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Post by delon on May 4, 2019 15:58:50 GMT
Comments/ratings/recommendations/film posters are welcome and much appreciated.
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Post by wmcclain on May 4, 2019 16:15:37 GMT
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Post by teleadm on May 4, 2019 18:19:16 GMT
Another week and here is mine: I must confess, I'm deadly tired of those one joke movies streched out to 100 minures, Lucille Ball could have carried out the same plot with Vivian Vance in 25 minutes, with a difference, Lucy and Viv would have been funny, while this movie is just lazy. By accident following a thread, I read about a movie based on one of the funniest sit-coms from Britain, that went on between 1968 and 1977, and was a staple on time slots on Friday evenings in Sweden for many years. So I was thrilled hearing about a new version, Then I forgot about it until last Sunday. Damn I wanted to like it! but it wasn't good at all. Best part was actually hearing Bud Flanagan's old title song "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?" over the end itles. From the time when Steve Martin only made remakes (feels, like that), not based on the actual sequel Belles on Their Toes. Overly cute for my taste, but worldwide audiences made it a commercial winner. Don't get Eugene Levy's comedy stich, it just annoys me. Depp is somewhere between 21 Jump Street and Jack Sparrow, I liked this movie for its feeling and atmosphere. A great cast assembled keeps it together Somehow the sollution wasn't that interesting, since the first half of the movie was great. When you hire John Wayne you get John Wayne, big tall and tough, but not without feelings, a few awkward situations, and with a little bit of twinkle in your eye humour scenes. Last movie directed by legendary Howard Hawks! There is a great staged and filmed train robbery in the beginning, it's so good it makes the rest of the movie feel a bit so-so. Another factor is that Wayne is surrounded by non familiar actors that can't throw their weight around, except Jack Elam. Not the flop I've read it was, It actually made a healthy profit, thanks to Europe. The sparkle and freshness it once had might have faded a bit, but it's charm is as strong as ever! A Fiat Topolino, like the one used in Roman Holiday, I'm amazed it even had a back seat, and filled it with Gregory Peck!
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Post by OldAussie on May 4, 2019 22:24:59 GMT
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Post by politicidal on May 4, 2019 22:41:46 GMT
Avengers: Endgame (2019) 9/10
Joy Ride (2001) 7/10
The Mule (2018) 6/10
Instant Family (2018) 7/10
Mary Shelley (2017) 6/10
Destination Wedding (2018) 5/10
Libeled Lady (1936) 5/10
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) 6/10
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Post by mikef6 on May 5, 2019 1:36:03 GMT
Torchy Gets Her Man / William Beaudine (1938). Warner. This is the 6th of 9 Torchy Blaine films. Torchy, a fast-talking, aggressive female reporter is always after the latest scoop and is often in the way of her police detective boyfriend, Steve McBride (Barton MacLane). McBride and his chief are approached by a secret service agent asking for their help in tracking down counterfeiters. They both promise the agent that no one else will know about their plan, and that includes Torchy. But we learn very quickly that the secret agent is really the counterfeiter and is using the cops to help pass the queer (did you catch that ‘30s jargon). Glenda Farrell is in full perpetual motion as the unstoppable Torchy. She, of course, exposes the plot and faces being rubbed out by the end. A perfect combo of laughs and thrills. A Slight Case Of Murder / Lloyd Bacon (1938). Warner. It sometimes seems that for every serious gangster/crime film Edward G. Robinson appeared in during the 1930s, he did one that was a spoof on those movies. This is one of the funniest as it approaches farce. Eddie G. plays Remy Marco, a mob boss dealing in illicit beer during Prohibition but who has to turn legit brewer when it is repealed. Four years later Marco, who doesn’t understand that his beer is terrible, has gone bankrupt and is about to be foreclosed. He tries to keep the news from his wife (Ruth Donnelly) who knows something is wrong and his daughter (Jane Bryan) who has just returned from being educated in Europe. Add two bankers, the bodies of four dead gangsters in Marco’s house, a big party, the daughter’s state trooper fiancé, the fiancé’s rich but fragile father, along with Marco’s loyal minions and you have the ingredients for a frantic comedy of close calls and misunderstandings. Edward G. Robinson shows his total understanding of this sort of comedy by playing even the most outrageous conversations perfectly straight. A delight. Voice Of The Whistler / William Castle (1945). Columbia. In this, the 4th of 8 movies based on a popular radio drama, Richard Dix (who starred in all but the last Whistler film) plays John Sinclair, a ruthless CEO who develops health and emotional problems but has no one to share them with. Attempting a vacation, he passes out but is cared for by a friendly cab driver (Rys Williams). Living in a working class neighborhood and seeing a doctor at the health clinic for the poor, he falls for the clinics receptionist, Joan (Lynn Merrick). At first I thought that this was headed toward an evil rich man reformed by salt-of-the-earth people, but, boy, was I wrong. Joan turns out to be the closest this series has come to a femme fatale and the ending is a murder plot duel between Sinclair and Joan’s former fiancé (James Cardwell). Terrific entertainment in a one hour format. Ma and Pa Kettle / Charles Lamont (1949). Universal International. In 1947, a hit movie, “The Egg and I,” about a couple from the city who move to the country to raise chickens (prob the source for the ‘60s TV series “Green Acres”) had the thing almost stolen from the stars by Marjorie Main (nominated for Supporting Actress) and Percy Kilbride as their neighbors Ma and Pa Kettle. The Kettles were spun off into their own movie which turned into a yearly series of nine films. The Ma and Pa Kettle films became a cash cow for Universal. They cost next to nothing to produce but returned very large BO numbers. In this first Kettle feature (sometimes seen as "The Further Adventures of...", the Kettle family of Ma and Pa and 15 children (a running gag is that Ma can never keep their names straight), the city council is about to condemn the rundown mess of a house the family lives in when it is revealed that lazy, shiftless Pa - only interested in a new tobacco pouch – had entered a slogan contest and won a brand new “House Of The Future” filled with a bewildering number of automatic gadgets operated with push buttons (but they did have 15 children so Pa couldn’t have been THAT lazy). Richard Long shows up as their college educated oldest child. Plenty of smiles as the hillbilly clan deals with the automated house, but not many outright laughs. NOTE: On September 21, 1964, Percy Kilbride was walking with a friend, Ralph Belmont, when both men were hit by a car at the intersection of Yucca St. and N. Cherokee Ave in Los Angeles. The car sped away. Belmont died on the spot. Kilbride lived but never recovered. After undergoing brain surgery in November, he died on December 11. The hit-and-run driver was never caught. Doctor Who: Classic Series: Revenge Of The Cybermen / Michael E. Briant. S. 12, 4 weekly episodes from April 19 to May 10, 1975. The most well-known and well-loved actor to play The Doctor is the fourth person to take the role, Tom Baker – he of the long, multi-colored scarf. This story was the last of the show’s 12th Season and Baker’s first. The Doctor’s old enemies, the Cybermen, are on the march again – planning the destruction of a drifting plant made of gold, the element that destroy a Cyberman. The planned explosion, however, will also destroy Earth and its solar system. The Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry have their hands full. Although the story and its execution could be called “routine,” -and has been - looking back after the passage of 44 years, 9 more Doctors, 25 more seasons, and the impact that the Fourth Doctor has had, all of Tom Baker’s work now looms large in Sci-Fi TV history. The Doctor and two Earthmen face the Cyber Leader Flowers. S.1, 6 episodes of 24 minutes each from the UK’s Channel 4. The series ran on consecutive nights from April 18 to April 29, 2016. This comedy/drama puts the dysfunction in dysfunctional family. As the first episode begins, the father of the family, Maurice Flowers (Julian Barratt), tries to hang himself but the rope breaks. His wife Deborah (Oscar winner Olivia Colman) tries to keep things cheery against impossible odds. This mini-series requires careful attention with its multi-layered storytelling and complex overlapping sub-plots. And, if you watch the 6 programs one right after the other, you can finish them in 40 minutes less time than one showing of Avengers: Endgame.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on May 5, 2019 9:41:37 GMT
