The headmaster of a provincial boarding school is so cruel, even sadistic, that everyone wants him dead, especially his wife and his mistress. When he goes missing, the police drain the murky pool where the killers dumped the body, and the killers get a big surprise. Now the suspense from director Henri-Georges Clouzot really starts.
A master of the thriller, Clouzot was nicknamed the French Hitchcock. In an achingly scary scene from Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear, two truck drivers try to get a long truck around a cliff side hairpin curve – and the truck is filled with nitroglycerin. If you like Diabolique, you’ll probably also like another domestic murder – this time set in Paris – Quai des Orfevres. Criterion has released the Diabolique DVD.
Don’t miss Cave of Forgotten Dreams while it can be seen in 3D; Werner Herzog explores the amazing 30,000 year old Chauvet cave paintings. In the fine French drama Queen to Play, a working class woman discovers a passion for chess in midlife; she and her family, must adjust, along with a French-speaking Kevin Kline.
Source Code is a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. In a Better World is an ambitious contemplation on violence by Danish director Susanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding). Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one).
The Princess of Montpensier is an exquisitely beautiful romance about a 16th century French noblewoman who is forced by her father to marry – but not the man she loves; her new husband is unhealthily jealous and for good reason – various members of the Court fall in love with her and she is too immature to handle it well. Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father, and then released upon the CIA. The Robber is about an emotionless, compulsive bank robber who doesn’t care about the money, and you won’t care about him, either.
I haven’t yet seen Incendies or Meek’s Cutoff, two promising films opening this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD pick is Hail! The Conquering Hero.
Movies on TV this week include the classic French heist film Rififi and one of my favorite Sam Peckinpah Westerns,Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, both on TCM.
This brilliantly funny movie is one of Preston Sturges’ less well known great comedies. Eddie Bracken plays a would-be soldier discharged for hay fever – but his hometown mistakenly think that he is sent home a war hero. Hilarity ensues. All the funnier when you realize that this film was made in 1944 amid our nation’s most culturally patriotic period.
Turner Classic Movies broadcasts Hail! The Conquering Hero several times a year, and a new DVD has been released today.
Don’t miss Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan.Poetry is a troubling, uncomfortable and profound film with a great performance by Koran actress Jeong-hie Yun. In a Better World is an ambitious contemplation on violence by Danish director Susanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding). Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one).
The Princess of Montpensier is an exquisitely beautiful romance about a 16th century French noblewoman who is forced by her father to marry – but not the man she loves; her new husband is unhealthily jealous and for good reason – various members of the Court fall in love with her and she is too immature to handle it well. Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father, and then released upon the CIA. The Robber is about an emotionless, compulsive bank robber who doesn’t care about the money, and you won’t care about him, either.
I haven’t yet seen Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Incendies or Queen to Play, which open this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD pick is Somewhere.
Movies on TV this week include the epic Lawrence of Arabiaon TCM, which will look great on your wide screen HDTV – more on that tomorrow.
Moguls And Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood is a 7-part series from Turner Classic Movies , which originally broadcast the series last fall. Most histories of cinema emphasize the technical and creative evolutions of film. Instead, Moguls traces the business story – how mostly Jewish immigrants started with the early peep shows in old Eastern cities and wound up building monopolistic empires in the sun and glamor of Hollywood. It’s a great story, and this series tells it very well.
The DVD set is now available for purchase for about $28. Here’s the original TCM promo.
The Must See film is Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. Carancho is an Argentine love story nestled into a dark and violent noirish thriller, starring Ricardo Darin (The Secrets of Their Eyes, Nine Queens), the Argentine Joe Mantegna. Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father, and then released upon the CIA. Poetry is a troubling, uncomfortable and profound film with a great performance by Koran actress Jeong-hie Yun. In a Better World is an ambitious contemplation on violence by Danish director Susanne Bier (Brothers, After the Wedding). Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one). For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
I haven’t yet seen The Princess of Montpensier, which opens this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD pick is Somewhere.
Movies on TV this week include the nature adventure Never Cry Wolf , the nastily dark noir Kiss Me Deadly and the brilliant Erroll Morris documentary Gates of Heaven on TCM.
This is Sofia Coppola’s (Lost in Translation) story of an A-list movie star (Steven Dorff) living at the Chateau Marmont with his expensive toys, booze and drugs and an inexhaustible supply of beautiful, sexually available women. Without any purpose or connection to others, his debauchery is completely joyless. To his surprise and discomfort, his eleven-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) moves in for a few weeks. He slowly finds some connection to her, but then she leaves for summer camp and he is aimless, again.
Somewhere is an artsy portrait of a man so purposeless that he can find no pleasure in pleasure.
Fanning is great as the kid. Surprisingly, Jackass‘ Chris Pontius shines as the movie star’s best bud.
The Must See film is Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan.Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father, and then released upon the CIA. Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one). Poetry is a troubling art film from Korea with a great performance by Leong-hie Yun. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
I haven’t yet seen In a Better World, which opened last week and had won the Best Foreign Language Oscar. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD pick is Rabbit Hole.
Movies on TV this week include Glory, Gettysburg and North by Northwest on TCM.
The Must See film is Source Code, a gripping scifi thriller with intelligence and heart, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan. Carancho is an Argentine love story nestled into a dark and violent noirish thriller, starring Ricardo Darin (The Secrets of Their Eyes, Nine Queens), the Argentine Joe Mantegna. Hanna is a rip roaring girl-power thriller starring Saiorse Ronan as a 16-year-old raised in the Arctic Circle to be a master assassin by her rogue secret agent father and then released upon the CIA.
Potiche, a delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine DeNeuve (as if she needs one). The Music Never Stopped is a crowd-pleaser, especially for Baby Boomers. Certified Copy is a well-acted puzzler of an art film. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
I haven’t yet seen Poetry or In a Better World, which open this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD pick is Le Cercle Rouge.
Movies on TV this week include Ball of Fire and The Outlaw Josey Wales on TCM.
Can a French 1970 color film that stars cool guys like Alain Delon and Yves Montand qualify as film noir? You bet, especially when written and directed by a master of noir like Jean-Pierre Melville (Bob le Flambeur, Le Doulos, Le Samourai).
A thief gets out of prison, immediately robs his former crime boss and goes on the run. An escaped murderer stows away in the trunk of his car. Now they are both on the run from a very cynical and driven cop – as well as from the gangsters. They hire a dissolute former cop and try to pull off a heist. The honest cop who is chasing them squeezes a shady nightclub owner to betray them.
There’s a chase and shootings and a heist that takes up the final 30 minutes, but Le Cercle Rouge is not about the action. It’s about the nature of these characters, guys who live by their own codes. They know what they’re gonna do, and they don’t need to think about why. There’s minimal dialogue, and they look and act really cool for all 140 minutes.
Criterion has just released Le Cercle Rouge on DVD. Take a look. Here’s the trailer in French.
