this for completist purposes. If not you are best seeking out the excellent Pillow Talk, or indeed any of her 39 other movies.
KING OF JAZZ (Dir: John Murray Anderson, 1930).
Conceived as a star vehicle for bandleader Paul Whiteman, and featuring Bing Crosby in his first screen appearance, King of Jazz is a spectacular musical revue, innovative in both its use of sound and early two-colour Technicolor; a process in which blues and yellows do not photograph but the reds and greens look lovely. Such was the care taken with the colour photography that every frame of the movie looks beautiful.
As a revue there is no plot in King of Jazz, rather a series of musical numbers punctuated with short comedy skits. While the comedic segments may not have aged too well, the musical sequences are as wonderful as they are weird. Highlights include the rubber legged dancing of Al Norman in ‘Happy Feet’ and some incredible loose limbed contouring from Marion Stattler in ‘Ragamuffin Romeo’. Best of all is a magnificent performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, rendered ‘rhapsody in teal’ by the two-colour process. Here the entire orchestra is seated in the largest grand piano you have ever seen!
Although an expensive failure for Universal Studios on release, the film has since been reappraised. Thankfully so, as there is little else like it in Hollywood history.
Is King of Jazz a masterpiece? Not quite. But nearly 90 years after release it still makes for fascinating, not to mention highly entertaining, viewing. Anyone with an interest in 20s/30s band music and especially aficionados of early Hollywood will find much to enjoy.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for more reviews of classic Hollywood movies! Link below.