Starting to round up pics from 1947 that I have yet to view. Two this week. Desert Fury (1947) - See thread with review and comments here > imdb2.freeforums.net/post/2841874/threadRepeat Performance (1947) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0039761/reference Run Through Snow Leaving No Footprint. Repeat Performance is directed by Alfred Werker and adapted to screenplay by Walter Bullock from the novel written by William O'Farrell. It stars Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Tom Conway, Richard Basehart, Virginia Field and Natalie Schafer. Music is by George Antheil and cinematography by L. William O'Connell. It's New Years Eve 1946 and Sheila Page is standing over the dead body of her husband - with gun in hand. Hurrying to a party to seek solace from friends, Sheila wishes she could turn back the clock and eradicate the problems that the year has thrown at her. Amazingly she gets the chance to do just that... Destiny's a stubborn old girl Sheila. It's the sort of story that would be at home in The Twilight Zone some years later, a fantastical premise involving time travel that still has the bitter requisite of fate standing firm to not be cheated. It seems that no matter what Sheila Page (Leslie) does, her year of misery, and that of the people closest to her, can not be averted. This set up makes for a number of involving scenes as we the viewers yearn for Sheila to achieve her goals. Pic slots into the noir realm since it drips with pessimism, while the central characters (failure of a husband, femme fatale, frustrated poet) have all hoped off the bus from noirville. It may get too soapy at times throughout the middle section, but there's no grandstanding drama to have you rolling your eyes. Visually it has great moments, notably for the tremendously shadowy finale when story saunters to the conclusion of everything we have just witnessed. There's also a super section where Sheila is visiting a friend at a mental asylum, as she talks (the conversation richly dark) the reflection on the wall behind her is that of a barred window with rain cascading downwards, the metaphor for discord is palpable and a smart touch. Conversely these great visual moments have you wishing that more were within the whole picture, something Werker would achieve a year later with the excellent He Walked By Night (Basehart in the lead). George Antheil's (The Sniper/In A Lonely Place) musical compositions are most interesting, particularly during that finale as he bounces strings and woodwind from the action to that of the ticking New Years Eve clock. Cast are fine, Leslie pitches it right as the woman fighting fate head on, Hayward is a touch too animated but still scores as her boorish drunk of a husband, and Basehart in his film debut hints at better things ahead. There's no bad perfs on show, all contribute significantly. Having not read the novel I did research it to see how this adaptation figured in comparison, somewhat disappointingly I found that the novel has significant differences, differences that would have surely made for a far more darker film noir experience. So with that in mind I understand why fans of the book aren't exactly enamoured with the filmic take. The makers clearly are caught out trying to make a pic to cover most bases, which is why we have a part film noir and part fantasy melodrama. By the by, though, Alfred Werker's movie takes a fascinating premise and holds the attention from the bleak opening to the superb monologue given by Basehart at film's closure. 7.5/10 Suspect (1987) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0094082/referenceThe innocent shall know the glory of heaven!Peter Yates directs and Eric Roth writes the screenplay. It stars Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, John Mahoney and Joe Mantegna. Music is by Michael Kamen and cinematography by Billy Williams. Pot has Cher as a public defender tasked with defending a deaf and mute homeless man accused of murder. It's a solid legal eagle thriller is this, it opens with a dramatic suicide and the discovery of a woman's dead body, and then runs through many of the staples of feature film courtroom shenanigans. There's some spice thrown in for good measure as the lawyer and a member of the jury get too close for comfort, while the central premise of a deaf and mute person being the accused makes for fascinating viewing - the makers obviously having a social awareness of the issue. As the mystery to be solved question holds the attention, pic does descend into the realm of the far fetched with the behaviour of Cher and Quaid's characters. It's also not something of a shock once the big reveal arrives. Yet this has enough savvy performances, nice technical touches (William's cinematography sparkles at times) and a strong pot boiling premise, to make it well worth the time invested with it. 7/10 Tombstone (1993) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0108358/referenceIndeed, sir. The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals.Tombstone is written by Kevin Jarre and directed by its star Kurt Russell, with credited director George P. Cosmatos ghost-directing. It also features a large ensemble cast that includes Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn & Powers Boothe. The movie is loosely based on historic incidents occurring in 1881-1882. The plot follows newly retired peace officer Wyatt Earp (Russell) as he and his two brothers, Virgil (Elliott) & Morgan (Paxton), arrive in the Tuscon town of Tombstone. Here they plan to make their fortune and gain themselves a share in a farrow game at the local saloon. Wyatt's long time friend, Doc Holliday (Kilmer), also joins the Earp's in town and it's not long before they encounter trouble in the form of The Cowboys - a ruthless bunch of outlaws led by Curly Bill Brocious (Boothe). The back story to Tombstone is rather interesting, so without waffling on and boring the spurs off of any readers I'll try & keep this paragraph short! Willem Dafoe was slated to star as Doc Holliday but Buena Vista (Disney company) said no way on account of his appearance in the frowned upon The Last Temptation Of Christ. Since Buena Vista were the only company willing to distribute Tombstone, on account of Kevin Costner pulling rank and influence due to his own Wyatt Earp movie being on the go, they had the big say in things. Then when the screenplay was turned in by Jarre it was shot down by both Russell and the now on board Kilmer because it was deemed excessively too long. Jarre was then fired as director for refusing to cut down the characterisations. Enter Cosmatos to ghost-direct for Russell. Then Robert Mitchum (who narrates in the film) had to drop out of playing Old Man Clanton (subsequently dropped from the story) due to a riding accident. While genre legend Glenn Ford bailed out of playing Marshall White to pave the way for Harry Carey Junior to fill those boots. In spite of all the problems getting harmony and cohesion to the screen, Tombstone ends up being a thoroughly entertaining genre piece. A love letter to the genre and boasting one of the best ever portrayals of an (in)famous Western character (Kilmer's take on Holliday is sexy, dangerous and utterly beguiling). Comparing it to Costner's movie is folly, for that movie (and I'm a big fan of it) is a telling of Earp's life and doesn't Hollywoodise things, this is about a short period in Earp's life, with bells on. There's some inaccuracies, but in the main the makers do a good job of covering the events leading up to the famous gunfight that occurred at the O.K. Corall - and the aftermath of said confrontation. Pic manages to have its cake and to eat it for a modern age made Western. It does all in all what old fans of the genre expect whilst having enough savvy dialogue and rah rah sequences to engage the more youthful viewers. There's not much art to speak of (for instance you wont go searching out for the cinematographer's name) and the sheer volume of characters at times threatens to bulge the piece over the belt buckle. Yet it always manages to keep us entertained with a high energy action sequence or a sharp quip delivered by the irrepressible Kilmer. Even the standardised romantic angle involving the beautiful, but superfluous Dana Delaney as Josephine manages to have its engaging moments. Sure we ache for the next scene of Kilmer being cool or Biehn being a cocky bastard, but the love blossoming between Wyatt & Josephine, and the inner conflict that it causes Earp, really fleshes out where Earp was emotionally at a time when he was trying to settle down for peace in his world. Ultimately it's probably with the story of Kilmer & Russell insisting on a trimming of the story that Tombstone makes the most telling point. Critically it was recognised as being too bloated and that wasn't what was needed. For crying out loud the Western fan had had Eastwood's sublime Unforgiven the previous year, so who in their right mind would try and follow that? Tombstone thankfully doesn't take itself too seriously, but still it has enough nous to keep the beans cooking on high and the splendid moustache's a twirling. All that Whilst simultaneously providing some of the most quotable lines delivered in the most splendid of film genres. Kilmer's Doc is our Huckleberry, and so is Tombstone the film. 8/10 And a couple of 10 Little Indians cover versions > Identity (2003) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0309698/referenceHis story's so unbelievable, I think it just might be true.
