Three Blind Mice 2008
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 2000's
Three Blind Mice is the directorial debut of Matthew Newton , and
covers 24 hours in the Lives of three young Navy officers on shore leave, Sounds familiar? Well Its not, No Gene Kelly or Frank Sinatra to be found, The film delves well into dark territory of Navy bastardization and friendship.not since before the Director George Marshall who brought us Destry Rides Again ,The Blue Dahlia and The Forest Rangers (especially) have we seen such an effortless sway between Comedy and Dire Tragedy ,This was like watching ‘On the Town” with out the singing and dancing , having your guts wrenched out and a moment later being wildly tickled by them to the point of hysteria.Starring Ewen Leslie (Kokada),Toby Schmitz (Somersault) and as well as directing Matthew Newton (“Changi” and Looking for Alibrandi) as the seemingly fearless Three traveling through the slings and arrows of Outrages Fortune ,involving prostitutes, Swinging Middle aged future Parents Inlaw, and broken bady parts, But aside from this it deals with the darker subject matter of friendship after abuse, alla “the Kite runner’ emotional self sacrifice, redemption through acceptance, and maybe Love?
This is not a Taratino humor nor a Melinda and Melinda,,its anxious rollercoster ride of fear, and humor that can change in a wink of an eye and still really work. Cast also Includes Gracie Otto as the leading love interest throughout the film,who shines in every scene with a script that rips through the likes of ‘Network’ and seems more spontaneous,(she also edited this film),Brendan Cowell, as a side of the armed forces we are not willing to acknowledge, Pia Miranda as the shirrty fiancee,Alex Dimitriades (Head On), Marcus Grahem( “Underbelly” and Mulholland Dr. ,Jacki Weaver (Picnic at Hanging Rock) Barry Otto( Strictly Ballroom)and the Great,Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell ( Murder She Said, and ‘Breaker’ Morant) and inhabits a Musical score by John Foreman.Everyone you can think of was here and aside from the three blokes have their own moment to shine. A stella cast (Aside from the absence of Jack Thompson and Noni Hazelhurst)all take their turn to make bloody good Cinema, Aside from ‘the Black Balloon’ this is one of the best Australian films to be received this year if not the last 5 years,.
I have to assure , I didn’t not watch and review this film on the basis of its ‘lineage’ because , its made by the son of ‘this person’ or the daughter of ‘that person’, its better than most American films Ive seen this year.This film needs to be seen overseas ,it maybe set in Australia, but these things could happen , and have happened everywhere. After you have seem it you wont be crying and you wont be pissing yourself , but you will feel Different, and better for it.
Tags: Abuse., Alcoholism, Black Comedy, Comedy, Friendship, Military Abuse, Sailor, Self Sacrifice
Our Man In Havana 1959
Posted by spheer2002 | Filed under Film, Films of the 1950's
Our Man Alec
Our Man Alec
Highly recommend this one…
Based of Graham Greene novel
Jim Wormold(Alec Guinness ‘Bridge on the river Kwai, Star Wars’) is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly. He owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn’t very successful so he accepts an offer from Hawthorne(Noel Coward .’The Italian job’ and the second coming of Oscar Wilde ) of the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba. Wormold hasn’t got a clue where to start but when his friend Dr. Hasselbacher(Burl Ives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) suggests that the best secrets are known to no one, he decides to manufacture a list of agents and provides fictional tales for the benefit of his masters in London. He is soon seen as the best agent in the Western Hemisphere but it all begins to unravel when the local police decode his cables and start rounding up his “network” and he learns that he is the target of a group out to kill him Also starring Maureen O’Hara(The Quiet Man) as British intelligence
Written in the wake of the popularity of the James Bond Novel Phenomena, and released three years before the franchise begin with ”Doctor No” Spys and the Cold war were a score of fear and speculation at the time, the Novel and the film more so make fun of this as well as present a possibility of real espionage and contract killing as the result of ‘Hype’ of the Red Scare , this film although a parody shows the real consequences of what happens when you dont check your facts and believing in ‘Santa clause’
Although the New Government of Cuba was More than happy for Graeme Greens novel about the baptista regime, showing it to be corrupt and the thoughtless meddling s foreign spies from both Brittan and America , The Book and the Film were subsequently withdrawn after Greens comments about the treatment of Intellectuals and Gays and Lesbians ,People don’t realize when they put posters of Che Guevara on their wall , they forget when he worked with Fidel Castro he actually supported putting intellectuals and Homosexuals in concentration camps, subsequently this important film about the change in power in Cuba from the Batista’s seems to be little know in its own country.
as a time capsule of a period in history its fascinating to watch a generation who lived in fear of the Bomb and the blunderings of both sides to resolves this the best way they can by sheer stupidity.
Alex Guinness is great as a British ‘Jimmy Stewart’ everyman who wants the best for his family and plays both side of politics like a poker game with deadly consequences.
Tags: Based off Novel, Black Comedy, Comedy, Espionage, expressionist, Graham Greene, Murder, Noel Coward, Noir, Red Scare, Satire, South America, Spy
