eusebius
Ottawa Public Library
eusebius's Completed Shelf
Filter your results by...
The Ice HouseThe Ice House, Streaming VideoSeason 1
Streaming Video - 1997Streaming Video, 1997
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
ZodiacZodiac, DVDLe Zodiaque
DVD - 2007DVD, 2007
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 26, 2024
Comment:
This movie is about three men who ruined their lives by obsessively chasing after a man they were never going to find. Serial killers usually--but not always--go on killing until they either die or become indifferent to murder as thrill. Robert Pickton went on for years until he finally got sloppy. The question is left unanswered: why did Graysmith, Avery and Toschi spend years on this case, to no avail? Some good performances but much too long.This movie is about three men who ruined their lives by obsessively chasing after a man they were never going to find. Serial killers usually--but not always--go on killing until they either die or become indifferent to murder as thrill. Robert…
The pastThe past, DVD[Le passé]
DVD - 2014 | FrenchDVD, 2014. Language: French
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 18, 2024
Comment:
A woman has attempted suicide by poison; the other characters have to analyze what her actions mean to them--and it's a complicated process of introspection. I lost the narrative thread a couple of times, but the ending brought everything into focus.
Long day's journey into nightLong day's journey into night, DVDLong day's journey into nightLong day's journey into nightDiqiu zuihou de yewan
DVD - 2019 | ChineseDVD, 2019. Language: Chinese
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 18, 2024
Comment:
The rapturous acclaim by the critics on the box doesn't prepare you for the mess you're going to experience. No real narrative, no strong characters to hold our interest. Camerawork is nice.
Drive my carDrive my car, DVDDoraibu mai kâ
DVD - 2022 | JapaneseDVD, 2022. Language: Japanese
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 16, 2024
Comment:
The actors are fine, the script sometimes wanders off point.
La Fanciulla del westLa Fanciulla del west, DVD
DVD - 2018 | ItalianDVD, 2018. Language: Italian
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 11, 2024
Comment:
My first Fanciulla, and while I'm not a Puccinian, I did enjoy this production. Emily Magee is excellent.
L'amico FritzL'amico Fritz, DVD
DVD - 2023 | ItalianDVD, 2023. Language: Italian
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 08, 2024
Comment:
My first time seeing this opera, and I have to say the production is not much to write about. Charles Castronovo is a fine singer, but the rest of the cast is nondescript. Maggio Musicale is probably an institution in decline.
And Then There Was EveAnd Then There Was Eve, DVD
DVD - 2019DVD, 2019
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 07, 2024
Comment:
This looks like something from Lifetime channel: sort of inspirational but pitched softly. You can't tell what the characters are feeling some of the time. Tania Nolan is good, the rest meh.
Great DirectorsGreat Directors, DVD
DVD - 2011DVD, 2011
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2024
Comment:
David Lynch and Stephen Frears are funny and garrulous, but Cavani and Breillat are tiresome and I wish they'd been eliminated. Todd Haynes is definitely a subject worthy of further study, as Andrew Sarris would say.
The salesmanThe salesman, DVDForushande
DVD - 2017 | PersianDVD, 2017. Language: Persian
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2024
Comment:
Another wonderful film from Farhadi. The seamless weaving of real life with performance of Death of a Salesman is superb. Left asking where were the police when she was brought to the hospital--don't they have units dealing with assaults?