Identity is directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Cooney. It stars John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amada Peet, Clea DuVall, Rebecca De Mornay, Alfred Molina, John Hawkes, John C. McGinley, Jake Busey and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Music is by Alan Silvestri and cinematography by Phedon Papamichael Jr. Inspired by Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, Identity pitches 10 characters trapped at a motel who begin getting killed off one by one... If you are going to do yet another take on Christies superb literary source then at least bring some freshness, so how nice to find that Identity does in fact ironically have its own. Set up is suitably in keeping with murder mystery shenanigans, there's major flooding and our host of characters are bound to a shabby motel run by a shabby John Hawkes. On the edges of the frame we have another story where multiple killer Malcolm Rivers (the wonderful wobbly eyed P.T. Vince) is under interrogation to test for insanity to stave off his impending execution. Mangold uses flashbacks to put the various characters at the motel, in how they came to be there. There's a creative ambitiousness about how Mangold constructs the pic that draws you in, which come the finale will either have you satiated or stupefied. The murder sequences are very well put together, with a couple being well ghoulish, and it's a very impressive cast of actors working their way through the formulaic but fascinatingly cheat free psychological murk. It's not as smart as it thinks it is but this has enough of an absorbing pull, and no little intelligence, to lift it higher than many other Agatha 10 copies. 7/10 Mindhunters (2004) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0297284/referenceBrain Drain!The Mindhunters of the title are a group of FBI profilers who as part of their training are sent to a remote island to solve a mock crime in a mock town. Their mission is to form a profile of a serial killer known as The Puppeteer, trouble is, is that The Puppeteer turns out to be real and starts picking them off one by one. Directed by Renny Harlin and featuring a bonkers story written by Wayne Kramer, it doesn't take an FBI profiler to know what sort of film this is going to be. Featuring a cast that contains LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Patricia Velásquez, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, Mindhunters is undeniably preposterous cinema for the easily pleased masses, and yet it's still hugely enjoyable and isn't found wanting in the ingenuity stakes. The killers secret is closely guarded, which keeps the Ten Little Indians (yes this is another Agatha cover version) like mystery going, and the manner of the deaths have a morbid freshness about them - with one in particular being outrageously thrilling. A few scenes are neatly crafted by Harlin, who is after all is no slouch in the action genre (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight), while the swimming pool finale is taut and tight and the killer reveal genuinely a surprise. Yes there's problems abound in the film, but isn't there always in this kind of "B" movie hogwash? The cast do what is required as they work through some pretty naff dialogue, and any expectation about caring for any of these characters should be set at option zero. However, it's a nice fit for Harlin, as it finds him comfortable in the knowledge that we want whizz bang murder death kill, and thus he delivers. Expectation of anything else is pure folly and one directs you towards René Clair's excellent 1945 film, And Then There Were None if you need something a bit more solid in your murder mystery diet. 7/10 Done!
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Post by claudius on May 5, 2019 10:17:40 GMT
CHARMED (1999) “When Bad Warlocks Do Good” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Rising TV star Michael Wheatley (NCIS and BULL) guest-stars as a soon-to-be-ordained priest with demon background. Paramount DVD.
DARK SHADOWS (1969) "Episode 741-745" 50TH ANNIVERSARY MPI Video DVD.
ROBIN OF SHERWOOD (1984) “Robin Hood and the Sorcerer” 35TH ANNIVERSARY. British TV-series giving a more magical tone to the Robin Hood legend. More so in this two-part pilot with Robin of Locksley a chosen one (“The Hooded Man”) guided by Herne the Hunter to stop an evil sorcerer with the Little John clash and Archery Tournament given an equally eldritch slant. Acorn Media DVD.
THE GREAT BUSTER (2019) Peter Bogdonavich’s documentary on Keaton, with interviews by Quentin Tarantino, Mel Brooks, Richard, Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke. Got this one after reading Mike Clark’s review on MediaPlay (way back in the 90s I would always look at his USAToday reviews, even anticipating his reviews on THE ART OF BUSTER KEATON when those came to video). Cohen BluRay.
DRAGON BALL Z (1989) “Mini-Goku is a Pampered Cry-Baby! His Name is Gohan!” 30TH ANNIVERSARY. The second part of the Anime adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s SHONEN JUMP manga series makes its debut, introducing Son Gohan. First saw parts of this as extras on Pioneer’s DRAGON BALL Z MOVIE: THE DEAD ZONE DVD. Saw the full uncut episode in its Funi dubbed premiere on Cartoon Network in 2005 (what had been broadcast as the first episode was a re-edited censored version). Funimation DVD.
THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE (1939) 80TH ANNIVERSARY. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ final RKO film together (it won’t be their last. Wait next Sunday) has them dispense with the romance and gets them courted, and married, playing a historical dancing husband-and-wife team (with Slim Summervile playing their lifelong friend who was actually black!). First saw this on American Movie Classics back in 1990/1991. Warner DVD.
SLEEPER (1972) UNITED ARTISTS 100TH ANNIVERSARY Woody Allen’s futuristic comedy. CBS FoxVideo VHS.
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) 230TH ANNIVERSARY. The second major adaptation of the Bounty mutiny was this problematic production with Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard. This was my first Bounty film I saw, viewing it on Encore Channel in 1991 (it included the overture), being somewhat offputted and yet drawn by the ending. Today, I unfortunately was only able to watch Part Two. My Part One Disc had become corrupted and couldn’t play (going through two DVD players, two Blu-Ray players, and a Multi-Region DVD Player didn’t work at all). Oh well, the Mutiny happened in Part Two anyway. Warner DVD.
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1984) “The Dancing Men” 35TH ANNIVERSARY. The second episode, and the first to portray Brett wearing the Deerstalker. First saw this on A&E in 1992. MPI Video.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1967) “Episode 5: Scandal” 3M 175TH ANNIVERSARY. Koch DVD.
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2012) “The Fourth Hokage’s Death Match!” Viz Media DVD.
ZORRO (1958) “The Terror of the Well” & “Tightening the Noose.” ZORRO 100TH ANNIVERSARY. Disney DVD.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1999) “Choices” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. FoxVideo DVD.
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959) 60TH ANNIVERSARY and UNITED ARTISTS 100TH ANNIVERSARY. After handing Frankenstein and Dracula, Hammer decided to adapt the most famous Sherlock Holmes story spicing up the story with horror and sex (and introducing Peter Cushing as the detective). This film is also rather important for Sherlockiana: it was the first Holmes film since the Rathbone-Bruce series, the first in color, and also the first attempt to give a more serious portrayal to Dr. Watson. MGM/UA DVD.
