The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

This Martin Scorsese helmed picture which kind of bizarrely yet I think effectly cast Willem Dafoe as Jesus of Nazareth,, was the subject of much controversy, boycotts and protests on its release in 1988. Catholics, Christian fundamentalist and others were none to pleased with this movie, which if its self-doubting, vacillating Christ didn't irk them, it's Jesus sex scene certainly did. This movie is not based on any one Gospel but rather on a controversial 1953 novel by the Greek writer and philosopher Nikos Kazantzakis, who is perhaps best know writing Zorba the Greek.

The story feels like a visualization of some forgotten, perhaps Gnostic gospel, we recognize the broad outline, but the particulars are quite different then in the orthodox rendering. Scorsese who once thought of being a priest and appears to have a complicated 'wrestling with God ' type relationship to his own Catholism was likely attracked to that same theme in this story. Jesus here is not at first convinced that he is the promised Messiah, its a long, not exactly straight road to that relationzion for him, and even when he has it he can be tempted to move away from it.

It's a rough ancient middle eastern world presented in this film, and the complicated political, moral and theological environment of Roman occupied Palastane circa 30 AD is I think convincingly and intriguling conveyed. This is a movie that challenges many assumptions, it challenges its viewers and in many ways is long, rough, and rambling, with the insight it provides something you really have to engage with the movie to receive, its not forced fed. I can't say I enjoyed watching most of this movie, I'm sure the book is better, but I appreciated its boldness. ***1/2

The Magician (1926)

Not to be confused with the 1973-1974 Bill Bixby TV series, this The Magician is a silent film based on a 1908 novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham.

" Nearly fifty years after the publication of The Magician, the author, Maugham, commented on his book in A Fragment of Autobiography. He writes that by then he had almost completely forgotten the book, and, on rereading it, found the writing "lush and turgid", using more adverbs and adjectives than he would at that later date, and notes that he must have been trying to emulate the "écriture artiste" (artistic writing) of the French writers of the time."-From the Wikipedia Entry on Maugham's novel.

The film adaption of the novel was directed by a rather interesting man Rex Ingram (not to be confused with the black character actor of the same name). This Ingram was born in Ireland the son of a clergyman, came to the United States to study sculpting and eventually feel into film making. At one point in his career Ingram ranked with Griffith and DeMille as one of the leading artistic directors of his time, he lost interest in the medium however shortly after the introduction of sound, went back to sculpting, and later converted to Islam, dying of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1950 at the age of 58.

Ingram cast his second wife, actress Alice Terry as the films female lead, Margaret Dauncey, an art student (specializing in sculpture) at a French school (this film was shot in France) who becomes the object of desire of Oliver Haddo (Paul Wegener) a medical student obsessed with the dark arts. The character of Haddo is based loosely on that of famed poet and occultist Aleister Crowley, who due to declassified documents we now know worked as a British spy in America just before World War II. Interestingly the actor who played Haddo, Paul Wegener, was a German who became an "actor of the state" during the 1930's and 40's but  secretly donated money to resistance groups and  hid vulnerable people in his apartment.

