dierregi

Beckinsale is Rachel, the would-be heroic reporter who publishes an article about a female CIA operative (Farmiga), uncovering state secrets along the way.

The movie tries to celebrate Rachel as a heroin, because first of all she's a mother, also a top-notch journalist but mainly a very stubborn person. One would think the movie was financed by the #meToo, always ready to celebrate anybody of the female sex, regardless of their merits.

The fact is, Rachel has no merit and she behaves in a very stupid way, creating havoc and mistaking her stubbornness for "integrity". It doesn't help that this "heroic" character is played by Beckinsale, who has a limited range (with makeup and without).

The irony of the plot is that the source Rachel so stubbornly refuse to reveal is a child (who else? She's a mother after all..) and that this top-notch journalist based her detailed article on the words of a kid. So much for a careful verification of your sources and why on earth ruin the lives of everybody around you to protect a child who in any case wasn't going to be prosecuted? How sillier can this get?

PS I am a woman myself but I find this tripe unbearable.

Tracey Ullman stars and shines in this comedy as Frenchy, the wise wife of the small-time crook Ray (Allen). Frenchy manages to create a profitable business while her husband and his associates develop a stupid plan to rob a bank.

The film's first part deals rather briskly with Ray's failed plan and his rags-to-riches fast climb, while the remaining two-thirds deal with the "problems" linked with having too much too fast.

The main one is being accepted in high society which is important for Frenchy and not at all for Ray, who just wants to retire to Florida. What follows is a breakup, quickly mended by the sudden loss of their money, perhaps a bit too fast, just as their ascent, but required by the plot.

There are many funny moments and witty dialogues and the result is a pleasant movie. My only remark is that the "crooks" and their illegal endeavor are a small part of the plot, while the main plot is about Ray and Frenchy, therefore a different title would have been better.

The plot is a loose series of events that happens to Joe (the child narrator - a version of Allen himself) and his family, inclusive of parents, aunts and grandparents, intertwined with the story of Sally a loose girl who "makes it" in the show business (the weakest part of the plot, also because I don't like Mia Farrow).

From a description of his neighbourhood to a list of everybody's favourite radio programme, Joe gives an insight of life in the 40s in Rockaway and tell of his fascination with New York and the Radio City Music Hall, the best place in the world.

If one can be nostalgic of a time and place one did not even experience, this would be it for me. Just like the narrator, I find the period he describes charming and fascinating. Obviously, the soundtrack is top, one of the best in any Allen's film. The lack of a structured plot helps appreciate the film even more as a nostalgic trip to a past that by definition is always better than the present.

Betty is a doormat of a woman, married to Del, a guy who mistreat her and cheats on her to which she reacts by watching a soap opera, because she's in love with "Doctor David".

Enter two very unlikely hitmen Charlie and Wesley, (Freeman and Rock) looking for a McGuffin (drugs... how original) that Del stole (how? Why? Whatever..) and to make Del talk they torture and then kill him, while Betty is in the back room watching her soap on TV, but distracted just enough to witness the murder.

Charlie and Wesley are the poor person version of Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. They swear a lot and have "philosophical conversations" but are not funny AT ALL, Rock being the main culprit.

Betty in a "fugue state", whatever that may be, drives to California to meet Dr. David, thinking to be a nurse previously engaged to David.

Some appreciated Zellweger in the role but I found her over the top cloying and playing deranged rather than confused. After a final confrontation, Betty is told by Charlie that "This is not the 40s" and she does not need a man, so she goes on living a happy single life and travels to Rome. Disjointed, badly acted and silly.

Whoever watched this based on the poster image and hoping for strong sexual content must have been very disappointed. I watched it out of curiosity and I was also disappointed, but mostly bored.

Gyllenhall plays Lee, a disturbed woman who "cuts herself", therefore a masochist, who gets her first job for lawyer Mr. Grey, an equally disturbed person more on the sadist side, but not too much, just sadistic enough for a mainstream movie.

The story drags on for what seems ages, while Lee develops a liking for her mistreatment at the hands of her boss (mostly spanking) and then she realizes she "loves" Grey. Whatever... to each, their own.

There are only two main characters in this boring plot, with minimal supporting roles (Lee's parents and unfortunate boyfriend) and most of the action takes place in Grey's claustrophobic, sinister office that looks like a set from Twin Peaks, just like the mildly weird, abundantly snooze-inducing plot.