THE BOUNTY (1984) 35TH ANNIVERSARY and BOUNTY 230TH ANNIVERSARY. I complete the anniversary of the mutiny with this production. A more accurate portrait of the account with a more sympathetic Captain Bligh and a less heroic Mr. Christian. The trailer spouts the cameo appearances of Edward Fox and Laurence Olivier. If a trailer was made today, the credit would be to Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis (and it would not look like a ‘They’re hot now’ sorta thing; their roles here are rather substantive). Kino Lorber BluRay.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOW (1984) “The Kidnapping of Toad.” 35TH ANNIVERSARY. Arts & Entertainment DVD.
BATMAN (1989) 30TH ANNIVERSARY. The second successful comic book adaptation (SUPERMAN THE MOVIE the first), I remember June 1989, watching it on its premiere night on June 23 (got the VHS, a drab EP-play video that November). Watched this in Theaters, as part of a 80th Anniversary of the character celebration. DRAGON BALL SUPER (2017) “Freiza & Frost! A Mutual Malevolence?” Cartoon Network Broadcast.
Earliest film this month: A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1911) Middle film: THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965) Latest film this month: THE GREAT BUSTER (2019)
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on May 5, 2019 13:55:21 GMT
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Needed to watch this again to recap before Endgame. It's pretty much The Empire Strikes Back of the Marvel Universe, with all the cliffhangers and set up for the finale. It has some serious stakes and little filler. Avengers: Endgame (2019) Hear me and rejoice! Prepare yourselves for a Marvel movie hitherto undreamt of before! This movie has it all! Not only does it deliver on every level you expect it to, it even delivers on levels you weren't expecting. Every character from every Marvel movie is represented and gets their moment. Being the ending of Marvel Studios Phase I, expect some sad goodbyes and a massive battle sequence for the ages. Although a major league sci-fi action superhero spectacular, it has some of the more affecting smaller moments ever seen in a movie of this type. It's a real love letter to the fans, but it makes you wonder if they'll ever be able to top themselves again. I had to wear my 3D glasses out of the theatre because I was too teary eyed. A few questions: Does Pepper Potts in the suit have a superhero name, and is it Iron Lady or Iron Potts? Why didn't Hulk and Gamora get more scenes together? They're both lean, mean green fighting machines! Did Captain Marvel get her hair done in outer space, and if so, where, and by whom? American Psycho (2000) Batman kills The Joker. The Green Goblin investigates. I rewatched this because I was nostalgic for 2000, forgetting it was set in the late 80's. Bale is insane in this movie, but then, the title does tell you that. His in depth analysis of 80's music slays me. It makes me smile knowing American Psycho was filmed in Toronto by a Canadian director. Valhalla Rising (2009) Shockingly violent story set in 1000 A.D. with Mads Mikkelsen as a mute warrior slave gladiator-type guy. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. First Reformed (2017) Ethan Hawke as a clergyman with some serious issues. Does not go where you expect it to go. That ending is freaky! Only the Brave (2017) I somehow had never heard about, or knew it was a true story going in, so I was a little floored by this. The acting is next level and the gut-punch lingers for a long time. Most excellent. Josh Brolin is crushing it this week! Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) Zac Efron looks a lot like Bundy, which supplies much of the creep-factor, and he basically nails the part acting wise too. The movie has its moments, but events are sped through or avoided entirely. This is because it's more from the point of view of Bundy's girlfriend, Liz, and how it affected her life. I'm glad I watched Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes first, which really fills in many blanks made by this movie.
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Post by petrolino on May 5, 2019 19:04:58 GMT
'Birdemic: Shock And Terror' (2010 - James Nguyen) / 'Birdemic 2 : The Resurrection' (2013 - James Nguyen)
Aerial creature features in the corporate world.
'Alabama Sasquatch' (2012 - Tommy Slama)
Monster movie from Tommy & Haley Slamma of Alabama.
'Screw-In' (2014 - Piotr Weresniak) / 'Screw-In 2' (2015 - Piotr Weresniak)
Sentimental romcoms and the joys of normality.
'10 Rules' (2014 - Karel Janak)
Remodelling of the romantic comedy '10 Rules For Falling In Love' (2012)'.
'White God' (2014 - Kornel Mundruczo)
Creature adventure.
'Everybody Wants Some!!' (2016 - Richard Linklater)
Drama about life set in 1980.
'Jupiter's Moon' (2017 - Kornel Mundruczo)
Crime fantasy.
'Mektoub, My Love' (2017 - Abdellatif Kechiche)
Drama about relationships.
'Slaughter Drive' (2017 - Ben Dietels)
Found footage shocker.
'Evil Bong 777' (2018 - Charles Band)
7th entry in the 'Evil Bong' horror franchise.
Thanks.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2019 21:28:55 GMT
Avengers Endgame (2019): Pretty much loved it.
Kwaidan (1964): Love it. It's one of my favorite movies and after the catharsis from Avengers: Endgame, I really needed the break. The first time I laid eyes on Kwaidan was channel flipping and finding it on TCM in...2012. Suffice to say, I've watched it a number of times. I ordered the Criterion Collection DVD, I've talked about it so many times because it was the single film that jump started my exploration of Japanese cinema. When I saw it, I had a flurry of thoughts from are there more movies like this? Is this an outlier? If I found this in a video store, would there be more movies like this taking up the whole shelf? The whole section? My brain is changing shape right now because of this movie. The colors, the beautiful painted skies and the fixation with eyes; the eerie sounds, the stillness before fright, the commentary on running themes about honor, devotion, marriage, prejudice, heroism. Kwaidan has it all if you know where to look.
The fact that it doesn't make me leap out of my seat notwithstanding, it honors what I consider the hallmarks of good horror. It's supernaturally occurring, without being explained by science; in that sense, each film occupies its own universe where in the supernatural elements at play exist only there and nowhere else. I love the anthology setup, I love that the stories are categorized in terms of fall, winter, spring, summer, and I just love that it takes its time.
Gaslight (1944): Really good. I recorded it from TCM on plot alone, without knowing that Ingrid Bergman gave an Oscar winning performance in it. Imagine my surprise when the tension I felt rivaled Avengers: Endgame. Gaslighting is a really interesting, nasty bit of manipulation. I really enjoyed watching it explored through art and I think everybody was terrific. Also, imagine my surprise learning the younger of the two housekeepers is a 17 year old Angela Lansbury. Really terrific, and quite necessary in my ongoing reprieve from the MCU. I really like Ingrid Bergman.
While the City Sleeps (1956): Really good too. I like Fritz Lang a lot. I like him for his ability to establish mood and suspense. His movies usually have a classical feel to them but the tension always feels modern. In that sense, he reminds me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock. Woman in the Window specifically made me feel like Fritz Lang could turn any subject into any movie he wanted. While the City Sleeps involves a killer of women and 3 news executives competing for a right-hand man role to the executive of the company, the newly declared son of the recently deceased owner. Fritz Lang has a really subtle way of making me feel uneasy to the point where complimenting it almost seems redundant. But it's true. His films, the ones I've seen, are adept at creating a looming sense of dread. Maybe it's because he architects situations where characters feel all the same ticks I do.
