Sunday 17 February 2019

Adam Bowen's Talkie Talk # 47 implies you'll mostly get more pleasure staying in than going out to the new movies

NEW IN CINEMAS THIS WEEK

Undermined: Tales from the Kimberley (2018) – Aussie doco about the development of the Kimberley region and its remote Indigenous communities.


Stan & Ollie– Laurel & Hardy (John C. Reilly & Steve Coogan), on their uppers, tour the halls in post-war Britain.


Dragged Across Concrete(2018) – Alas not about the fate of Australian bank executives, but Mel Gibson, cast against type, playing an overzealous cop.

Vox Lux (2018) – Natalie Portman stars in biopic of diva, Celeste. 

Rhythm Section – Blake Lively takes revenge on the perpetrators of a plane crash that killed her family.

The New Mutants – A Marvel Comics analogy of the government in Canberra: several venomous reptiles, trapped in a special facility, fight to escape their self-inflicted circumstances.

Lords of Chaos– Drama-doco set in the early 1990s. A Norwegian teenager attempts to launch Black Metal; tragedy ensues.

John McEnroe- In the Realm of Perfection– doco about the mild-mannered tennis star. 


ON THE TELLY

Monday Noon, 9Gem: The Elephant Man (1980) David Lynch’s gothic biopic of the deformed Victorian, John Merrick (John Hurt).

Monday 2.10pm, Fox ClassicsThe African Queen (1951) During WW1, a prim missionary Katharine Hepburn, persuades drunken river trader Humphrey Bogart to attack a German gunboat. Excellent characters on a grand, old-fashioned adventure.

Tuesday Noon, 9GemCarlton-Browne of the F.O.(1959) – British comedy, starring Terry-Thomas as the top-class clot despatched to recover Her Majesty’s interests in a forgotten colonial outpost. Amphibulos, its wily Prime Minister (Peter Sellers) is just one of the excellent comic characters.  The first half is a gem of silliness, the second tails off a bit.


Wednesday 10.30pm & Thursday 1.45pm, Fox ClassicsThe Last Picture Show (1971) – detailed portrait of life in a small Texas town, at the time of the Korean war. Peter Bogdanovich’s direction and Robert Surtees b/w photography lift the drama (and the nostalgia) several notches. Cloris Leachman is the standout in an excellent cast.

Saturday 11am, 9GemThe Fallen Idol (1948) – Director Carol Reed’s collaboration with (scriptwriter) Graham Greene about a lonely ambassador’s son (Bobby Henrey), whose father-figure, the embassy butler (Ralph Richardson), is suspected of murder. Photographed by Georges Périnal. Highly recommended.



Sunday 9am 9Gem: Mine Own Executioner (1947) Psychiatrist Burgess Meredith tries to help a mentally unbalanced WW2 veteran (Kieron Moore). Excellent script (by Nigel Balchin), direction (by Anthony Kimmins) and photography (by Wilkie Cooper).


Sunday 1.30am, Fox Classics: Gilda (1946) She’s Rita Hayworth (never better), a chanteuse who marries a covert Nazi (George Macready), and carries on a love-hate relationship with his assistant/her old flame (Glenn Ford). Crackling dialogue by Marion Parsonnet and Ben Hecht and excellent Hollywood-style handiwork by director, Charles Vidor and cameraman, Rudolph Maté. Set in Buenos Aires.

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