All of this seeming tangential information is to say that the stories surrounding this film and the people that made it are perhaps more interesting then the movie its self. This is actually a good movie though, better able to keep a 21st Century viewers interest them most movies from its period, its straight forwardish tale of two men vying for the same woman, one evil (Haddo) and the other good Dr. Arthur Burdon (Serbian actor Ivan Petrovich). There are some nice artistic flourishes like the vision of the fantasy dream state Haddo puts Margaret into which is reminiscent of some of the work of director Benjamin Christensen in Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922). On the whole, this was an interesting curio.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I mentioned in my recent review of Rushmore that after something of a rocky start I am now firmly in the pro- Wes Anderson camp. His most recent movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel has further entrenched me in my support for this quirky auteur. Budapest is the only film that I am aware of that proceeds in a triple flashback format. At the start of the film a young women in a presumably central European country goes to visit the grave of a famed author, then we go back to 1985 when this unnamed author (here played by Tom Wilkinson) records an account of how he came upon the story featured in one of his most famous books, The Grand Budapest Hotel. For this we flash back again to 1968 when a younger version of this author (now played by Judd Law (I wonder if these framing scenes were largely conceived to offer roles for famous actors who just wanted to add a Wes Anderson film to there resume)) visits the Grand Budapest Hotel (interestingly not located in Budapest Hungry, but rather in a fictitious European Alpine state called the Republic of Zubrowka) where he meets the establishments reclusive owner Zero Moustafa. Over dinner in the hotel restaurant Moustafa tells the writer of events in 1932 (the third flashback) when as a young refuge and "lobby boy" (here played by 17 year old Tony Revolori, whose great in the part) Zero was befriended and mentored by the Grand Budapest's then concierge Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) and had a series of adventures centered around a disputed inheritance.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a film loaded with clever sets, witty dialogue, a plethora of cameos and odd ball characters, yet it is still dominated by one character and one performance, and that is Ralph Fiennes wonderfully unexpected turn as Monsieur Gustave H. Now comic performances are seldom seriously considered for academy awards, but I feel that this one should be. Its a very different sort of part and kind of performance then we've seen Fiennes (who we already know is a very capable actor) do in the past, yet he devours this role, makes this comic character full bodied, vain, grandiose, sweet, perfectionist, kind, bold, cowardly and courageous, its a real treat to watch (and the dialogue is just wonderful). Of course all the supporting parts and elements of this film work splendidly and compliment well Fiennes performance, but the film belongs to and is dominated by Fiennes in a way I haven't seen done in a film since Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Easily the best film of the year so far, which isn't really saying much, but give it time, I have a feeling this movie will really hold up. ***1/2

Hammer Films

When Time Ran Out (1980)

Irwin Allen is generally credited with ushering in the 1970's disaster film craze with the iconic 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure (though a case could be made for the 1970 film Airport being the true origin point of this phenomena). Lesser known however is the fact that it was also an Irwin Allen film, When Time Ran Out (produced by Allen but directed by James Goldstone) that pretty well spelled the death of the disaster film as a successful Hollywood genera until the mid 1990's. People say terrible things about When Time Ran Out, and while I'll admit that the featured volcano is far from credible, I really didn't think it was that bad of a film. I mean its a clichéd film, we've all seen everything it does done better, the love triangles, the Love Boat- esque studding of the film with fading stars, the mass death of extras (note to bit players in disaster films, when the cast starts to divide into two groups, always follow the group with the most big name actors in it, you'll be more likely to survive that way), but I didn't think anything in this film was really bad by genera standards, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure was way worse.

For what it is When Time Ran Out is a serviceable film, which had it come out two years earlier then it did would probably have been a big hit (in reality though the film grossed a little under four million dollars on a twenty million dollar budget). I think the problem was that the market had been saturated by this kind of production for too long, and this movie just happened to be the one released as audience interest for this type of fair plummeted. The movie has workable if paint by numbers drama (two love triangles, a major authority figure who refuses to see the danger of the smoking volcano ect) as well as the kind of cheese and hackneyed writing that is a guilty pleasure, like how Burgess Meredith is introduces as a retired hire wire artist and you just spend the film waiting for a circumstance to develop where his hire wire skills are going to prove essential. So I think this can be appreciated at least as b movie, it doesn't do anything great, but it doesn't do anything completely terrible either. **

This is the End (2013)

This production could easily be retitled as Celebrity Fan Fiction: The Movie. A feature length expansion of the short film Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse, the story concerns actors Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen playing versions of themselves grappling with a global 'end of the world event', in this case the biblical apocalypse, including rapture, earthquakes, and giant demons (the theology here is suspect). This movie is loaded with  mostly Apatowian celebrities playing comic takes on themselves in everything from small cameo roles to major parts. Among the featured players here, in addition to Rogen and Baruchel, are James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and surprisingly Emma Watson. Part of the fun of the film is watching to see which actors get thrust down to hell and which manage to get saved. On the whole though the film is surprisingly dark, feels over-long, and is very self referential, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Certainly a unique production, and interesting as a novelty, but doesn't leave the best after taste. **

The Conquest (2011)

"La conquête" is the story of Nicolas Sarkozy's (Denis Podalydes) rise to (or Conquest of) the office of French president from 2002 to his election in 2007, and how that conquest paralleled the collapse of his marriage to wife #2 Cecilia Sarkozy (Florence Pernel). From this movie I learned two things, 1) Nicolas Sarkozy is kind of an opportunistic dick, and 2) he loves chocolate. A talkie movie that's doubtless more interesting if your French, and have a better idea of what's going on and who all these people are. It was just interesting enough to hold my attention for its 105 minute running time, but I can't say much else for it. **