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Post by vegalyra on May 6, 2019 18:29:44 GMT
The Awakening (1980) - Suprisingly atmospheric Charlton Heston horror film. This film seems to have been hit hard by negative reviews since it first came out but I found it very intriguing and enveloping. The storyline is right up my alley with Egyptologists searching for the tomb of a very evil queen that was written out of history by the her contemporaries. Charlton Heston and his assistant Susannah York find the grave while Heston ignores his very pregnant wife. Heston attempts to break into the tomb, and every blow of his hammer causes his wife (left at the base camp) to go into painful contractions. Heston takes his wife to the hospital and leaves her there (!) while she is unconscious. The baby is still born, but while Heston breaches the inner tomb of the long since dead queen, the curse put on her grave causes Heston's baby to come to life. Fast forward 18 years and Heston is living in England while his wife and teenaged daughter live in America. The daughter decides that she needs to visit her father and events transpire that lead Heston to attempt to resurrect the dead queen.... but at what cost? I found the movie greatly entertaining and wondering why so many critics hated it? The score is top notch and the film itself appears to have had a pretty large budget for the era. The Egyptian tomb sets in particular are very well done and much of the film was shot on location in Egypt. Loosely based on Bram Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars the film had a lot of creepiness but not many outright jump scares. However, as mentioned earlier, it's very atmospheric and the circa 1980 look goes a long way. The Silver Chalice (1954) Another film that was lambasted by the critics as well as the main star Paul Newman himself, I found this religious epic to be very entertaining if slightly wooden. The actors with the exception of Jack Palance (who plays Simon the Magician) are pretty lackluster in delivering the lines, everyone seems pretty solemn but they are convincing to a point. Paul Newman plays a Greek sculptor that is sold by his father and adopted by a rich Roman. Newman is sold into slavery however when his adoptive uncle betrays him and takes over the family fortune. Newman ends up making sculpture for his slaveowners to sell on the street known for its silversmiths. Eventually he is freed and is commissioned by an old Joseph of Arimetha to make a chalice that portrays images of Jesus and his Disciples to house the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Joseph Wiseman (of Dr. No fame) convinces Jack Palance to join in his Jewish Rebellion against the Roman army because he needs a leader that can perform "miracles" to increase his ranks in his army. Simon (Palance) has his own ideas and effectively takes the army over and demands that the grail be found so he can go to Peter (Jesus' disciple) who is in Rome and destroy it in his face due to Peter dismissing Simon when he attempts to buy his way into the faith. The film is very long and there are several love interests and melodrama (among them Pier Angeli) but the basic story kept me entertained throughout. The one very interesting part of the film are the sets which are very minimalist and almost like something out of a German silent film of the 1920's. I thought that aspect was very unique compared to most other epics of the period that attempted to outdo one another with over the top sets. I really enjoyed this aspect of the film. It almost looked like a theater set. Even if Newman eventually came to disown this film later in his career I thought it was very well done over all. Guns of Darkness (1962) A fun action romp from 1962 starring David Niven and Leslie Caron. Niven works for a sugar company doing business in a fictional South American country that undergoes a coup while he and his wife are at a society party. The former President ends up in Niven's care while the military dictatorship attempts to hunt down the leader. Niven takes it upon himself to deliver the former President across the wilderness to the border and into presumably a friendly country so the President will be safe from the new leadership. Niven is a drifter who doesn't take much seriously and hasn't been able to hold down jobs, so this seems very out of character to his wife, the beautiful Leslie Caron who was going to leave him and go back to England (she is pregnant by the way and hasn't told Niven). The 3 of them journey in Niven's Ford station wagon and make it to a river which ends up containing some quicksand. Said wagon eventually sinks but the three barely escape in a very well done sequence the kept me at the edge of my seat. Eventually, while being pursued by the dictatorship troops, the 3 people make it almost to the border and you'll have to guess what happens next... A well shot film, the widescreen B&W cinematography is beautiful. It appears most of the film was shot on location and it looks great. Niven is carefree and convincing as usual but then adopts a serious position and it appears that his new mission in life is to take care of the former President to safety when he never has taken much seriously before. I thought the film was timely in a sense due to the events occurring in Venezuela right now.
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Post by marianne48 on May 7, 2019 0:53:35 GMT
For the umpteenth time: Marty (1955). Boy, that Paddy Chayefsky, he could really write.
Auto Focus (2002)--TV sitcom star has tawdry secret life. That's about it. Not really much point to it otherwise.
Two movies that kind of sum up how Hollywood changed in the 1970s, both made by directors who made it very big in that decade, both dealing with a single night in a California town.
The first, a re-re-re-watch of American Graffiti, a low-budget movie by George Lucas, who would later go on to make a series of space alien movies (the name of that series escapes me). For me, Lucas' best film, which focuses on a group of teenagers driving aimlessly around town all night. One of those "small" movies that signified a move away from old studio Hollywood into more independent, personal films that resonated deeply with audiences.
The second, 1941 (1979)--the Heaven's Gate of comedy. Steven Spielberg's big-budget, bloated, shrill, manic, totally unfunny comedy about the hysteria running through a California city shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack. Spielberg's plan to make a comedy apparently consisted of getting the casts of two recent winning comedies, Animal House and the charming, underrated I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and having them act suitably wacky while endless chases, crashes, explosions, and people running around screaming ensue. That's the plot. Also appearing here are Dan Aykroyd and John Candy, who are given nothing funny to do, and such luminaries of dramas as Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, and Murray Hamilton, who succeed mainly in not looking embarrassed. The idea, I guess, was that it was assumed that audiences would be so busy laughing that they wouldn't notice that absolutely nothing funny was being done or said, and there was no real plot and no interesting characters. Here's an example of a funny bit--an Army tank crashes through a paint factory. And the paint just spills everywhere. Hardy har har. The one moment that is mildly amusing is Robert Stack, as General Stilwell, watching Dumbo in a movie theater and becoming teary-eyed as he sings along with "Baby Mine." Fortunately for Stack, his comic abilities would be put to much better use in Airplane! the following year.
I recall that this movie flopped on its initial release, but I watched it hoping that maybe it was one of those unfairly panned, ahead-of-its-time gems, like UHF, a pretty good little comedy that was just initially perceived as too weird for its own good. But, in the words of the late Roger Ebert, I hated...hated...HATED this film. Even worse, the DVD is a "special edition" which includes a "making of" documentary, featuring Spielberg claiming that this movie was just ahead of its time, and American audiences just didn't get it (he claims "Europeans loved it"). Oh yeah...and it's mentioned that the screenwriters wanted to add a humorous little punchline at the end...a character in the film whose night at a dance contest is spoiled by the would-be Japanese invasion gets payback by being one of the crew members on the Enola Gay. That this tasteless coda was not used at the end of the film after all was the only thing this piece of garbage got right. If you love comedy, avoid this and watch a cartoon instead.
The 1970s began with the promise of a lot of young filmmakers creating personal, independent films, and ended with self-indulgent, over-confident makers of blockbusters spewing out silly, overdone drivel.
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Post by morrisondylanfan on May 7, 2019 2:02:22 GMT
Hi all,I hope everyone had a good weekend,and along with finally seeing every French film from 1932 on disc or download that currently has Eng Subs,I last week attended a screening at the oldest working cinema in the UK (The Electric) as part of Birmingham's "Flat Pack Festival",of Louis Malle's Black Moon (1975). The film was introduced by US singer Josephine Foster (whose gig later that night I sadly had to miss due to needing to get train home.) Watching it on the big screen highlighted to me the care Malle had put into making the soundtrack of the title,esp the dialogue-free opening 15 minutes. Whilst in Birmingham,I found out one of my most anticipated 2019 movies was going to be screened at The Mac,which I visited for the first time to see: National Theatre Live: All About Eve (2019) 9 Spending ages trying to get the rights, writer/director Ivo van Hove proves that it was worth the wait,with a remarkable blurring of the lines between cinema and theatre (all backed by PJ Harvey’s simmering score.) Separating the stage layout into several sets,Hove attaches a large protector screen to the back of the set, and films (in real-time) private exchanges between characters in corridors,which are shown at the same time as with on-stage events (such as round a dining table) continue to unfold, creating a striking yin/yang between the sparkling glamour shown to the public, with the rotting obsessiveness to remain a “big name”,that goes on behind closed doors. Setting a make-up table in the centre of the stage, Hove peels into the psychological obsession Eve and Margo have over the other nabbing their spot, with the back screen being used for chilling practical special effects displaying the poisonous effect this obsession has on their very souls. Breaking the fourth wall with Addison DeWitt’s opening introduction, Hove’s adaptation of Mary Orr’s short story and Joseph L. Mankiewicz screenplay brilliantly threads them into a shimmering stage version,via the bitter Margo’s viper exchanges with up and coming Eve over keeping a grip of fame on the stage,taking place against a stage backdrop itself. Continuing the fourth wall breaks from Margo and Eve’s entourage, Hove gradual sows Eve losing her Eden innocence and transforming into Margo, leading to an unsettling final note of this being a transferable venom.Far from being a fading star, Gillian Anderson gives a mesmerising performance as Margo,whose sharp dialogue Anderson cuts through with a New York ice-pick, Anderson undresses Margo’s psychological nuances in withering body language slumped against a piano singing out to stars falling out of her curled lip. Waiting fresh-faced at the stage door,Lily James gives a fantastic turn as Eve,whose growing manipulative edge on Margo, James subtly matches with a growing transformation into the reflection of her idol. French flicks of '32: Tavaszi zápor (1932) 5 Shot by the same team along with a Hungarian version,and the same year the director did the excellent Fantomas (1932-also reviewed), co-writer/(with Ilona Fulop) director Pal Fejos leans the title towards Silent Melodrama, via the dialogue kept minimal, and a majority of scenes being carried by the score. Gracefully raising Marie to a heavenly final set-piece, Fejos spends the rest of the title grinding Marie down,with swift tracking shots following Marie get thrown out by the locals. Owning a heart of gold, the screenplay by Fejos and Fulop send Marie (played by an wonderfully expressive " Annabella") into a biblical fall from grace, as brisk Melodrama unfolds where every branch in life Marie tries to grip snaps,and she finds herself in the wilderness,under a Spring shower. Wooden Crosses 10 One of two titles they have put out (up to now) from the film maker,Masters of Cinema present a superb transfer, with the image retaining the original grain, whilst remaining smooth during more rapid camera moves,and the layered soundtrack being kept in tact. Holding a bond with Pathe studio head Bernard Natan over examining war on film "In such a way to get people to hate and despise it." Co-writer/(with André Lang) directing auteur Raymond Bernard & cinematographers René Ribault and Jules Kruger (who'd reunite with Bernard on Les Miserables (1934)) go to the front line with ground-breaking techniques. Filmed at real No Mans Land locations (Bernard said in an interview that bodies of WWI soldiers were found as they dug trenches for the production) Bernard makes the heavy cameras of the era move with an astonishing fluidness,in Bernard targeting an atmosphere of documentary rawness,from the scatter-gun whip-pans and tracking shots treading along the unfolding horror on the battle fields. Continuing to build on his recurring visual theme of shots drenched in long,imposing shadows, (which would continue being explored in his titles such as the Film Noir Maya (1949-also reviewed) Bernard crawls the viewer over ever inch fought for on No Man's Land with a breathtaking battle set entirely at night time,lit by the lone flares cast across the sky and the flickering of flames from the pounding guns. Blowing out countless microphones over attempts to get "The real sound of war" , Bernard finally hit his target via lining the microphones in various levels of distances from the fired weapons, create a distinctive wave sound design, where the reverberating jolt of gun fires ring out from the battlefields,and shakes the walls of the trenches. Attempting to find shelter in a grave yard, Bernard and Lang's adaptation of Roland Dorgeles takes a deeply thoughtful, humanist touch to the screenplay, with all the classes deep in the trenches being treated as equals, all held together by the loss of hope and humanity that sings out across the No Man's Land of wooden crosses. Tumultes 8 One of four films he made in 1932, (the others being Quick,and alternative language versions of Quick and Tumultes) auteur director Robert Siodmak & cinematographers Gunther "Metropolis" Rittau and Otto Baecker eye up the effect of being locked in the big house has had on Schwarz, via Siodmak and the cinematographers stylishly obscuring the view with objects placed at the front of shots,and Siodmak darting the camera across the flats where people look out and see Schwarz's fist fights,reflecting the blinded vision of Schwarz to all the changes from his friends and lover. Wonderfully cross-cutting between circling fireworks and a circling death of a relationship, Siodmak grinds a brittle Film Noir atmosphere, as refined tracking shots follow the grubby Schwarz down charcoal side-streets,leading to the glamour and glitz surrounding Schwarz's old dame Ania, which he is unable to fit back into. Released from jail expecting society to have stood still, the screenplay by Robert Liebmann/ Yves Mirande and Hans Muller keep everyone on-edge over igniting Schwarz's short-fuse in discovering that he is now an outcast of high society. Stealing items in an attempt to blend back in, the writers give Schwarz's love for Ania a seeping decay, rung from Ania desiring her current lover, but living in fear over Schwarz's response. Given a set in stone image by Schwarz,"Florelle" gives a great turn as Ania, whose glamour is used by Florelle as a mask to hide the fears and desires she now holds against her former lover.Wishing to roll back the years, Charles Boyer gives a cracking turn as Schwarz, whose dreams of getting back with the old gang Boyer tightly screws into finding that the real jail is the outside world.
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Post by twothousandonemark on May 7, 2019 5:01:50 GMT
Obviously that poster hasn't aged the best. Lightweight storyline, Bogart-Astor-Greenstreet back from The Maltese Falcon together still deliver fantastic talkie scenes. Bogart running around the Panamanian jungle at the end in a suit is another sign of age. I'm not sure Arnold would feel very believable chasing the Predator in a suit. Recommended for the cast.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on May 7, 2019 7:11:30 GMT
The Town, loved it! >
You know people get up everyday, tell themselves something's gonna change their lives.
The Town is Charlestown, Boston, a place where crime is a way of life. Following a bank robbery, professional thief Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) has to keep a watch on bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) because after using her as hostage leverage during escape from the heist, she is the only witness who could possibly identify his gang. But once the two meet they start to fall for each other, forcing MacRay to re-evaluate his life in Charlestown. It's a re-evaluation that will upset a lot of people close to him and the gangster boss who hires him, and all this at a time when FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is closing in on the gang.
One of the most startling things about Ben Affleck's second film as director is that even with it's conventional plot, and formulaic characters, it's still an exhilarating and fresh picture. With Affleck comfortable in his Boston surroundings, it's evident that he and the team went for authenticity, something which in the main they achieve. Sure there's the odd implausible moments, they are-like it or not-cops and robbers staples, but The Town is not your standard run of the mill actioner. It's is, for want of pigeon holing, a modern day noir, resplendent with bleak mood and well oiled characters. Based on Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves, The Town follows the formula of a rotten town with rotten people doing their best or worst to live and get by. Into the pot comes the bad guy who meets a good woman who wants to leave his crappy life and crappy home behind. So far so well trodden path, then, but this is not a giant gangland operation, like, say, The Departed or The Godfather et al, this is a small neighbourhood setting, with a small group of everyday dressed young men. It's one of the reasons why Affleck's film feels authentic.
