Post by william on Jul 8, 2019 0:44:38 GMT
FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING
Return from the Ashes (1965, J. Lee Thompson)
Set in Paris, a Polish gigolo marries a rich Jewish doctor and stands to inherit her estate when she is deported to Dachau by the Nazis. A well directed film with good performances and fun set pieces. The post climax scenes might be a little clunky but is forgivable.
7/10
Children of Heaven (1997, Majid Majidi)
In a film that feels reminiscent of the 1948 Italian classic Bicycle Thieves, we have this Iranian production about a boy who loses his sister's pair of shoes & goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. It is a sweet and simple tell that is well acted and succeeds despite budget limitations.
7/10
Tiger Bay (1959, J. Lee Thompson)
This English crime drama follows a twelve-year-old tomboy who witnesses the murder of a woman by her Polish merchant marine boyfriend, but bonds with him and thwarts the police in their investigation. A nicely made film with some great tension building scenes.
6.5-7
Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Bunuel)
In this early Bunuel film a group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City, and the morals of young Pedro are gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others. It is a little rough around the edges but well paced and quite powerful.
6.5/10
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952, Harold French)
Quite a bizarre character that Claude Rains (Notorious) plays here in this interesting little film. The direction is a little bland and holds it back from being better.
6/10
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019, Jon Watts)
In what was a coda to the real finale of the MCU’s Phase Three Avengers Endgame we see Spider-man in the post Tony Stark world on a European School trip. This was am ok MCU film (despite some missed opportunities) but not a very good Spider-Man film. I can,t be bothered going on about the films short comings but will mention disappointment in the direction they are going from the mid-credit teaser. Instead I will tell you the good things about the film. Tom Holland is good as Peter Parker with the material he had and his scenes with MJ (Zendaya) hold the film together. The two best things in the film though were Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance and a couple of scenes with Spider-Man
fighting in an illusion world.
5-5.5/10Piranha (1978, Joe Dante)
Stephen Spielberg said this was his favourite of the Jaws cash in/ ripoff films but maybe he was just being kind cos this is a stinker. I thought I had seen this before but turns out I’d only seen some sections or I have completely deleted parts from my memory.
2/10
FIRST TIME DOCUMENTARY VIEWING
Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers (2018, Jeremy Kenyon)
Netflix
In 1989, physicist Bob Lazar broke the story of Area 51 and the US government's work on alien spacecrafts. He blew the whistle, shocked the world, then went silent - until now. The film is criticised for not having much new info but there is a few nuggets and this also is a nice entry point for people who do not know the original story. The direction is pretty ugly and could have been edited better though.
Recommended
WEEKLY FILM AWARDS
BEST FILM: Return from the Ashes
BEST ACTOR: Amir Hashemian - Children of Heaven
BEST ACTRESS: Hayley Mills - Tiger Bay
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jake Gyllenhaal- Far from Home
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Talitha Pol - Return from the Ashes
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christopher Challis - Return from the Ashes
BEST SCORE: John Dankworth - Return from the Ashes
BEST SCRIPT: Majid Majidi - Children of Heaven
BEST DIRECTOR: J. Lee Thompson - Return from the Ashes
10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too
Yours:
Return from the Ashes 8.5/10
Loved it, glad you liked it too.
You should check out Guns of Navarone from J. Lee Thompson, I think you'll like that too. 
Piranha (1978) 7.5/10
I enjoyed it actually, I prefer it to The Howling.
Mine:
The White Crow 7.5/10
It's Ralph Fiennes' movie about Rudolf Nureyev, about the time he defects from Soviet Union to live in Paris, it follows the rest of his life in flashbacks. I liked it, I mean, I found the flashbacks a bit distracting at times, but I thought it was interesting, the acting is pretty good.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) 8/10
It's Richard Fleischer's version, with Kirk Douglas and James Mason, I liked it a lot, it's beautiful visually, the colors...I thought Kirk Douglas was too over the top, loved James Mason as Nemo though. The effects still hold up, the giant squid, especially.
Loro 1 6.5/10
It's the first Paolo Sorrentino movie, about Silvio Berlusconi. It's more like a satire, I found the style a bit annoying, it's not bad though, it's very surreal.