cult film freak: maggie smith

Showing posts with label maggie smith. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/13/2022 / No comments / adventure , agatha christie , british , ensemble , i.s. johar , jack warden , john guillermin , jon finch , lois chiles , maggie smith , mia farrow , mystery , peter ustinov , simon maccorkindale , suspense

FIRST PETER USTINOV POIROT MYSTERY OF 'DEATH ON THE NILE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0Xi2x1ZFXa5Pm1ko9Aj8OAdTnrTp2BKr6Hhwdt26C4GNhfSkfaWhV0ex11NSRoPH2_j2DuIIDRQInJShKiWarw3w-OkizSI7vbZjQ8R43vPVk_7x-NVNz8ShiFl5IA9rkb0gRzh00jb3U0Bv4JOxpWp7cETgPXvZBhwoRWbz5PpAmH2Xo9w0qste-gQ=s1875" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1875" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0Xi2x1ZFXa5Pm1ko9Aj8OAdTnrTp2BKr6Hhwdt26C4GNhfSkfaWhV0ex11NSRoPH2_j2DuIIDRQInJShKiWarw3w-OkizSI7vbZjQ8R43vPVk_7x-NVNz8ShiFl5IA9rkb0gRzh00jb3U0Bv4JOxpWp7cETgPXvZBhwoRWbz5PpAmH2Xo9w0qste-gQ=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DEATH ON THE NILE Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Director John Guillermin's DEATH ON THE NILE with a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer adapted from Agatha Christie's most celebrated novel featuring the affable Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot is far from a perfect "whodunit" since this group of suspects, all passengers on a fancy boat down the titular Egyptian river, have very little motive/motivation to kill who's the best thing about the picture, and not just the prettiest...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thankfully Lois Chiles as super-rich heiress Linnet Ridgeway lasts over the one-hour mark; although she returns sporadically during the most uninteresting sequences where Poirot discusses with token constable-type David Niven what could have happened, providing flashbacks that aren't flashbacks being the first time we're seeing them...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, agatha christie, british, ensemble, i.s. johar, jack warden, john guillermin, jon finch, lois chiles, maggie smith, mia farrow, mystery, peter ustinov, simon maccorkindale, suspense

FIRST PETER USTINOV POIROT MYSTERY OF 'DEATH ON THE NILE'

Title: DEATH ON THE NILE Year: 1978 Rating: ***1/2 Director John Guillermin's DEATH ON THE NILE with a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer ada...

LOIS CHILES DEADLINES AGATHA CHRISTIE'S 'DEATH ON THE NILE'

adventure, agatha christie, i.s. johar, jack warden, john guillermin, jon finch, lois chiles, maggie smith, mia farrow, mystery, peter ustinov, simon maccorkindale, suspense

LOIS CHILES DEADLINES AGATHA CHRISTIE'S 'DEATH ON THE NILE'

Lois Chiles must die for a DEATH ON THE NILE Year: 1978 DEATH ON THE NILE, directed by the underrated John Guillermin, who surprisingly ...

