What classics did you see last week ? (18 Aug- 24 Aug 2019)

Only watched two films this week:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).



Hannah's Law (2012).

Hi WMC,I hope weekend is going well.and it looks like you caught some awesome viewings. Being the newest Duvivier to come out with Eng Subs,what did you think of the film?

This is what I wrote in 2016:

"I've waited for this moment, 233 days and 233 nights." 10.



Returning to France after doing work in the US,co-writer/(along with Charles Spaak) director Julien Duvivier looks at the fresh Film Noir wounds of post-WWII France. Bringing a touch of horror back with him, Duvivier & cinematographer Nicolas Hayer hang a smoked Gothic Horror atmosphere on the decayed Film Noir shadows,set alight by Duvivier circling the towns people after Hire (who is Jewish) like the villagers in a Gothic Horror going to burn the castle down,as the "monster" Hire falls to Noir doom. Lighting Alfred Chartier up like a demonic china doll during a confrontation with Hire, Duvivier whips up a cracking Film Noir mood bursting with dazzling whip-pans listening on the villagers tales and elegantly standing in the shadows to taste the venomous relationship between Chartier and Alice.

Coming back to his home screen with an adaptation of Georges Simenon's book,the screenplay by Spaak and Duvivier expertly dissect the ripples from the fears during the Occupation with the bleak,burning heart of the Film Noir. Keeping Hire away from the town in his house/castle,the writers send the rumours about Hire around the town like wildfire,a place where privacy is exchanged for "informers" sharing details about "odd" characters in the town,and the collective mind set of the town behaves like a law unto itself. Bringing the viper lovers back together,the writers deliciously make each of them as bad as each other,from Chartier casually talking about murder and snapping people back in their place,to Femme Fatale Alice ruthlessly taking advantage of other peoples loves and weaknesses.

Standing tall as the Film Noir shadows clasp round him, Michel Simon gives an incredible performance as Hire,whose clinical mind is set with Simon's expressiveness,that is met with an overwhelming passion for a Femme Fatale,who Hire's mind is all too aware of possess a scorpion sting. Attempting to not bring attention to himself, Paul Bernard gives a brilliant performance as Chartier,via Chartier's wry smirk being used by Bernard to barely contain the darkness under his mask. Curling up beside Chartier and Hire,the beautiful Viviane Romance gives an utterly chilling performance as Alice,thanks to Romance splendidly twisting Alice from looking like a sweet nurtured gal to an unrelentingly vicious Femme Fatale,as panique sets in.


Having heard about the troubled making for so long, what did you think of Gilliam's epic,and I hope you and your friend also enjoyed Red Sonja,her costume sure is a eyeful!

DEFINITELY! I should admit to a bias - she is my favourite actress and also one of the 2 most fascinating off-screen personalties (with Brando) I have come across in my movie loving life.

Ruthless (1948) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0040751/reference

I don't want to be a man. Never! I wish there weren't any men in the whole world. 

Ruthless is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and adapted to screenplay by S.K. Lauren, Gordon Kahn and Alvah Bessie from Dayton Stoddart's novel Prelude to Night. It stars Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Sydney Greenstreet, Diana Lynn, Lucille Bremer and Martha Vickers. Music is by Werner Jansen and cinematography by Bert Glennon.

Even as a boy Horace Vendig always got what he wanted. Then into adulthood and he manipulates himself into high society. Now a fully fledged tyro of commerce he is even more cruel and impervious to how his actions harm others. But when Horace (Scott) reunites with his old best friend Vic Lambdin (Hayward) and he falls a foul of the bitter Buck Mansfield (Greenstreet), all the resentments come crashing together as one!

"Animals kill for food or love. You and I spoil the jungle because we kill for profit, a taste of victory and revenge. Then we destroy each other after"

It was a one time hard to locate picture, where even in early releases it had been shorn of 25 minutes, but now it's out there, a full one hour and forty four minutes of Ruthlessness! Ok, that might be over selling it a touch, but this is a pretty spicy piece of greedy film noir, a scathing attack on capitalism, a telling of the corruption of a man's soul and the bitter treatment he hands out to those who care for him.

