Reminiscent of Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES, ANOTHER WOMAN tells the story of a
professor who is in her 50's and beginning to reexamine her life. Taking a
leave of absence from work to write a book, she rents an apartment next door to
a psychiatrist's office, but soon discovers that through some "acoustical oddness" she can hear all of the patients quite clearly. She tries to ignore
them, but one patient in particular (Mia Farrow) captures her attention and
brings back sad memories from her own past. Failed relationships,
estranged siblings and parents, her decision to not have children, her current
dead end marriage to Ian Holm which began with him cheating on his wife with
her, her turning down a suitor (Gene Hackman) who was clearly in love with
her.
Needless to say, ANOTHER WOMAN is not a happy film. It's not as depressing
as Allen's last film,
SEPTEMBER, but it's no walk in the park either. Intimate photography by Sven
Nykvist, a steady pace, strong performances by a great cast, interesting
story. ANOTHER WOMAN has a lot of the ingredients to make an outstanding
film, but for some odd reason it just falls into the "above average"
category. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it just doesn't have that
magic spark to it. Still, it's 100% worth watching.
Showing posts with label Gene Hackman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene Hackman. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Friday, November 23, 2012
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)
A fancy cruise ship is just innocently sailing along, minding it's own business,
when BOOM! out of nowhere a nasty ol' wave flips it upside down and kicks sand
in its face. Now, all of the surviving passengers have to figure out how
to escape this sinking tub of shit before they end up at the bottom of the
ocean.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE advertises itself as having an all-star cast (and it does), but I'd wager most modern audiences have zero clue who Shelley Winters or Ernest Borgnine is, let alone somebody like Red Buttons. But no matter, the adventure through the capsized ship is what I'm most interested in and...it's not very impressive. Actually it kinda borders on boring. After the boat flips upside down, it's decided that they need to journey to the engine room where the hull is the thinnest. They head in that direction, but not a whole lot happens. Water splashes about, fires burn and stuff is upside down, but I never got a real feel of danger or even a sense of where the hell they where. In DIE HARD, when Bruce Willis was traveling around inside (and outside) the skyscraper that was super exciting, but here it just looked like a bunch of actors flopping about on a film set.
Dated special effects, an all-star cast, exciting premise that never pays off, lots of yelling, weak female characters, boring action scenes, under-cooked character development, hippie band singing an annoying song, Shelley Winters swimming underwater, Ernest Borgnine saying "Holy fuck!", Gene Hackman holding his breath for over 3 minutes, random heroics. Good for a guilty pleasure, but that's about it. That said, I probably watch this wet turkey a few times a year.
Part 2 - Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Remake 1 - The Poseidon Adventure (2005)
Remake 2 - Poseidon (2006)
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE advertises itself as having an all-star cast (and it does), but I'd wager most modern audiences have zero clue who Shelley Winters or Ernest Borgnine is, let alone somebody like Red Buttons. But no matter, the adventure through the capsized ship is what I'm most interested in and...it's not very impressive. Actually it kinda borders on boring. After the boat flips upside down, it's decided that they need to journey to the engine room where the hull is the thinnest. They head in that direction, but not a whole lot happens. Water splashes about, fires burn and stuff is upside down, but I never got a real feel of danger or even a sense of where the hell they where. In DIE HARD, when Bruce Willis was traveling around inside (and outside) the skyscraper that was super exciting, but here it just looked like a bunch of actors flopping about on a film set.
Dated special effects, an all-star cast, exciting premise that never pays off, lots of yelling, weak female characters, boring action scenes, under-cooked character development, hippie band singing an annoying song, Shelley Winters swimming underwater, Ernest Borgnine saying "Holy fuck!", Gene Hackman holding his breath for over 3 minutes, random heroics. Good for a guilty pleasure, but that's about it. That said, I probably watch this wet turkey a few times a year.
Part 2 - Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Remake 1 - The Poseidon Adventure (2005)
Remake 2 - Poseidon (2006)
Interesting how the ship is flipping over, but yet the ornaments are
still falling to the floor.
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