در باره الیدر باره الی, DVDAbout EllyAbout EllyDarbārah-yi Ilī
DVD - 2015 | PersianDVD, 2015. Language: Persian
eusebius's rating:
Added Mar 01, 2024
Comment:
A masterpiece, of a kind that to my knowledge has been attempted only once before, by Antonioni in L'Avventura. Making the prominent character of Elly disappear after only 20 minutes or so makes the other characters question what they are doing, what their position in the group is all about. Wonderful acting by Golshifteh Farahani as Sebideh, who seems to be patterned after Emma--the matchmaking and general troublemaking, and by Saber Abar as the grief stricken fiance Alireza. Asghar Farhadi must be among the half-dozen greatest directors in the world.A masterpiece, of a kind that to my knowledge has been attempted only once before, by Antonioni in L'Avventura. Making the prominent character of Elly disappear after only 20 minutes or so makes the other characters question what they are doing,…
EnchantedEnchanted, DVD
DVD - 2008DVD, 2008
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 26, 2024
Comment:
It has been so many years since I watched a Disney movie... This one is fun--she cuts up his curtains to make a dress, pretty cool--and there were three actors I recognize--Susan Sarandon, Amy Adams and Timothy Spall--so all in all the time passed enjoyably. I was not accompanied by a child.It has been so many years since I watched a Disney movie... This one is fun--she cuts up his curtains to make a dress, pretty cool--and there were three actors I recognize--Susan Sarandon, Amy Adams and Timothy Spall--so all in all the time passed…
چهار شنبه سورىچهار شنبه سورى, DVDFireworks WednesdayFireworks Wednesday
DVD - 2017 | PersianDVD, 2017. Language: Persian
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 25, 2024
Comment:
My first Farhadi, and it won't be the last. Great film, actors do superb work, especially the girlfriend who knows her affair is over, and the fiancee who has a bewildering day in the couple's apartment--it's like an armed camp.
YesterdayYesterday, DVD
DVD - 2019DVD, 2019
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 24, 2024
Comment:
A good time movie, with some puzzling plot points. I get the Beatles disappearing from human memory (love the scene in which Jack frantically searches through his vinyl collection--no Beatles!), but cigarettes, and Coca cola? Lily James is wonderful, Himesh Patel is hang dog all the way through, and fine. Just Ed Sheeran is puzzling; he's no actor and his part is not essential to the story.A good time movie, with some puzzling plot points. I get the Beatles disappearing from human memory (love the scene in which Jack frantically searches through his vinyl collection--no Beatles!), but cigarettes, and Coca cola? Lily James is…
The Big SleepThe Big Sleep, DVD
DVD - 2005DVD, 2005
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 17, 2024
Comment:
Hard to follow the plot: you don't know half the characters who flit in and out. Shawn Regan, who's he? But it's a pure delight from beginning to end. Bogart is terrific, Bacall has some life in her, and Dorothy Malone has a wonderful bit as a bookseller with sex appeal.Hard to follow the plot: you don't know half the characters who flit in and out. Shawn Regan, who's he? But it's a pure delight from beginning to end. Bogart is terrific, Bacall has some life in her, and Dorothy Malone has a wonderful bit as a…
American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti, DVD2-movie Collection
DVD - 2018DVD, 2018
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 17, 2024
Comment:
Yes, there's Cindy Williams, but Candy Clark was always my fave (The Man Who Fell to Earth). A great time long ago, is it really fifty years now?
The Comfort of StrangersThe Comfort of Strangers, DVD
DVD - 2020DVD, 2020
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 17, 2024
Comment:
Meh. Criterion have done their usual good job of restoring a movie that might have better been left in obscurity. Paul Schrader was never a great director, McEwan's novel is a bore, only the sets and music have any quality. Rupert Everett has a chiseled chest that makes him ideal for underwear ads but can't quite hide his ennui at having to act in this silly story, and Natasha Richardson did better work in her short life. Walken and Mirren are just puppets. Venice looks elegant and threatening in Visconti's movies, and dull here.Meh. Criterion have done their usual good job of restoring a movie that might have better been left in obscurity. Paul Schrader was never a great director, McEwan's novel is a bore, only the sets and music have any quality. Rupert Everett has a…
eusebius's rating:
Added Feb 05, 2024
Comment:
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It's just too long; there's everything but the kitchen sink in these 1000 pages. Every battle is described, the major ones like Eylau get at least five pages, Leipzig gets 20. It's all really too much. The Code Napoleon, his lasting achievement, gets four pages--I really wanted more. This book is for military mavens, they'll love it.I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It's just too long; there's everything but the kitchen sink in these 1000 pages. Every battle is described, the major ones like Eylau get at least five pages, Leipzig gets 20. It's all really…