Tagged as a sort of baby brother to Citizen Kane, which is fair enough in fact, but that be in narrative drive more than visual panache. There's some nice expressionistic touches, with Glennon (Crime Wave) proving what a very talented cinematographer he was (see his Westerns output), but the pic does lack for noirish visual menace to marry up with the sour lead characterisation. Which is a crime given it's Ulmer (The Black Cat/Bluebeard/Detour/Strange Illusion) in the directors chair.

However, where the pic shines bright is with the performances, Ulmer getting his cast to turn in impressive portrayals of the human condition. The ladies are especially great (Lynn has a dual role) as they nail the respective heartbeats of women buffeted by Horace's duality of twisted emotions and lofty avarice ambitions. In short we get very mature turns in a film that's very much mature in thematics. Add it to your Ulmer "to see lists" post haste. 7.5/10




Renaissance Man (1994) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0110971/reference

It just leaves me warm and shiny. 

Renaissance Man is directed by Penny Marshall and stars Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Mark Wahlberg, Stacey Dash and Kadeem Hardison. Hans Zimmer scores the film and it's written by Jim Burnstein. The story sees DeVito as Bill Rago, a divorced advertising executive who loses his job and finds himself unemployed. Not only that, but the relationship with his daughter has started to feel the financial strain. However, the unemployment agency find him a short time position at U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane. The position entails him to teach basic comprehension to a class of academic under achievers. Initially he's not enthused by the job, nor are the class particularly responsive to his civilian status. But just maybe this odd coupling may turn out to be good for both parties? That is if Drill Sergeant Cass (Hines) lets them that is?

A box office flop that was first marketed as a comedy, then as a drama {it's very much both}, Renaissance Man holds no surprises what so ever. The formula remains the same as every other piece featuring a teacher and an unruly/troubled/under educated class. So with that in mind, and considering the film has largely been kicked by the professional critics, I'm not here to sell this movie to anyone, because sometimes you have to acknowledge that a film can hit a spot of your own personal psyche, yet at the same time be a million miles away from someone else's.

The choices we make dictate the life we lead

For me personally, Renaissance Man is one such film. It was one dark rainy night back in the mid 90s and I had the blues, I popped over to the video store to see what was available, I couldn't find anything that remotely sounded like something to lift me out of the stupor I was in. I then spied a copy of Renaissance Man, a film I hadn't heard anything about, and although I took that as a bad sign, Danny DeVito's beaming smile on the cover of the box lured me in. I was thinking how much I had enjoyed him in Twins at the back end of 1988, so to me it didn't seem such a bad gamble to take. I was expecting a comedy and I got one, but the bonus was that what I also got was a very uplifting dramatic tale about the human condition, people learning from each other, a tale that shows the power of artistry and how it can unite and lift people. A tale that shows that maybe some folk aren't as clever as others, but if they can grasp a straw and be all that they can be, then their heads will be well and truly held up high.

Renaissance Man, I believe, is a sadly undervalued film on this, or any other film related site. But that's just me, because hey! We all got different psyche's right. Right? 8/10



The Rock (1996) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/reference

Welcome to The Rock!

The Rock is directed by Michael Bay and written by David Weisberg, Douglas Cook & Mark Rosner. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, David Morse, William Forsythe & Michael Biehn.

When a highly decorated army general (Harris) decides that he's had enough of his men dying and not getting the credit they deserve, he commandeers Alcatraz prison with a crack unit of Mercs. The plan is to hold the government to ransom or he will unleash from the prison biological rockets to bring Armageddon down upon America. Enter chemical weapons expert Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), who is forced to team up with the only man ever to escape Alcatraz - the mysteriously incarcerated in secret John Patrick Mason (Connery) - to break into the Rock and thwart the plans of the Mercs. 

So Cage as a chemistry expert who possible holds the fate of the world in his shaky hands? Connery, aged 66, as a tough prison escapee sporting a "Grunge" haircut? And Ed Harris, surely a bastion of patriotic Americana, turning bad and wanting to unleash hell on the Stars & Stripes? To expect nothing else but a berserker Michael Bayhem picture based on these facts is surely folly. He certainly has a varied CV does Bay, as do the leading actors on show here, but when on form, with writers prepared to put blood into the characters, Bay can deliver high octane entertainment if coupled with a cast clearly in tune with the material. Such is the case here. It's no award winner, naturally, but it does have some political smarts within the script. And if you want explosions, shoot outs and quips aplenty? Then this really will serve you well for a couple of hours. 7.5/10



Seraphim Falls (2006) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0479537/reference

Go as you wish. That which is yours will always return to you. That which you take will always be taken from you.