Helping to exude the naturalistic and human feel of the drama is that Affleck doesn't overdo his action sections, yet they are terrific sections for sure. This is not Tony Scott/Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer action for popcorn excess. From the electric kick-start of the first heist, to the mid-section car chase-and to the knock out coup de grâce set in motion at Red Sox Stadium, Affleck shows great skill as a crafter of action: aided superbly by Dylan Tichenor's energised editing. Other violence is swift and to the point, the director knowing not to dwell too long on vicious passages in the narrative, thus keeping his characters free of caricatures. Mind, he is thankful to the great cast assembled for his picture, for this is very much an actors piece. Well written without flabby periods of talk for talk sake, The Town provides proper drama for proper actors; and that includes the director himself.
Jeremy Renner is quickly turning into the go to guy for edginess, here as MacRay's best pal, Jem, he deals out a frightening loose cannon turn. Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite have small roles, but both impact hard on proceedings, both memorable and both adding a touch of classy know how. Hamm arguably has the hardest role, for as FBI Agent Frawley he has to carry on his own the other plot thread that is the investigation. Not just that, but the film lends itself to one which dares you to root for the bad guys, it's a tough ask of the Mad Men actor but he nails it, with one two-fold scene in a bar, as he grills MacRay's ex, Krista (Blake Lively heartfelt and believable), particularly offering a glimpse of what a good actor he can be. Ultimately the main load has to be carried by Affleck and Hall as the central doomed lovers. There is death and misery every where in Charlestown; and for the protagonists of the story, including Doug & Claire. Their relationship offers hope, a beacon of hope in a murky world, but it's a relationship founded on black secrets and built around falsehoods. That Affleck & Hall draw us in with charm and acting gravitas further serves notice as to why The Town is top draw stuff.
Hardships, hard decisions and hard characters come alive in The Town, a great modern day drama that's showing Gone Baby Gone was no fluke, this lad Affleck really is some director. 9/10
Starter for Ten I got around to revisiting and reviewing a couple of weeks ago - imdb2.freeforums.net/post/2787531/thread
The Boston Strangler >
Impressive procedural skin crawler.
It's a very impressive film from start to finish, the cast are excellent, George Kennedy & Henry Fonda portray the men pursuing the culprit with much believability, with enough moments of frustration and revulsion brought to life with style.
Of course this is Tony Curtis's show all the way, though, he is all bulked up and nothing like the handsome icon that people had grown accustomed to. He is convincingly menacing and handles the dual personality confusion scenes adroitly. One of the films' chief plus points is that the first hour only shows us the aftermath of the murders, it shows the desperate panic it creates among the people of Boston, and of course we get to know the detectives following this miserable trail.
At the hour mark we are introduced to Tony Curtis as Albert De Salvo, here he is in his family home, his daughter all radiant around her father, it's a masterstroke from director Richard Fleischer, and it creates maximum impact. The use of multi screens to show various aspects of scenes is deft and manages to make the film seem all too real, which of course is given weight of impact since it is based on actual events.
Smashing film that gnaws away at the skin some time after the silent credits have rolled. 9/10
To Catch a Thief - The Maestro on chilled form >
To Catch A Thief, is, when all is said and done, a softer entry on the great Alfred Hitchcock's CV. By his own admission it was a film he viewed as "lightweight", but such is the great mans talent, his softer cinematic efforts still punch the buttons and are films that many filmmakers can readily learn from.
In this one Hitchcock is purely making an entertaining piece for those in the right frame of mind, a splendid mixture of comedy and romance which also culminates in no shortage of dramatic entertainment as well. Cary Grant is perfectly debonair as the cat burglar John Robie, who here has to catch a thief because he is the chief suspect for a spout of robberies on the French Riviera. Into the mix is that vision of beauty that is Grace Kelly, this is a woman who could melt the Antartic just by walking over it! Kelly as Frances Stevens spends the majority of the film trying to get into John Robie's pants and this puts a delightful sexual tension into the unfolding story. We get some sparkling scenes here, such as a firework display as the two protagonists flirt and then kiss, thus making the film easy on the eye, and some delicious slices of humour dot themselves throughout as Hitchcock indulges in his wink wink innuendo. The plinking score from Lyn Murray works a treat during a roof top cat sequence, while the ending stays just above average without really having an any over dramatic impact.
All in all it's a very tidy effort that is always worth spending time with on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a glass of vino in hand. 7/10
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on May 7, 2019 7:32:04 GMT
Depp is somewhere between 21 Jump Street and Jack Sparrow, I liked this movie for its feeling and atmosphere. A great cast assembled keeps it together Somehow the sollution wasn't that interesting, since the first half of the movie was great. When you hire John Wayne you get John Wayne, big tall and tough, but not without feelings, a few awkward situations, and with a little bit of twinkle in your eye humour scenes. Last movie directed by legendary Howard Hawks! There is a great staged and filmed train robbery in the beginning, it's so good it makes the rest of the movie feel a bit so-so. Another factor is that Wayne is surrounded by non familiar actors that can't throw their weight around, except Jack Elam. Not the flop I've read it was, It actually made a healthy profit, thanks to Europe. Sleepy Hollow. When I first saw it on the big screen I was a little disappointed it wasn't a scary horror piece, but I have grown to really enjoy it.
It is you, Ichabod Crane, who is now put to the test.
Sleepy Hollow is directed by Tim Burton and co-adapted to screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and Kevin Yagher from the The Legend of Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving. It stars Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Marc Pickering, Michael Gambon, Jeffrey Jones and Casper Van Dien. Music is scored by Danny Elfman and cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki.
1799 New York, and Ichabod Crane, a timid but forward thinking detective, is sent to the way out village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a number of decapitations.
A perfect match of director and actor to the source material, Sleepy Hollow unfolds as a fun filled creeper of such visual and aural pleasures, it's a wonder nobody thought to put the combination together earlier than 1999. Story is familiar, though with a few changes, and although some of the comedy ends up a bit sillier than is tonally appropriate (really, Ichabod, stop pushing the effeminate angle to breaking point), film runs along at a fair old clip and never wants for period devilment. It's never really scary when Walken's headless horseman isn't part of the scene, but it's very unlikely that Burton or Depp were aiming to soil underwear anyway. More a case of charming you whilst caressing the tingler on your spine. A case of style of substance? Yes, to a degree, but the source story still comes through the lavish eye candy painting to reveal itself proudly.
Burton had created a world of Gothic mysticism, a blend of Hammer horror values and Brothers Grimm bad dreams, a land of swirling mists and tall shadows, where black, red and purple are essential colours. From the quaint duck pond in the centre of the village, to a creaky old windmill, there are visual treats galore here - which are enhanced magnificently by Elfman's foreboding rumbles. Costuming is first rate (Colleen Atwood), as is Lubezki's colour lensing and Rick Heinrich's production design. The cast are led superbly by Depp and appear to be pitching performances at just the right tone, such is the director's want. Although Ricci is sadly underused in a key role, and we could have done with more Richardson since she is wonderfully catty and yummy in equal measure. But with bona fide thespian quality in the support ranks (joining Gambon and Jones are Michael Gough, Ian McDiarmid and Richard Griffiths), picture never falls short of scene enhancers.
Period peril with a glint in its eye, Sleepy Hollow is a delightful nights entertainment by the fire. 8/10
Rio Lobo. The weakest genre pic Ford & Wayne made me thinks.
Don't say comfortable eh?
