RodrigAndrisan

I don't usually write reviews for such films, my favorite films being the films of Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Marco Ferreri, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, and a few more like them. This "Armageddon" is a real "armageddon" from a cinematic point of view, a long waste of time of 2 hours and 31 minutes. I saw it for the first time in the cinema shortly after it was made and I had to watch it again on TV, having nothing better to do, being stuck in a hotel room in Porthmadog, Wales due to the continuous rain. All the actors give an awkward performance, the story is puerile, explosions after explosions, super annoying, the standard face of Bruce Willis in all the scenes, frame after frame, the same in all the films, playing himself, like many other "actors". I made a much better short film in 2013, also with an asteroid about to impact planet Earth, without explosions and without awkward scenes, one after another, "Solitary" is the title, only 5 minutes long, with believable characters and situations, like in real life, it can be seen on YouTube if you write the title, "Solitary" and my name, Rodrig Andrisan. Back to Michael Bay's "Armageddon", the only ones more natural and believable are Billy Bob Thornton and the actress who plays the woman who comes to ask for a divorce in her husband's astronomical observatory. The fact that the film was nominated for 4 Oscars shows, once again, how irrelevant the Oscars are. The film also won some awards and the well-deserved ones are those won at the Razzie Awards and The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, i.e. The "awards" for the worst film and the worst performances from all those involved.

Ingrid Bergman at 55, is still a very beautiful and desirable woman. As Anthony Quinn, one of the giants of world cinema and one of my favorite actors, also thinks. I liked Anthony Quinn in all his films, even the less good ones. I especially liked him in LA STRADA, ZORBA THE GREEK, THE 25TH HOUR, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. I didn't like Ingrid Bergman in INDISCREET (read my review), but she is extraordinary in films like NOTORIOUS and ARCH OF TRIUMPH. Here, in A WALK IN THE SPRING RAIN, she does a decent, not great, role as a woman who is a grandmother and falls in love with a married man, not at all handsome, who is Anthony Quinn. The story is banal, the film is rather static, except for the scene when Anthony Quinn, with just one punch, kills his own son. Fritz Weaver is dull and, I am convinced, that is how it was supposed to be. Virginia Gregg stands out as the neglected wife of Anthony Quinn. I am convinced that with other actors in the roles played by Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, the film would have had no charm. Only their unique personalities give value to this film and make it worth watching. Ten stars only because I love Bergman and Quinn in other films. Miscast or not, I think that both Quinn and Bergman tried to be as natural, believable and convincing as possible. Who did it better? Obviously Bergman, but Quinn is also believable, despite the character's pure American name from Tennessee, the actor being a mixture of Mexican and something else mysterious.

Cary Grant is not one of my favorite actors, just like Robert De Niro and many others, he plays himself in all his movies. That doesn't mean that the movies are bad. For example, this NOTORIOUS, is a very good movie. And it's the movie in which I like Cary Grant the most, because of the role he plays. But there are also some questionable aspects. Staying with Cary Grant, it is not at all clear how he, an American agent, ended up among Alicia Huberman's (Ingrid Bergman) guests in her house at the beginning of the film. It would have been natural for Devlin, Cary Grant's character, and Alicia to meet anywhere else, so by chance. Then, Alicia falls in love with Devlin much too quickly. Maybe some women are like her? Anyway, Ingrid Bergman, at 31, looks 21, and is so beautiful that there are no words to describe her. As for her acting talent, she is absolutely overwhelming, a being from a completely different world, unique, gorgeous, super charming, super delicious, you can't help but fall in love with her, she simply shines like a human sun. Despite the above and the fact that 99% of the scenes take place indoors, which makes it a bit static, the film is captivating. If Ingrid Bergman hadn't been in it, it would have been super boring. The other actors are all exceptional, especially Madame Konstantin (Leopoldine Konstantin), who does a great job as Alexander Sebastian's (Claude Rains) mother. There would be a problem here too, it is striking that Madame Konstantin, only 3 years older than Claude Rains, and Claude Rains looking very old, both of them do not give the impression of mother and son at all. Either Hitchcock should have chosen a much younger actor, or another very, very old actress. Hitchcock probably really liked Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains in CASABLANCA, and wanted to have them both together in his film. Another extraordinary presence is the actor Ivan Triesault. The coolest scene in the movie: when Ingrid Bergman kisses Cary Grant while he's on the phone. The less cool scene: when Alicia/Ingrid gets married too quickly and totally against her feelings to Sebastian/Rains, and the fact that she asks permission from the American secret agents, and, at their suggestion, accepts the marriage, seems childish if not downright stupid to me. Ten stars just for Ingrid Bergman's work and unique charm!