Seraphim Falls is directed by David Von Ancken who also co-writes with Abby Everett Jaques. It stars Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Wincott, Xander Berkeley, Tom Noonan, Kevin J. O'Connor, John Robinson, Ed Lauter, Wes Studi and Anjelica Huston. Music is by Harry Gregson-Williams and cinematography by John Toll.

It's post American Civil War, 1868, the Rocky Mountains, and Gideon (Brosnan) is being hunted by Colonel Morsman Carver (Neeson) and his hired killers. The reason why is not yet known, but it's the beginning of a relentless pursuit that's propelled by rage and hatred, a pursuit that will force both men to the day of reckoning.

The premise is as simple as it gets and on the surface the film holds no surprises until the divisive ending. However, before taking in the thematics of the story, it's refreshing to find a film of this genre type utilising the scenery to the max, whilst simultaneously playing out with sparse dialogue as two grizzled actors tell the story. An obvious forebear to "The Outlaw Josey Wales", Seraphim Falls is ultimately a meditation on revenge and remorse. Moments of violence flit in and out of proceedings, these moments cloaked magnificently by natural surroundings, where the expansive wilderness plays host to the intimate human drama unfolding. It's also a film that pulses with mythical atmosphere, where Carver's pursuit of Gideon plays out like that of the Grim Reaper and his charges sent to capture the soul of the fleeing man. The falls of the title clearly indicates man's decent into hell, because it's not for nothing that the finale is played out on a blistering plain, which as you cast your eyes upon it, it is indeed hellish.

It's also worth noting that we the viewers are never sure who we should be rooting for - if either of them!? Gideon is out on his own, but he is an immensely skilled mountain man, one who is seemingly out skilling his pursuers. Is he the bad guy here? Or is it Neeson's Carver? One is ex Union, the other Confederate, this gives added spice to what then develops into a most intriguing journey. Where the film has irked some critics is with the ending, with some calling it pretentious and a very weak pay off. It's true enough to say that Ancken has slackened the grip slightly, as the tight gritty tone gives way to something more open and even airy. Yet I personally like it a lot, it helps to round out the supernatural feel that appears to loom as we have headed towards the day of reckoning. It lacks dramatic impact for sure, but thematically and for tonal bedfellow process, it pays off on what had gone before it.

Brosnan (stepping in when Richard Gere bailed out) and Neeson revel in the roles, seemingly enjoying the complexities and war torn burdens that their characters carry. Their scenes together are as professional as one could wish, both men comfortably doing world weary characterisations. Wincott is on hand for gravel voiced villain duties, his portrayal of Hayes is cold and in keeping with the movie. The other notable names in the cast drop in and out of the narrative, each important, and in the case of Huston and Studi, suitably weird. But the real star of the show is John Toll (Braveheart/Legends of the Fall), whose photography is pristine and always remaining atmospheric, he captures the natural beauty of Oregon and New Mexico with great keen eyed skill. Switiching seamlessly from the blue, grey and whites of the mountain pursuit to the browns and yellows of the salt flats, we witness a master cinematographer at work. 

Likely to infuriate as much as it enthrals, one just hopes that it's the latter that anyone reading this does indeed find to be the case. 8/10



Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) - www.imdb.com/title/tt1298650/reference 

View it as a spin off and it's a rollicking treasure seeking adventure.

Ok lets have it out front right away, this particular writer loved the first film (Curse of the Black Pearl), was disappointed with the second (Dead Man's Chest) and positively found the third (At World's End) to be an incomprehensible bore. Part 4: On Stranger Tides is a shift in another direction, where a group of piratical characters, some we know well, others new to the fold, embark on missions to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. So think "Indiana Jones", "National Treasures" like adventures (hell even "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World") and you get the drift here. Expectation of this franchise getting back to the heady days of that first film will be crushed pretty early on.