Out of Paramount Pictures, Rio Lobo is directed and produced by Howard Hawks (the last film he would direct) and stars John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jeniffer O'Neill, Jack Elam & Christopher Mitchum. It's written by Leigh Brackett & Burton Wohl, musically scored by Jerry Goldsmith and photographed by William H. Clothier on location at Cuernavaca, Mexico & Tuscon, Arizona. It's the third film in a loose trilogy by Hawks & Wayne that follows Rio Bravo (1959) & El Dorado (1966). Plot follows Wayne as Union officer Cord McNally who loses gold shipments (via the railway) to Confederate guerrillas led by Pierre Cordona (Rivero) & Tuscarora Phillips (Mitchum). It's the start of a relationship that will see all parties end up in Rio Lobo, Texas, where a traitor and a despotic sheriff are in their midst.
Rio Lobo is easily the weakest Western that Hawks made with Duke Wayne. He himself would say that he didn't like the film, felt it wasn't any good, while Wayne himself was quoted as saying that he had already made the film twice before. Almost everything about Rio Lobo is tired, from the formula of the story to Wayne sleepwalking thru a role that held no challenge, it's a poor send off for one of America's finest directors. The script is solid enough, with many Hawksian themes evident; and it's nice to see the three lady characters be important to the story, but the cast put around Wayne are poor and out of their depth and this rubs off on the normally professional Wayne who finds he has nothing to act off of.
It's not a total stinker, tho, certainly Clothier's photography and Goldsmith's score are worthy of investing time with, and the lead off sequence involving the train robbery is well put together and stirs the adrenalin. Sadly the film is never able to reach those heights again, with the ending being a rather tame affair that doesn't do justice to the bitter revenge tone that Hawks has steered the film towards. Of the sub-standard support cast there's only Jack Elam who is worth watching, be it for comedy value or for just giving it some gusto. All told the film just about comes out as watchable Sunday afternoon fodder. A running theme in the film sees fun poked at the ageing Wayne's expense, one of which involves the word comfortable. That is an apt word to use for Rio Lobo, because director and star are in the comfort zone, comfortably making an unchallenging and old hat movie. 5/10
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on May 7, 2019 8:45:54 GMT
The Highwaymen - any good?
They Live - Rowdy Roddy!
Life's a bitch and she's back on heat!
They Live is directed by John Carpenter who also adapts the screenplay form the short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning written by Ray Nelson. It stars Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Music is by Alan Howarth (and Carpenter) and cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe.
Unemployed drifter Nada (Piper) wanders into the city looking to find work, but upon finding a unique pair of sunglasses he sees a different world to everyone else. It's a world frequented by an alien race who are using the Earth for their own nefarious means.
See The Truth!
Carpenter does subversive sci-fi and it's a whole bunch of fun. Stripped back it's evident that They Live is Carpenter's wry observation on the politico posers who endorse the rich getting richer and everybody else sliding down the pole; to where they stop nobody knows! It's also a blatant paean to the glorious years of the 1950s when paranoia based sci-fi schlockers and creaky creature features ruled the air waves. It's also a wonderfully macho driven action movie, laced with comedy as well. You can rest assured there will be plenty of shooting, punching, dodging and spoken lines to make you smile.
Piper is no Kurt Russell, but we shouldn't hold that against him because he fills the role nicely. With muscular frame, 80s hair and a quip on the tongue, he is most assuredly a Carpenter leading man for the 80s. Alongside him is the reassuring presence of Keith David, himself a beefcake and also one of the coolest muthas on the planet. It's easy to believe that these two can save the planet, even after nearly beating each other to a pulp during a prolonged side-alley fight sequence, where Carpenter doesn't miss a chance to parody professional wrestling. While away from the beef, Meg Foster gets the lead lady role, with those amazing eyes nestling in perfectly with the world Carpenter has created.
Carpenter does political? Yes, but it's not the be all and end all of his intentions. He wanted to make an action sci-fi schlocker with sly politico undertones as motives. And that's exactly what he did. Joyously so. 8/10
The Uninvited - love it!
That's not because there are more ghosts here than other places, mind you. It's just that people who live here about are strangely aware of them.
The Uninvited is directed by Lewis Allen and adapted to screenplay by Frank Partos and Dodie Smith from the novel Uneasy Freehold written by Dorothy Macardle. It stars Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp and Cornelia Otis Skinner. Music is by Victor Young and cinematography by Charles B. Lang.
"They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here... and sea fog... and eerie stories..."
Wonderful old fashioned ghost story that neatly blends romance and a light comedic tone into the pot, The Uninvited is very much a movie of significance. It marks a point in cinematic time when the ghost story proved it could be played for true unnerving impact. It remains a sub-genre of horror that is sorely lacking in bona fide classics, spookers that have longevity, the ability to raise the goose flesh no matter how many times they are revisited. With a new special edition DVD recently released, and the likes of Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro championing its cause by putting it on their lists of favourite frighteners, The Uninvited is proving its worth as an old sub-genre classic.
Plot is pretty conventional stuff. It's 1937 and Milland and Hussey play a brother and sister who fall in love with a cliff side house they stumble upon whilst holidaying on the southwest coast of England. Sure enough they snag themselves the house at a ridiculously cheap price, this even though they are warned of some previous disturbances at the address. Cue a mysteriously locked room that when opened reveals itself to be deathly cold, pets that will not go up the stairs and then comes the hauntings... So far so formulaic, then, but as the story begins to unravel in the second half of the movie, where the light touch is left behind, a fizzer of back story comes to the fore and one or two extra surprises leap out of the narrative. This is not lazy plotting, it is well constructed, the mystery element is strong and sidles up nicely with the spooky goings on.
"If you listen to it long enough, all your senses are sharpened. You come by strange instincts. You get to recognise a peculiar cold that is the first warning. A cold which is no mere matter of degrees Farenheit, but a draining of warmth from the vital centres of the living."
This is a spooker that, unsurprisingly for the time, is devoid of visceral shocks and blunderbuss like scares. This is more about atmosphere (Lang was Oscar nominated for his noirish photography) and fear of the unknown, where the sound of a sobbing woman in the darkness chills the blood. Perhaps surprisingly for the time? We do get to see spectral images, and they still work and create the desired effect, who needs a computer generated image spitting blood when you can have ethereal spookiness floating eerily above the ground? While we are at it, who needs a beefed up pretty boy actor fighting the good fight against evil when you can have an elegant Ray Milland doing it with a glint in his eye instead? The cast are very effective, with Russell really making a mark so early in her career, while Young's score is both sinister and tender (the song Stella by Starlight would become a popular standard) at all the right times.
A genuine ghost story for those who prefer the sparing atmospheric touch to the noisy carnage approach. 8/10
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Post by OldAussie on May 7, 2019 9:09:39 GMT
hitchcockthelegend
very nice companion piece to Bonnie and Clyde. Enjoyed it a lot. 7.5/10
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Post by morrisondylanfan on May 7, 2019 11:05:06 GMT
Another week and here is mine: By accident following a thread, I read about a movie based on one of the funniest sit-coms from Britain, that went on between 1968 and 1977, and was a staple on time slots on Friday evenings in Sweden for many years. So I was thrilled hearing about a new version, Then I forgot about it until last Sunday. Damn I wanted to like it! but it wasn't good at all. Best part was actually hearing Bud Flanagan's old title song "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?" over the end itles. Hi teleadm,with the new Dad's Army movie,whilst it was a hit at the box office,it has surprisingly not become a TV staple like the original continues to be? On DA,I was wondering if you've seen the 1971 film,starring the original cast?
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