The beautiful Ormond at the start of her career plays recently divorced Rachel, a dentist still very much upset by her breakup. When she starts working in a prison twice a week, Rachel becomes attracted to inmate Philip. Reading some other reviews, seems like Tim Roth is considered a chick magnet. I find him a good character actor, usually playing cool criminals (or undercover cops) and here he does a good job, albeit in his trademark, detached, almost sleepwalking way.

The "romance" between Rachel and Philip soon turns torrid, since he's allowed out once a week. The two have sex in a restaurant's toilet (charming), exchange glances in prison and have some awkward phone calls.

The elephant in the room is the crime Philip committed. For unknown reasons, Rachel seems not to care at first and doesn't ask Philip only to dig out the truth that he killed his wife. This could be the turning point for a character study, one way or the other, although with a wife killer I see only one way to go, but unfortunately the script takes another direction.

Maybe the inception of a criminal sub-plot was considered necessary to give some punch to what might have been considered a "love story", even if there is little love and a lot of angry sex. However, it derails the plot towards a stupid ending.

Also, it's hard to believe that somebody as attractive as Ormond could not find a suitor outside the prison. The plot would have been more believable with a less attractive female in the lead.

A great spy story with minimal plot. The "Needle" is a German master spy comfortably nested in British society who gets accidentally discovered by his landlady in 1940, forcing him to disclose his game temporarily.

In the meantime David and Lucy get married and are ecstatically happy but unfortunately victims of a car crash. Fast forward 4 years later, on the eve of D-Day, when the Needle is doing some spying to find out whether the Allied invasion will take place at Calais or Normandy.

Having discovered the truth, the Needle must deliver precious photos to Hitler himself, but find himself stranded on Stormy Island, where David and Lucy live with their son. Their marriage is under a lot of strain and David mistreats Lucy, who feels lonely and hasn't had sex in years. This last detail for once is not irrelevant, because it leads to a believable, immediate, burning passion for the mysterious stranger.

A deadly game develops in which the participants look hurt, doubtful, and exhausted, not perennially strong and steely determined as in modern movies.

Allen's early movies are supposed to be the "funny ones", but to me they're mostly a series of sketches loosely held together by a flimsy plot.

In this case, the plot is more solid than other early comedies, being the parody of Russian literature and most of the times it works. The first half of the movie is quite funny, with lots of memorable lines.

Boris, the Allen character, is a coward forced to fight against Napoleon's invasion of Russia, while he would prefer to spend his time with the beloved Sonja (Keaton) who's in love with his brother Ivan.

Once Boris manages to marry Sonja, the two have a turbulent marriage and then decide to kill Napoleon. This part of the plot goes downhill with lots of Allen's monologues and plenty of sexual innuendoes (with death, the stuff of most of Allen's jokes, but still...)

The ending is mildly funny, and luckily the movie is quite short. For me not a classic, but still watchable once.

This simple plot follows the last, fictionalized, days of movie director Whale, spent in his comfortable albeit stuffy abode in the company of housekeeper Hanna and gardener Clay.

Whale directed some successful movies such as "Frankenstein" in the 30s but was forgotten by the end of the 50s. He was also gay, but for me his sexual orientation is irrelevant, since the theme of the movie is old age and the feeling of being irrelevant, which may hit everybody regardless of sex.

McKellen was good in his role and I liked the movie very much the first time I saw it. The second time I thought that Whale asking the reporter to strip during the interview would be considered sexual harassment. Can you imagine an heterosexual director asking a female reporter to strip to get answers?

But because of double - even triple - standards, Whale is presented as a mildly lecherous eccentric old man, meaning no harm.

However, Whale's relationship with the straight Clay works relatively well and Fraser gives the performance of a lifetime, even if the film didn't age well.

Although released in 1990, "Bad Influence" has a distinctive 80s feeling, with rampant yuppies, expensive gadgets and two leading men from the era, the softie Michael (Spader) and the hard Alex (Lowe).

Between the end of the 80s and the mid 90s, Spader was in a string of movies playing more or less the same character of lovable, bespectacled, posh loser, before turning into the evil, bald Red Reddington of The Blacklist fame

Here Spader is still lovable, albeit wimpish. His Michael is a corporate yuppie who lives in a posh apartment, reluctantly engaged to what looks like a boring rich girl. Enters Alex (AKA Tony, Franco, etc...) and Michael discovers that life can be more exciting than trading bonds.

After a series of drunk evenings spent with Alex in the company of a seductive brunette, robbing night stores and assaulting colleagues, Michael's life turn into a nightmare when Alex shows his true colors and kills the brunette in Michal's apartment.

The story is well told and quite suspenseful, Lowe makes for a believable psycho despite - or thanks to - his good looks and Michael proves to be more than a tame pretty face.

A few years before the crumbling of the Soviet empire, inspector Renko ( Hurt) is charged with solving a triple murder. Renko is straight as an arrow and a honest man and he suspects KBG involvement from the start, given the fact that the three bodies found in Gorky Park miss their faces.

This gory detail provides an interesting development with the reconstruction of the victims' faces from the bone structure. In the meantime, Renko discovers that one of the victims was an American which confirms his suspicions about the KBG.

A girlfriend of one of the victims, the brother of the dead American and a shady American businessman are all involved in the intricate plot, based on a literary source. My favorite scene is at the end when Renko gives freedom to some furry creatures. Both symbolic and humane.

The plot is interesting only on paper since it should explore a father/daughter relationship. Peter, a divorced music teacher tries to reconnect with hotshot daughter Ines, who works for a financial corporation in Bucharest. Unfortunately, Peter is an uncouth, non-lovable weirdo. Following his beloved dog's death, Peter invites himself to Bucharest and teaches Ines how to live by playing practical jokes and pestering her business associates with childish pranks, like wearing false teeth.

The false teeth gag goes on and on and it's not funny. It's allegedly based on the director's father who used to do it, so the audience must live through her memories because they are important to her, while irrelevant to me.

What's worse, Peter behaves like an intellectually challenged person and seems unable to string together a sensible sentence, while continuing his silly antics. Not that Ines fares much better though a series of cringeworthy situations that could have been edited out without any consequences. The movie drags on and on. I watched it hoping it would improve but it got worse with every useless scene stretched endlessly.

Forget about "comedy". While drama is international, humor is more difficult to "translate" and doesn't necessarily work the same way worldwide. I read that this is typical "German humor" and it must be, because it did not work for me.

Although much-hyped I have no clue what the hype was about. Maybe it's due to the current trend of worshipping any "female-written and directed" movie. Anything with a woman at the helm must be praised, regardless of mediocrity. I never heard of director Maren Ade and based on this, I am not interested in any other overlong and unfunny production of hers.

The main point of this episode seems to be showing how pathetic and easily deceived Italians are. The biggest culprit being obviously Inspector Ravini. Not only he doesn't bother to get a photo of an allegedly missing person (Ripley), but he goes to Ripley's house, doesn't recognise him thanks to a ridiculous wig and moustaches and - worst of all - tells Ripley all details about an ongoing investigation.

Those are abysmally low investigative standards. Since when the police is at liberty to discuss a case with a person of interest? Not only that but Italian newspapers and magazines publish articles about Ripley and Greenleaf without a single photo of either... again, how believable is that? A big feature appears on a weekly magazine without a portrait of the missing guy when Marge could have provided tons? Yes, Italian are stupid and duped by smart Americans.

Being Italian myself I should be insulted, but I just found this last episode dragging on and being kind of OTT stupid. Even if Highsmith novel was good, sometimes a plot works only on paper but not so much when confronted with real details.

A frothy comedy about David and Georgia, a bitter couple of divorcees who want to prevent their daughter Lily from marrying Gede, a Balinese guy she knew for a month. Romance dictates that Lily has the right to "follow her heart" even if reason suggests that she will end up exactly as David tells Gede - bored after a few years, looking for something else in her life and leaving Gede on the island, taking away the child (or children) they had in the meantime.

The fact that the happy couple will reside in Bali doesn't guarantee eternal happiness, but temporary contentment. However, the main plot of the movie is David and Georgia's bickering, never very funny but entertaining as far as Clooney and Roberts are two megastars who know how to entertain their public.