Roméo et JulietteRoméo et Juliette, DVD
DVD - 2023 | FrenchDVD, 2023. Language: French
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 31, 2024
Comment:
From the Liceu in 2018 comes this production of Romeo and Juliette with two attractive leads in Pirgu and Garifullina. The staging however is dull and unimaginative; there are walls with the names and dates of US Civil War victims which is a real head scratcher. I prefer Florez and Machaidze in their video of this opera.From the Liceu in 2018 comes this production of Romeo and Juliette with two attractive leads in Pirgu and Garifullina. The staging however is dull and unimaginative; there are walls with the names and dates of US Civil War victims which is a real…
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 27, 2024
Comment:
An excellent account of Napoleon's impact on European life and culture. An example, one of many: when Napoleon led the expedition to Egypt, he brought scholars with him to study the inscriptions in hieroglyphics, as Alexander the Great had done two thousand years before. So he was about more than winning battles and the Code Napoleon. Very entertaining, and a corrective to the bad film of last year.An excellent account of Napoleon's impact on European life and culture. An example, one of many: when Napoleon led the expedition to Egypt, he brought scholars with him to study the inscriptions in hieroglyphics, as Alexander the Great had done two…
Night Train to LisbonNight Train to Lisbon, DVDTrain De Nuit Pour Lisbonne
DVD - 2014DVD, 2014
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 27, 2024
Comment:
The book might make for an interesting read, I'll have to look for it. For this movie however, I've nothing but a blah feeling. It's always this way with pan-European productions: Jeremy Irons and Tom Courtenay from England, Martina Gedeck and August Diehl from Germany, Lena Olin from Sweden... but why go on? They don't blend together to form a cohesive whole. No romance and no suspense.The book might make for an interesting read, I'll have to look for it. For this movie however, I've nothing but a blah feeling. It's always this way with pan-European productions: Jeremy Irons and Tom Courtenay from England, Martina Gedeck and…
Sound of MetalSound of Metal, DVD
DVD - 2022DVD, 2022
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 27, 2024
Comment:
Surprising to see a weak film about an intriguing subject: what happens to a musician who can no longer hear. Riz Ahmed has done excellent work in the past (Nightcrawler) but here he is constrained by a trite story, and his pairing with Olivia Cooke has no chemistry at all, they seem to be acting in different movies. Will not replace Children of A Lesser God as an analysis of the meaning of deafness.Surprising to see a weak film about an intriguing subject: what happens to a musician who can no longer hear. Riz Ahmed has done excellent work in the past (Nightcrawler) but here he is constrained by a trite story, and his pairing with Olivia Cooke…
NightcrawlerNightcrawler, DVDLe Rôdeur
DVD - 2015DVD, 2015
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 25, 2024
Comment:
Great acting from Gyllenhall, Russo, Ahmed and Paxton--who plays a reporter on the way up, then brutally on the way down--and some terrific car chases make a very entertaining movie. No, you do not want to meet Louis Bloom, the closest thing to a human robot I've seen in some time.Great acting from Gyllenhall, Russo, Ahmed and Paxton--who plays a reporter on the way up, then brutally on the way down--and some terrific car chases make a very entertaining movie. No, you do not want to meet Louis Bloom, the closest thing to a…
DalglieshDalgliesh, DVDSeries 1
DVD - 2022DVD, 2022
eusebius's rating:
Added Jan 15, 2024
Comment:
Shows the dangers of talentless production people tackling works by famous authors. I'll start with the worst of the three: A Taste For Death. Here script and design go off the rails, the actors including the capable Jane Lapotaire are helpless to deal with the mess. The ending is atrocious: rating 1. Shroud for a Nightinghale is better, the actresses at the hospital are well directed, but the plot is confusing near the end: rating 2. Finally, The Black Tower has some redeeming features: Stephen Mackintosh as the corrupt priest is excellent and the supporting cast are good. The plot makes sense: rating 4.
PD James's books are fairly long, some of them, and it takes some judicious pruning to make interesting films; pity that pruning wasn't done well here.Shows the dangers of talentless production people tackling works by famous authors. I'll start with the worst of the three: A Taste For Death. Here script and design go off the rails, the actors including the capable Jane Lapotaire are helpless to…
Comment: