Bob le Flambeur

Posted on January 4, 2015 by jaycluitt

Bob (Roger Duchesne) is an ageing gangster who, despite being a criminal, is generally a fairly decent guy. He did time for a robbery 20 years ago, but seems to have calmed down in his accelerating years. Paolo (Daniel Cauchy) is his protégé, and Bob has a friend in the police, whose life he saved many years ago. Bob’s one weakness is gambling and, for some time now, he’s been on a horrific losing streak, unable to pick up a single hand. When a situation arises in which Bob needs some money, he, Paolo and a few others concoct a one-last-job scheme to knock over a casino and set them up for life. Continue reading →

Marty

Posted on December 30, 2014 by jaycluitt

Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) is 34 years old, works as a butcher’s assistant and lives with his Italian mother (Esther Minciotti) in their family home in New York. All day long his customers tell him he should be ashamed of himself for not being married yet, a sentiment which is compounded by the fact that all five of his brothers and sisters, some of whom are younger than Marty, are married. Every Saturday night has been spent looking for that special someone with his friend Angie (Joe Mantell), and every attempt at finding love ends in failure, so Marty has called time on the game, and given up his search, believing himself too ugly, fat and small to ever attract a girl. Marty-vita-di-un-timido-1 Continue reading →

The Sorrow and the Pity

Posted on December 12, 2014 by jaycluitt

The Sorrow and the Pity is a documentary, initially released in 1969, which focusses on the relationship between France and Germany during the Second World War, specifically the Nazi occupation of the French city of Clermont-Ferrand. However, that’s not what this review is very much about.
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Audition

Posted on December 4, 2014 by jaycluitt

After his wife dies and his son grows up, Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) is encouraged to look for a new wife. A friend of his in the film industry suggests setting up an audition process, under the guise of looking for a star for a new movie, during which Shigeharu can scope out the perfect candidate. He is initially apprehensive of these underhand tactics, but eventually concedes and goes ahead. During the trials, it is clear one girl stands out; Asami (Eihi Shiina). The two meet up, but Shigeharu soon suspects everything with his new dream girl may not be as perfect as it seems. Continue reading →

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Posted on December 3, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written as part of my USA Road Trip series at French Toast Sunday. I also reviewed the film recently for Blueprint: Review.

Five youths – two couples and the wheelchair-bound brother of one of the couples’ female halves – are travelling through Texas, first checking that their ancestors’ resting places haven’t been disturbed in a recent bout of grave digging, before spending some time at an abandoned house owned by the parents of the brother and sister. However, a creepy hitch-hiker and a very-much-not-abandoned house nearby put something of a damper onto their vacationing plans. Continue reading →

2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted on November 24, 2014 by jaycluitt

Where do I begin with 2001: A Space Odyssey? It’s a film I’ve kind of seen once before, in the background whilst I worked on other things. I’d gleamed a few details from certain scenes, but for the most part I remembered very little, with various podcasts I’d listened to seemingly describing a film I’d clearly not paid anywhere near enough attention to. Thus, I championed it to be the latest Movie of the Month on the Lambcast. It won, I hosted the show (here’s a link to it) and, despite that relatively in depth conversation with Robert, Jess and Nick – all of whom have more experience with this film than I – I’m still a little lost as to how I feel about the film.

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The Best of Youth

Posted on November 9, 2014 by jaycluitt

Matteo and Nicola Caratis (Alessio Boni and Luigi Lo Cascio) are brothers growing up in 1960s Italy. In the summer of ’66, that lesser known Bryan Adams song, Nicola becomes one step closer to becoming a doctor, so he and his older brother, who unbeknownst to Nicola has just walked out of his own exam, plan to go on a celebratory vacation to Norway with their two friends. However Matteo, who has been working as a carer looking after mentally disabled people, discovers his latest patient, Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca) has been undergoing forced electroshock therapy, so he breaks her out of her institution with plans of returning her to her family whilst on the trip. What occurs on this holiday sets Matteo and Nicola on vastly different paths, which are subsequently documented over the next four decades, following not just the two brothers, but also their friends, sisters, parents, lovers and, eventually, children. The-Best-of-Youth
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The Man Who Fell To Earth

Posted on November 7, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written as part of my USA Road Trip series for French Toast Sunday.

An alien (David Bowie) has come to Earth and disguised himself as a human. How did he get here? What does he want? Why is his first act on our planet to apply for patent protections? Is that really Rip Torn? All these questions and more will be answered and immediately replaced with others in this oddball 70s sci-fi brain-botherer from Nicolas Roeg. the-man-who-fell-to-earth-w1280
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Carnival of Souls

Posted on November 6, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written as part of my USA Road Trip series on French Toast Sunday.

When an impromptu drag race ends in tragedy, Mary (Candace Hilligoss) leave home and heads to Utah, where she has been hired as a church organist. However, Mary’s journey and life soon becomes encumbered by the appearance of a creepy pale man, who seems to have something to do with the abandoned carnival just outside of town. Continue reading →

Killing Season

Posted on November 5, 2014 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Almost twenty years after the US intervened in the Serbian/Bosnian conflict, two opposing veterans run into one another in the mountains of Georgia. One of them, American Colonel Benjamin Ford (De Niro) has become a recluse, living out his days away from his son (Ventimiglia) and his family, but bears a constant reminder of the war by way of the shrapnel still lodged in his leg. The other, Serbian soldier Emil Kovac (Travolta), initially seems friendly, but soon shows his true intentions.
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