On a side note, Ms. Roberts' wardrobe was awful. She wore tight black leggings to a tropical island, guaranteed to make you sweat like hell and a series of dreadful, shapeless, overalls. She looked like a garage mechanic ready to fix a car. Why not give her some fitted T-shirts and shorts or a breezy dress?

Lucio the cat is my favorite character, mysterious yet consistent. Ripley is described as "elusive" but he seems to be merely stumbling around during his Italian travelogue, always leaving an address so as to be easily found by Marge and the police. How "elusive" is that?

Being Italian I found Naples, Rome, and Palermo to look exactly the same, cobbled shady side streets, crumbling buildings, rotting staircases. Only Venice looks like Venice at last. The photography is gorgeous at times, I agree about that

However, I have doubts about the investigation. Inspector Ravini is supposed to look for a missing Tom Ripley and he doesn't even bother to check what this mystery man should look like. No article in the newspapers asking "Have you seen this man"? Also, his "interrogation" with Marge was way too hostile, just to suit the purpose of the narrative.

Maybe the point was to prove how stupid and misogynist Italians are, which I should resent but I don't, because the Italian cast is saved by the magnificent Lucio.

During the Great Depression Cecilia lives with a modest income in a New Jersey dump, with a lazy, violent husband. Her sole solace is going to the movies, where she can forget her troubles and live in a fantasy for a couple of hours.

One particularly dreary day, the fantasy comes true, when Tom Baxter, a secondary character in a Hollywood comedy, "sees" her through the screen and comes alive to spend time with her.

It's an interesting idea that could have been developed in several ways. Allen decided to go for a "realistic" approach, having the actor who plays Tom Baxter go to New Jersey to convince his character to go back to the movie, to avoid legal troubles in case Tom should misbehave.

This mix of sweet fantasy and stark realism doesn't work well for me, just as Cecilia's final decision, given her dreadful situation and her attempts to escape reality. They showed her jumping into a fictional world of plenty, so that should have worked for her. Also, I never liked Mia Farrow as an actress and here she gives the usual "sweet victim" performance, therefore I never felt for her, except annoyance at her acceptance of being treated as a doormat.

At the end we see the "Check to check" dance sequence in "Top Hat" and I'd prefer any time to watch that movie rather than this one. Why not go for fantasy 100% rather than halfway and then back?

The first of Highsmith's novels about psycho Tom Ripley, re-interpreted in a series of sterile, icy vignettes filmed in gorgeous black and white.

Probably to save money on the settings, only corners of the locations mentioned are shown (NY, Atrani, Naples, can't see a thing in San Remo, etc...) Since I'm Italian, I found the Italian locations particularly disappointing. The series was shot in cold weather and seeing Dickie and Marge alone on the beach and then bathing in the sea was weird. I never saw an Italian beach (or village) so deserted, not even in winter. It looked like only three people lived in Atrani and Naples was not much better (never seen the city so clean and orderly).

As mentioned by others, Andrew Scott is too old to play Ripley, described as a 25 yo in the novel, nor has he the charisma of a psycho, but mostly looks sneery and frozen-faced. Johnny Flynn seems too young to be moving into Tom's circle, and Dakota Fanning doesn't seem to have much of a range, except sulking. Freddy, the elephant in the room - let's say it mercifully - is "miscast", a far cry from the malignant but hearty presence of Hoffman in the Minghella movie. However, it's an excellent example of nepotism.

Each episode seems crystallized in minimum, emotionless dialogue, from the dreary NY opening to the cold meeting of Tom and Dickie. One wonders why Dickie would invite Tom to stay with him when their relationship boils down to concise, almost surgical sentences about nothing. The "investigative" sessions are a joke, even given low investigative standards. The episode of the boat is conveniently forgotten; no appeal such as "Have you seen this man?" is made in newspapers about the allegedly "missing" Ripley and the Italian authorities never contact the American Embassy to get info about the people involved.

All episodes are like Dickie paintings, limp and lifeless, mediocre attempts to produce feelings only an original could evoke, be it film noir, Hitchcock, or the more recent "Talented Mr. Ripley".

From the moment Griselda's face appeared on screen I thought there was something off with her appearance. "Botox? Blotched plastic surgery? Fake nose?" Then I read she was played by Sofia Vergara, who's not a big star in Europe and I hardly know her, since I just saw an episode of her sitcom and didn't like her at all, because of her nasal voice.

The fake nose was a big distraction, and dialogues in Spanish, luckily with subtitles, were a bit too much, but still, the mood of the time was caught nicely, with awful haircuts, polyester bell bottoms in bright colors and platform shoes.

What I appreciated less was the presentation of Griselda as a sort of "victim", who killed a couple of husbands because she had "good reasons", and ended up as a drug "lady" because men mistreated her, and in any case, she had to provide for her three sons. The hypocrisy of "doing it for the children" is never challenged, as it was for instance in "Breaking Bad" when Walt is told clearly that he didn't deal drugs for his family, but because he enjoyed the power.

Therefore, being a mother justifies any heinous crime. Also, kind of corny that her main antagonist was yet another Latin American woman.

I did not find Griselda justifiable in the least, but greedy, ignorant, and arrogant (calling her fourth son Michael Corleone is a real touch of low intellect), nor appreciated her mannerisms (that cigarette thing was just annoying). I found the male characters of Diego and Rivi way more interesting, nuanced, and even slightly tragic (especially the doomed Dario), as far as ruthless killers can be "interesting".

Regardless of the not-so-subtle underlying message of this series (Griselda was a mother taking care of her sons, so it's OK for her to deal drugs), in this final episode, Griselda behaves in such a way that gives new meaning to the word "senseless".

Visiting her pal Marta Ochoa to snort an enormous amount of cocaine together, as good mothers do, Griselda fuels Marta's dreams of a "madrina" sisterhood, only to be rudely interrupted by Marta's demise.

Given that Griselda was visiting, the smart thing to do would have been to leave ASAP to let Rafa find Marta, whose overdose was imputable only to her own recklessness.

Instead, Griselda has the bright idea of stealing Rafa's supply while wasting tons of time and moving Marta's body (why, oh why?) only to be rudely interrupted.

Griselda was a "madrina" and not a mastermind, but why act in such a dangerously stupid way? I don't know if things went that way IRL, but the way the events are presented doesn't make much sense, inclusive of Rivi getting caught for a fake robbery.

Fitting nicely into the contemporary crave for female narrative about female characters, the film tells the story of Delia, a colourless housewife stuck in a bad marriage with brutal Ivano, in post-WWII Rome.

Delia and her family (three kids and Ivano's father) live in large, albeit probably unsanitary apartment in a low-income part of Rome. Paola Cortellesi who's the director and also plays main character Delia, chose to film in black & white, but there end the neo-realistic vibes.

The tone of the movie is light, even if it touches heavy topics, such as violence, greed and disrespect towards women. Cortellesi leads you down an easily discernible red herring path, towards an ending that it is not so much a wrap up of the story, but more of a slightly patriotic wishful thinking.

The choice of the soundtrack is debatable, being it extremely anachronistic and slightly irritating with its trying very hard to appeal to the younger audience.

However, an interesting moving with a decent plot.

Billy Wilder was a cynical man, getting more cynical with the years as one can see in his filmography. Nothing wrong with that, except that cynicism and romance don't mix.

Lemmon plays C. C. Baxter, just a number in a vast corporation, looking for fast advancement by lending his apartment to married executives to "meet" their mistresses and occasional lovers.

Baxter doesn't realize the sleaziness of his situation until he falls for Fran, the lift operator who - unbeknown to him - is also the lover of big boss Sheldrake.

When Baxter finds Fran in his apartment, comatose because of a sleeping pills overdose after a fight with Sheldrake, he has a chance of getting to know her better and falling even more in love.

More than the romance, the strongest part of the movie is the presentation of the vulgar, hypocritical approach to life of the executives and their exploitation of the weakest. Even Fran gets her best dialogue describing her relationship with Sheldrake in disillusioned terms.

However, the final part of the movie develops as a romantic comedy, and even if it makes you feel good for Fran and Baxter it is slightly unlikely things would have turned that way.

This series provided many awkward moments, but none so spectacular as in this last episode, starting with the absurd structure with unnecessary jumps between 1994 and 2004, with some flashbacks for good measure. Most of the focus is on the unpleasant Tommy character, resurrected from his disappearance in 1994 and living in a dump in 2004 when he forces Rocco at gunpoint to follow him around Paris. Why? Don't know, since Tommy eventually drops Rocco in a fancy hotel and runs to the city hill to threaten Lucia at her wedding with Jean-Claude. It doesn't make any sense but there it goes.