There's a little too much going on here for it to be safe children's fare, but the adults, especially those who remember the serial silliness of adventure films of yore, will have a good time. The action set-pieces are superb, enter high speed carriage chase through London, some spiffing sword play deep in the brewery, Blackbeard (Ian McShane) using his black magic whiles to incarcerate mutineers in a whirl of maniacal ropes, and a mermaid attack that quite frankly rocks - as do the mermaids themselves the vicious teasers they are.

Production is as expected top notch, and the cast, in spite of having to battle for screen time in a cast of thousands, are doing fine work (Penélope Cruz a welcome heaving bosom of spunkiness). For sure our main man Captain Jack Sparrow, with Depp just about keeping the characters charm on tap, isn't as dominating a force as we would like, but he leaves his trusty fun mark and the others (Barbosa is back drinking rum out of his newly acquired peg leg) pick up the slack. It's unlikely to get better on revisits, so if you be hardcore POTC from earlier adventures, there's no point going back to se tis one. Those who like the type of films mentioned previously, and don't mind a different direction for the series, then tis holds no fears. 7/10




Alien: Covenant (2017) - www.imdb.com/title/tt2316204/reference

Even the monkeys stood upright at some point.

Hee! Ridley Scott, it seems, is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't as regards the Alien franchise he so gloriously kick-started back in 1979. Prometheus was too cerebral for many and definitely bogged down by expectation levels. Not without flaws of course, but a very tidy science fiction piece it be. So we roll on to Alien Covenant, which while not universally reviled, has certainly garnered some fearful scorn in Alien franchise fan circles.

Alien Covenant is a cover version, no two ways about it, it's a retread of what was showcased in 1979, only with the tie-in to Prometheus and a continuation to the origins of Xenomorph and pals. Clearly we have a case of Scott making one for the fans, a return to chest busting goo and space adventurers under great duress, all of course while he fills in the blanks as well. For sure it's lazy when put up against Alien, and indeed against his other superlative sci- fi offerings such as Blade Runner and The Martian, but for those who lambasted Prometheus for its non Alien conventions, you have now got what you hankered for. Any expectation of this turning out to be a fresh masterpiece was always going to be crushed, so really it's best viewed as a loving retread. Yes! Bad science, plot and logic holes, average acting etc, these rightly don't deserve forgiveness, but it's hardly the devil's spawn here, in fact its's great fun as much as being a visual treat.

Log cabin on the lake.

We start with a prologue involving Weyland and David, the conversation involving creation, the most pertinent of which being the question of the ages, where do we come from? Then after a tantalising tinkle of the ivories for Wagner's "The Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla", we are whisked into outer space 2104 to be in the company of the Colonisation Vessel Covenant. Crew 15 - Colonists 2000 - Embryos 1140. The destination is ORIGAE - 6, ETA in 7 years and 4 months. Only Walter the Android (Michael Fassbender) is awake, until it's time for the crew to be abruptly awakened from their hyper sleep...

Crusoe and the pathogen.

From the off disaster strikes, thrusting the crew into emotional strife. Characters are introduced, conversations and traits establishing the bare minimum that we need to know, then a ghost transmission is received from Sector 87, planet number 4, and off we go into familiar territory. Things inevitably go from bad to worse and the action, blood flow and creature feature conventions are all laid out for our digestion. There's some surprises in store, with Fassbender a double bonus, and there's some striking chatter ranging from if there's benefits of the human race? and even that involving the poets Byron and Shelley.

Bed Bugs.

Who will survive? If anyone? Just what does the finale have in store? As we get devilish answers, and the barn storming aural pleasures of the full orchestral version of "The Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla", it's tied up nicely and the pulse rate can settle. Job done. No bar raising here, no film to push the space lander out into new dimensions, just a good honest sci-fi thriller to be viewed with that in mind. 7/10



Done!

Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good weekend,this week a friend got a Limitless Odeon cinema card,which led to me going along to view a flick I was keen on,and yesterday I travelled to Birmingham for a special screening.

Cinema duo:



Howl's Moving Castle (2004): The 15th Anniversary Screening 10.

One of my most memorable screenings of the last 20 years has been attending the lone screening which took place in my area at the local "Art House" cinema of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. Usually playing films which have just come out on disc, this sold out showing has always stood out to me,thanks to everywhere I looked there being a fellow Miyazaki fan filling the small screening room.

15 years later:

Looking at the listings for The Electric Cinema in Birmingham, (oldest working cinema in the UK)I checked their "Summer Family Films" tab,and was thrilled to find a 15th Anniversary Screening of Howl (in the original Japanese) was to take place soon. For the first time in all my viewings at cinemas,I stood in a line which went half-way down the street,picked up a lovely Inglorious Custards cocktail,and got set to witness Howl's castle moving again.

View on the film:

Guided by living scarecrow "Turnip Head" into Howl's moving castle, writer/directing auteur Hayao Miyazaki greets Sophie to a magnificence Steam Punk design,whistling from the 80 individual 19th century machinery segments agitating each other with every movement of the castle's legs shifting on a bustling sound of hot steam and fragile wooden foundations.produced digitally that transfers the 1400 storyboards of the hand-drawn backgrounds and the characters into a digital medium, Miyazaki pens the styles together with his distinctive stylisation.

Blossoming from the fluid animation sparkling in a beautiful vibrancy on the detailed,expressive character designs and razor sharp editing wrapping the audience in a soaring flight of fantasy atmosphere,Miyazaki sharpens the digital 3D rendering on the moving castle in a contrasting style, via the digital animation of the building sending it rolling along the silky hand-drawn backdrop. Adapting Diana Wynne Jones novel when he wanted to express his anger over the Iraq war, Miyazaki travels up the stairs to Madame Suliman's remote palace, who at a safe distance from the effects, shatters the floor with a all-consuming viciousness in keeping conflicts in a abrasive state.

Turning Sophie into a 90 year old, Miyazaki continues to brilliantly build upon his theme of the lead breaking out from primary focusing on themselves,in this case Sophie spreading a compassion to the residences of the moving castle,and even to the witch who cursed her. Initially scared of her old age appearance, Miyazaki threads his themes of compassion and a hatred of war with his recurring motif of a feminist aspect,lit in Sophie finding a solution to the war with a brave thoughtfulness against the volatile masculinity of Howl within his moving castle.



Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019) 7

Crystallising the era, writer/directing auteur Quentin Tarantino reunites with cinematographer Robert Richardson and builds an exquisite re-creation of the era, buzzing with original TV ads/radio spots in the background to the glittering long tracking shots down the streets of LA, creating an immense atmosphere, on the same level as the GTA games.

Closing this fairy tale with a tranquillity final shot to the gates of New Hollywood opening, Tarantino gleefully dishes out a final of excessive violence,and a gaze for foot fetish that have been motifs since the start, but places the focus in building from The Hateful Eight (2015-also reviewed) in crafting a lingering mood piece of long-take crane and dolly shots,which let's viewers breath in the sights,sounds and friendships of the era.

Both working with Tarantino for a second time (and backed by a incredible supporting cast) Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt give brilliant turns as Dalton and Booth, thanks to the worn down state of Dalton,and the fading glint of Hollywood glamour from Booth's eyes,being bounded in the relaxed, casual style Pitt and DiCaprio give the friendship. Watching her latest film at the cinema, Margot Robbie gives a joyful, care-free turn as Sharon Tate, embracing the fairy tale of the Dream Factory once upon a time in Hollywood.

Now those classy flicks are done,time for some sleaze!

Cinema of '87 trio:





Careful,He Might Be Watching 8

The lone time he went from being in front of the camera to working behind it, co-writer/(with " Seka" )director Richard Pacheco is joined by legendary Adult/ " Roughie" fellow director Alex de Renzy working as a cinematographer, and their experiences in the trade brings a touch of realism to their 4th wall breaking film within a film. Instead of going for close-ups on all the steamy sex scenes,Pacheco withdraws, (the camera) to the back of the room with the film crew,who are busy re-writing the script, or trying to keep the shot framed on the cast,as the director gives directions by the side of the bed out of frame.