FOURTH CHRISTIE MYSTERY: EVIL UNDER THE SUN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwh4ZY2FESzdIgokPEuNFwmO4CUhmj3pwOPjI0mdosG2751ZmBlBS_BWvAS6tEycDDEe8Joee1isb7V4ohiPIwdHg4oL7-D7CLmKegaiJt6G-pnSoU0t3IvHpa4jeKWhe8V_FlYtTwC27/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-05-03+at+7.38.07+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwh4ZY2FESzdIgokPEuNFwmO4CUhmj3pwOPjI0mdosG2751ZmBlBS_BWvAS6tEycDDEe8Joee1isb7V4ohiPIwdHg4oL7-D7CLmKegaiJt6G-pnSoU0t3IvHpa4jeKWhe8V_FlYtTwC27/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-05-03+at+7.38.07+PM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Part of the Opening Credit Paintings YEAR: 1982</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We'll take on the Agatha Christie cinematic four-pack in reverse, which began in 1974 and ended in 1982 (at least on the big screen), and the films are MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, DEATH ON THE NILE, THE MIRROR CRACK'D and starting out with the last and, going back in time when, as a kid of around twelve or thirteen, standing outside a the local double feature theater, seeing the poster for EVIL UNDER THE SUN was an eye-opener. Half-remembering an image of a (not knowing actor names) stout man standing partially in the water with a wine glass in his hand. It was sunny and tropical and this was the first time witnessing an unlikely leading man compared to an Eastwood or Stallone and, well, years have past and while a forty-something's memory often ends up serving nothing but time, and that poster cannot be found online and perhaps never existed, Agatha Christie's French (Belgium, actually) sleuth is a personal favorite, with a spark of the accidental clumsiness of Peter Falk's COLUMBO and always around when a murder takes place...</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3BqCsX21JVrzLPhulO9SzPhfckTF656lANUvvlfll91zI-p7QXObp-S8xmBAImtgOIJ9SEm9eq-Rr2-nNtULcuJv_ErBNIGzwmTV0HboJTaP_x7F_CLs4dgILd-Pyp2fH8EfIjaHSfRQ/s1600/15977674_254605731635277_6644871641933100913_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3BqCsX21JVrzLPhulO9SzPhfckTF656lANUvvlfll91zI-p7QXObp-S8xmBAImtgOIJ9SEm9eq-Rr2-nNtULcuJv_ErBNIGzwmTV0HboJTaP_x7F_CLs4dgILd-Pyp2fH8EfIjaHSfRQ/s400/15977674_254605731635277_6644871641933100913_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Diana Rigg's character probably fearing Emily Hone will soon surpass her</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
EVIL UNDER THE SUN is the third case with Hercule Poirot, and by far the best, second to Peter Ustinov's first time in the more adventurous and less contained DEATH ON THE NILE... and he was a replacement that really worked...<br />
<br />
While Albert Finney is one of the all-time great actors, in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS he seems to be doing an imitation of an imitation with a performance hindered by a cake of makeup and a phony (looking, anyway) mustache. Peter Ustinov is the best theatrical Perot because he doesn't seem to be acting at all. His quirkiness fits like a glove, and he's intense and affably endearing: Set in an island paradise, EVIL is a sort of Busman's Holiday for the Frenchman, and the actors surrounding are a perfectly odd lot including Maggie Smith, Roddy McDowell, Sylvia Miles, slowburn and meticulous teenage newcomer Emily Hone and the legendary James Mason. Like in NILE, there's a good looking younger couple, and the man, played by Nicholas Clay, is not only prettier than his girlfriend, but Diana Rigg, as the pivotal Arlena — a stage actress who may or may not agree to star in a production, is... well... it's very tricky writing a review of a Mystery film since just about anything can be a spoiler...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8Gs6Qvtx0ytIenIE6tpWzUsytDooIhuxYKPJEzTmN_rOhARbfIGxr3uOVnw-inenV4Tb0DEq4LoNR2UC1BOVHR5nTsIvmSiMHvo5ylYd7eDzMXKE82-aaFM2_7V8JcLgf9MRq6Xsf13M/s1600/15965428_254605734968610_5178713104048114744_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8Gs6Qvtx0ytIenIE6tpWzUsytDooIhuxYKPJEzTmN_rOhARbfIGxr3uOVnw-inenV4Tb0DEq4LoNR2UC1BOVHR5nTsIvmSiMHvo5ylYd7eDzMXKE82-aaFM2_7V8JcLgf9MRq6Xsf13M/s400/15965428_254605734968610_5178713104048114744_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A patriotic cannon blasts daily at high noon SCORE: ****</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What sets EVIL UNDER THE SUN apart from its two predecessors is the tight, lean script wherein the characters are never stagy thanks to the gorgeous backdrop that's anything but in the background — to use a cliche term when describing geography, the surrounding is "like a character in itself," especially shots from the hotel down into the sunlit grounds leading out into the blue-green ocean. Other visual highlights include a patriotic cannon firing a loud shot at 12 noon daily, not only bringing together the eclectic band of possible suspects, each with an ironclad alibi, but it allows the unlikeliest of heroes a platform to splendidly <i>happen-upon </i>everything that "James Bond director" Guy Hamilton places within eyeshot and earshot for both Poirot and his audience. Making a second viewing not only recommended, but completely necessary.</span>

eighties, franchise, james mason, maggie smith, mystery, peter ustinov, sequel

FOURTH CHRISTIE MYSTERY: EVIL UNDER THE SUN

Part of the Opening Credit Paintings YEAR: 1982 We'll take on the Agatha Christie cinematic four-pack in reverse, which began in 197...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/19/2016 / No comments / 2016 , indie , jim broadbent , maggie smith

THE LADY IN THE VAN

2016, indie, jim broadbent, maggie smith

THE LADY IN THE VAN

Here at Cult Film Freak Cinema, we review just about everything in theaters, and this is proof Maggie Smith has been around the block, a...

THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16LwRz10wl6LtHQwGQZ5DJ-Wlt_vIukqz9SgMCrHCh6eGlapE9qLq7wsTdg8bq0m5d9gOxMrCEVMq-pTWZNshMiKHAkDyI63plEMFnDxp0PwTLZXHKlj58f13RCsPvvULv_VafebfkCE/s1600/the_second_best_exotic_marigold_hotel_638.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16LwRz10wl6LtHQwGQZ5DJ-Wlt_vIukqz9SgMCrHCh6eGlapE9qLq7wsTdg8bq0m5d9gOxMrCEVMq-pTWZNshMiKHAkDyI63plEMFnDxp0PwTLZXHKlj58f13RCsPvvULv_VafebfkCE/s320/the_second_best_exotic_marigold_hotel_638.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: *</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It made perfect sense that Dev Patel’s Sonny Kapoor was overly excited in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL since he was hiding something: the entire premise of a plush residence for the elderly in India, actually a dilapidated dive, was all his ruse... The place wasn’t as nice as the ads, and, when a group of British old-timers showed up, it took an entire film for each to realize it was home sweet home. <br />
<br />
This time, Patel has more energy than a young Jerry Lewis on crystal meth… His overacting is so horrendous, you’ll want to center on those same old people who, sadly, have very little to do other than sightseeing locations previously covered. Maggie Smith's former racist grouch is lost within stressful preparations of a planned Bollywood style wedding between Sonny and his fiance, our former leading lady Judy Dench and her love interest Bill Nighy are stuck in the mud while the “and the rest” characters haven’t progressed either. Meanwhile, special guest star Richard Gere shows up under not-so-mysterious circumstances, wasted in a pointless courtship subplot and possibly having to do with the old hotel expanding into a new improved, legitimate building. In that, this more expensive sequel pales to an original story that was simply just-okay to begin with.

2015, bill nihy, celia imrie, judi dench, maggie smith, sequel

THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

2015 rating: * It made perfect sense that Dev Patel’s Sonny Kapoor was overly excited in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL since he was hid...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/03/2013 / No comments / 2012 , billy connelly , drama , dustin hoffman , maggie smith , music , tom courtenay

QUARTET

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLoWhSrbbH1teIURYLA3kukIduhuBy81MveAamCvRzcPwfHGogfTe7SDb43RlRJMg2oFU455QQB1TYrrDxMQLFEpwDYC2gDMgndQeZxLgFt6cE0dHd5J8ZLyZNVgQ1qIS6LLTbOQ-Dhc/s1600/QUARTET-MAGGIE-SMITH_zpsf3dbe756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLoWhSrbbH1teIURYLA3kukIduhuBy81MveAamCvRzcPwfHGogfTe7SDb43RlRJMg2oFU455QQB1TYrrDxMQLFEpwDYC2gDMgndQeZxLgFt6cE0dHd5J8ZLyZNVgQ1qIS6LLTbOQ-Dhc/s640/QUARTET-MAGGIE-SMITH_zpsf3dbe756.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Maggie Smith, Billy Connelly, Tom Courtenay rating: *1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is a very polarizing film. Not altogether in a negative sense but if you’re not heavily into classical music or opera it might be hard to relate to these characters, a group of elderly people in a retirement home for retired musicians.<br />
<br />
Throughout a very crowded house of crooning and/or instrument playing old timers, the first fifteen minutes consists of Billy Connelly’s sexually motivated character, Wilf Bond, flirting with every female, spouting the best dialog because everyone else has little to nothing to say. That includes Tom Courtenay's Reginald Paget, who only really comes to life after his ex wife Jean Horton, a former opera star played by Maggie Smith, becomes a resident. <br />
<br />
Part of the film's description is very misleading: “...The annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva.” For one thing, Jean is hardly a diva. That would have been humorously edgy and interesting. She’s actually quite mellow and introverted. Her only fault is stalking Paget on the grounds, but only because he wants nothing to do with her, yet they eventually connect and talk about the past.<br />
<br />
It’s difficult to relate to who they were since we never get to know them in the present. And eventually the plot’s underway: one of the residents wants the quartet, including the three characters mentioned and Pauline Collins as the ever-optimistic Cissy, to reunite. Horton (Smith) angrily balks until it’s decided to proceed, after which the show goes on with somewhat predictable results. <br />
<br />
First time director Dustin Hoffman does effectively wield creative shots in the gorgeous English exterior, but on the inside there’s little story to make the characters as worthwhile as they music they dedicated their lives to.

2012, billy connelly, drama, dustin hoffman, maggie smith, music, tom courtenay