In 1994 Rocco "falls in love" with porn actress Rosa, but then they separate only to be together again in 2004 or something... In 2004, after the useless city hall threat, Rocco and Tommy are reunited to vandalize Lucia's restaurant. Bear in mind that Lucia is supposed to be the great love of their lives but they enjoy enormously destroying her restaurant. Such is the meaning of love in their world. In a small role, the pathetic cousin Gabi enjoys every moment of his sleazy life, trying to push Rocco back into filming porn, not that he ever abandoned it for real. The previous episodes were not good, but this is probably the worst.

Rocco's weird mum is dying, and as the loving son that he is, he goes back to Ortona and takes care of her. Rocco's dad and brothers are only slightly objecting to his presence, and while mum's dying Rocco phones Tommy to tell him to come and say goodbye. The Tommy character is possibly the worst of this dismal series. It's absolutely impossible to understand what his motivations are and why he's so schizophrenic. He says he "loves" Lucia, a woman he pimped out, and then he explodes in burst of violence and drinks himself to stupor.

Anyway, after having told Rocco from Paris that he will not visit his dying mother, with another jump in time and space Tommy is shown having bought a bar in Ortona and redecorating it. How fast did that happen? Tommy makes it as far as the hospital's door but doesn't go in to see dying mum. After the funeral weird things happen, one of them being Lucia entering the cemetery with son Claudio to embrace Rocco, only to be sent to Tommy, who's hiding away among some graves. Then an elderly woman appears to "pleasure" Rocco (???)

Finally Lucia and Rocco have a conversation that probably should have been deeply meaningful but it actually boils down to Lucia telling Rocco that he's too violent to his co-stars during their sex scenes. Allegedly Siffredi was infamous for the violence of his scenes, but this does not seem to affect the presentation of his character as a tormented soul.

Mr. Supersex meets a "model" at a sleazy photoshooting and the two fall immediately in lust. Or at least that seems to be what happens, because in this series events take place in a disconnected way, both geographically and temporally. Somehow Rocco is back from the US (or not?) and meets a woman so important in his life that he doesn't even bother to know her surname but only her name, Tina. The two have wild sexual encounters (is there any other type in this series?) and then Rocco tells his gay friend that he's obsessed by Tina, so the two of them "escape" to a Greek island, to a derelict house in the middle of the most desolate nowhere one can imagine on a Greek island.

There they have more wild sex and weird conversations without a shred of sequential logic. Possibly the worst dialogues so far. Tina goes from submissive to wildly hysterical and finally she drops the bomb... she's pregnant! OMG! What will Rocco do? He goes to the local village and stares at a local girl, but Tina follows him and they go back to the house. Tina is a stereotypically jealous, unstable woman that would turn any man into a misogynist and not surprisingly she's not pregnant after all.

Having lifted a heavy weight from Rocco's shoulders Tina stay on the island (why?) while Rocco departs alone revealing that they spent 10 months in that forsaken place doing nothing but cavorting and fighting. Was this supposed to be a love story in the author's mind? Because to me it looked like two ill-assorted, selfish people consumed with lust and burning their candle at both ends.

The best thing about this movie is the deliberate homage to Hitchcock both in the score and the filming techniques. The unusual shots coupled with the unsettling music are effective to convey anxiety. In fact, even too effective, because the plot moves along restlessly without a moment of relief and it gets to be slightly too much.

De Niro as the psycho Max Cady goes way over the top, bordering on the grotesque. Nick Nolte as the hunted Sam Bowden does a decent job of showing his tension mounting (smoking like a chimney) and his morals getting increasingly loose. Peck and Mitchum from the original (which I didn't see) do a good job. Shame about the female roles.

I never liked Lange much and here she seems slightly hysterics, smiling randomly and generally acting weird. Lewis does her trademark "provocative nymphet" role, being quite annoying with her "innocent flirting". Not surprisingly her roles dried up when she passed the nymphet age. For me she does not have a range apart from seductive young tease.

Illeana Douglas manages better than the other two as the unfortunate victim, first of a crush on Sam and then more concretely at the hands of Cody.