Audience Ratings: 2022 – wellingtonfilms.nz

92%

So thrilled to finally see this on the big screen, what an absolute triumph!
I think the entire audience at The Embassy tonight was seduced by Keith Carradine singing I’m Easy.
More 70s auteur-type films please!
Sensational!
Top ten movie ever? The Great American Movie? Both seem kind of reasonable in the afterglow of the screening!

56%

Very proto-Busby Berkeley in some of the dance numbers. Great to see a very young Bing Crosby, with his instantly recognisable voice.
It was supposed to showcase great America music but the music was mostly terrible. The skits were appalling. It felt a bit like an early version of America’s Got Talent. Please don’t stop playing the classics though!
One black person – a little girl in a movie about jazz!!! That kind of says it all!
Excruciating and appalling, worst film this year – sexist, racist and just vile, it looked and sounded truly awful, what a disaster.
Made too long ago to be a culture I can really understand, but too recent for me to be able to accept the weird sentimentality and racism underlying it as being simply “just how things were back then”.

76%

Great movie, thanks heaps
A predictable story line saved by the cinematography, the highlight being the nightclub scene when Tony Curtis is dancing with Anna to “Jungle Fantasy” performed by Esy Morales and his Rhumba Band.
THAT ending! More ham than on a Christmas buffet. Glad I watched it in the cinema- Miklós Rózsa’s music was outstanding.
Beautiful restoration
I really hope Noir-vember is a recurring theme!

81%

Two great stars and memorable character actors.
Pretty cool narrative with some zany heist ideas. Maybe Shelley Duvall reprised her iconic scream Queen sensation in “The Shining” from this movie?
Exquisite evocation of Depression-era morality with luminous performances and cinematography making up for the languid pace.
The story was skilfully told, but I didn’t find any connection or empathy …
Shelley Duvall slugging back Coke after Coke is everything

90%

Man dies first reel. People ask, “What’s the deal?”
The kind of shadowy chiaroscuro that only the big screen can do justice to.
Can’t beat that with a stick – loved the one-take heist, the Citizen Kane-like structure, and the two beautiful leads …
Great to watch – reminded me of way films were made – very masculine with token woman who mostly poses …
Fortunately the script only used the word Betelgeuse once.

86%

Very reminiscent of Leone’s underrated Duck You Sucker/Once Upon a Time in the Revolution.
So many familiar names! Such a trip down memory lane. An excellent reminder that concerns about land issues have remained a concern over the ages, and are not some 21st century invention
A tale… of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Too many stereotypes but a powerful ending.

88%

Both creepy and haunting it was a perfect Monday evening Halloween screening.
This was beautiful and tense in equal measure, I kept forgetting to breathe.
Would like to mark it down a few percentage points for the supernatural stuff – but it WAS well done 🙂
Not only visually interesting and highly atmospheric, but also managed to maintain our narrative attention to the end.
Did you know that the Oslo opera house is designed so in winter you can ski down its roof?

86%

Excellent film, thank you. Fascinating picture of the interplay of traditional attitudes, poverty and an unsupportive governmental structure!
Boring. No redeeming cinematic virtues beyond interminably long takes. Besides, Ozu did it much better over seventy years ago.
Exceptional movie
First character- the river
Second character- money
Third character – food.
Magnificent

91%

Captivating opening shot of Florence on the phone accompanied by Miles Davis’ sultry music had me hooked.
What a brilliant movie from Louis Malle. A thriller murder mystery with plenty of twists, turns and comedic moments. The audience loved it!!
One star for the cool cars. The rest was too silly for words.
I will leave the house ANY DAY to watch Jeanne Moreau wandering through Paris’ lonely streets. What didn’t this film have! Beautiful ode to Hitchcock.
The soundtrack is perfection

96%

Fabulous and spectacular – what a treat, worth waiting 2 years for : )
The music was phenomenal! (And the visuals, although I would love to see a restored version)
Just simply amazing. The musical score complemented the film in an extraordinary manner.
I’d sell my soul for more live cinema in Wellington.
An incredible evening of film and music.

86%

No acting; story jumps about; gloomy view of the human condition; but captivating viewing.
Incredible. Thanks so much for screening this
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie – it had a mysterious Claude Chabrol feel to the direction for me. Both unnerving and sinister.

83%

81%

Seldom has a film so consistently ludicrous been so entertaining
The melodrama! The tremulous closeups! The fruity accents! There was much to love here.
Great to see this kind of subversion of Hollywood cinema. Arzner could only have got away with it at RKO!
Wonderful entertainment and loved O’Hara’s two ‘speeches’ on stage and in court – bravo!

77%

77%

Interesting but not particularly riveting (from a 3 star voter)
Oh he was such a rotter but I couldn’t help liking him anyway. The love of a good woman sorted him out – maybe? (from a 4 star voter)
Great to see Bresson in top form and looking forward to ‘L’Argent,’ also the Altman films. Let’s have more of these classics by such wonderful dead directors. How about Roeg? (from a 5 star voter)

85%

Such a cozy, gentle film
If I had watched it on a tv I might have wandered away during its occasional longueurs. But on the big Embassy screen I was totally committed and loved the slightly mysterious mix of legend and cultural tourism. And the snow! I dreamt in white that night.
I loved this movie. Its slow, meditative pace forced me to slow down with it. I can’t remember having such a strange, pleasant movie-watching experience as this one. Thanks for programming this!