Spicing up her sex life with husband Bill after filming wraps, Pacheco gives the set-piece frolics a excellent, glossy atmosphere,which slips into the surreal when eyeing Bill's sexual dreams,while closing in on Jane Smith's lustful face during carnal delights when hubby Bill is away.

The first time she had been involved in the writing of a film since Inside Seka (1980), the screenplay by "Seka" and Pacheco reveals that along with their carnal knowledge,they also have a knowledge of Comedy, sparkling in the snappy exchanges between Jane and studio boss/ director Harry, and landing in annoyed comments between June's leading man and Harry, when the fella fluffs up his performance. Keeping the mood breezy, the writers give Bill's desire to invite another woman to join them a cheery playfulness, built up in Bil's fantasies of a work mate joining in, climaxing in June visiting Harry's studio,and receiving the gift of being touched by a woman for the first time.

Returning from semi-retirement, Kay Parker proves she still has all the moves with a seductive turn as the woman who gives June a new awakening. Not being involved in the sex, Misha Garr is still able to make his mark with a (intentionally) funny performance as Harry, whose moments of being annoyed on set Garr smartly plays in a comedic tone,rather than anger. Playing the dual role of plain Jane Smith and "Adult star" alias Molly Flame, fittie Seka gives a gloriously raunchy performance as Flame,along with a temptingly withdrawn turn as June, keeping a look out for Bill who may be watching.



Fulci's Aenigma 7

Made just after he had recovered from a life-threatening illness, co-writer/(with regular collaborator Giorgio Mariuzzo) directing auteur Lucio Fulci shows that the illness had burnt out his fiery side, most notable in Fulci & cinematographer Luigi Ciccarese rapid-fire zoom-in shots to eyes, which are left to just fade away, instead of being capped by Fulci's former signature eye gouging move.

Filmed in Sarajevo poorly made to look like the US, Fulci finds room between the eyes to build on other visual motifs from his credits, crunching the first stylised reflecting kill in a aerobics studio, (a reminder of Murder Rock Dancing Death (1984)-also reviewed.) melting into a strikingly weird vibe of the nightmare world from his "Hell" trilogy, crawling on screen to the face of a victim covered in snails, as the ghostly impression of the in a coma Kathy is superimposed on the school grounds, leading the students to a icy long crane final shot,where Fulci takes them all across the beyond.

Inspired by Argento's supernatural Horrors and De Palma's Carrie adaptation, the screenplay by Fulci and Mariuzzo weave them together smoothly via the telekinetic powers of Kathy casting a blue-tinted menacing mood,when Kathy returns masked as "new student" Eva Gordon. Although the attempts to sketch out the bullies who played a prank that left Kathy in a coma run dry due to the dialogue being flat, Lara Lamberti/( Naszinski-changed last name to avoid being seen as using the "Kinski" family link for roles) powers the spirit of Kathy up in her performance as Eva Gordon, whose strings of sweetly innocence are pulled by Lamberti with a alluring wickedness bringing the revenge of Kathy back from the beyond.



Morning Patrol 10.

The second reel in what became the loose "The Shape of the Coming Nightmare" trilogy, writer/director Nikos Nikolaidis plays his love of Neo-Noir which would become off the wall in Singapore Sling (1990),into the apocalypse by masterfully sowing extracts of Raymond Chandler/ Philip K. Dick/ Herman Raucher and Daphne Du Maurier's works into his own dialogue, that gives the Post-Apocalypse landscape Nikolaidis paints,the philosophical doom-laden weight of Film Noir. A future where no one has a number,Nikolaidis pulls the partnership between "Woman" and one of the Morning Patrol guards with a rustic earthiness, reflected in Women expressing herself via inner monologue,and the clipped dialogue of the Morning Patrol guard stabbing the decayed anxiety of stepping into other wasteland areas guarded by fellow Morning Patrol's.

Bringing the extracts read as dialogue into focus, director Nikolaidis & cinematographer Dinos Katsouridis cleverly place flickering images of Film Noir titles playing on TV and at a cinema with no projectionist in sight, which touch on the flickering memory Woman and everyone else has to a present which was not bleeding with the bleakness of Film Noir. Scanning over burnt out buildings and rusted metal in stylish long panning shots,Nikolaidis closely works with composer Giorgos Hatzinasios and sound mixer Thanassis Arvanitis in washing over the viewer a hypnotic, ambient atmosphere, crackling on the sparse sound of running against the drenched backdrop of the Post-Apocalypse,before the sun comes up,and it is time for the morning patrol.

