guyeverton
Bio: Colours are distorted because most of the time I'm choosing to watch decent movies.
Recent Ratings
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| 62 18% | Blow-Up (1966) - Rated 17 Dec 2024
"Does this movie hold up if you take it out of swinging London? I think not. I look to plot above all, and this one is lazily unresolved. Cool arsehole photographer encounters a mystery, doesn't solve it, metaphorical ending, nothing matters. Bleurgh. As a zeitgeist movie it's of course lovable, capturing a time and a place I feel so close to as a Londoner whose parents lived through the 60s and regularly reminisced... but when Swinging London is the biggest star of the movie there's a problem."
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| 87 79% | Signore & signori (1965) - Rated 08 Dec 2024
"Context here is key - in 1960s Italy, even divorce is illegal. The keeping of a goomah seems to be the norm. Once I'd worked that much out, I really connected with this fast-paced, larger than life comedy. The plot worked itself around beautifully, showing the moral and actual corruption at all levels of society, and poking fun at those who maintain, profit and suffer from it. A highly enjoyable 2hrs of cinema."
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| 89 84% | The Battle of Algiers (1966) - Rated 03 Dec 2024
"A decade ago I walked the streets of the Casbah and the European quarter and here I am transported back, Algiers' geography captured so brilliantly. The film is a mirror in which I see imagery from my Irish heritage, my years living in Vietnam, the news reports from Abu Ghraib in my youth, all the way to the Gaza of right now; timeless, brutal, depressing. One thing it lacks is a character-driven narrative, a feature Ken Loach goes onto perfect in this genre."
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| 89 84% | Persona (1966) - Rated 27 Nov 2024
"I believe story and message trump all other considerations in cinema -what is the artist trying to say, how effectively and beautifully can they say it? It means gratuitous ambiguity turns me off, and sadly this is the case in Persona. Sadly, I say, because otherwise this was gripping, intense, mysterious, gorgeous, a truly memorable cinematic experience. I didn't want the movie to end, I desired to learn more of the characters and their futures... and I feel a lot was left on the table."
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| 76 41% | Andrei Rublev (1966) - Rated 26 Nov 2024
"My third Tarkovsky, and I'm yet to meet a character I care about. Frustratingly, I can see there is masterful filmcraft on display, that there are arch themes and subtext and a grand, sweeping vision... but I struggle to empathise or connect with the characters who are supposed to be driving the story. I notice how few actual closeups there are, is this part of it? Rublev is epic and convincingly realistic, but not enjoyable. I've learned about medieval Russia, but nothing new of humanity."
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| 83 66% | A Man and a Woman (1966) - Rated 24 Nov 2024
"Take two attractive people, dress them in beautiful coats, then shoot a lot of closeups with a magnificent soundtrack... et voila! Aesthetically sumptuous, it struts with the air of a cult classic - but is it all fur coat and no knickers? The plot is unremarkable, the characters underdeveloped. And yet the story works. Simple, but effective."
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| 93 95% | Woman in the Dunes (1964) - Rated 22 Nov 2024
"A long film, and yet at no point was I bored. Instead, utterly transfixed by the arrogant but determined city man and his adorable bumpkin companion. Metaphorical while appearing completely realistic, this film flirts with all manner of pretentiousness and incredulity and manages to come out on the right side. From it I get Sisyphus, and like another poster here, I sensed Wicker Man vibes too. Original, haunting, erotic, stylish, gripping... deservedly in GOAT country for me."
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| 50 9% | The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965) - Rated 19 Nov 2024
"The surreal, the deadpan, the dark, the eccentric... a tradition that goes all the way through to peak British comedy: Smack the Pony, Spaced, Mighty Boosh etc.; it's all here, to add to Chaplinian slapstick. I chuckle for an hour. But to come together as a narrative, not a sketch show, is tricky and this mostly falls flat. Is this film deeply misogynistic, or is it making fun of misogyny? Can rape ever be funny? Swinging London has lost some of its lustre."
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| 80 56% | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - Rated 18 Nov 2024
"All I've learned about the period was of the fear of nuclear horror and the emergence of the USA as a cultural and political superpower... and this film puts a bomb, dripping with irony, under those two concepts. For that it must receive the highest praise. However as a film I feel the ending was poor; in fact, the character of Dr Strangelove could easily have been cut; there were too many scenes of planes flying in mountains. The humour got me at times, but not side-splittingly funny."
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| 79 50% | The Leopard (1963) - Rated 17 Nov 2024
"Garibaldi's revolutionaries are eventually persuaded to move a roadblock so the Prince and his companions can ride through; the road is closed seconds later leaving an angry train of peasants. Italian unification may spell the end for the aristocracy, but nothing changes for the majority. Interesting history; hyper-baroque set pieces; gorgeous landscapes and two gorgeous young actors. A stunning and deep film yes, but overlong, slow, lacking in some real narrative punches."
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