And to celebrate Sir Sean's birthday.



Thunderball (1965) 8

Tasked with a budget that was was more than the combined budgets of the first three Bond flicks, director Terence Young makes his final for the franchise a successful mission,thanks to Young once again working with cinematographer Ted Moore in shaking (but not stirred) a exciting, jet-set Euro Spy atmosphere of slick whip-pans tracking 007 round the sun-kissed exotic locations. choreographed by Ricou Browning and directed by Lamar Boren, (plus André De Toth on second unit) Young's actions on land are seamlessly blended with spectacular underwater action set-pieces, springing from crisply-filmed long tracking shots following Bond and his fellow agents get caught up in harpoon punch-ups underwater,as real sharks swim round for the blood of 007.

Working as a supervising editor to Ernest Hosler, Peter Hunt continues to build on his unique "crash cutting" editing style, slicing the action-set-pieces with a frantic atmosphere of missing frames kicking off from Bond's fight with a cross-dressing assassin,and making each punch,slap and harpoon hit land with a wallop. Sending Bond around the world, Hosler glitters the non-action scenes with ultra-stylised wipes, refreshing the jet-set life of 007. Changing hats from the animated baddies of Goldfinger, Kevin McClory/ Jack Whittingham/John Hopkins & Richard Maibaum make a drastic departure for the franchise, and dive into a excellent serious side of Euro Spy.

The only time 007 is shown in discussions about the mission with his fellow 00 agents, the writers retain the glamour of the series in Bond's combat against Spectre, but adapt Ian Fleming script turned novel with a grounded threat,stemming from Spectre not being cackling psychos, but icy, stone cold killers who graze 007's usual assured mind-set under the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis with their robbery of nukes.

Looking incredibly eye-catching in a black & white bikini, Claudine Auger gives a sparkling turn as Domino, who Auger has retain the Bond Girl sass, which is joined by a feisty attitude sending her diving in taking part in defeating Spectre. Throwing angry exchanges with Adolfo Celi simmering baddie Largo (who like Auger being dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl for Eng version & fellow actress Nicole Maurey for French dub,is dubbed by Robert Rietty) Sir Sean,gives a winning performance as 007, brimming with a devanare appearance Sir Sean uses as a shell to his eagle-eyed attacks to stop the thunderball from rolling.

Happy movie viewing, till next week!

Chasing the Moon (2019)--of all the Apollo 11 documentaries I watched, this was the best. Of course, the six-hour viewing time helped; it provided a lot of new film footage, new insights, new information about the Apollo missions that I'd not heard before. Instead of the usual celebratory look back at man's greatest achievement, etc., there's acknowledgment of the motivation behind the space race (beating the Soviet Union seemed to be top priority); recognition of putting the space race against other issues of the day (poverty, for instance); and the no-questions-asked utilization of Nazi Von Braun ("I know nothing"), whose contributions to the space race included the work on his V-2 rockets which was done largely by concentration camp slave laborers.
It doesn't shy away from looking at the Apollo 1 tragedy and its aftermath on the families of those astronauts, possibly caused by the program's rush to beat the Russians into space. There's some fun stuff, too--I remember a stand-up comedian in the '70s who joked about how Neil Armstrong could have made a fortune if his first words on the moon included a plug for Coca-Cola; in fact, according to this documentary, there were some people in his hometown who were apparently expecting him to advertise the local cheese company in his statement. The documentary is accompanied by voice-overs from many who were there, but thankfully, it's refreshingly free of talking heads (especially those filmed in profile or other odd angles, which tend to be
an irritating trend with other documentaries). Highly recommended.

Shrek (2001)--As an adult, I'm not much of a fan of modern animated movies, and I don't really get the adults who are huge fans of such movies as Toy Story, Frozen, etc. This, however, was an exception--great entertainment for any age, and beautifully done animation. This was as fun as watching the
old classic Warner Brothers cartoons.